Income Assurance 10 review

It depends on what you want it to do. As an income product, yes — for a buyer who is several years from needing income, wants a guaranteed lifetime paycheck, and values principal protection along the way, this is a good annuity with a clear purpose. As an accumulation product, no — the crediting terms are deliberately modest because the contract is designed to fund income guarantees first. The honest answer is that the rating only holds if you actually intend to use the income rider you are required to pay for.

The main reason to buy Income Assurance 10 is to create a guaranteed stream of lifetime income that you can switch on years from now, with the size of that income locked into a growing formula today. The 8% compound roll-up means the Benefit Base — the figure your eventual income is calculated from — climbs predictably whether or not the index strategies do well, and the 30% first-year bonus gives that base a meaningful head start. A buyer who knows they want income but wants the larger payout that comes from waiting will find this structure does the deferral math for them. The principal protection and no-charge care waiver are reasons it appeals to conservative retirement savers specifically.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the roughly 58-to-72 range who is planning ahead for retirement income, expects to defer withdrawals for several years before turning income on, and wants a single contract that protects principal and guarantees a paycheck for life. The 8% roll-up rewards patience, so it suits a buyer who can leave the money alone. It works for both qualified and non-qualified money, and the RMD-friendly withdrawal treatment makes it reasonable inside an IRA. It is a poor fit for someone who wants maximum growth, someone who may need substantial access to principal above the free amount, anyone unsure whether they will ever activate income, or a younger buyer with a long runway who would do better in an accumulation-first contract. It is also not available in New York.

You are not really buying stock market exposure. You are buying a lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity, and the most important number in the contract is not your account value — it is your Benefit Base. The Benefit Base is a separate, formula-driven figure used only to calculate your future guaranteed income; you cannot withdraw it as a lump sum. That base equals the greater of two paths: your first-year premium plus a 30% bonus, or your premiums grown at 8% compounded for ten years. Whichever is larger becomes the foundation for your lifetime withdrawal. The index strategies on your actual account value matter for things like death benefit and leftover cash, but the headline you are paying 1.10% a year to secure is that guaranteed income number, not market growth.

The headline feature is the built-in lifetime withdrawal rider, and it works through the Benefit Base described above. Before you turn income on, that base grows in one of two ways, and the contract pays you whichever is larger. The first path is a 30% bonus applied to all premium paid in the first contract year — so $100,000 of first-year premium would establish a $130,000 starting base. The second path is an 8% compound roll-up applied for up to ten years, or until you start income, whichever comes first. Eight percent compounded for a decade roughly doubles the base, so for a buyer who actually waits the full deferral window, the roll-up path will usually outrun the upfront bonus. Once you activate income, your age and whether you choose single or joint life determine the withdrawal percentage applied to that final base, and that payment is guaranteed for life even if the account value eventually runs to zero. The fee for all of this is 1.10% of the Benefit Base each year, deducted from the account value, and it is mandatory — you cannot drop the rider.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the included care waiver — Jackson calls it the Extended Care Waiver and Terminal Illness Waiver — which comes at no additional charge. If you face a qualifying extended-care need or a terminal illness, this lets you access contract value without the usual surrender charges, subject to state rules and contract terms. That matters on a long 10-year product because it gives you a defined escape hatch for exactly the kind of late-in-life event that often forces people to break an annuity early. It does not turn the contract into liquid cash, but it removes one of the sharper risks of committing money for a decade.

The crediting menu is a more limited secondary story. On the account value, you choose among an S&P 500 annual point-to-point with a cap, an S&P 500 performance-triggered strategy, and a fixed account. As of the August 25, 2025 rate sheet, the cap was 4.75% (with a 3.05% guaranteed minimum), the performance-triggered rate was 4.40% if the index is flat or positive, and the fixed account paid 2.65%. These are modest figures by FIA standards, which is expected — the contract is engineered to fund income guarantees first, not to maximize growth. Rates can and do change, so confirm the current sheet before buying.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash needs. You can take up to 10% of the accumulation value free of charge each contract year (in year one, that 10% is measured against initial and additional premium). Anything above that during the surrender period is subject to a withdrawal charge that starts at 9% and steps down over ten years before reaching zero in year eleven. On top of that, a market value adjustment — an MVA, meaning your effective penalty moves with interest rates and can add to or subtract from the charge — may apply to withdrawals and annuitizations during the charge period.

There are two helpful relief points. First, the contract is RMD-friendly: required minimum distributions on a qualified contract can be taken free of withdrawal charges and the MVA even when they exceed the 10% free amount, which makes it workable inside an IRA. Second, the care and terminal-illness waivers described above provide additional access in qualifying situations. One thing to note: unused free-withdrawal amounts do not carry forward to later years. Even with these provisions, a 10-year surrender schedule that opens at 9% is a serious commitment — this is not money you should plan to touch.

The fee picture here is simpler than many income annuities, but it has one catch worth understanding. There is no annual contract fee, no mortality-and-expense charge, and no separate administration fee. The one explicit cost is the income rider: 1.10% of the Benefit Base each year, deducted from your account value, for single or joint life. The trade is direct — that 1.10% buys you the 8% roll-up and the lifetime income guarantee, which is only worth paying for if you actually turn income on. If you bought this contract and then never activated income, you would be paying a rider fee for a benefit you never used, which is the single biggest way to misuse this product.

The catch is escalation. Because the fee is charged on the Benefit Base rather than the account value, and that base grows at 8% a year, the dollar cost of the rider rises every year you defer. Jackson also reserves the right to increase the charge on each fifth contract anniversary by up to 0.40%, with a contractual maximum of 3.00%. And the rider cannot be terminated at your request — once you are in, the fee is for the life of the contract. Beyond the fee, the structural tradeoff is the modest crediting menu and the long surrender-plus-MVA lockup.

Legal Entity: Jackson National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Jackson National Group

A.M. Best Rating: A