Premier Income Bonus review

Yes, for the right buyer and in the right state. This is a good annuity for someone who wants protected lifetime income, is comfortable deferring withdrawals for several years, and values a built-in rider over annuitizing later. It is less appealing for someone who mainly wants accumulation, needs frequent access to principal, or expects the roll-up to compound the way a CD or a bonus-on-cash-value product might.

The main reason to buy Premier Income Bonus is to lock in a future stream of guaranteed lifetime income while keeping principal protected along the way. The upfront 6% credit to the income base gives the income calculation a head start the moment the contract is funded, and the 6% annual roll-up keeps building that base for up to a decade if you wait to turn income on. For someone who knows they want income in five to ten years and wants the guarantee backed by an A++ carrier, that combination is the draw.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window — roughly mid-50s to late-60s — who has a lump sum earmarked for future income, expects to defer withdrawals for several years, and wants the income guarantee built in rather than optional. It works in both qualified and non-qualified money, and the RMD-friendly roll-up treatment makes it reasonable for IRA dollars. It is less attractive for someone who wants maximum growth, expects to need principal above the free-withdrawal amount, or wants the simplest possible annuity.

You are not buying stock market upside, and despite the name, you are not buying a bonus on your actual cash. The word "Bonus" here refers to a 6% credit applied to the benefit base — the accounting figure used to calculate your future income — not to your account value. That is an important distinction. Your spendable, surrenderable money is the account value, which grows based on index crediting. The benefit base is a separate, larger number that exists only to determine your guaranteed lifetime payout. What you are really buying is a lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity, with the income side engineered to look generous on paper.

The core feature is Income Rider II, a built-in guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit. At issue, 6% of all purchase payments is credited to the benefit base. From there, the benefit base grows by 6% simple interest each year for up to a 10-year roll-up period, capped at 250% of premiums paid. Because the roll-up is simple rather than compound, each year's 6% is calculated on your original premium plus the bonus, not on a growing balance — so the dollar growth is steady rather than accelerating. The contract also applies an annual step-up to the account value if the account value is ever higher than the benefit base, and resets are permitted. When you turn income on, your age and the benefit base determine the guaranteed annual withdrawal, which continues for life even if the account value runs to zero. Crucially, withdrawals that stay within the free-withdrawal allowance or an RMD do not stop the roll-up credits — only excess withdrawals halt the roll-up for that year.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the crediting menu, because it determines how your actual account value grows underneath the income guarantee. The contract offers annual point-to-point with a cap, annual point-to-point with a participation rate, and a declared fixed account. The index lineup is broad — S&P 500, two versions of the First Trust Barclays Edge Index, an iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF strategy, and a pair of volatility-controlled indices. The standout is the First Trust Barclays Edge 7-year cap-lock strategy, which guarantees its cap for the entire 7-year surrender period rather than resetting annually. That removes the renewal-rate uncertainty that hangs over most FIAs, where the carrier can lower your cap every year. For a buyer who wants to know the ceiling won't move, that is a genuinely useful structural feature, not just a rate snapshot.

This is a 7-year commitment built for income, not for short-term cash. In year one, you can take 10% of premiums paid penalty-free; from year two on, the free amount is 10% of the account value as of the most recent anniversary. The free withdrawal is not cumulative, so unused amounts do not carry forward, and the contract enforces a $5,000 minimum remaining account value and a $500 minimum withdrawal. Anything above the free amount during the surrender period is subject to the declining charge — 6% in year one, stepping down to a flat 3% for years four through seven — and a market value adjustment, or MVA, which means the surrender penalty can move up or down with interest rates at the time you withdraw. The MVA does not apply in every state, so confirm your state's terms. There are no-cost relief features too: an Extended Care Waiver for qualifying nursing home or long-term care confinement of 90-plus consecutive days after year one, and a Terminal Illness Waiver for a life expectancy of 12 months or less after year one. Both are unavailable in Massachusetts, and California has expanded waiver language. RMDs are treated favorably and do not stop the roll-up.

The fee picture here is unusually clean. There is no M&E charge, no product fee, no administration charge, and no annual contract fee — the only explicit cost is the income rider. That rider runs 1.15% of the benefit base per year currently, with a contractual maximum of 2.50%, and it is deducted from the account value. Name the trade plainly: that 1.15% buys you the benefit-base bonus, the 6% roll-up, and the lifetime income guarantee. Whether it is worth it depends almost entirely on whether you actually turn income on — if you surrender for cash or annuitize a different way, you will have paid for a guarantee you never used. Because the fee is charged on the benefit base (the larger paper figure) but pulled from the account value (your real money), the drag on your cash value is heavier than 1.15% of the account value would suggest. That is standard for built-in income riders, but it is the structural tradeoff to understand.

Legal Entity: MassMutual Ascend Life Insurance Company

Parent: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company

AM Best Rating: A++