Level Advantage 2 Access Principal Guarantee Death Benefit review

It depends on how you feel about losing money. Yes, this is a good annuity for someone who wants more growth potential than a fixed indexed annuity, accepts that a buffer or floor only absorbs part of a market loss, and places real value on a death benefit that protects beneficiaries. It is a poor fit for someone who hears "annuity" and assumes their principal cannot drop. A RILA is not principal-protected during the term — only the death benefit, when elected, carries the return-of-premium guarantee.

The main reason to buy this version is to combine structured equity-linked upside with a death benefit that will not pay heirs less than you contributed. Someone in this position likes the idea of capturing part of a market rally while having a buffer or floor limit the downside, but they also do not want their family to inherit a contract that has dropped below what they paid in. The Principal Guarantee death benefit is the feature that turns a pure accumulation RILA into something a legacy-minded buyer can consider. I think that overlap — growth potential plus a floor for heirs — is the honest reason this specific variant exists.

This is best for someone roughly in their late 50s to mid-70s who has long-term money, understands market risk, and wants a middle ground between a fixed indexed annuity and direct market exposure. It suits a buyer who is comfortable choosing among buffer and floor strategies and who cares about what beneficiaries receive. It is less appropriate for a conservative buyer who cannot stomach any account loss, for someone who needs frequent access to large sums, or for anyone shopping primarily for guaranteed lifetime income — this contract has no income rider at all.

You are not buying a stock investment, and you are not buying a fully protected annuity either. You are buying a structured insurance contract that links your credited return to an index using a defined-risk formula. Each strategy comes with a buffer or a floor that determines how much of a market loss the insurer absorbs and how much you keep. On the upside, your return is shaped by a cap or participation rate. The death benefit, when you elect the Principal Guarantee version, sits on top of that and promises your beneficiaries the greater of account value or premiums paid, adjusted for withdrawals. So the real purchase is risk management — partial downside cushioning during life, and a return-of-premium floor at death.

The core of the product is structured crediting using "Losses Covered Up To" buffer and floor levels, applied with Annual Point-to-Point crediting. A buffer means the insurer absorbs losses up to a stated level — for example, a 10% buffer absorbs the first 10% of a decline, and you take the rest. A floor works the other way: it caps your maximum loss at a stated level, so a 10% floor means you cannot lose more than 10% no matter how far the index falls. The spec lists buffer/floor levels ranging from 10.00% to 25.00% across the strategy menu, and indices including the S&P 500, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, the Capital Strength Net Fee Index, several Capital Group ETFs, the First Trust American Leadership Index, and actively managed options. Your upside on each strategy is governed by a cap or 100% participation, with caps in the spec ranging from 5.75% all the way to 100% depending on the strategy and term. That range is unusually wide, so the credited return you actually get depends heavily on which buffer/floor and which index you choose — these are March 5, 2026 figures and they reset, so anyone shopping this should get the current rate sheet for the specific strategies they intend to use.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the Guarantee of Principal death benefit. For ages 0-75, the standard death benefit is the greater of full account value or premiums paid, adjusted for withdrawals — so even if a structured strategy has lost value when the owner dies, beneficiaries receive at least the original premium back. For ages 76 and up, the spec indicates a Return of Premium death benefit may be purchased instead. This matters because a RILA can be sitting at a loss at the moment of death, and without this feature heirs would simply inherit that reduced account value. The tradeoff worth naming: the spec does not list an explicit fee for the death benefit, but on most RILA platforms electing a principal-guarantee death benefit lowers the caps on your crediting strategies. In other words, you usually pay for it through reduced upside rather than a visible charge, so confirm exactly what the elected version does to your rate sheet before assuming it is "free."

This is a 6-year commitment, and you should treat it that way. The contract allows penalty-free withdrawals of up to 10% of account value each year, with a requirement that at least $1,000 stays in the account. Withdrawals are taken first from the Holding Account, then from strategies with no downside risk, then from the structured strategies — which is sensible sequencing, because pulling money out of a structured strategy mid-term can lock in interim losses and forfeit upside. Amounts above the free withdrawal during the surrender period are subject to the declining charge schedule below. The spec indicates no market value adjustment applies, which is a point in this contract's favor relative to many fixed and indexed products. Required minimum distributions are treated as RMD-friendly per the spec, though anyone relying on that should confirm whether RMDs above the 10% free amount avoid charges. Even so, this is long-term money, not an emergency reserve.

The spec lists no explicit base contract fee and no explicit fee for the indexed account options, which is typical for a RILA — the insurer's compensation is built into the cap and buffer/floor terms rather than charged as a visible percentage. There is no income rider here, so there is no rider fee to weigh. The real costs are structural. First, you can lose money: a buffer only absorbs part of a loss, and a floor only limits how far you fall. Second, your upside is capped or participation-limited, and with caps ranging as low as 5.75% on some strategies, the less aggressive options can credit modestly. Third, the death benefit you are paying attention to here is generally funded by lower caps rather than a stated fee, so the cost is real but indirect. And fourth, the 6-year surrender schedule plus the requirement to leave money in the strategies until term means you should not buy this expecting flexible access to the full balance.

Legal Entity: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Lincoln Financial Group

AM Best Rating: A