JourneyMark with Expanse Rider review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for someone who wants protected lifetime income, has a multi-year window before they need to draw, and likes that the income growth is linked to the contract's actual crediting rather than a flat number. It is less appealing for someone who wants short-term liquidity, a guaranteed roll-up they can count on regardless of markets, or the simplest possible income annuity.

The main reason to buy JourneyMark with the Expanse Rider is to build future protected lifetime income while keeping principal shielded from market losses. The 10% benefit-base bonus on first-year premium gives the income calculation a running start, and the 200% multiplier means every dollar of credited interest does double duty toward the Benefit Base. For a buyer who believes the chosen indices will perform reasonably over a 15-year accumulation window, that participation-linked design can produce a larger income base than a low single-digit guaranteed roll-up would. The income doubler for chronic-illness situations is a meaningful secondary draw.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window — roughly ages 55 to 70 — who wants to use long-term money to create income they'll activate later, can leave the contract alone through the surrender period, and is comfortable that their income growth depends partly on index performance. Note the rider's minimum income commencement age is 60, so this isn't built for someone who needs to start drawing immediately. It fits both qualified and non-qualified money. It is less attractive for someone who wants guaranteed income-base growth, needs frequent access to principal above the free amount, or wants to begin lifetime withdrawals right away.

You are not buying stock market upside. You are buying a future income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity. Premiums build an Account Value that earns indexed or fixed interest, but the part that matters for income is a separate Benefit Base — a bookkeeping figure used only to calculate your lifetime payments, not a number you can cash out. The Expanse Rider grows that Benefit Base two ways: a 10% bonus on first-year premiums, and a 200% multiplier applied to whatever interest the contract credits each year, compounding over a 15-year accumulation period. When you eventually turn income on, your age and the Benefit Base determine the payment. The Account Value is what your beneficiaries and your free withdrawals draw from; the Benefit Base is what your lifetime check is built on.

The Expanse Rider is optional, but it's the reason to consider this contract, and once elected it cannot be terminated. It starts by adding a 10% bonus to the Benefit Base on all first-year premiums. That bonus only pays off if you actually take income under the guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit — it's a benefit-base figure, not cash added to your Account Value, so you can't surrender the contract and walk away with it.

From there, the rider applies a 200% multiplier (up to 25% per year) to the fixed and indexed interest credited to the contract, adding that to the Benefit Base on a compounding basis over a 15-year accumulation period. In plain terms, if the contract credits 5% of interest in a given year, roughly 10% gets added to the Benefit Base. The catch is right there in the mechanics: if the indices are flat, there's little or no interest to multiply, so the Benefit Base growth stalls. There is no automatic step-up and no guaranteed minimum roll-up percentage — this is participation-driven growth, which is the central tradeoff versus competitors that promise a flat 7% or 8% roll-up regardless of markets.

When you commence income (minimum age 60), you choose between two payout styles. Option 1 provides fixed, predictable payments. Option 2 starts lower but can rise each year by 100% of the interest credited, giving you inflation-style upside in exchange for a lower starting check. Spousal continuation is available.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the income doubler built into the Expanse Rider for chronic-illness situations. If you become unable to perform certain activities of daily living, your lifetime payment can be enhanced — effectively doubled — for a period, with no separate rider charge beyond the Expanse fee you're already paying. For a retiree worried about care costs, that turns the income rider into partial care-cost protection without buying a standalone long-term-care product.

The crediting menu is the other point worth noting. Beyond the S&P 500, the contract offers the Goldman Sachs Mariner and Citi Flexi-Beta 5 Excess Return indices across annual point-to-point, biennial term-end, and a five-year term-end with quarterly high-water-mark crediting, plus a fixed account. The higher participation rates on the specialty indices (the brochure shows figures well above 100%) look large, but these are volatility-controlled indices designed to move less than the raw S&P, so a high participation rate on a quieter index is not the same as a high cap on the S&P 500. Treat those numbers as structure, not a promise.

This is a long-term contract, not a place for money you might need soon. After the first year, you can withdraw up to 10% of Account Value annually without a surrender charge. Anything above that during the 10-year schedule is subject to surrender charges starting at 9% and a Market Value Adjustment — an MVA, meaning your penalty also moves with interest rates, and can run higher or lower than the stated charge depending on where rates have gone since you bought.

There are relief provisions: surrender-charge waivers are available for terminal illness and confinement, and required minimum distributions are accommodated within the contract. Keep in mind that withdrawals taken before you commence income reduce the Benefit Base on a pro rata basis — so dipping into the contract early doesn't just shrink your Account Value, it shrinks the figure your future income is calculated from. That makes early withdrawals doubly costly if income is the goal.

The main fee is the Expanse Rider charge: 1.00% currently, with a 1.50% maximum, deducted annually from the Benefit Base. That's a typical income-rider price, and it buys you the bonus, the multiplier roll-up, the two payout options, and the income doubler. Whether it's worth it depends entirely on whether you actually turn income on — if you elect the rider and then surrender or annuitize a different way, you've paid for guarantees you never used, and the rider can't be cancelled once elected.

The base indexed chassis itself doesn't carry a separate explicit product fee; the tradeoffs there are structural — caps and participation rates limit upside, and the specialty indices have volatility controls that temper how much index movement reaches your account. The honest read on this product is that the rider fee is reasonable, but the value of the roll-up is contingent. You're paying a fixed 1.00% for income growth that is not itself guaranteed.

Legal Entity: Integrity Life Insurance Company

Parent: Western & Southern Financial Group

AM Best Rating: A+