Level Advantage 2 Advisory Select review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for a fee-based advisory client who wants index-linked growth potential with a defined buffer against losses and understands that some downside risk remains. It is less appealing for someone who wants guaranteed principal protection, lifetime income, or the ability to pull large amounts of money out in the first several years. If you cannot tolerate any loss of principal, a RILA is the wrong category entirely.

The main reason to buy this is accumulation with a partial safety net. You get exposure to index performance with caps and participation rates that are generally higher than what a fully protected FIA offers, because you are absorbing some of the downside yourself. The secondary reason is the share class itself. Because this is the Advisory Select version, there is no commission built into the product, which is what allows the contract to carry no explicit M&E or product fee. For a client who is already paying a fee-based advisor, that structure can be cleaner than a commission product.

I think this is best for a buyer in their 50s or 60s, working with a fee-based or fiduciary advisor, who has retirement dollars they want to grow with defined risk over roughly a six-year window and does not need to touch most of the money during that time. It fits both qualified and non-qualified accounts. It is least attractive for someone who wants zero risk to principal, someone shopping primarily for guaranteed lifetime income, or someone in a commission relationship who would be steered to the base Level Advantage 2 product instead.

You are not buying a fixed indexed annuity, and you are not buying a mutual fund. You are buying a registered index-linked annuity, which sits in between. The contract tracks an index, but it does not hold the index. Instead, at the end of each term it applies a formula: it credits gains up to a cap or at a participation rate, and it absorbs losses only down to a stated buffer or floor. Below that protection level, the loss is yours. That is the defining feature of a RILA and the single most important thing to understand before buying one. The "Advisory Select" label means this is the fee-based version, designed to be held inside an advisory account where the advisor charges a separate asset-based fee rather than earning a commission from the insurer.

The headline feature is structured crediting with buffers and floors. A buffer absorbs the first slice of loss. If you choose a 10% buffer and the index drops 8%, you lose nothing; if it drops 25%, the buffer eats the first 10% and you absorb the remaining 15%. A larger buffer (the contract offers 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%, plus a 100% option that protects fully) gives more protection but typically comes with a lower cap. A floor works the opposite way: it caps your maximum loss at a set level, so a 10% floor means you can never lose more than 10% regardless of how far the index falls.

On top of that, you choose a crediting method and term. The contract offers annual point-to-point and term-end point-to-point strategies with buffer or floor protection, plus performance-triggered and dual performance-triggered strategies that credit a preset amount when the index is flat or positive. Terms run from one to six years across indices including the S&P 500, the Nasdaq-100, two Capital Group ETFs, and the Capital Strength Net Fee Index. Caps and participation rates vary widely by strategy and were quoted in a broad range in the available materials (caps from roughly 8% up to 250% on longer terms, participation generally 100% with some strategies running 101% to 115%). Those are snapshots, not guarantees, and they reset each term, so ask for the current rate sheet before allocating.

The most meaningful secondary feature is Secure Lock+. Within a term, this lets you lock in the index performance credited to a strategy before the term actually ends, converting an unrealized gain into a credited one. The reason this matters is that RILA crediting is normally measured only at the end of the term, so a strong gain mid-term can evaporate if the index falls back before the measurement date. Secure Lock+ gives you a way to capture that gain and step out of further market movement. It is a genuine flexibility feature, but it is one you have to actively use, and locking early means giving up any further upside in that term.

This is a six-year commitment, not a savings account. The contract allows penalty-free withdrawals of up to 10% of account value each year, as long as you leave at least $1,000 in the contract. Anything above that during the surrender period is subject to the declining charge schedule below, plus a market value adjustment (MVA), which means your surrender cost also moves with interest rates and can add to or reduce the penalty depending on the rate environment.

There is an extra wrinkle specific to RILAs: if you withdraw from a structured strategy mid-term, the value is subject to a daily interim adjustment, which can be negative even when the index is up. So early or partial withdrawals from a structured strategy can cost you more than the surrender charge alone suggests. The death benefit is the greater of account value or premiums paid, which gives heirs a floor on what was contributed. None of this changes the basic point: this contract is for money you can leave alone for the full term.

The contract itself carries no explicit product fee, no mortality and expense charge, and no administration charge. That is real, but it should not be read as "no cost." Because this is the Advisory Select share class, the cost shows up as the separate advisory fee your fee-based advisor charges on the account, which is billed outside the contract. The base, commission-paying version of Level Advantage 2 bakes its distribution cost into the product instead. So the honest framing is that you are trading a commission for an ongoing advisory fee, not avoiding cost altogether.

The structural tradeoffs are the bigger story. Your upside is limited by caps and participation rates, and your downside is only partially protected by the buffer or floor you choose. A bigger buffer means a lower cap. The performance-triggered strategies can lag in strong markets because they credit a fixed amount rather than the full index gain. And the interim value adjustment on early withdrawals from structured strategies can surprise people who treat the contract as more liquid than it is.

Legal Entity: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Lincoln Financial Group

AM Best Rating: A

Lincoln National is a large, established annuity carrier, and Level Advantage is its long-running RILA platform. The Advisory Select version is the fee-based share class of that platform, built for distribution through advisory accounts rather than commission-based sales.