Best Fixed Index Annuities with an Income Rider (2026)

What an income rider adds to a fixed index annuity

An income rider turns a fixed index annuity into two things at once: a contract whose principal cannot fall because of a market downturn, and a promise of payments that keep arriving for the rest of your life, even if your account balance eventually hits zero.

That protection has a price. Expect to pay somewhere between 1.0% and 1.5% a year, taken out of the credits your index strategy would otherwise earn. For someone who is confident they will use the guaranteed income, that fee is usually worth paying. For someone focused purely on growing a balance, it is often not, and our accumulation-focused FIA picks are a better starting point instead.

The contracts below vary quite a bit in how they earn that fee back. Some lean on a fast-growing income base during the years before you start withdrawals. Others focus on the payout percentage itself, the number that actually determines your check once income begins. A few try to do both. None of them is a substitute for running your own numbers against your actual age and deferral period, since a rider that looks strongest on paper can lag once you plug in your specific timeline.

The five contracts below are grouped by how strong their income rider terms are: how fast the income base grows before you turn income on, how much you are paid once you do, and how the overall contract holds up. Every pick here is issued by an insurer that AM Best scores A or better.

Before comparing products, it helps to know what you are actually evaluating:

• Roll-up rate: the annual pace your income base climbs before you start drawing on it, commonly 5% to 8%
• Payout percentage: the share of your income base paid out annually once you activate it, which rises with your age (often something like 5% at 65 and 6% at 70)
• Simple versus compound roll-up: a compound roll-up grows the income base faster over time than a simple one
• Rider fee: the annual charge taken from your account value, typically 1.0% to 1.5%
• Joint versus single life: a joint-life payout runs smaller each year but continues for as long as either spouse is alive

None of these terms are standardized across carriers, so the same words can mean slightly different math from one contract to the next. Read the actual rider disclosure for each product rather than assuming two riders described the same way pay out identically.

Five fixed index annuities with strong income riders

Allianz Benefit Control

This is Allianz's flagship income-rider contract, and it is built to pay well at the ages most people actually retire. It combines strong payout percentages between 65 and 80 with a compound roll-up rate that builds the income base during deferral, plus real flexibility to pause withdrawals and start them again later if your plans change.

Key features:

• Income base grows on a compound schedule, not a simple one
• Strong payout percentages between ages 65 and 80
• AM Best rating: A+ (Superior)
• Ability to stop and restart income once it has started
• Joint-life option available

This one tends to fit buyers who want the strongest possible payout numbers and do not mind that Allianz Life is one of the larger, more established names in this category. See the Allianz Benefit Control review for current payout tables.

Allianz 222

The 222 pairs a premium bonus with a competitive income rider, and the bonus lands directly in your income base rather than sitting off to the side. That matters because the roll-up rate then compounds on a larger starting number from day one, which can meaningfully increase the lifetime income you eventually collect if you defer for 10 years or more before turning it on.

Key features:

• Premium bonus credited straight to the income base
• Income base compounds rather than growing on simple interest
• Incentives for deferring that increase your eventual payout percentage
• AM Best rating: A+ (Superior)

Read the Allianz 222 review for the bonus percentage and roll-up rate currently offered. This one is worth a close look if you are still several years from turning income on and would rather have the bonus working inside your income calculation than sitting separately in the account you might never touch.

American Equity IncomeShield 10

IncomeShield 10 is built around a guaranteed payout factor that is fixed in the contract, not something that moves with market conditions or carrier discretion. That makes it easier to plan around: you know your exact payout percentage at each age before you ever sign, without having to interpret adjustable terms.

Key features:

• 10-year surrender, designed specifically around income
• AM Best rating: A- (Excellent)
• Guaranteed payout percentages locked in by age
• A simple, transparent income calculation you can walk through in advance

If predictability matters more to you than squeezing out the highest possible number, this is worth a look. Details are in the American Equity IncomeShield 10 review.

Global Atlantic ForeIncome II

ForeIncome II leans hard into a high roll-up rate, which means your income base grows faster than average while you wait to turn income on. Global Atlantic is backed by KKR, whose investment management depth supports that pricing. The contract tends to work best for buyers age 55 to 62 who expect roughly a decade of deferral before starting withdrawals around age 65 to 70.

Key features:

• Roll-up rate on the income base that runs higher than many peers
• Choice of several index crediting strategies
• Joint-life payout option available
• AM Best rating: A (Excellent)

See the Global Atlantic ForeIncome II review for the current roll-up rate and payout schedule.

Athene Agility 10

Agility 10 bundles Athene's aggressive index pricing with an income structure built into the contract itself, in some versions without a separate rider fee at all. Backed by Apollo Global Management's investment platform, Athene has generally been able to keep its income terms competitive even when interest rates work against the industry.

Key features:

• Income benefit built into the base contract, with no separate fee on some versions
• Apollo-backed investment management
• Multiple index crediting strategies to choose from
• AM Best rating: A (Excellent)

See Athene Agility 10 review for the current crediting options and income terms.

Quick comparison

How the income rider math actually works

Every FIA with an income rider tracks two separate numbers, and mixing them up is the single most common source of confusion.

Account value is your real money: the balance you could surrender for, pass on to a beneficiary, or draw against without a rider at all. It grows through whatever index credits your contract earns.

Income base (sometimes called the benefit base) exists purely to calculate your future income payments. You cannot withdraw it as a lump sum, and it is not what you would receive at surrender. It grows during deferral at the guaranteed roll-up rate, often 6% to 8% a year compounded, regardless of what the index actually does that year.

Once you turn income on, the carrier multiplies your income base by a payout percentage tied to your age. As a hypothetical example using round numbers: deposit $200,000, let the income base compound at a 7% roll-up rate for 10 years, and it grows to roughly $393,430. At a payout percentage of 5.5% starting at age 65, that works out to $393,430 x 5.5%, or about $21,639 a year, guaranteed for as long as you live, even if your actual account value eventually runs out from withdrawals.

Choose the joint-life version of that same rider and the yearly number would come down, often by half a point or so on the payout percentage, but the tradeoff is that payments continue as long as either spouse is alive rather than stopping at the first death. For a married couple, that continuation is usually worth more than the slightly smaller check, particularly if one spouse is likely to outlive the other by a decade or more.

Does the rider fee actually pay for itself?

A fee of 1.0% to 1.5% a year sounds small until you add it up: over a 10-year deferral period, that is 10% to 15% of your account value's growth handed over in fees.

Whether that is a good trade depends entirely on whether you use the benefit. Take the hypothetical example above: a $200,000 deposit, a 10-year deferral, and $21,639 a year in guaranteed income starting at 65. Collect that for 20 years and you would receive roughly $432,780 over your lifetime, more than double the original deposit, net of the fees that funded it. If you live well past your 80s, the math tilts further in your favor every year you keep collecting.

The other side of that coin: if you never turn the income on and eventually surrender the contract instead, you paid 10% or more of your value for a guarantee you never used. In that scenario, an accumulation-focused FIA without a rider fee would very likely have left you further ahead.

The honest way to decide is to ask yourself a blunt question before you buy: are you fairly sure you will actually turn this income on someday, or are you buying the rider mostly as insurance against a possibility? If the answer leans toward "someday, probably," the math above tends to work in your favor. If you are not sure you will ever need guaranteed income, that uncertainty itself is a signal to look at a contract without the fee.

What to look for, and what to avoid

Look for:

• A compound roll-up on the income base, not a simple one
• A roll-up rate of 6% or higher during deferral
• A joint-life payout option if you are married
• The ability to stop, restart or increase income once it begins

Avoid:

• Rider fees above 1.5% a year
• A roll-up rate advertised at an attractive level that only applies for the first year or two before dropping
• Contracts where the income base can never be touched as cash under any circumstance, since some products do allow partial commutation
• Income terms that can be adjusted downward based on where interest rates move after you buy

Read the specimen contract, not just the marketing brochure, before you sign. Rider mechanics are governed by the actual policy language, and a licensed strategist can walk through it with you line by line so nothing about the roll-up rate, the payout schedule or the fee comes as a surprise later.

Where to go next

• Annuity income riders explained: GLWB mechanics, costs and how riders compare
• Best fixed index annuity companies: how the largest FIA carriers stack up
• Best fixed index annuity for accumulation: contracts built for growth instead of income
• Best fixed index annuity for retirees over 65: shorter terms for buyers closer to drawing income

Roll-up rates, payout percentages and rider fees on every contract above change and vary by state and issue age. Get a quote to see current terms side by side before you decide.