Level Advantage 2 Advisory Principal Guarantee Death Benefit review

Yes, for the right buyer — specifically a fee-based advisory client who understands that a RILA sits between a fixed indexed annuity and a variable annuity on the risk spectrum. It is a good fit for someone who wants more upside than a fixed indexed annuity typically allows and is willing to accept some downside risk in exchange. It is a poor fit for anyone who hears "annuity" and assumes their principal is guaranteed, because with the buffer options it is not.

The main reason to buy this contract is tax-deferred, index-linked growth with a chosen level of downside protection inside a fee-based account. Because it is the advisory share class, there is no surrender period and no embedded commission, so the cost shows up as the advisor's fee rather than a withdrawal-charge schedule. A second reason is the death benefit: the optional Guarantee of Principal feature can ensure heirs receive at least the full amount invested regardless of how the market performed. For the right client this combination of growth potential, customizable protection, and a clean fee structure is the appeal.

I think this annuity is best for a fee-based advisory client, often in the accumulation or pre-retirement stage, who wants more growth potential than a fixed indexed annuity offers and can tolerate the partial downside risk that buffers leave in place. Because it can be issued from age 0 to 85, it can also serve as a tax-deferred legacy vehicle for an older buyer who values the optional principal-guarantee death benefit. It is less appropriate for a conservative buyer who cannot stomach any market loss, for someone who needs guaranteed lifetime income (there is no income rider), or for anyone who is not working through a fee-based advisor, since this is the advisory share class.

You are not buying a guaranteed annuity, and you are not buying the index directly. You are buying a structured contract that credits interest tied to an index's performance over a term, with the gain limited by a cap or other ceiling and the loss reduced — but usually not eliminated — by a protection level. The "advisory" part means the contract is built for fee-based accounts: no commission, no surrender charges. The "Principal Guarantee Death Benefit" part is an optional layer that protects what your heirs receive, not necessarily what you can walk away with while living. The real decision inside this product is the protection level you pick, because that single choice determines whether you have a true safety net or just a partial cushion.

The core feature is the structured crediting engine. At the start of a term you choose an index — the menu includes the S&P 500, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, the Capital Strength Net Fee Index, two Capital Group equity ETF strategies, and the First Trust American Leadership Index — and a crediting method such as Performance Cap, Performance Trigger, Dual Performance Trigger, or Term End Point. You then select a protection level: 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, or 100%.

The protection levels below 100% are buffers, not floors. A buffer absorbs losses only up to its size. With a 10% buffer, the contract absorbs the first 10% of an index decline, but any loss beyond that flows through to you — a 25% index drop becomes a roughly 15% loss to your account. The 100% protection level works differently: it is effectively a full floor that shields you from any index loss, but it comes with a much lower cap or limit on gains, because that complete protection has to be paid for somewhere. In exchange for whatever protection you choose, your upside is limited by the cap, trigger rate, or other term-end ceiling. The participation rate is listed at 100.00%, and caps range widely — roughly 7.75% on the most protected, shortest options up to very high figures on longer-term or higher-risk strategies. Those rates are effective as of the brochure date of March 5, 2026, and will reset on new terms.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the optional Guarantee of Principal death benefit. The base death benefit is already the greater of the full account value or premiums paid, adjusted for withdrawals. The optional guarantee goes further: it ensures beneficiaries receive at least the full amount invested regardless of market performance. For buyers age 0 to 75 this enhanced guarantee is included at no additional cost, which is unusually generous. For buyers age 76 to 85 it carries a 1.00% annual charge.

This matters because it directly addresses the biggest risk of owning a buffered annuity: dying in a down market after the buffer has been breached. Without the guarantee, a beneficiary could inherit less than was originally invested if the market fell hard. With it, the original investment is protected for heirs. For an older buyer using this as a legacy tool, that protection is the feature doing the real work — though a buyer in that 76-85 band should weigh the 1.00% annual cost against how likely the guarantee is to be needed.

Because this is the advisory share class, there is no surrender period and no withdrawal-charge schedule — the spec records zero surrender years, and there is no market value adjustment. That is a genuine liquidity advantage over commission-based RILAs, which typically lock you in for six years or more. Penalty-free withdrawals are available, and the only stated balance requirement is that you must leave at least $1,000 in the account.

The catch is structural rather than contractual. Withdrawals are taken first from the Holding Account, then from strategies with no downside risk, then from a one-year structured strategy, and finally from longer structured strategies. Pulling money out of a structured strategy mid-term triggers a daily value adjustment, which can be negative — so taking money out before a term ends can lock in a loss even though there is no formal surrender penalty. In practice, you have far more flexibility than a typical RILA, but you still want to time withdrawals around term ends rather than treat structured balances like a checking account. RMD treatment was not detailed in the available materials, so a buyer using qualified money should confirm how required distributions interact with the strategy terms.

The advisory structure means there is no commission and no surrender charge built into the contract; the cost the buyer pays is the advisor's separate management fee, which is not part of this product's pricing. The brochure does not specify a separate base-contract or mortality-and-expense charge, which is consistent with a fee-based RILA where the carrier's cost is built into the caps and protection-level pricing rather than an explicit account fee.

The one explicit product charge is the optional Guarantee of Principal death benefit at 1.00% annually, and only for buyers age 76 to 85 — it is free for ages 0 to 75. The more important tradeoff is not a fee at all but the relationship between protection and growth. Choosing a smaller buffer keeps more upside but leaves more downside; choosing the 100% floor removes downside but sharply cuts the cap. That is the real price of this product, and it is paid in foregone gains rather than in a line-item charge. Note that some of the indices on the menu are proprietary or "net fee" indices, which can carry embedded costs that quietly reduce credited results.

Legal Entity: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Lincoln Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A