LiveWell Variable Annuity review

It depends. This is a reasonable annuity for someone who has already maxed out other tax-advantaged accounts, wants continued tax-deferred growth, and values the flexibility of zero surrender charges plus a guaranteed death benefit. It is a poor fit for someone who wants principal protection, guaranteed lifetime income, or the lowest possible cost on their invested dollars, because none of those are what this product is built to deliver.

The main reason to buy LiveWell is tax-deferred growth across a broad investment menu without locking up the money. Because this is the C-share version, there is no surrender schedule, so the contract behaves more like a flexible investment account than a typical annuity. The death-benefit options add a layer of estate-planning value, letting a buyer pass along at least the premiums paid (and potentially a stepped-up value) regardless of how the markets behave. In short, this is the kind of contract someone uses when they have already filled up their IRA and 401(k) and want another tax-deferred bucket they can still access.

I think LiveWell is best suited to an investor who is comfortable with full market risk, has a long time horizon, and is using non-qualified (after-tax) money they want to grow tax-deferred. The full liquidity makes it more appropriate than a surrender-charge annuity for someone who values flexibility, and the death-benefit menu appeals to a buyer who wants to leave assets behind without probate friction. It is less appropriate for a conservative retiree who wants guaranteed income or protected principal, and it makes little sense for someone investing qualified money who could hold the same funds more cheaply in their existing retirement account.

Strip away the annuity label and this is a portfolio of mutual-fund-style subaccounts inside a tax-deferred insurance wrapper. You are not buying any guarantee on your account value while you are alive. When the markets go up, your value goes up; when they fall, your value falls, just as it would in a brokerage account. What the insurance wrapper adds is tax deferral on the gains, a choice of death-benefit guarantees, and the option to annuitize later. The cost of that wrapper is the annual M&E and administrative charges on top of whatever the underlying funds charge, so the real question is whether those features are worth the fee drag for your specific situation.

The core of LiveWell is the investment menu. You allocate your premium across more than 140 subaccount options drawn from 25-plus money managers, covering the range from conservative bond funds to aggressive equity strategies. For buyers who do not want to build their own allocation, Midland National offers the LiveWell Models, asset-allocation portfolios powered by Morningstar Investment Management that bundle the underlying funds into ready-made risk-based mixes. Your account value is simply the combined value of the subaccounts you hold, marked to market each day, with no caps, no participation rates, and no floors. That is the trade at the heart of a variable annuity versus an indexed one: you get the full market move in both directions rather than a limited slice with downside protection.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the death-benefit menu, because it is the main thing that separates this from a plain investment account. LiveWell offers three options: an Accumulation Value death benefit equal to the account value (the simplest and lowest-cost), a Return of Premium death benefit that pays the greater of account value or premiums paid (adjusted for withdrawals), and an Enhanced Death Benefit that steps up to the highest contract-anniversary value during a step-up period through age 85, then locks in. The Return of Premium and Enhanced options matter most to legacy-focused buyers, since they guarantee heirs receive at least what was put in (or a high-water mark) even if the markets have fallen. The Enhanced Death Benefit carries an additional annual charge, so the protection is not free.

Liquidity is the standout feature of this C-share version. There is no surrender period and no surrender charge, so you can withdraw 100% of your account value at any time without an insurance penalty. That said, withdrawals before age 59 1/2 may trigger a 10% IRS penalty on the gains, and any gains come out as ordinary income, so taxes are still a real consideration even though the contract itself does not penalize you. Note that the spec also references 5-year and 7-year "Value Endorsement" versions that do carry surrender charges and limit free withdrawals to 10% of recent premium or the RMD if greater. This review covers the C-share, which has none of those restrictions. The contract is RMD-friendly, so required minimum distributions can be taken without contract-level friction.

This is where the variable annuity structure shows its cost. The C-share base contract runs about 1.10% annually, made up of a 0.75% mortality-and-expense (M&E) charge and a 0.35% administrative charge. On top of that sit the underlying subaccount fees, which the materials state range from 0.48% to 2.38% net depending on the funds you pick. So a buyer could realistically be paying somewhere in the range of 1.6% to over 3% per year all-in, before any Enhanced Death Benefit charge. There is also a $10-per-quarter maintenance fee for contracts under $50,000 (capped at $15 per quarter), and a $15 transfer fee after 15 transfers in a contract year. The trade is straightforward: the C-share buys you full liquidity and no surrender charges, but the ongoing fee load is the price, and it is meaningfully higher than holding comparable funds directly. Whether tax deferral and the death benefit justify that drag is the central decision with this product.

Legal Entity: Midland National Life Insurance Company

Parent: Sammons Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A+