Income 150+ SE 10-Year (Morgan Stanley) review

Yes, for the right buyer in the right channel. This is a solid annuity for someone who is already working with a Morgan Stanley advisor, wants built-in protected lifetime income, and plans to defer withdrawals for roughly four to six years. It is less appealing if you want the most competitive cap rates available on this product family, need broad access across advisors and carriers, or are primarily accumulation-focused. The income mechanics are genuine, but the channel restriction and lower crediting terms mean you should compare it to what the open-market version offers before committing.

The main reason to buy this version is the same as the base: to build a guaranteed lifetime income stream while keeping principal protected. The 20% benefit-base bonus at issue inflates the number your lifetime payments are calculated from, giving the income calculation a head start that the account value alone would not provide. The built-in chronic illness benefit adds a care-planning layer at no additional charge, which makes this more than a one-trick income product. For a Morgan Stanley client who is already using the firm's planning infrastructure, this fits neatly into a broader income strategy.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement window — roughly late 50s through mid-60s — who is a Morgan Stanley client, is using long-term money they will not need access to for several years, and wants a built-in income rider rather than relying on annuitization later. It works in qualified and non-qualified accounts. The deferral structure rewards buyers who can leave income off through year five. It is less attractive for accumulation-focused buyers, anyone who wants to shop the open market for the most competitive crediting terms, or someone who expects to defer well past year five, since the benefit-base roll-up does not continue after that.

You are not buying stock market exposure. You are buying a lifetime income framework built on top of a principal-protected annuity. The engine of the contract is the income benefit base — a separate calculation ledger that starts at 120% of your premium thanks to the 20% day-one bonus, then grows at 7.50% per year through contract year five if you have not turned income on. When you activate withdrawals, your guaranteed annual amount is set by applying a payout percentage, based on your age at activation, to that benefit base. The S&P 500 index crediting runs in the background, but this is primarily an income product with a growth side, not the other way around. The 1.20% rider fee comes out of your real account value every year whether or not the index does anything.

The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit rider is built into this contract. At issue, your benefit base starts at 120% of premium — the 20% deferral bonus is applied immediately. In contract years 2 through 5, if you have not begun lifetime withdrawals, the benefit base grows by 7.50% of the original single premium each year. After year five, that scheduled growth stops. When you activate income, your guaranteed annual withdrawal amount is determined by your age and the size of the benefit base at that point. The 1.20% annual fee is charged as a percentage of the Withdrawal Base and deducted from your account value each contract year.

In plain English: the 20% bonus and years-2-through-5 roll-up are designed to inflate the income calculation number, producing a larger guaranteed check than your account value would otherwise support. The growth stops early to encourage activation in the mid-contract window rather than full deferral to year ten.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the Income Enhancement Benefit — the chronic illness provision included at no extra cost. If you become unable to perform certain activities of daily living, this benefit can increase your annual income payments to help offset care expenses. Because it is built into the contract rather than sold as a rider add-on, there is no separate fee eating into the return. For buyers who see chronic illness as a real planning risk, this is a meaningful differentiator versus a plain income FIA without care provisions. The exact qualification criteria and enhancement amounts are governed by the contract and can vary by state, so confirm current terms before placing the contract.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash needs. In year one, free access is 10% of beginning-of-year contract value. In years 2 and beyond, free withdrawals are 10% of the account value. Amounts above that are subject to a 10-year surrender charge schedule and a market value adjustment — an MVA — which means the actual surrender cost can rise or fall with interest rates at the time. The contract includes a bailout provision: if the renewal crediting rate falls below a stated bailout rate, you can exit penalty-free, which is a useful protection if crediting terms decline sharply at renewal. Nursing home confinement of 90 or more consecutive days waives surrender charges and MVA, as does a terminal illness diagnosis confirmed after the first contract anniversary. Even with those provisions, this should not be treated as accessible savings.

The headline fee is the income rider at 1.20% annually of the Withdrawal Base, deducted from your account value. That charge runs regardless of whether the index credits anything. The trade is direct: the 1.20% buys you the day-one bonus, the short deferral roll-up, and a guaranteed lifetime payment that does not depend on market performance. Whether that fee is worth it depends almost entirely on whether you actually use the income rider and activate withdrawals in a reasonable timeframe.

On the crediting side, the S&P 500 annual point-to-point cap runs 4.25% to 4.50% per the rate information in the available materials. That is narrower than the open-market version of this same product, which had caps of 4.75% to 7.25% at the time of that review. The fixed account ran 2.25% to 2.50%. The performance-triggered strategy is available as an additional option. These figures will change at renewal, so treat them as a structural reference rather than a permanent promise. There is no base contract fee beyond the rider charge.

Legal Entity: Forethought Life Insurance Company

Parent: Global Atlantic Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A

Forethought is the annuity brand under Global Atlantic Financial Group, an established carrier in the fixed and indexed annuity market. The A.M. Best A rating reflects financial strength consistent with other large annuity issuers in this space.