ForeIncome II 7-Year with Income Multiplier review

Yes, for the right buyer, with one honest caveat. It is a good annuity for someone who wants protected lifetime income, plans to defer for several years, and likes the idea of a benefit base that grows faster when interest is credited. The caveat is that this is not a guaranteed-roll-up product — your income engine is only as strong as the interest the indexed strategies actually earn, and I couldn't confirm current caps or participation rates from the brochure. It is less appealing for someone who wants a contractually guaranteed roll-up they can count on regardless of market behavior.

The main reason to buy ForeIncome II is to create future protected lifetime income while keeping principal safe from market loss along the way. The specific draw over a plain income annuity is the multiplier: instead of relying solely on a fixed roll-up percentage, the benefit base that determines your lifetime income is credited at three times the interest the contract earns during deferral. For a buyer who believes the indexed strategies will credit meaningful interest over the deferral window, that mechanism can build a larger income base than a modest flat roll-up would. The built-in chronic-illness enhancement is a secondary reason — it can raise income if you later need care.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window, roughly mid-50s through mid-70s, who wants to use long-term dollars to fund future income and is comfortable deferring withdrawals for several years before activating the benefit. Because the income engine rewards credited interest, it suits a buyer who is optimistic about the indexed strategies and wants more upside in the benefit base than a flat roll-up offers. It works in both qualified and non-qualified money. It is less attractive for someone who wants a guaranteed roll-up they can model with certainty, someone who needs liquidity above the 10% free amount, or someone who wants the simplest possible income annuity.

You are not buying stock market participation, and you are not buying a guaranteed roll-up. You are buying a principal-protected contract with a two-part income engine. The first part is the indexed crediting that grows your account value. The second part is a separate income benefit base — sometimes called the Withdrawal Base — that determines how much lifetime income you can take. The Income Multiplier Benefit credits that benefit base at 300% of the fixed and indexed interest the contract earns during the deferral years, and 100% of credited interest after you activate income. In plain terms, every dollar of interest the contract earns adds three dollars to your future income base while you wait. That is the whole pitch, and it lives or dies on how much interest the strategies actually credit.

The headline feature is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit with the Income Multiplier Benefit, which is built in rather than optional. During the deferral period, whatever fixed or indexed interest your contract earns is multiplied by three and added to the income benefit base. So if a strategy credits 4% in a year, the benefit base is credited 12% that year. Once you activate income, that multiplier drops to 100% — credited interest is added one-for-one. Your lifetime income is then calculated as a payout percentage (which rises with your age at activation) applied to that benefit base.

The critical thing to understand is that this is performance-linked, not a guaranteed schedule. A flat 7% roll-up adds 7% to the base every year no matter what markets do. The 300% multiplier here can beat that handily in a good index year, but it can also fall short in a flat or negative year because three times zero is still zero. The brochure documents that caps and participation rates vary by strategy but does not list current figures, which means I can't tell you how often the engine is likely to fire at full strength. That is the single most important number to ask for before buying — request the current rate sheet directly.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the Income Enhancement Benefit, a built-in chronic-illness provision that can increase your income if you become unable to perform activities of daily living or need qualifying care. This matters because the years when people need the most cash are often the years they can least manage their finances, and a feature that raises income precisely then has real planning value. It is included at no separate stated charge in the materials provided, which is a genuine plus.

There is a tradeoff worth naming. Enhanced-income care features almost always come with eligibility conditions, waiting periods, and benefit caps, and the brochure summary does not spell out the exact triggers or how long the enhanced payout lasts. Treat it as a helpful backstop, not a substitute for dedicated long-term-care coverage, and read the rider's actual terms before counting on it.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash. After the first year you can take up to 10% of account value annually without a surrender charge (in year one it's 10% of premiums paid), and that free amount resets each contract year. Anything above the free amount during the seven-year schedule triggers a surrender charge that starts at 8%, holds at 8% in year two, then steps down 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, and 3% before reaching zero.

A market value adjustment also applies, which means a withdrawal above the free amount can be adjusted up or down based on where interest rates have moved since you bought the contract — if rates have risen, the MVA can deepen the cost of cashing out. Required minimum distributions are generally accommodated, and free withdrawals are not subject to surrender charges. Even so, the 10% access plus the income payout are the real liquidity here; this is not a contract to treat as emergency money.

The fee that matters is the 1.05% charge for the income rider, taken from the Withdrawal Base. That fee is charged every year whether or not you have activated income, so it is a real and continuous drag while you wait. The trade is straightforward: you are paying 1.05% annually to buy the multiplier mechanism and the guaranteed lifetime income, plus the chronic-illness enhancement. Whether that is worth it depends almost entirely on whether the indexed strategies credit enough interest to make the 300% multiplier outpace what a flat-roll-up competitor would have built — and on whether you actually turn income on, since the whole value proposition is wasted if you surrender for cash instead.

Beyond the rider fee, the structural tradeoffs are the usual FIA ones. Upside is limited by caps or participation rates that the brochure does not disclose, the 7-year surrender plus MVA limits access, and there is no premium bonus to sweeten the account value at issue. The death benefit, on the plus side, is clean — beneficiaries receive the full account value at no additional charge.

Legal Entity: Forethought Life Insurance Company

Parent: Global Atlantic Financial Group

ForeIncome II is issued by Forethought Life Insurance Company, part of Global Atlantic Financial Group, an established annuity carrier. This is a mainstream income-focused FIA design rather than a niche structure.