Impact 10 review

It depends on your time horizon. For a buyer who genuinely intends to hold the contract the full 10 years and wants principal protection with index-linked growth, it is a solid annuity from a carrier rated A− by A.M. Best. For anyone who might need liquidity in the first several years, it is a poor fit — the bonus structure and the surrender schedule both punish an early exit, and the after-fee index yield is harder to nail down than on a simpler FIA.

The rational reason to buy Impact 10 is bonus-boosted accumulation with a floor under your principal. You are protecting savings from direct market loss while giving a portion of the money uncapped index-linked upside, and the 7% bonus adds a meaningful lift to your account value if — and only if — you hold to year 10. The optional Income Outlook rider is a second reason: a buyer who is not sure whether they will want guaranteed lifetime income later can elect the rider at issue and decide about turning it on down the road.

I think Impact 10 is best for a pre-retiree or retiree, roughly in their 50s to early 70s, using long-term qualified or non-qualified money they are confident they will not need for a decade. It suits someone who wants principal protection, is comfortable with index crediting rather than a simple fixed rate, and views the bonus as a reason to stay the full term rather than a day-one gift. It is a bad fit for anyone who values liquidity, wants the simplest possible product, or might surrender before year 8.

You are not buying stock-market participation. You are buying a principal-protected insurance contract with three moving parts: a fixed account, two uncapped index strategies whose credits are governed by a participation rate and an asset fee, and a separate "Bonus Value" equal to 7% of your first-year premium that sits alongside your account value and vests on a schedule. The important thing to understand is that the bonus is not part of your spendable, walk-away money for a long time. It is tracked separately and only becomes yours in stages — nothing through year seven, a quarter at year eight, half at year nine, and the whole amount at year ten. Until then, an early surrender or an over-the-limit withdrawal forfeits the unvested portion.

The core feature is the 7% account-value premium bonus, and its mechanics are the whole story. National Western credits 7% of your first-Policy-Year premiums to a separate Bonus Value. That Bonus Value then follows a 10-year graded vesting schedule: 0% vested in years 1 through 7, 25% at the end of year 8, 50% at the end of year 9, and 100% at the end of year 10. In plain terms, if you put in $100,000, the $7,000 bonus is worth nothing to you on a surrender for seven years, $1,750 if you leave at year eight, $3,500 at year nine, and the full $7,000 only once you complete year ten. Any withdrawal above the free amount before full vesting forfeits the unvested slice pro-rata. The one exception is death: the full Bonus Value is treated as 100% vested immediately for the death benefit, regardless of policy year, so your beneficiary is not penalized by the vesting schedule. This back-loaded design is the central tradeoff of the product — the 7% is a completion reward, not a headline you can bank on.

The secondary feature is the index crediting, and it deserves attention because it is not a plain cap. Both indexed options — Option A (S&P 500 monthly averaging) and Option U (S&P 500 Low Volatility Daily Risk Control 5% Excess Return, annual point-to-point) — are uncapped, but they use a two-lever formula: the index change is multiplied by a participation rate, and then an asset fee is subtracted from the result. As of the brochure's 3/4/2024 snapshot, Wink listed Option A at a 57% participation rate and Option U at 109%, but both figures are first-year rates only. The participation rate is guaranteed only to stay at or above the stated minimums (30% on Option A, 20% on Option U), and the asset fee is declared in advance for year one only, with a guaranteed maximum of 6.00%. The current asset-fee value is not disclosed in these materials. So both levers can move against you at each renewal — a lower participation rate or a higher asset fee would cut your credited interest — and the brochure does not let you pin down the real after-fee yield beyond the first year. There is also a fixed account (Option B) crediting 3.00% at the snapshot date for buyers who want a stated rate instead.

This is a 10-year commitment, and the surrender schedule reflects it: 10% for the first five years before stepping down to 9%, 8%, 6%, 4%, and 2%. There is no market value adjustment, which is a point in the product's favor. After the first Policy Year you can take 10% of Account Value plus any Vested Bonus Value each year without a withdrawal charge, and IRA Required Minimum Distributions are charge-free in every Policy Year, so this works cleanly for RMD-age owners. Systematic interest withdrawals are available as an alternative to the 10% option, but you can only use one charge-free withdrawal method per Policy Year. Two waivers add flexibility: a Terminal Illness Benefit waives the withdrawal charge if the annuitant is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and a Medical Stay Waiver frees up to 75% of Account Value plus Vested Bonus Value after a qualifying 90-day-plus care confinement (annuitant must be 75 or younger at issue). Even so, the combination of a decade-long charge schedule and a bonus that does not vest until year 8 means this should not be treated as accessible cash.

There is no explicit annual fee on the base contract, but the costs here are structural rather than a single line item. The most important one is the asset fee subtracted from indexed credits — guaranteed maximum 6.00%, current value undisclosed — which, combined with a resettable participation rate, is the real drag on index performance after year one. If you add the optional Income Outlook NH III income rider, it charges 1.00% currently (2.00% maximum), and notably that charge is deducted only in years when your Account Value posts positive growth — a genuinely buyer-friendly touch, since you are not paying the rider fee in down or flat years. The enhanced Income Outlook Plus 5 NH III rider runs 1.50% currently (2.00% max). The named trade is straightforward: the rider fee buys a 5% compound roll-up on a separate benefit base for future lifetime income, and whether that is worth it depends entirely on whether you actually turn income on. The largest tradeoff remains the bonus vesting — the 7% is only fully earned by staying all 10 years.

Legal Entity: National Western Life Insurance Company

Parent: Prosperity Life Group

A.M. Best / S&P Rating: A-

National Western Life carries an A− financial-strength rating, which sits at the lower edge of what most shoppers consider investment-grade for an annuity carrier — solid, but not among the top tier of A+ and A++ names. For a 10-year contract, carrier strength matters, so this is worth weighing: A− is acceptable, and it means the product should be judged on its own merits rather than a marquee balance sheet.