American Landmark 5 review

What you give up for that protection is upside and access: the credit on any given strategy is limited by a cap, participation rate, or spread, and the money is under a surrender charge for 5 years.

Its 1 Year S&P 500 Annual Point-to-Point with Cap account caps at 8.00% — one of 18 crediting accounts on the contract. The full menu, with every account's own cap, participation rate, or spread, is in the table below.

A fixed indexed annuity works by measuring an index's return over a set period and applying a crediting formula to decide how much of it you keep. A cap sets a ceiling on the credit; a participation rate credits a percentage of the index's gain; a spread subtracts a fixed amount before crediting the rest. None of it is direct market ownership, and none of these formulas can produce a negative credit — the worst a crediting period can do is pay zero. The guarantee behind all of it is a contractual obligation of MassMutual Ascend Life Insurance Company, backed by the company's own reserves, not by the FDIC and not by any bank.

Beyond the point-to-point accounts, this menu also includes Performance Triggered strategy. Those measure the index a different way than a simple annual cap does, so we're not going to summarize the mechanics here — the account table below states each one's own terms as ARW carries them.

The contract allows 10% out each year without a surrender charge. Beyond that allowance, a withdrawal during the surrender period is reduced by the charge for that contract year — on top of whatever the index accounts did or didn't earn.

The surrender charge starts at 9% in year 1 and steps down to 5% in year 5; the full schedule is in the table below. Those percentages come off the amount you withdraw, which is why an early exit can return less than you put in even in a year the index accounts credited something.

This contract also carries a market value adjustment. On top of the surrender charge, an early withdrawal is adjusted up or down depending on how interest rates have moved since the contract was issued — if rates have risen, the adjustment works against you. It applies only to withdrawals above the free amount during the surrender period.

The Legacy Ascender Death Benefit carries a charge of 0.95% , and it is optional — declining it removes both the benefit and the charge. That charge buys the rider's benefit; it does not raise the credit on any index account.

The real tradeoffs on a contract like this are the crediting caps and the surrender period, not a visible fee line. Gains come out as ordinary income rather than capital gains, and a withdrawal before age 59½ generally carries a 10% IRS penalty on top of the tax. Neither is a reason to avoid the product; both are reasons it suits money you have already decided not to touch.

This contract fits someone who wants a floor under retirement money and is willing to trade full market upside for it, and who can leave the premium alone for 5 years. It is not a substitute for direct market investing — the caps and participation limits mean a strong market year is only partly captured.

It does not fit an emergency fund, money that may be needed for a medical or housing event, or a buyer who expects to capture a bull market in full. Anyone under 59½ should weigh the tax penalty before treating this as a savings account.

Every guarantee in this contract is only as good as MassMutual Ascend Life Insurance Company, which currently holds an A.M. Best financial strength rating of A++. An annuity is not FDIC insured; the backstop is the carrier's own balance sheet, with state guaranty association coverage behind it at limits that vary by state.

The contract is filed in 50 states, not including New York — New York files its own annuity products, so a New York resident is shopping a different and much smaller shelf.