Farmers Life Annuity Review (2026)

Farmers Life is not the Farmers you are thinking of

Get this out of the way first: Farmers Life Insurance Company has nothing to do with Farmers Insurance Group, the company that sells your auto and homeowners policy, or with that company's life insurance arm, Farmers New World Life. It also has no link to Zurich Insurance Group, which owns a stake in Farmers Insurance Group. Farmers Life is a separate, independently run carrier headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, founded in 1997 as a small credit life and disability insurer before it moved into annuities. The name overlap causes real confusion, and it is worth double-checking which company you are actually looking at before you read any further.

AM Best scores the carrier B++, its Good tier and five steps up a fifteen-step scale, and Farmers Life distributes its main product, the Safeguard Plus MYGA line, entirely through independent agents rather than a captive sales force.

How strong is Farmers Life financially?

A B++ grade puts Farmers Life below the A- threshold that many buyers and advisors treat as a minimum screen. Weiss Ratings, generally the most conservative of the agencies, scores the company even lower, at D. Neither number means Farmers Life cannot pay a claim, and every state's guaranty association stands behind the contract the same way it would for a higher-rated carrier, but this tier deserves to be stated plainly rather than glossed over.

Farmers Life writes life insurance and annuities only. It does not sell auto or homeowners coverage, that business belongs entirely to the unrelated Farmers Insurance Group.

A rating like B++ or D describes the company's claims-paying ability, not any single product it sells. As a second layer of protection, your state's life and health guaranty association steps in if a carrier fails, typically covering annuity values up to a state-set limit. That backstop applies to every carrier on this site, rated highly or not, but it is meant as a safety net, not a substitute for checking the carrier's own financial strength first. See our state guaranty association guide for the limit where you live.

What does Farmers Life sell?

The company's entire annuity shelf is the Safeguard Plus MYGA series, offered across several term lengths. Like any MYGA, you fund it with a single deposit and the company locks a fixed rate for the full term, with zero market exposure either direction. Safeguard Plus tends to price aggressively against other carriers that share its B++ tier. That is a common pattern in this part of the market: a carrier rated a step or two below A- often has to offer a stronger rate to compete for deposits, since rate is one of the few levers a lower-rated carrier can pull.

Who fits a Farmers Life annuity?

Three groups tend to end up looking seriously at Safeguard Plus. The first is a buyer chasing yield who has already made peace with owning something below the A- tier. The second has already priced Safeguard Plus against A-rated competitors at the same term and decided the extra rate justifies the rating gap for the amount they are depositing. The third is simply working with an independent agent who can put Safeguard Plus next to a dozen other MYGAs for a true side-by-side comparison, since Farmers Life is not sold direct to the public.

If your rule is A- or better, full stop, Farmers Life will not clear it, and that is a perfectly sound rule to hold. It usually makes the most sense to look at Safeguard Plus after you have already priced a shortlist of A-rated carriers and want to see exactly what extra yield the B++ tier is buying you.

Here is how to frame that trade in real numbers. Say a 5-year A-rated MYGA is hypothetically paying 5.00% and Safeguard Plus is quoting 5.40% for the same term. On a $100,000 deposit compounded annually, that 0.40-point gap works out to about $130,082 versus $127,628 at the end of five years, roughly $2,450 more from the higher-priced, lower-rated contract. Whether that extra amount is worth accepting a lower financial strength grade is a personal call, not a math problem, but running the actual numbers side by side beats guessing.

How does Farmers Life compare with other carriers?

The MYGA market has dozens of carriers competing for the same deposit dollars, so it rarely makes sense to buy the first quote you see. Before you commit to any single carrier, weigh at least three or four alternatives on:

• AM Best rating. Many buyers set A- or higher as their floor; know where your comfort level sits before you shop.
• Rate and term. Even a small rate gap compounds meaningfully over a 5 to 10 year contract.
• Surrender schedule. Understand exactly when your money becomes accessible without a penalty.
• Free withdrawal terms. Most MYGA carriers, Farmers Life included, allow a portion of your value out each year penalty-free.

A licensed strategist can run this comparison for you across dozens of carriers at once rather than one quote at a time.

Other annuity companies to consider

If Safeguard Plus is on your list, these carriers are worth comparing against it:

• American National: higher AM Best grade, long operating history
• Midland National: A+ rated, broad MYGA and index lineup
• Symetra: another established carrier competitive on MYGA rate