Income 150+ SE 7-Year (Wells Fargo) review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for someone who wants a built-in lifetime income guarantee, plans to defer income for several years to capture the full benefit-base bonus stack, and is working with a Wells Fargo advisor. It is less appealing for someone chasing accumulation, someone who wants to turn income on immediately, or someone who can find a lower rider fee on a comparable product. The Wells Fargo channel doesn't change the mechanics, but it does mean availability is limited to that distribution relationship.

The main reason to buy Income 150+ SE through Wells Fargo is the same as the open-market version: to build future protected lifetime income from a lump sum while keeping principal shielded from market losses. The front-loaded benefit base — 20% on day one and 7.5% in each of years two through five — gives the income calculation a meaningful head start when you defer. For a buyer already working with a Wells Fargo advisor who wants that income framework without committing to a full decade of surrender charges, the 7-year schedule is a real draw.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window, roughly 58 to 75, who is a Wells Fargo client, wants to use long-term money to build future income, and expects to defer withdrawals for at least five years to capture the full bonus stack. It fits both qualified and non-qualified money. It is less attractive for someone who mainly wants growth, expects to need regular access above the 10% free amount, or wants to start income right away — the bonus structure rewards waiting. If you're not already a Wells Fargo client, the open-market version of the same product is available outside this channel.

You are not buying stock market upside, and you are not buying a high cash-value accumulation product. You are buying a lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity. The center of the contract is the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Benefit IX. Your premium establishes a benefit base — sometimes called a withdrawal base — the contract inflates that base with bonuses, and when you activate, your age determines a payout factor that's multiplied against the base to set your guaranteed annual income for life. The actual cash value, what your heirs get or what you'd walk away with, grows separately and more modestly through the crediting strategies. The two numbers are not the same, and the income-calculation base is the one this product is engineered to make impressive.

The Guaranteed Lifetime Income Benefit IX is built into the contract, and the 1.20% annual fee is charged on the withdrawal base. At issue, the base gets an immediate 20% bonus on premiums paid. Then in each of contract years two through five, the base receives a 7.5% bonus. These are bonuses applied to the benefit base rather than a traditional compounding roll-up — the spec notes no stated ongoing roll-up rate, so after year five the benefit-base growth from this structure stops. Stacked together, those bonuses can lift the income-calculation base well above premium before you activate, which is what the "150+" in the product name is gesturing at.

When you activate income, the guaranteed annual amount is set by applying an age-based payout factor to the benefit base. Waiting longer to activate generally means both a larger base from the bonuses and a higher payout factor, so the income is meaningfully larger the longer you defer — up to the point where the bonuses run out after year five. Withdrawals taken before activation reduce the base proportionately, so this is not a product to draw down early if income is the goal.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the Income Enhancement Benefit, the contract's chronic-illness provision, available at no additional charge per the available materials. If you can no longer perform certain daily living activities or meet the care criteria, your guaranteed income payment can be increased for a period to help cover care costs. For a buyer using this annuity as a retirement-income backbone, that built-in care escalator is genuine value, because long-term care needs are exactly the kind of late-retirement shock that a flat lifetime payment doesn't otherwise address. Confirm the exact trigger conditions, enhancement amount, and duration in the actual contract, as care provisions vary by state and the details determine how useful this feature really is in practice.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash needs — but the 7-year schedule is shorter than the 10-year sibling. Free access is 10% of the beginning-of-year contract value each year without a surrender charge. In year one that 10% is measured against premiums paid; in later years against account value. Anything above that during the surrender period is subject to the schedule below, and a market value adjustment also applies.

An MVA — market value adjustment — means that large withdrawals during the surrender period can be adjusted up or down depending on how interest rates have moved since you bought the contract. It adds rate risk on top of the surrender charge for big early withdrawals. Two relief provisions help: a nursing home waiver that drops the surrender charges and MVA if you're confined to an approved facility for 90 or more consecutive days, and a terminal illness waiver that takes effect after the first contract anniversary. RMD treatment was not explicitly detailed in the available materials — ask your advisor how attributable RMDs are handled before funding a qualified account.

The main fee is the income rider: 1.20% per year charged on the withdrawal base. Name the trade plainly — that 1.20% buys you the guaranteed lifetime income engine and the benefit-base bonuses, and it's only worth it if you actually activate income. If you bought this and never turned income on, you'd be paying every year for a guarantee you never used, and you'd be better off in a plain accumulation FIA. At 1.20%, this fee is also at the higher end for built-in income riders, several of which sit closer to 1.00-1.10%.

There is a separate 1.05% annual charge on account value for the Income Enhancement Benefit (chronic illness rider) if it is available and elected. The two fees together — 1.20% on the withdrawal base and 1.05% on account value — represent a meaningful drag on the growth side. There is no disclosed base-contract fee. The crediting strategies cap in the 4.75%-7.25% range with 100% participation noted for available indices, but rates are as of the brochure date and change — ask for the current rate sheet. A bailout provision lets you surrender penalty-free if a renewal crediting rate drops below the contract's stated bailout rate, which caps your downside if rates are set low at renewal.

Legal Entity: Forethought Life Insurance Company

Parent: Global Atlantic Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A

Forethought Life is part of Global Atlantic Financial Group, a sizable annuity and life insurer. The A.M. Best rating of A places it in established-carrier territory, which is the relevant question for a product whose entire pitch is a guarantee you may not collect on for a decade or more.