Athene Aviator 5 Annuity Review (2026)

What is the Athene Aviator 5?

The Athene Aviator 5 is a single premium fixed index annuity issued by Athene Annuity and Life Company. You deposit one lump sum, spread it across a set of index-linked and fixed strategies, and your account earns interest based on how those strategies perform. When an index falls, the strategy credits zero for that term rather than a loss, so market declines do not reduce your value.

The "5" is the surrender period. After five contract years you can take the whole balance without a withdrawal charge, which is short for this category. Aviator also has a 10-year sibling, the Athene Aviator 10, built on the same chassis with a longer surrender schedule and higher rates.

What makes Aviator different inside Athene's own lineup is what it leaves out. There are no optional riders, no premium bonus and no strategy charges. Instead of those levers, Athene leans on three custom indexes, multi-year crediting terms that pay much higher participation rates, and a set of tools (Daily Value, Index Lock and Free Withdrawal Gains) that let you see and use gains before a term ends.

For the carrier's history, ownership and ratings, see our Athene company review.

Key contract terms

Ownership follows a few rules. Qualified contracts, such as an IRA, must have a single owner who is also the annuitant. An inherited IRA is allowed only when the owner is the surviving spouse of the original owner. Nonqualified contracts can be owned by an individual or by a non-person entity, joint ownership is allowed when the owner is a person, and an annuitant who is not the owner must be the owner's spouse.

The contract also carries a Minimum Guaranteed Contract Value: a floor built from a minimum interest rate applied to a portion of your premium, adjusted for withdrawals. The exact rate and percentage are set in your contract, so ask your strategist to show you the figures for your state.

Surrender charges and the market value adjustment

The charge applies only to money you take above the free amount. Take out $50,000 beyond your free withdrawal in year two, for example, and the 8% charge comes to $4,000 before any market value adjustment. Wait until year six and the same withdrawal costs nothing.

A market value adjustment also applies to excess withdrawals and full surrenders during those five years. It moves with interest rates: if rates have risen since you bought, it lowers your payout, and if rates have fallen, it can raise it. On a full surrender Athene pays the greater of your accumulated value plus any Free Withdrawal Gains (after charges and the MVA) or the Minimum Guaranteed Contract Value.

Each year you can take up to 10% of the prior anniversary's accumulated value with no surrender charge and no MVA, starting in the first contract year. If the contract is an IRA, required minimum distributions count toward that free amount and are also exempt from charges and the MVA. See our guides to free withdrawals and surrender charges for the general rules.

Crediting strategies and rates

Every Aviator strategy is either a point-to-point index strategy or the fixed strategy. Point-to-point means Athene compares the index value at the start of a term with its value at the end, then applies your participation rate or cap. There are no spreads on any Aviator 5 strategy, and none of them carries a strategy charge.

Rates depend on your premium band. The Low Band covers premiums up to $100,000, and the High Band covers $100,000 and up.

Rates effective May 1, 2026 (guaranteed for the initial term, then subject to change):

These are the rates in Athene's product guide as of May 1, 2026. Rates change, and your licensed strategist will confirm today's rate for your state before you apply.

A hypothetical example using the High Band: if the index behind a 5-year strategy gained 10% from the start of the term to the end, a 275% participation rate would credit 27.5% for that term. If the index finished lower, the credit would be zero. Nothing is credited until the term ends, which is where Daily Value and Index Lock (below) come in.

The three custom indexes

All three custom indexes use Bank of America's patented Fast Convergence (FC) technology, which rebalances during the trading day, and each one targets 7% annualized volatility.

• BofA Multi-Asset FC 7 Index (BOFAMFC7). Combines the S&P 500 and the Invesco QQQ ETF with a basket of U.S. Treasuries, gold, industrial metals, currencies and commodities. Launched October 31, 2025.
• Invesco QQQ FC 7 Index (QQQFC7). Built around the Invesco QQQ ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq-100. Launched October 23, 2025.
• S&P 500 FC 7% Index (SPFCDUE7). Full name S&P 500 FC 7% VT TCA 0.50% Decrement Index (USD) ER. Applies the FC method to S&P 500 exposure. Launched October 17, 2025.

Read the fine print on these. All three are excess return indexes, meaning they measure performance above a cash-like reference rate, and each includes an embedded fee plus transaction costs that reduce the index result before your participation rate is applied. The volatility control narrows both gains and losses. That is why Athene can offer participation rates above 100%: the index itself moves less than a plain stock index. For more on how these designs work, see our guide to proprietary indices.

Diversified Blend Strategies

A Diversified Blend Strategy puts one allocation into all three custom indexes at a fixed mix of 40% BofA Multi-Asset, 30% Invesco QQQ FC 7 and 30% S&P 500 FC 7%. It comes in 1-year, 2-year and 5-year terms and rebalances back to that mix automatically. The blend earns the same participation rates as the individual custom index strategies of the same term. You can use a blend alone or add individual strategies next to it, and you can reallocate at the end of each term.

Multi-year point-to-point strategies

The 2-year and 5-year terms are where Aviator's rates jump. On the Aviator 5, moving from a 1-year to a 5-year custom index term takes the High Band participation rate from 120% to 275%, with no added fee. The catch is that interest is credited only once, at the end of the term.

Multi-year terms also end with the surrender period. Any point-to-point strategy that begins on or after the last day of the surrender period is available only as a 1-year term. Money leaving a multi-year strategy moves to the 1-year strategy on the same index unless you pick something else, or to the fixed strategy if there is no matching 1-year option. After year five, you should expect annual rate declarations on 1-year strategies only.

Strategy Preset

Strategy Preset is the hands-off option. You pick one of three profiles when the contract is issued, and Athene handles allocation, annual rebalancing and automatic transfers between term lengths. Starting allocations for the Aviator 5:

Balanced and Growth ladder your money. Balanced staggers two 2-year terms so part of the contract gets credited every year. Growth holds half in a 5-year term and keeps the other half in 1-year terms, so you still see annual credits on that portion. Conservative stays entirely in 1-year terms and does not ladder.

A few rules matter here. Strategy Preset must be elected at issue and cannot be added later. You can use Strategy Preset or a Diversified Blend Strategy, not both, and only one preset profile. You can add individual strategies (any custom index, the S&P 500 or the fixed strategy) alongside it, but rebalancing only happens inside the preset. And if you take a withdrawal outside the contract's default order that empties a strategy, the automatic transfers stop and you manage allocations yourself from then on.

Daily Value, Index Lock and Free Withdrawal Gains

Most FIAs give you nothing for a term that ends early. Aviator tracks three extra values.

Daily Value estimates what your contract is worth each day, including index gains earned so far in a term that has not finished. It is paid on death, annuitization, terminal illness or a qualifying confinement. Athene's own hypothetical: $100,000 in a 2-year strategy whose index is up 20% after one year shows an accumulated value of $100,000 but a Daily Value of $120,000.

Free Withdrawal Gains credit a pro-rated share of index growth on money you take out under the 10% free withdrawal. In the same hypothetical, a $10,000 free withdrawal comes with an $833 gain, leaving $90,833 instead of $90,000 and raising next year's free withdrawal to $9,083 from $9,000. This does not apply to the 1-year S&P 500 cap strategy.

Index Lock freezes the index value for a strategy partway through a term, and that locked value then drives your Daily Value, Free Withdrawal Gains and interest credit. You can use it once per eligible strategy per term, and it is not offered on the 1-year S&P 500 cap strategy. Athene's hypothetical shows $100,000 in a 1-year strategy with a 120% participation rate, locked in month eight: the account ended at $114,400 versus $109,600 without the lock, a $4,800 difference. The lock cuts both ways, though. Once you lock, any further rise in that term is also given up.

All three examples are hypothetical illustrations from Athene's brochure and do not predict future results.

Death benefit and waivers

If you die before annuitizing, your beneficiary receives the greater of the Daily Value and the Minimum Guaranteed Contract Value as a lump sum, or a spouse can continue the contract. Because it uses Daily Value, a death partway through a 5-year term still passes along the index gain earned to that date. See our death benefit guide.

After the first contract anniversary, two waivers let you take up to 100% of your value without a surrender charge:

• Terminal illness waiver: the annuitant is diagnosed with a terminal illness expected to cause death within one year, and the diagnosis comes after the contract date.
• Confinement waiver: the annuitant is confined to a qualified care facility for at least 60 consecutive days, with confinement starting after the contract date.

These are not long-term care insurance, and Athene notes they may vary or be unavailable in some states.

Aviator 5 vs Aviator 10

Rates effective May 1, 2026. The Aviator 10 pays more on every strategy in exchange for twice the surrender period, and it also lets you use multi-year terms for twice as long before everything shifts to 1-year terms.

How Aviator differs from Performance Elite

Athene's Performance Elite family (also sold in 10-year and 15-year versions) is its other accumulation FIA, and the two are built on opposite ideas.

• Fees and bonus. Performance Elite offers optional strategies with a 1.25% annual strategy charge in exchange for higher rates, and a Plus version with a premium bonus that vests over time and a 0.95% annual rider charge. Aviator has no bonus, no rider charge and no strategy charges.
• Term lengths. Performance Elite 7 uses 1-year and 2-year terms. Aviator adds 5-year terms, which is where its highest participation rates sit.
• Index menu. Performance Elite spreads across a wider menu from several index providers. Aviator uses three Bank of America FC indexes plus the S&P 500.
• Mid-term tools. Daily Value, Index Lock and Free Withdrawal Gains are Aviator features. Both families offer a Strategy Preset, but Aviator's version adds automatic laddering into multi-year terms.

If you want a bonus or the option to pay a fee for a higher rate, Performance Elite is the place to look. If you want a simple fee-free contract with a short term, Aviator 5 is the cleaner fit.

Who the Aviator 5 is best for

• Savers with a real five-year window who want more upside than a MYGA and no exposure to market losses.
• Buyers who dislike fees and bonus vesting and want the contract value to be what it says.
• People close to or in retirement, up to age 85, moving money from a maturing CD or an old 401(k) or IRA.
• Buyers who would rather pick a Strategy Preset profile than manage allocations every year.

It is a weaker fit if you need guaranteed lifetime income (look at an income-focused product such as the Athene Ascent Pro 10 Bonus), if you want long real-world index history behind your strategy, if you might need more than 10% a year in the first five years, or if you live in California or New York.

Other annuities to consider

• Athene Aviator 10 review: the same design with a 10-year schedule and higher rates
• Athene Performance Elite 7 review: Athene's accumulation FIA with optional fees and bonus versions
• Athene company review: ratings, ownership and history
• Participation rate guide: how participation rates work and when they beat a cap

How to get an Athene Aviator 5 quote

Rates depend on your state, your premium band and the day you apply. Start an Athene Aviator 5 quote and a licensed strategist will confirm today's rates, show the Minimum Guaranteed Contract Value for your state and walk through the Strategy Preset options with you. Tax Free Wealth Plan is a licensed independent insurance agency appointed with 25 companies, so we can also compare the Aviator 5 with other top-rated carriers before you decide.