Level Advantage 2 Advisory review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for a fee-based advisory client who wants index-linked growth with a defined cushion against losses and values not being locked into a surrender schedule. It is not a good fit for someone who wants true principal protection, guaranteed lifetime income, or a simple product they can understand at a glance, because a RILA is a risk product and this one has a lot of moving parts.

The main reason to buy Level Advantage 2 Advisory is to capture more index upside than a fixed indexed annuity typically allows, while still putting a floor or buffer under part of your downside. The secondary reason is structural flexibility: no surrender period, a wide menu of indices and terms, and the ability to lock in results mid-term with Secure Lock+. In practice, this is the kind of contract an advisor uses inside a managed, fee-based account when a client wants equity exposure with guardrails rather than the full risk of being directly in the market.

I think Level Advantage 2 Advisory is best for someone working with a fee-based advisor, in either a qualified or non-qualified account, who has long-term money, understands they can still lose principal, and wants to define how much downside they are willing to absorb. It suits a buyer who values liquidity and flexibility over a hard guarantee. It is less appealing for conservative buyers who assume "annuity" means their principal is safe, for anyone who needs guaranteed income, and for self-directed buyers who do not have an advisor managing the strategy choices.

You are not buying a guaranteed annuity, and you are not buying direct stock ownership. You are buying a contract where Lincoln links your return to an index for a set term, caps your upside, and absorbs a defined slice of your downside through a buffer or a floor. A buffer means Lincoln absorbs the first portion of a loss, for example the first 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, or 30%, and you absorb losses beyond that. A floor works the opposite way: you absorb losses down to a set point and Lincoln protects everything below it, including the 100% floor option that protects against all loss for a given term. The real product here is a tradeoff you are choosing: more upside than an FIA, in exchange for accepting some measured market risk.

The core of this contract is the structured crediting strategy. You allocate premium across one or more indexed accounts, each defined by three choices: the index, the term length, and the protection level. The indices available include the S&P 500, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, Capital Strength Index, Capital Group Global Growth Equity ETF, Capital Group Growth ETF, and the First Trust American Leadership Index. Terms run annually, three years, and six years. Protection levels include buffers of 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%, plus a 100% floor option.

Each strategy then defines how upside is credited. Annual Point-to-Point credits index growth up to a cap. The Performance Trigger and Dual Performance Trigger pay a fixed declared rate if the index is flat or up, with the dual version also paying a set rate within a defined down range. Term End Point measures growth over the full multi-year term, and Annual Lock measures and resets each year within a multi-year term. According to the rate sheet effective March 5, 2026, caps and trigger rates range widely, roughly 8% on the most protected short strategies up to several hundred percent on the longest-term, participation-style options, because higher protection and shorter terms generally come with lower caps. Because these terms change at each renewal, the specific numbers matter less than understanding that more protection usually costs you upside.

The most meaningful secondary feature is Secure Lock+. It lets you lock in the current performance of a structured strategy on any business day before the term ends, with no explicit charge. If your index account is up and you are worried about giving the gain back, you can lock the credited value and stop participating further. You can also use it to limit a developing loss. This is genuinely useful in a RILA, where mid-term swings are common and the term-end value is what counts.

The catch is that locking is a one-time, irreversible decision per term, and once locked you give up any further upside for the rest of that term. It is a tool that rewards attention and discipline, which is part of why an advisor-managed structure makes sense for this product. It also means the headline cap is a ceiling on potential, not a promise, and a locked value can be lower than what a patient holder might have earned.

This is one of the cleaner parts of the contract. As an advisory-share product, Level Advantage 2 Advisory has no surrender period and no market value adjustment, so you are not penalized for accessing your money. You must simply leave at least $1,000 in the account to keep the contract in force. That is meaningfully more flexible than a typical RILA, which usually carries a five- or six-year surrender schedule.

The important caveat is structural, not contractual. Withdrawals taken from a structured strategy before its term ends are subject to a daily value adjustment, called an interim value, that can reduce what you receive and may produce a negative impact on the term-end value. So while there is no surrender charge, taking money mid-term out of a structured account can still cost you. As a tax-deferred annuity, withdrawals before age 59-and-a-half may face a 10% IRS penalty, and required minimum distributions apply in qualified accounts in the usual way.

The fee story here has two layers. The contract itself does not disclose an explicit base contract charge or rider fee in the available materials, and the Secure Lock+ feature carries no explicit cost. The real cost in any structured annuity is implicit: it is built into the caps, the trigger rates, and the participation terms Lincoln offers. A lower cap is how the insurer pays for the buffer or floor protecting your downside.

The second layer is specific to the advisory version. As a fee-based contract, this product is designed to sit inside an advisory account, and your advisor charges a separate asset-based advisory fee, which the contract permits to be deducted from the annuity. That fee is on top of the implicit cost in the crediting terms, and it directly reduces your account value and your net return. The tradeoff to weigh is whether the advisory management justifies that ongoing fee. The biggest tradeoff of all is the one that defines a RILA: the buffers and floors reduce losses but do not remove them, so in a sharp market decline you can still lose principal beyond the protected amount.

Legal Entity: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Lincoln Financial Group

AM Best Rating: A

Lincoln Financial Group is a large, long-established carrier, and its Level Advantage line is one of the more widely distributed RILA platforms in the market. An AM Best rating of A signals a strong but not top-of-scale financial strength assessment, which is worth keeping in view since a structured annuity's protection is only as good as the insurer backing it.