Fidelity Annuity Review (2026)

Fidelity is not an insurance carrier

Fidelity Investments manages trillions of dollars for tens of millions of clients, but it is not, itself, an insurance company. That distinction matters a lot if you landed here searching for Fidelity annuity rates. Fidelity functions mainly as a brokerage and a distribution platform for annuities, and it issues exactly one proprietary annuity product of its own. If you are looking for a multi-year guaranteed rate that behaves like a CD with better tax treatment, this is not the page that gets you there, but it will explain exactly what Fidelity does offer.

One more thing worth clearing up before we go further: Fidelity Investments and Fidelity Security Life are two completely unrelated companies that happen to share a name. Fidelity Investments is a Boston brokerage founded by the Johnson family in 1946. Fidelity Security Life is a separate, independently owned insurance carrier based in Kansas City. Neither owns the other, and neither issues the other's products.

What annuity products does Fidelity actually offer?

Fidelity's shelf is narrow compared to a dedicated annuity carrier. It comes down to three things:

• The Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity. A low-cost variable annuity, issued by a Fidelity insurance subsidiary, with expense ratios as low as 0.10% to 0.25%, well under the industry norm for variable annuities. There are no surrender charges and no extra insurance charges beyond the underlying fund costs. It works inside both IRA and non-qualified accounts, and your return depends entirely on the investment sub-accounts you pick. There is no guaranteed rate attached to it.
• A deferred income annuity, offered through a partnership with a MetLife company, that converts a lump sum today into a stream of guaranteed income starting at a future date you choose.
• A curated third-party platform. Fidelity also makes a limited menu of other carriers' variable annuities available to its advisory clients, but this is a short list tied to Fidelity's own relationships, not an open marketplace.

Does Fidelity sell MYGAs?

No. If you want a 3, 5 or 7-year guaranteed fixed rate, the kind of product that competes head to head with a bank CD, Fidelity simply does not manufacture one. A brokerage platform built around its own house products is a different thing from an open marketplace where dozens of carriers compete for your deposit. To see current MYGA rates from carriers that actually issue them, use the quote box on this page or our MYGA calculator.

What does each Fidelity annuity actually pay?

Since Fidelity does not publish a fixed-rate sheet, the honest answer depends on which product you mean. The Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity has no stated rate at all, your return tracks the sub-accounts you select and can go negative in a down market. The deferred income annuity is quoted as a guaranteed monthly income figure, not an interest rate, and that number depends on your age, your premium and the date you choose to start income. Neither product gives you a guaranteed fixed rate the way a MYGA does.

That distinction trips people up more than any other part of this review. A search for Fidelity annuity rates almost always means someone wants a number like 5.5%, the kind a MYGA quotes for a fixed term. Fidelity's own products simply are not built that way. The Personal Retirement Annuity is priced on cost, its expense ratio, not on a stated return, and the deferred income annuity is priced on the income check it eventually pays, not on an annual percentage. If you plug either one into a rate comparison the way you would a MYGA, you will come away frustrated, because you are comparing two different kinds of contract.

Fidelity Investments versus Fidelity & Guaranty Life

The two names get confused constantly, and it is worth being explicit about why. Fidelity Investments, the subject of this page, is a Boston brokerage founded in 1946 by the Johnson family, with no state insurance rating because it operates as an investment firm, not a carrier. F&G, formerly known as Fidelity & Guaranty Life, is a Des Moines insurance company that actually issues MYGAs and fixed index annuities and carries its own AM Best rating. The two share three letters and nothing else: no common ownership, no shared products, no overlapping management. If a MYGA quote you received says "Fidelity" on it, confirm which of these two companies it is actually referring to before you sign anything.

Who is a good fit for a Fidelity annuity?

Three kinds of buyers get real value from Fidelity's menu. Someone who already holds an IRA or brokerage account at Fidelity and wants tax-deferred growth without moving assets to a new custodian will find the Personal Retirement Annuity a clean add-on. A cost-conscious buyer specifically shopping for the cheapest variable annuity available will be hard-pressed to beat its 0.10% to 0.25% expense ratio. And a long-horizon investor who wants market-linked growth in a tax-deferred wrapper, and is comfortable with variable, not guaranteed, returns, fits the product well.

If none of that describes you, and what you actually want is a guaranteed fixed rate, Fidelity is the wrong stop. A licensed strategist can compare current rates from dozens of carriers side by side, including names like F&G and Fidelity Security Life, the latter being the actual insurance carrier most often confused with Fidelity Investments.