FIA Plus with Premium Bonus 5 Year review

It depends on what you're optimizing for. If your priority is the highest possible cap rate on a plain S&P 500 strategy, this isn't it — 4.75%-5.75% is modest next to larger carriers' 5-year offerings. But if you want an upfront 9.50% bonus on your account value, a shorter surrender window, and the flexibility to mix in structured strategies with defined floors instead of a hard 0% floor, this is a reasonable option from a carrier that carries an A- rating. It's a good annuity for the right buyer, not a universally strong one.

The most concrete reason to buy this contract is the 9.50% premium bonus applied directly to the account value at issue — money that's working for you from day one rather than accruing only through index credits. The second reason is menu depth: three indices, a fixed interest option, and structured strategies with floors ranging from 0% down to -15%, which lets a buyer dial in exactly how much downside they're willing to absorb in exchange for a better upside formula. Someone drawn to this product likely already understands FIAs and wants more control over the risk/return tradeoff than a single-index, single-floor design offers.

I think this contract is best for someone in their 50s to 70s with non-qualified or qualified money they don't need for at least five years, who wants principal protection, values an immediate account-value bump, and is comfortable spending time comparing crediting strategies rather than picking one and forgetting it. It's a weaker fit for someone who wants the simplest possible FIA, needs income guarantees built in, or would be uncomfortable with a strategy that has a floor below zero — even a -2.5% floor means real losses are possible in a bad year, just smaller than an unprotected market outcome.

You're not buying market participation, and despite the "structured strategy" language, you're also not buying a RILA in the sense of unlimited buffer-based downside exposure by design — Ibexis classifies this as a fixed indexed annuity, so principal is protected under the standard FIA framework, with the negative-floor options functioning as an additional strategy choice rather than the product's default risk posture. What you're actually buying is a bundle: an immediate 9.50% bonus on your premium, a Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value floor of 87.5% of premium credited at 0.05%-3%, and a menu of ways to earn interest — some capped, some floored below zero — none of which expose you to direct loss of the invested premium below that guaranteed floor.

The crediting menu is the real substance of this contract. The S&P 500 Index-Linked Strategy uses a Modified Annual Point-to-Point method with caps currently set at 4.75%-5.75%, and participation rates around 100% depending on the strategy chosen. Two additional proprietary indices — the BofA U.S. Strength Fast Convergence Index and the HSBC AI Global Tactical Index — run participation rates in the 57%-64% and 78%-85% ranges with their own cap structures. Layered on top of the indexed strategies are structured-strategy floor options at 0%, -2.5%, -5%, -10%, and -15%, which trade some downside protection for a potentially richer crediting formula. A Fixed Interest Strategy is also available, crediting 2.75%-3.15% annually depending on the tier. In practice, a buyer allocates across these strategies and can rebalance at each contract anniversary, which gives real flexibility but also real homework — this isn't a one-decision product.

The 9.50% premium bonus is the headline feature, and it matters because it's an account-value bonus, not a rider-only credit — meaning it's real money in the base contract that contributes to both the death benefit and any future surrender value, not a number that only counts toward a separate income calculation. But bonuses are rarely free. Carriers that offer a meaningful upfront bonus typically price it into the rest of the contract through lower caps or participation rates than a non-bonus sibling product would carry, and the brochure materials here don't spell out a bonus vesting or recapture schedule, so buyers should ask directly whether any portion of the bonus is subject to forfeiture on early surrender.

There are no penalty-free withdrawals at all in the first contract year. Starting in year two, you can take up to 10% of the combined Tracking Value and Fixed Interest Strategy Value each year without a withdrawal charge, as long as you leave at least $5,000 in the account. Above that, the surrender schedule runs 9%, 9%, 8%, 7.25%, 6.25% across the five years — notably, the charge doesn't step down until year three, so someone who needs to exit in year one or two faces the same 9% penalty either way. A market value adjustment also applies to withdrawals above the free amount, meaning the penalty can move with prevailing interest rates. RMDs are treated as penalty-free withdrawals even if they exceed the stated 10% limit, which is a meaningful liquidity relief for buyers using qualified money. This should still be treated as a 5-year commitment, not a source of near-term cash.

There's no disclosed explicit annual contract fee or rider fee in the available materials — cost here is embedded in the cap rates and participation rates rather than charged separately, which is standard for this product category. The real tradeoff is the cap rate itself: 4.75%-5.75% on the S&P 500 strategy is on the low end for a 5-year FIA, and that's the price of the bonus and the added strategy flexibility. The Extended Care Waiver and Terminal Illness Waiver add some contingency value at no separately disclosed cost, which is a genuine plus. State availability is also worth checking upfront — this product isn't approved in Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, or Wisconsin, and the bonus itself, along with the bailout feature and annual declared rate, is still pending approval in Florida, South Dakota, and South Carolina even where the base contract is available.

Legal Entity: Ibexis Life & Annuity Insurance Company

A.M. Best Rating: A-