Athene Agility Annuity – Built-In Income, Market Growth, and Lifetime Flexibility with a 50% Bonus

Athene Agility Fixed Indexed Annuity: Key Product Features at a Glance

About Athene Annuity and Life Company

Athene Annuity and Life Company is the #1 fixed annuity seller in the United States for three consecutive years — 2023, 2024, and 2025 — per LIMRA’s U.S. Individual Annuities Sales Survey. With $331 billion in admitted assets, over 1.7 million policyholders, and AM Best A+ (Superior) and S&P A+ financial strength ratings both affirmed August 2025, Athene brings institutional scale and carrier strength that very few competitors can match in the FIA marketplace. The Comdex composite score of 93 out of 100 places Athene in the top tier of all rated U.S. annuity carriers across all major rating agencies combined. Apollo Global Management completed its full acquisition of Athene in January 2022 — Apollo’s alternative asset management expertise in private credit, structured finance, and non-traditional fixed income allows Athene to pursue higher-yielding general account investments than traditional bond-only insurance portfolios. This investment advantage translates directly into higher cap rates and participation rates on Athene’s FIA products compared to many carrier peers, because higher general account yields mean more budget for purchasing index options — the financial instruments that back the indexed crediting strategies. For a complete evaluation of Athene’s financial profile, history, and product lineup, the Athene carrier review page is already linked above and covers the full carrier context. The Agility is sold through licensed insurance agents and financial advisors — it is not available directly from Athene and is not available in New York.

Principal Protection and Why the Zero-Floor Design Matters for Retirement

For many retirees and pre-retirees, the core concern is not simply how much they can earn but how they protect what they have built while still allowing it to grow in a meaningful way. Fixed indexed annuities address this question by linking interest credits to market indices — the S&P 500, volatility-managed multi-asset strategies, AI-driven equity approaches, or other structured benchmarks — while ensuring that principal is never reduced due to negative market performance. If the index declines in a given crediting period, the annuity’s accumulated value receives a 0% credit for that term rather than a loss. Gains that have been credited in prior periods are locked in and cannot be taken away by future market declines. That protection-first framework is what separates indexed annuities from variable annuities, registered index-linked annuities with downside buffers, and direct market investments. In volatile markets — particularly during the years surrounding retirement when sequence-of-returns risk is most acute — the zero-floor design can provide meaningful behavioral and financial stability that is impossible to replicate in a direct equity portfolio. A retiree who avoids a 25% or 30% portfolio drawdown in year two of retirement has dramatically more income flexibility over the following two decades than one who must spend retirement assets recovering from that loss. If you would like a deeper explanation of crediting strategies, caps, participation rates, and annual reset mechanics before comparing illustrations, our guide on how a fixed indexed annuity works covers each component in detail.

The Athene Agility enhances the traditional indexed annuity structure in two ways that distinguish it from standard FIA accumulation products and from most income-focused FIAs that carry separate rider fees. First, it includes a built-in Income and Death Benefit Rider at no additional cost — eliminating the 0.95% to 1.25% annual rider fees that most competing income FIAs charge for a comparable guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit. Second, it includes an Enhanced Income Benefit Rider also at no additional cost — a confinement-based income doubler that provides a meaningful financial response to an extended nursing home or qualified care facility event. For individuals who want income certainty and enhanced beneficiary value without navigating a menu of paid rider elections or accepting ongoing deductions from their accumulated account, this built-in structure creates efficiency and simplicity from day one. If lifetime income planning is central to your retirement blueprint, our resources explaining how annuities provide income for life and how a Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit differs from traditional annuitization provide important context before committing to any income design.

The 55% Benefit Base Bonus: What It Does, What It Does Not Do, and Why the Distinction Matters

The most structurally distinctive feature of the Athene Agility is the Benefit Base system, and the 55% Benefit Base Bonus is the feature that generates the most buyer interest — and the most misunderstanding. Understanding exactly what the bonus does, what it categorically does not do, and how it fits into the broader Benefit Base calculation is essential for evaluating whether the Agility belongs in a retirement plan at any given declared rate level.

The Benefit Base is a separate calculation value created by the Income and Death Benefit Rider. It is fundamentally different from the accumulated contract value. The accumulated value is the actual account balance — it reflects the initial premium plus any credited index interest minus withdrawals, and it is the value from which free withdrawals are taken, surrender values are calculated, and the base annuity death benefit is paid. The Benefit Base is not the accumulated value. It cannot be surrendered, cannot be withdrawn as a lump sum, has no cash value, and cannot be passed to beneficiaries as a lump-sum death benefit. Its function is singular: it is the calculation basis for two things — the annual Lifetime Income Withdrawal amount and the Rider Death Benefit installment payout to beneficiaries.

The Benefit Base Bonus of 55% (current declared rate; historically declared at 50% or higher, and subject to change between rate periods) is applied to the Benefit Base — not to the accumulated value — immediately at contract issue. A buyer who deposits $100,000 in premium receives an accumulated value of $100,000 and a Benefit Base that starts at $155,000 on day one of the contract. The $55,000 difference is not cash. It cannot be accessed, spent, surrendered, or inherited as a lump sum. What it does is set the starting point for every calculation that flows from the Benefit Base — income and death benefit — at a level that is 55% higher than the accumulated value from the very first day of the contract. For income purposes, this means the age-based withdrawal percentage (which determines the annual Lifetime Income Withdrawal amount) is applied to $155,000 rather than $100,000 at issue — producing a proportionally higher income floor even before any index credits have been earned. For death benefit purposes, the Rider Death Benefit starts at $155,000 in installments rather than $100,000 in a lump sum — a substantially larger total for beneficiaries, distributed over the declared payout period. The bonus percentage should be confirmed at the time of application because Athene adjusts it between rate periods — at times it has been exactly 50%, at times higher. The current declared rate of 55% means buyers applying today receive this specific starting advantage, which may be higher or lower in future rate periods.

After the 55% Benefit Base Bonus establishes the starting Benefit Base at $155,000 (on a $100,000 premium), the Benefit Base continues to grow through Benefit Base Interest Credits — currently 200% of the dollar amount of interest credited to the accumulation strategies each period. This multiplier is also a declared rate subject to change. If the accumulation account earns $6,000 in a given crediting period through indexed strategies, the Benefit Base grows by an additional $12,000 (200% × $6,000). If the accumulation account earns nothing in a zero-credit year, the Benefit Base does not decline, but it also does not grow through this mechanism. The cumulative effect of a 55% starting bonus combined with a 200% interest credit multiplier over a 7- to 10-year deferral period — in markets that produce meaningful index credits — can produce a Benefit Base that is substantially larger than the accumulated value by the time income is activated. That larger Benefit Base then drives a larger Lifetime Income Withdrawal amount and a larger Rider Death Benefit installment total. To understand how the Benefit Base mechanics interact with the income withdrawal percentage at different ages, our resource on roll-up rate versus payout rate provides the framework for evaluating how a performance-dependent income base compares to fixed compound roll-up alternatives.

How the Rider Death Benefit Actually Works: The 55% Bonus at Death

The Rider Death Benefit is the feature that most directly justifies the focus on the 55% Benefit Base Bonus in a legacy planning conversation, and it is also the feature most frequently mischaracterized in buyer discussions. To understand how the Benefit Base bonus affects the death benefit, it is necessary to understand two separate things: what the Rider Death Benefit is, and how it is different from the standard annuity death benefit that every FIA provides without any rider at all.

In a standard FIA with no income rider, the death benefit is simple: beneficiaries receive the accumulated contract value — whatever the account balance is at the time of death — with no surrender charges applied, typically bypassing probate via beneficiary designation. This is the baseline death benefit that the Athene Agility provides as the standard option. The Rider Death Benefit is the enhancement layer. It entitles beneficiaries to receive the full remaining value of the Benefit Base — not the accumulated contract value — distributed in equal annual installments over the declared Death Benefit Payout Period (currently five years; contractually guaranteed not to exceed ten years). The Benefit Base at death, with a 55% starting bonus and years of 200% interest credit multiplier growth, will typically be materially larger than the accumulated contract value at any point in the contract’s life. A buyer who deposits $100,000, receives the 55% bonus creating a $155,000 Benefit Base at issue, and then earns five years of index credits that grow the Benefit Base through the 200% multiplier might have an accumulated value of $140,000 and a Benefit Base of $220,000 or more at time of death. The beneficiary’s two choices in that scenario: receive $140,000 immediately as a lump sum (the standard death benefit), or receive $220,000 distributed as $44,000 per year over five years (the Rider Death Benefit installment structure). The total value received through the Rider Death Benefit option is 57% higher in this example — and accepting the installment structure over five years is the trade-off that produces that larger total.

This is the practical meaning of the “50% or higher bonus” that gives the page its name: the Benefit Base bonus of 55% (current declared rate, historically at this level or higher) creates a Benefit Base that is more than 50% above the initial premium from day one, before index credits have added anything. That initial advantage compounds through the 200% interest credit multiplier and continues growing even during the income phase. The result is that beneficiaries who choose the Rider Death Benefit installment option receive a substantially larger total payout than the accumulated value would provide — a meaningful legacy planning advantage for buyers who want income certainty during their lifetime and maximum transferable value for heirs. There are important limitations buyers must understand: the Benefit Base cannot be paid as a lump sum in any state (it is always distributed over the declared payout period); in Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, the enhanced death benefit is capped at 125% of cash surrender value or 250% of net premium, whichever is lower; and excess withdrawals during the owner’s lifetime reduce the Benefit Base proportionally, which reduces the Rider Death Benefit total available for beneficiaries. For a broader understanding of how annuity death benefits work and integrate with estate planning, our resource on annuity beneficiary death benefits covers the full landscape of beneficiary options, payout structures, and tax treatment across different contract types.

The Benefit Base Continues Growing During Income — Why That Changes the Planning Calculus

One of the most underappreciated features of the Athene Agility’s Income and Death Benefit Rider is that the Benefit Base does not stop growing when Lifetime Income Withdrawals begin. This is meaningfully different from how most income riders on competing FIAs are designed. In the majority of income-focused FIA contracts on the market today, the income base stops growing through any roll-up or accumulation mechanism the moment the withdrawal phase begins — the accumulation phase ends, the withdrawal phase starts, and the income base is essentially frozen at the level it reached at income activation. For some competing products, this is softened by a potential for income step-ups based on accumulated value performance during the withdrawal phase, but the income base itself ceases to accrue additional growth.

The Athene Agility’s Benefit Base continues receiving 200% of the dollar interest credited to the accumulation strategies each period — even after Lifetime Income Withdrawals have been activated. This means that in years where the index strategies produce positive credits during the income phase, the Benefit Base grows further, and both the potential for future income step-ups and the Rider Death Benefit installment total available for beneficiaries continue increasing. For a buyer who has been receiving income for three years and during that period the accumulation strategies have produced meaningful index credits, the Benefit Base is larger than it was at income activation — meaning beneficiaries who inherit after several years of income payments may receive a larger Rider Death Benefit total than they would have received at the moment income began. This simultaneous income and legacy growth design sets the Agility apart from competing products where income activation effectively ends legacy enhancement. In zero-credit years during the income phase, the Benefit Base does not grow through the multiplier, but it does not decline from zero-credit performance — it is stable until the next crediting period produces interest to multiply. This dynamic means that strong market years during the income phase benefit both the current income recipient (through potential step-ups) and future beneficiaries (through a larger Rider Death Benefit), while weak or flat market years do not penalize the Benefit Base retroactively.

The Enhanced Income Benefit: What the Confinement Doubler Requires and When It Applies

The Enhanced Income Benefit Rider is the second built-in feature included at no additional cost with every Athene Agility contract. It is frequently discussed alongside the base confinement waiver, but the two provisions are categorically different in their trigger thresholds, their outcomes, and the scenarios they are designed to address. Understanding that difference is essential for buyers who want to plan around potential long-term care needs within the annuity structure.

The base Confinement Waiver applies when the annuitant is confined to a qualified care facility for 60 or more consecutive days after the first contract year. When triggered, the waiver removes surrender charges and MVA, allowing a partial or full withdrawal from the accumulated value without penalty. This is a liquidity provision: its purpose is to give buyers penalty-free access to their cash if a significant care event occurs during the surrender period. The 60-consecutive-day threshold is accessible — a hospital stay followed by a rehabilitation center stay could meet this threshold in many cases.

The Enhanced Income Benefit Rider has a substantially more demanding threshold: confinement to a qualified care facility for 180 out of the last 250 days. This 180-of-250-day standard is designed to qualify buyers who are experiencing extended, ongoing care needs rather than a single acute care episode. When this threshold is met and the accumulated value remains above zero, the Maximum Lifetime Income Withdrawal amount is doubled for as long as the confinement conditions continue to be satisfied. For a buyer receiving $9,000 per year in Lifetime Income Withdrawals, meeting the Enhanced Income Benefit threshold doubles that income to $18,000 per year during the qualifying period. This increased income can help offset care costs, supplement other income sources, or reduce the burden on family resources during an extended care event. The doubled income continues until the accumulated value is reduced to zero — at which point the standard (non-doubled) Lifetime Income Withdrawal is governed by the rider’s standard guaranteed phase terms. The Enhanced Income Benefit Rider is not available in all states, requires specific documentation and eligibility verification, and is explicitly not long-term care insurance nor a substitute for traditional or hybrid long-term care coverage. Buyers who specifically want a care benefit that triggers on ADL impairment without requiring institutional confinement — such as for home-based care scenarios — should evaluate the Ameritas FlexMark Select’s MyFit Income Rider With Booster, which triggers the income doubler on 2-of-6 ADL impairment regardless of care setting. The Agility’s Enhanced Income Benefit is specifically designed for qualified care facility confinement, which makes it most relevant for buyers whose health trajectory suggests institutional care is a meaningful possibility.

The Index Menu: Apollo’s Investment Edge and the Crediting Strategy Landscape

The Athene Agility’s index crediting strategies reflect the same competitive advantage that makes Athene the #1 fixed annuity seller by volume: Apollo Global Management’s alternative asset management capabilities provide Athene’s general account with access to higher-yielding investments than traditional corporate bond portfolios, which translates into more budget for purchasing the index options that back the crediting strategies. In concrete terms, Athene’s S&P 500 cap rates on FIA products routinely run one to three percentage points higher than competing products from carriers with more traditional investment mandates — a gap that compounds significantly over a 7- to 10-year deferral period. On a $200,000 premium, a 2-point cap rate advantage over ten years of positive market performance can produce a meaningfully larger accumulated value and a materially larger Benefit Base (through the 200% interest credit multiplier) than a lower-cap alternative, even if all other contract terms are identical.

The S&P 500 annual point-to-point with a cap rate provides the simplest and most transparent crediting structure — the buyer earns a percentage of S&P 500 growth (excluding dividends) up to the declared annual cap, with 0% in negative years. The declared cap resets each contract year based on Athene’s current general account investment returns and the cost of purchasing index options. Because Athene’s general account yield is typically higher than competing carriers’, its ability to purchase higher-strike options allows it to declare higher cap rates. The S&P 500 FC TCA 0.50% Decrement Index uses a participation rate rather than a cap, but the index itself has a 0.50% daily management fee embedded in its construction — buyers should understand that the participation rate applies to an index return that has already been reduced by this embedded cost, which limits net credits compared to a clean participation rate on the underlying S&P 500. The Nasdaq FC Index provides exposure to the Nasdaq-100 methodology with a volatility management overlay, available in both 1-year and 2-year point-to-point formats. The 2-year format is particularly relevant to the Benefit Base mechanics: because the interest credit multiplier applies to whatever is credited each period, a 2-year strategy that produces a larger single credit at the end of two years generates a larger Benefit Base growth event than twelve consecutive months of smaller credits. Buyers who model different allocation strategies should evaluate both the expected credit size and the timing of credits relative to their income activation timeline. The BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5 Index is a dynamic multi-asset, volatility-controlled strategy targeting 5% annualized volatility across multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income, and inflation-sensitive assets; it embeds a 0.50% per annum servicing cost deducted daily from the index level, reducing net credits. The AI Powered US Equity Index (AiPEX) uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to dynamically evaluate and select approximately 250 U.S. equity stocks from the 1,000 largest by market capitalization — it is the exclusive property of EquBot and administered by Solactive AG, licensed through HSBC for use in Athene products. If you want to understand the full range of how crediting strategies differ across FIA carriers and how embedded index fees affect net credited interest, our overview of index annuity crediting methods provides the complete framework.

The multi-strategy allocation capability within the Agility allows buyers to split their premium across multiple crediting strategies simultaneously. A buyer might allocate 50% to the 2-year Nasdaq FC strategy and 50% to the 2-year BNP Paribas Multi-Asset strategy, combining equity-focused growth potential with a diversified multi-asset volatility-managed approach. The 2-year strategies measure performance over two full years, which smooths out single-year volatility events and provides a different return profile than the 1-year annual strategies. Buyers who use multiple strategies with staggered term lengths also create natural crediting laddering — reducing the risk that all strategies renew in the same interest rate environment at the same time.

The Zero Annual Fee Advantage: What the Agility Saves Compared to Fee-Based Income FIAs

The absence of annual rider fees on the Athene Agility’s Income and Death Benefit Rider is a structural advantage that compounds significantly over the life of a long-term contract. Most competing income-focused FIAs charge between 0.95% and 1.25% annually for a GLWB rider — fees deducted from the accumulated contract value every year, whether the index credited any interest or not, and whether the buyer ever activates income withdrawals or not. On a $250,000 premium, a 1.00% annual rider fee means $2,500 per year is removed from the accumulated value as a fee cost. Over a 10-year deferral period, that is $25,000 in explicit deductions before accounting for the compounding opportunity cost of those dollars — money that would otherwise have been earning index credits and growing the accumulation account. The compounding impact of the fee drag is larger than the nominal dollar amount suggests, because each year’s fee deduction reduces the base on which future index credits are earned.

The Athene Agility’s zero-fee structure means the full premium goes to work from day one, and there is no annual deduction from the accumulation account for carrying the income and death benefit riders. The economic cost of the Benefit Base bonus and interest credit multiplier is instead reflected in the way Athene structures its general account investment and hedging strategy — not as a visible line-item deduction. For buyers who are uncertain whether they will ever activate lifetime income withdrawals, this zero-fee structure is even more advantageous: they are not paying an ongoing annual fee for a benefit they may never use. Competing income FIAs with mandatory rider charges — such as the North American Income Pay Pro at 1.15% annually — charge that fee from day one regardless of whether income is ever started. Buyers who fund such a product and then pass away before activating income have paid the rider fee for years without ever receiving the income benefit. The Agility avoids this scenario entirely. That said, buyers evaluating the Agility should also model the income amount produced by the Benefit Base at their specific age, premium, and deferral period against the income amount produced by competing fixed compound roll-up riders — because the Agility’s income amount is market-performance-dependent, while a fixed 8% compound roll-up product like the North American Income Pay Pro produces a fully guaranteed, predictable income amount regardless of market performance. If guaranteed certainty of the income amount (independent of what markets do) is the primary objective, fixed roll-up products may be more appropriate even with their annual fees. If the buyer is comfortable with a performance-linked income base and values the zero-fee accumulation efficiency and the enhanced death benefit, the Agility’s design is likely a better match. Our overview of annuity options for retirees without pensions covers the full range of income strategies and helps buyers align their income objective with the right contract design.

Liquidity, Tax Deferral, and the Bailout Provision

After the first contract year, the Athene Agility allows penalty-free withdrawals of up to 10% of the accumulated value or initial premium — whichever is greater — without triggering withdrawal charges or market value adjustments. The “greater of” provision is buyer-friendly in early contract years: when the accumulated value has not yet meaningfully exceeded the initial premium through index credits, the free withdrawal is still calculated on the initial premium rather than a potentially lower current accumulated value. This ensures that buyers have reliable annual liquidity from a meaningful base throughout the surrender period, not just in years when the index has performed strongly. The confinement waiver (60+ consecutive days, after year one) and terminal illness waiver (full accumulated value, after the first contract anniversary) provide expanded penalty-free access for qualifying health events, subject to state availability and eligibility requirements. For buyers in the S&P 500 cap strategy, the Bailout provision offers a structured exit if Athene reduces the declared cap rate below the contractually defined Bailout Cap Rate — within 30 days of the triggering anniversary, the full accumulated value is accessible without withdrawal charges. After the 30-day window closes, standard surrender charges and MVA apply. Our detailed explanation of annuity surrender charges covers the mechanics of how surrender schedules work across the full contract period, which is essential reading before committing to any 7- or 10-year FIA.

Tax deferral amplifies the Agility’s accumulation efficiency. Interest credited within the contract compounds without annual taxation until withdrawal. For non-qualified funds, withdrawals follow last-in-first-out tax treatment, meaning earnings are distributed first. For IRA rollovers and qualified account transfers, taxation aligns with existing retirement account rules. The Agility is particularly well-suited for IRA rollover, 401(k), and 403(b) repositioning — buyers can transfer accumulated qualified plan assets into the Agility and continue the tax-deferred compounding they already have, while adding the principal protection, income rider, and enhanced death benefit that a qualified plan alone does not provide. For clients evaluating whether annuities fit their retirement plan at all, our analysis of whether annuities are worth it provides a balanced framework across contract types, risk profiles, and income objectives.

How the Agility Compares to Other Athene Products and Competing Income FIAs

Within Athene’s own lineup, the Agility sits between the accumulation-focused BCA 2.0 and the income-maximization-focused Ascent Pro 10 in terms of design priority. The Athene BCA 2.0 (designed by Annexus) is primarily an accumulation vehicle with an Annual Strategy Charge and optional income and death benefit riders that are elected separately and may carry additional charges — the right choice for buyers whose primary objective is maximum index-linked accumulation with income and legacy as optional secondary enhancements. The Athene Ascent Pro 10 is designed specifically for income maximization, with a mandatory 1.00% annual income rider charge and a higher guaranteed income base bonus and roll-up rate than the Agility for buyers who are certain they will activate income — the right choice for buyers who want the highest possible guaranteed lifetime income amount from an Athene product and are willing to pay the annual fee for the certainty that a fixed roll-up provides. The Agility occupies the middle position: zero fees, performance-linked income base, built-in enhanced death benefit that continues growing during the income phase, and a design that balances accumulation potential with income and legacy in a single integrated chassis.

Against competing income FIAs from other carriers, the Agility’s key advantages are the zero annual fee, the 55% Benefit Base Bonus (current declared rate; historically at this level or higher), the 200% interest credit multiplier that applies during both deferral and income phases, and Athene’s A+ carrier strength with Apollo’s investment edge in cap rate competitiveness. The key considerations that may favor alternatives: buyers who need a guaranteed predictable income amount regardless of market performance are better served by the F&G Safe Income Advantage (7.2% compound roll-up guaranteed, included at no charge, AM Best A) or the Midland National IncomeVantage Pro (built-in GLWB at no charge with guaranteed minimum crediting, AM Best A+), because those products provide a fully deterministic income base that the Agility’s performance-linked multiplier cannot match in certainty. Buyers who want an ADL-based income doubler without institutional confinement requirements are better served by the Ameritas FlexMark Select’s MyFit Income Rider With Booster. The right choice for any specific buyer requires side-by-side illustrations at the buyer’s age, premium, and income start date — not a product-level comparison in the abstract.