Level Advantage 2 B-Share review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a well-constructed RILA from a strong national carrier, with a wider index menu and a broader protection range than many competitors offer in the same surrender band. It is less appealing for someone who wants a guaranteed lifetime income stream, wants full principal protection at all times without giving up upside, or expects to need more than 10% of their money each year. For an accumulation-focused buyer who understands the buffer-and-floor tradeoff and can leave the money in place for six years, it is a strong option.

The main reason to buy this annuity is to participate in index gains while limiting — not eliminating — your downside. A traditional fixed annuity protects all of your principal but credits modest interest. A variable annuity gives you full market exposure with full market risk. A RILA like this one sits between the two: you absorb losses up to your chosen protection level, the contract absorbs the rest depending on the strategy, and your upside is shaped by a cap or participation rate. Someone picks this product when they want more growth potential than a fixed annuity offers but are not willing to take on unprotected market risk, and when they do not need an income rider they would otherwise pay for indirectly.

I think this annuity is best for someone roughly in their 40s through early 60s who has money they can lock up for six years, wants more upside than a fixed annuity provides, and is comfortable accepting partial downside risk in return. It works for both qualified and non-qualified money, and the 100% floor option makes it usable even for a more conservative buyer who wants index participation with no risk to principal over the term. It is a poor fit for someone who needs liquidity above 10% per year, wants guaranteed lifetime income, or does not understand that a buffer is not the same thing as full protection.

You are not buying direct stock-market participation. You are buying a structured insurance contract where your index-linked return is shaped by a protection level, a cap or participation rate, and a crediting method. The single most important concept to understand is the difference between a buffer and a floor, because Level Advantage 2 offers both.

A **buffer** means the contract absorbs the first portion of index losses. In a 10% buffer strategy, if the index falls 8% you lose nothing; if it falls 25%, you lose the 15% beyond the buffer. A buffer protects you from smaller declines but not from severe ones.

A **floor** works the opposite way. A floor sets the maximum you can lose. In a 100% floor strategy, you cannot lose any principal over the term no matter how far the index drops — the floor caps your downside completely. The tradeoff is that the more protection you choose, the lower your cap or participation rate is likely to be.

Both structures limit upside. That is how the protection is paid for — through the crediting terms rather than an explicit fee. Knowing which structure you are in, and at what protection level, is what shapes a realistic expectation of this contract.

Level Advantage 2 lets you allocate among several crediting methods across multiple indices, and choose a protection level for each. The spec lists protection levels of 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, and 100% — the lower numbers behave as buffers, while the 100% level is a full floor that protects the entire term.

The **Annual Point-to-Point with Protection Levels** strategy measures index performance from one contract anniversary to the next, applies your chosen protection level on the downside, and credits index gains up to a cap or participation rate.

The **Annual Point-to-Point with Performance Cap** strategy works similarly but emphasizes a stated cap on the year's gain.

The **Dual Performance Trigger** and **Performance Triggered** methods credit a declared rate when the index meets a condition — typically flat or positive — regardless of how much the index actually gained. The dual variant can credit even when the index is modestly negative, depending on terms.

The **Term End Point** strategy measures over the full multi-year term rather than annually, applying a cap or participation rate over that longer horizon, which suits a buyer who wants to match the strategy to the six-year surrender period.

The spec notes that annual-lock strategies carry guaranteed rates for the six-year term, while the specific caps and participation rates are declared by Lincoln at its discretion. Current cap and participation figures were not available in the spec — they are listed as low-confidence — so the exact crediting terms should be confirmed on Lincoln's current rate sheet before applying. Rates referenced in the source materials were effective March 5, 2026.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the breadth of the index menu. Level Advantage 2 spans the S&P 500, Russell 2000, Capital Strength Index, First Trust American Leadership Index, the Capital Group Global Growth Equity ETF, the Capital Group Growth ETF, and MSCI EAFE. That mix gives you domestic large-cap, small-cap, international developed-market, and rules-based options inside one contract — a wider selection than many RILAs offer.

The practical benefit is that you can spread allocations across different market segments and crediting styles, rather than betting everything on one index. The tradeoff is complexity. More choices mean more decisions at each renewal, and some of the specialty and ETF-linked options carry their own embedded index costs that quietly reduce how much of the index move feeds into your credited return.

This annuity is built for money you will not need for six years, not for emergency cash. You can withdraw up to 10% of the current contract value each year without a surrender charge, with the requirement that at least $1,000 remains in the account. Amounts above that 10% are subject to the surrender schedule below, which runs from 7% in the first two years down to 3% in year six.

Unlike some sibling versions of this platform, the spec indicates that a market value adjustment does not apply to this contract — a meaningful point in the buyer's favor, since an MVA can otherwise swing the surrender amount with interest rates. There are also penalty-free access provisions if you are admitted to an accredited nursing home for 90 or more consecutive days, or are diagnosed with a terminal illness after the contract date.

One nuance worth flagging: pulling money out of a structured strategy mid-term is not the same as withdrawing from a fixed account. RILA structured strategies typically apply an interim value calculation, so the amount available before the term ends can be higher or lower than the premium you put in depending on market conditions at that moment. If you might need to touch this money early, both timing and market level matter.

One of the cleaner aspects of this RILA is the absence of explicit ongoing fees. The spec shows no base contract fee, no mortality-and-expense charge, and no administration charge. That is standard for the structure: the cost of the downside protection and Lincoln's margin are built into the caps and participation rates rather than billed as a separate line item.

That does not make it free. The real cost is the ceiling on your upside. In a strong year, a capped strategy can credit meaningfully less than the index actually returned, and the more downside protection you choose, the lower that ceiling tends to be. A 100% floor in particular usually comes with a notably lower cap than a 10% buffer, because you are buying full protection.

The standard death benefit is the account value at no cost. Buyers can optionally add a Guarantee of Principal death benefit, which pays beneficiaries at least the full amount invested adjusted for withdrawals; for issue ages 76-85 that option carries a 1.00% cost, while for ages 0-75 the spec shows no listed cost. That is an enhanced death benefit rather than an income feature, and it is the only place a meaningful optional fee appears.

Legal Entity: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Lincoln Financial Group

AM Best Rating: A