Market Link Pro Advisory II (NY) review

Yes, for the right buyer. It is a good fit for a New York investor in a fee-based advisory relationship who wants index-linked growth with a defined cushion against losses and values being able to exit without a surrender penalty. It is a poor fit for anyone who wants full principal protection, guaranteed lifetime income, or a product they can buy directly without an advisor managing it.

The main reason to buy this is structured growth with a known floor on losses. You pick a buffer — 10% or 20% — and the insurer absorbs index declines up to that amount, so a moderate market drop doesn't fully reach your money. In return, you accept caps or participation limits on the upside instead of full market return. The second reason is flexibility: because this is the I-Share advisory version, there is no surrender schedule locking you in, which is unusual for a structured annuity and makes it easier for an advisor to manage as part of a broader portfolio.

I think this is best for a New York resident, likely mid-50s to mid-70s, who already pays an advisor a management fee and wants a tax-deferred sleeve with defined-risk index exposure. It works for both qualified money (it supports IRA, Roth IRA, 403(b), and inherited accounts) and non-qualified money. It is less attractive for a do-it-yourself buyer, for anyone who can't stomach the possibility of losing principal beyond the buffer, or for someone whose real goal is a guaranteed income stream — there is no income rider here at all.

You are not buying the stock market, and you are not buying full principal protection. You are buying a contract that ties your interest to an index over a chosen term, with two dials set in advance: a buffer that absorbs the first slice of any loss, and a cap or participation rate that limits how much of the gain you keep. If the S&P 500 falls 8% and you hold a 10% buffer, you lose nothing; if it falls 25%, the buffer eats the first 10% and you absorb the remaining 15%. The "Advisory II" and "I-Share" labels simply mean this is the no-commission, no-surrender version designed to sit inside a fee-based advisory account, where your advisor's fee is billed against the contract rather than paid as an upfront commission.

The core feature is the menu of crediting strategies you allocate across. There are four basic shapes: an annual point-to-point with a cap (per the materials, a 20% cap on the S&P 500 with a 10% buffer, with a guaranteed minimum cap of 4%), term-end-point strategies over 3 or 6 years that use a participation rate (the materials cite a 100%-145% range depending on index and term), and an annual performance-triggered strategy that pays a flat declared rate whenever the index is flat or positive (cited around 11.70% on the S&P 500 with a 10% buffer). You choose the index — S&P 500, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, MSCI Emerging Markets, or the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index — and the buffer, either 10% or 20%. The specific rates shown are snapshots from materials dated December 22, 2025, and will reset; the structure is what matters, not the exact numbers. You can reallocate at the end of each term.

The second feature worth understanding is the daily adjustment, sometimes called an interim value adjustment. Because there is no surrender charge, this is the mechanism that actually governs what happens if you take money out before a term ends. Jackson revalues your index account daily based on the term's progress and current conditions, and that adjustment can be positive or negative. A performance lock is available intra-term on most strategies (not on the performance-triggered option), letting you lock a gain before the term completes. This matters because the absence of a surrender schedule can create a false sense of full liquidity — the daily adjustment is the real cost of leaving early.

There is no surrender period and no withdrawal-charge schedule on this contract — you can withdraw all or any portion at any time without a surrender penalty. That is the headline liquidity feature and a genuine advantage over commission-based structured annuities. The qualifier is the interim value adjustment: any withdrawal from an index account before that account's term ends is repriced by the daily adjustment, which can reduce what you receive. Money in the fixed account (current rate cited at 3.00% in the materials) is not subject to that adjustment. The contract is RMD-friendly, which matters for the qualified-money buyers it's aimed at. There is no market value adjustment in the traditional surrender sense — the daily adjustment plays that role here.

Jackson charges no M&E fee, no product fee, no administration charge, and no annual contract fee on this contract — genuinely clean on the product side. The fee that does matter is the advisor's: because this is the I-Share advisory version, your investment advisor's management fee is deducted from the contract and is itself subject to the daily adjustment, which quietly reduces the structured return you'd otherwise see. The structural tradeoffs are the ones inherent to any RILA: the buffer protects only the first 10% or 20% of a loss, so a severe market decline can still cost you principal, and your upside is limited by the cap or participation rate. The guaranteed minimum cap of 4% on the annual point-to-point strategy is a modest backstop if rates fall.

Legal Entity: Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York

Parent: Jackson National Group

A.M. Best Rating: A