ForeIncome II Advisory with Income Multiplier review

Yes, for the right buyer — specifically a fee-based advisory client. This is a good annuity for someone who wants protected lifetime income, values not having a surrender period, and could benefit from an income multiplier that increases payouts during a qualifying care event. It is less appealing for someone paying a commission-based advisor, since the open-market version of ForeIncome II may deliver similar income without the separate advisory fee layered on top.

The main reason to buy ForeIncome II Advisory is to create future protected lifetime income inside a fee-based advisory relationship while keeping principal protected from market losses. The income multiplier is the second reason: it can roughly double the guaranteed withdrawal amount if the owner can no longer perform a set number of daily living activities, which turns the contract into a partial bridge for care costs. The lack of a surrender period is the third reason — the account value is accessible without withdrawal charges, which is unusual for an income-focused FIA and fits the advisory model where the advisor manages liquidity directly.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window, roughly age 55 to 75, who works with a fee-based (RIA) advisor and wants to use long-term money to build future income they can turn on later. It fits a buyer who values having a built-in rider rather than relying on annuitization, and who sees real value in the care-event multiplier. It is less attractive for someone who works with a commission-based advisor, wants the simplest possible income annuity, or is mainly chasing accumulation rather than guaranteed income.

You are not buying stock market upside. You are buying a guaranteed lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity, structured for a fee-based account. The heart of the contract is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit with Income Multiplier Benefit VII. Your premium funds an account value and a separate benefit base. Before you turn income on, the benefit base grows at three times the interest credited to the account value. Once you activate income, your age and the benefit base set a guaranteed withdrawal you can take for life, and the multiplier can step that up if you trigger a qualifying care event. The "advisory" label means there is no surrender charge and no commission baked into the product — instead your advisor charges a separate fee on the assets.

The built-in income rider works in two phases. During deferral, the benefit base — the figure your future income is calculated from — grows at **three times (3X) the interest credited** to the account value each year. So if the indexed strategies credit 4% in a year, the benefit base grows by roughly 12% that year. This is the key thing to understand: the deferral credit is a multiple of actual interest, not a fixed annual roll-up. In strong index years the 3X credit can be substantial, but in flat or zero-credit years there is little or no growth, which makes the deferral benefit less predictable than an income annuity that guarantees, say, a flat 7% roll-up regardless of index performance.

Once you activate income, the benefit base stops earning the 3X multiple and instead earns 1X interest credits going forward. Your guaranteed lifetime withdrawal is then a percentage of the benefit base based on your age at activation. The 1.05% rider fee is deducted from the account value and is calculated on the benefit base, so the charge rises as the benefit base grows.

The Income Multiplier is what gives this contract its name and its second purpose. Through the Income Enhancement Benefit, the guaranteed withdrawal amount can be increased — commonly to roughly double — if the owner becomes unable to perform a specified number of activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, or eating. In plain terms, it functions as a built-in care-cost amplifier: the contract pays more at exactly the point when health-related expenses tend to rise. The spec lists this enhancement as included rather than as a separate-fee rider, which is a point in its favor.

The tradeoff is that the multiplier is conditional. It only pays the higher amount while the qualifying condition persists and subject to the contract's specific definitions and limits. The exact ADL count, elimination period, and duration cap drive how much real-world value the multiplier delivers, and those details should be confirmed against the contract before relying on the feature for care planning.

This is where the advisory version differs sharply from a typical income FIA. There is **no surrender period and no surrender-charge schedule** — withdrawals above the free amount are not subject to a back-end penalty. The free-withdrawal framework still applies for structuring purposes: up to 10% of premiums paid in year one, then up to 10% of account value in years two and beyond.

A market value adjustment (MVA — an interest-rate-based adjustment to the amount you receive) can still apply to certain withdrawals even without a surrender charge, so larger early withdrawals are not entirely free of friction. Required minimum distributions are accommodated, and the materials note waivers tied to nursing-home confinement and terminal illness. Even with no surrender period, this is still long-term income money, not an emergency fund — pulling principal early shrinks the benefit base that drives your future guaranteed income.

The fee picture is the central tradeoff. The base contract has no explicit product fee. The income rider charges **1.05% annually, calculated on the benefit base and deducted from the account value** — and because the benefit base grows faster than the account value during deferral, that charge can take a rising bite out of the cash value over time.

The bigger consideration is the advisory layer. This is a fee-based product with no commission, which means your advisor charges a separate advisory fee on the assets — frequently in the range of 0.50% to 1.00% per year, set by the broker-dealer or RIA. Add that to the 1.05% rider charge and the all-in annual cost can be meaningfully higher than the commission-based ForeIncome II, where the rider fee stands alone. The honest way to think about it: the advisory version is worth considering when the advisor's ongoing management adds value beyond the product itself, or when you specifically want a no-surrender structure. If the advisory fee is simply layered on without added service, the commission-based sibling may deliver comparable income at a lower total cost. Current cap and participation terms (caps were disclosed as a 7.50%-20% range in the materials, with 100% participation and a 4.25% fixed account) determine how much interest feeds the 3X deferral credit, so ask for the current rate sheet before allocating.

Legal Entity: Forethought Life Insurance Company

Parent: Global Atlantic Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A