Athene Ascent Pro 10 vs. North American Income Pay Pro 10 (2026)

Both of these contracts are 10-year fixed index annuities sold for the guaranteed paycheck they can eventually produce, not for pure accumulation. Each one comes with a mandatory income rider from day one, meaning you pay for the promise of lifetime income whether or not you ever turn it on. The two carriers took very different design paths to get there, so a side-by-side is genuinely useful rather than a coin flip between near-identical products. Buyers usually shop these two together because they show up in the same searches and price similarly at first glance, even though the mechanics underneath are quite different.

The Athene figures below come from Athene's product guide and payout rate guide (crediting and rider terms effective August 28, 2026; payout percentages effective March 27, 2026). Rates change, so treat every number here as an example to check against a current illustration.

Where each one wins

Athene Ascent Pro 10 Bonus is built to maximize the income base, and to keep growing it for longer:

• A 25% income base bonus at issue, plus a 10% simple roll-up (10% of premium, credited each anniversary) for up to 20 years or until income starts
• A separate 10% premium bonus added to the accumulated value, which vests on a state schedule
• More guaranteed level income than North American in our examples at 65 and 75, and a practical tie at 70
• Three income options chosen when you turn income on: Level, Earnings-Indexed or Accelerated
• A 1.00% rider charge, a lower rate than North American's 1.15%, though it is figured on a larger base
• Six uncapped index strategies in 1-year and 2-year versions, plus a capped S&P 500 strategy and a fixed strategy

North American Income Pay Pro 10 is built around compound growth and payout flexibility:

• An 8% compound roll-up for up to 10 years or until income starts
• A 7.80% payout rate at age 70 that turns $100,000 deposited at 60 into about $16,840 a year, level, within $35 of Athene
• An income reserve that banks any unused portion of your annual payment for later instead of losing it
• An Increasing option that grows by a declared rate every year for life
• A nursing home benefit that doubles the annual payment for up to 5 payments, worth up to $84,200 extra at the age-70 figure
• A 10% year-one surrender charge in most states, lower than the 12% Athene charges in about two dozen states

The five differences that actually matter

Everything else lines up closely: a 10-year surrender period, a $10,000 minimum in most states, 10% free withdrawals each year starting in year 1, a market value adjustment on excess withdrawals, a mandatory income rider, income available as early as age 50, an income doubler for care needs, an A+ (Superior) rating from AM Best on both carriers, and no sales in New York. The five rows above are where the two contracts genuinely part ways.

The roll-up math: a bigger head start against compounding

Both products grow your income base during the years before you take income, and they do it in very different ways. That growth is generally called a roll-up rate, and whether it compounds or applies simply, and whether it starts from a bonus-boosted number or the raw premium, changes the outcome far more than the headline percentage suggests.

North American starts your income base at $100,000 on day one and compounds it at 8% a year. After a full decade the math is $100,000 times 1.08 to the 10th power, which lands at $215,892. Then it stops growing.

Athene adds a 25% bonus immediately, so the base starts at $125,000, then credits 10% simple interest on the $100,000 premium, a flat $10,000, on each anniversary. After 10 years that is $125,000 plus $100,000, or $225,000. The credit never compounds, but it keeps going: $275,000 after 15 years and $325,000 after 20.

Because of that 25% head start, Athene's base stays ahead of North American's at every point through year 10, and the lead is $9,108 at year 10. After year 10 the gap opens quickly, since North American's base is frozen while Athene's keeps growing.

The base is only half of the answer, though. Your paycheck is the base times a payout percentage set by your age and how long you waited. North American's rate at 70 in this example, 7.80%, is slightly higher than Athene's 7.50%, and that almost exactly cancels Athene's bigger base: $16,840 against $16,875.

Lifetime income at 65, 70 and 75

Picture a $100,000 single deposit at age 60, deferred to 65, 70 or 75, then turned on as single-life Level income with no withdrawals along the way.

Athene's percentages come from its payout rate guide for issue age 60. North American's 7.80% at 70 comes from a carrier illustration; its rates at 65 and 75 are our estimates from typical payout curves, so treat those cells as a starting point for a conversation rather than a promise.

The pattern: Athene leads at 65 because its 25% bonus does most of the work before compounding has time to catch up. By 70, North American's compounding and slightly higher payout rate have closed the gap to almost nothing. By 75, Athene pulls well ahead, because its base has grown another $50,000 while North American's has not moved. For North American to match Athene at 75, its payout rate would need to be about 11.1%, well above our estimate. Waiting even longer widens it again: Athene's base reaches $325,000 at 80, and at its 9.45% rate that pays $30,712.50 a year.

If you would rather have income that changes over time, the options differ:

• Athene Earnings-Indexed: starts lower, at $225,000 times 6.25%, or $14,062.50 at 70, and can rise each year with a percentage of the interest credited to your account. If the account value runs out, the payment still rises 1% a year for life.
• Athene Accelerated: pays more for 10 years, then less. At 70 that is $225,000 times 8.65%, or $19,462.50 a year, dropping to $225,000 times 5.20%, or $11,700, from the 11th year of income. Athene cautions that total lifetime payments may be lower than under its other options.
• North American Increasing: starts at a smaller percentage than Level and grows by a declared rate every year for life.

Because the rising options start lower, they only pull ahead of Level after many years of payments. Ask for illustrations of Athene's Earnings-Indexed option and North American's Increasing option side by side if rising income is the goal.

Index options and crediting strategies

Both contracts credit interest based on outside indices with a 0% floor, but the lineups differ.

Athene Ascent Pro 10 Bonus offers six uncapped strategies, each in a 2-year and a 1-year point-to-point version: the BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5, the AI Powered US Equity Index (AIPEX), the AI Powered Global Opportunities Index, the UBS Innovative Balanced Index, the Nasdaq FC Index and the S&P 500 FC Index. It adds a capped S&P 500 strategy and a 1-year fixed strategy. All six uncapped indexes are volatility-controlled excess return indexes, so a participation rate above 100% is not directly comparable to a cap on the plain S&P 500. Athene also notes that bonus contracts can carry lower caps and participation rates than similar contracts without a bonus.

North American Income Pay Pro 10 offers the S&P 500, the Barclays Transitions 6 VC and 12 VC indexes, Fidelity Multifactor Yield 5% ER, Goldman Sachs Equity TimeX, Morgan Stanley Dynamic Global and S&P MARC 5% Excess Return, plus a fixed account. Caps and participation rates reset at each new strategy term.

For an income-focused contract like either of these, index crediting is a secondary factor, since the rider's roll-up does most of the heavy lifting toward your eventual paycheck. Stronger index credits do build the accumulated value behind your income, and on Athene they also drive raises under Earnings-Indexed income. Either way, pull current rates from a quote before comparing strategies. A participation rate sets what share of an index's move actually gets credited to your contract.

Surrender terms, waivers and liquidity

Both contracts run a 10-year surrender schedule, and both:

• Allow 10% of the accumulated value out each year, free of charge, starting in year 1
• Apply a market value adjustment on withdrawals beyond that free amount during the surrender window (Athene has no MVA in California)
• Waive surrender charges for a qualifying nursing home stay or a terminal illness diagnosis, subject to your state
• Raise the annual income payment during a qualifying long-term care event

The surrender schedules are where they differ most. North American's most-states schedule runs 10%, 10%, 9%, 9%, 8%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 4% and 2%. Athene's depends on your state: about two dozen states use a schedule that starts at 12% and is still 4% in year 10, while others start at 8.3%, California at 7.8%, and Florida buyers 65 to 80 at 10%. Athene's 10% premium bonus also vests over time; in its 12% states none of it vests until year 7, and it is not fully yours until year 11. On Athene, using the confinement or terminal illness waiver ends the income rider.

The care benefits work differently too. Athene doubles single-life income (1.5 times for joint) for up to 60 months if the covered person is confined to a qualified care facility or cannot perform 2 of 6 daily living activities, once income has started and the contract is at least a year old. North American doubles the annual payment for up to 5 separate years after a nursing home stay of more than 90 days that starts no sooner than the third contract year. At the age-70 figures, each is worth roughly $84,000 of extra income at its maximum. Neither replaces long-term care insurance.

Each also has one perk the other lacks. Athene's bailout feature lets you walk away from the whole contract with no surrender charge, vesting adjustment or MVA if it ever sets the capped S&P 500 strategy's cap below 1.00%. North American's income reserve lets you skip part of a year's payment and bank it to withdraw later, instead of forfeiting it.

Net result: North American is the gentler contract to exit early in Athene's 12% states, while Athene's 8.3% and California schedules are lower than North American's in the early years. Check the schedule for your state before comparing. Our surrender charges guide explains how these costs combine.

Carrier financial strength

Both are strong, established carriers with the same AM Best and S&P grades. Athene is also rated A+ by Fitch and A1 by Moody's and is far larger thanks to its tie to Apollo Global Management; North American sits under the privately held Sammons Financial Group. An AM Best rating measures the insurer's ability to pay claims, not the quality of any single product it sells. For an income rider you might rely on for 25 to 30 years, both pass the basic "will they still be paying claims decades from now" test comfortably. Our Athene company review and North American company review go deeper on each carrier.

Who should pick which

There is no single winner here, only a better fit for a given income goal, deferral window, state and household. Run through the lists below and you will usually land on one contract fairly quickly.

North American Income Pay Pro 10 makes sense if:

• You plan to start income around 70, where the two are effectively tied on level income, and you value North American's other features
• You want an Increasing option that grows by a declared rate every year for life
• The income reserve, banking unused payments for later, appeals to you
• You live in one of Athene's 12% surrender states and want lower early surrender charges

Athene Ascent Pro 10 Bonus makes sense if:

• You expect to start income well before or well after 70, where its level income leads in our examples
• You might defer past year 10, since its roll-up keeps adding $10,000 a year per $100,000 through year 20 while North American's stops at year 10
• You want the choice of Level, Earnings-Indexed or Accelerated income at the point you turn it on
• You want more income early in retirement, for example to bridge the years before Social Security, through the Accelerated option
• You want a care benefit that can also be triggered by being unable to perform 2 of 6 daily living activities, not only by a facility stay
• You want the 10% premium bonus working in your accumulated value

Neither one is right if:

• You do not want to pay an ongoing rider charge (1.00% of the income base for Athene, 1.15% for North American) on money you might never take as income, since both riders are mandatory
• You want accumulation only, in which case a shorter-surrender FIA without a rider is a better fit
• You need meaningful access to your money beyond the 10% free withdrawal during the first decade, since both contracts carry 10 years of surrender charges
• You live in New York, where neither is sold

For couples, the comparison shifts again. Athene's joint-life Level rate is 0.50 points below its single-life rate, so the age-70 example becomes $225,000 times 7.00%, or $15,750 a year. North American's joint rates come from its own illustration. Across the single-life examples above, the gap runs from about $35 a year at 70 to about $4,600 a year at 75, which is real money over two or three decades of payments, so it is worth running your exact ages.

Bottom line

On guaranteed level income from a lump sum today, Athene Ascent Pro 10 Bonus comes out ahead in our examples: modestly if you start at 65, by a wide margin if you wait until 75 or later, and by only $35 a year at 70. Its 25% income base bonus and a roll-up that runs up to 20 years are the reasons.

North American Income Pay Pro 10 matches it almost dollar for dollar at 70 and brings features Athene does not: an income reserve for unused payments, an Increasing option that rises every year for life, and lower early surrender charges than Athene's 12% states. If 70 is your start age, those features, your state's surrender schedule and your preferred payment style should decide it, not the $35.

Most buyers do best picking based on when they will start income and what kind of income they want, not the headline roll-up number. A roll-up percentage on its own tells you little about the eventual paycheck; the payout rate applied to the base at the age you actually start income is what determines the number that lands in your bank account.

Get a side-by-side illustration for your own age, premium and state before deciding. We are an independent agency licensed across the country, so we can run both contracts against your numbers and tell you plainly which one comes out ahead for your situation.

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