FIA Plus 5 Year review

Depends on what you need from it. As a pure accumulation vehicle for someone who wants to actively choose their risk exposure and isn't going to touch the money in year one, this is a reasonably competitive product — the cap rates on the buffered strategies are meaningfully higher than the plain 0%-floor option, and the guaranteed minimum surrender value provides a real floor if credited interest disappoints. It's a weaker fit for anyone who might need any access to funds in the first 12 months, or who wants the simplicity of a single crediting formula rather than a menu of floor-and-cap tradeoffs to manage.

The rational reason to buy FIA Plus 5 Year is control over the risk-and-return tradeoff within a single contract. Most FIAs give you a fixed floor (0%) and ask you to choose among a handful of capped strategies. This one lets you additionally choose how much of a buffer you're willing to absorb — trading true principal protection for a shot at meaningfully higher caps and participation rates on the structured strategies. For someone who understands the tradeoff and wants that dial, rather than a one-size-fits-all crediting menu, that's a genuine reason to consider it over a more conventional 5-year FIA.

This fits an accumulation-focused buyer, likely in their 50s to mid-70s, in either qualified or non-qualified money, who has other liquid assets to cover a first-year emergency and who is comfortable evaluating multiple crediting strategies rather than just picking one rate. It's a poor fit for anyone who might need money in the first 12 months, since there's no free-withdrawal provision at all in year one — including RMDs, which normally get carve-outs even on more restrictive contracts.

Strip away the terminology and this is an indexed annuity with two internal ledgers. One — called the Account Value or Strategy Value — is the guaranteed side: it never goes down, and it's what the Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value math is built on. The other — the Tracking Value — is where the market-linked math happens: it can rise with index performance (subject to your chosen cap, participation rate, or buffer) but it can also be reduced by the buffer you selected, and until it's "locked in" via an annual Lock feature or the automatic lock at the end of the surrender term, it isn't guaranteed. In plain terms: you're not buying a guaranteed index gain every year. You're buying a tracking mechanism that only becomes real, protected money once it locks — either by your election or automatically when the surrender period ends.

The mechanism at the center of this contract is the "Floor Limit" — a choice the owner makes about how much downside to accept in the Tracking Value in exchange for a better crediting rate. At a 0% floor, you're in an Indexed Strategy: a conventional annual point-to-point crediting approach with no downside risk, capped at 8.25% to 9.25% on the S&P 500 as of the 6/5/2025 rate sheet. Move to a deeper floor — -2.5%, -5%, -10%, or -15% — and you shift into Structured Strategies, which behave more like a RILA buffer: you accept losses up to the stated floor level in exchange for much higher caps or participation rates, up to 20% on some S&P 500 structured options and up to 196% participation on others, depending on index and buffer combination as of that same rate date. Only the 0% floor is available in year one; the deeper floors unlock over time as Tracking Value gains accrue. There are also two Fixed Interest Strategy tiers (roughly 4.2% to 4.6% depending on premium band) for buyers who want a straight declared rate with no index exposure at all.

The second feature worth understanding is the lock mechanism itself. Gains in the Tracking Value aren't automatically permanent — they can still give back ground in a down market until they're locked in, either through an optional Annual Lock the owner elects, or an automatic Periodic Automatic Lock that engages at the end of the surrender term. That timing detail matters: it means the headline caps and participation rates describe the crediting formula, not a guaranteed annual gain, and the practical value of a good crediting year depends on whether and when it gets locked into the guaranteed side of the ledger.

This is the product's biggest limitation. There is no penalty-free withdrawal allowance at all in the first contract year — 0%. From year two onward, owners can take up to 10% of the prior anniversary's Tracking Value plus Fixed Interest Strategy Value free of both withdrawal charges and MVA, subject to a $1,000 minimum withdrawal and a $5,000 minimum remaining balance. Beyond the free amount, withdrawals during the 9% / 9% / 8% / 7.25% / 6.25% surrender schedule also trigger a Market Value Adjustment, which can move in either direction depending on the interest-rate environment at the time of withdrawal. Notably, even RMDs are not exempt from this in year one — the brochure specifies RMDs aren't available in the first contract year at all (they have to be processed by the prior carrier before the transfer), and any year-one withdrawal, RMD or not, still triggers a withdrawal charge. That's a stricter starting posture than most FIAs, which typically carve out RMDs from day one even when the free-withdrawal percentage is otherwise limited.

There's no explicit annual product fee, M&E charge, or administration charge disclosed on the base contract in the materials reviewed, and the standard death benefit and the nursing home/terminal illness waiver riders carry no separately stated fee either — though the illness waivers aren't available in every state, including California. The real cost here isn't a line-item fee, it's the buffer itself. Choosing a deeper Floor Limit to get a higher cap or participation rate means accepting real downside exposure in the Tracking Value up to that floor level, which is a cost paid in risk rather than dollars. One caveat: this base, non-bonus version doesn't carry the optional Premium Bonus rider, which — if elected on other versions of this contract — lowers the cap or participation rate and exposes any bonus to a steep recapture schedule (100% down to 60% over five years) on early withdrawal. On this SKU that tradeoff isn't in play, since there's no bonus.

Legal Entity: Ibexis Life & Annuity Insurance Company

A.M. Best Rating: A-