Clear Spring Life ClearFlex Fixed Indexed Annuity – Balanced Growth with Flexibility and Protection

Clear Spring ClearFlex Fixed Indexed Annuity: Key Product Features at a Glance

About Clear Spring Life and Annuity Company

Clear Spring Life and Annuity Company was originally established in 1985 and rebranded from Guggenheim Life and Annuity Company in 2022 upon acquisition by Group 1001 — a network of insurance businesses committed to customer-focused financial products. The company is domiciled in Fort Worth, Texas and operates under an A- (Excellent) rating from AM Best, placing it in the same financial strength tier as Aspida Life, Ibexis Life, and Delaware Life. Clear Spring focuses entirely on annuity products — it does not write life insurance — and generated approximately $747 million in direct premiums in 2024, marking it as a smaller but focused carrier in the annuity market. One carrier metric buyers should weigh alongside the AM Best rating is the NAIC Complaint Index: Clear Spring’s complaint index has been reported as materially above what would be expected for a carrier of its market size. This is a service quality signal, not a financial strength indicator, but it is worth factoring into a long-term commitment evaluation. For a full carrier evaluation covering AM Best history, complaint data, Group 1001 context, and how Clear Spring compares to peers, our dedicated resource on whether Clear Spring is a good company is already linked above — first and only use on this page. Clear Spring is not licensed in New York.

What Makes ClearFlex Different: Flexible Premium and No Rider Complexity

Among FIA products in the A- carrier tier, ClearFlex occupies a distinctive position: it is one of the few flexible-premium FIAs available from a Group 1001 carrier, meaning buyers are not required to commit their entire allocation at purchase. The initial minimum is $5,000, and additional deposits of $1,000 or more as one-time contributions — or $250 monthly systematic deposits — can be made for up to 10 years after contract issue. Each additional deposit is allocated to the 1-year Fixed Strategy and can be reallocated to index strategies at the next contract anniversary. This flexible-premium design allows buyers to fund the contract incrementally — positioning it as a longer-term accumulation vehicle that can absorb IRA contributions, maturing CD proceeds, or conservative brokerage reallocations over time, rather than requiring a single large upfront decision. For a structural explanation of how tax deferral and interest crediting mechanics work across annuity designs, reviewing how annuities earn interest explains caps, participation rates, spreads, and crediting period selection in plain language.

ClearFlex carries no optional income riders — this is an accumulation-only design. There is no GLWB, no roll-up provision, no benefit base, and no annual rider fee deducted from the contract value. For buyers who are in a pure accumulation phase and not yet ready to activate income, this simplicity is an advantage: 100% of every credited interest dollar stays in the accumulation value without any annual fee drag. The trade-off is that when income is eventually needed, it must come through free withdrawals, systematic withdrawals from the accumulated value, RMDs if applicable, or formal annuitization — which converts the contract value into a structured payout stream using one of Clear Spring’s settlement options. Income planning for ClearFlex buyers therefore must be done separately, which makes it critical to understand how annuitization and structured withdrawal strategies compare to products with built-in income rider features. For buyers who want to understand whether an annuity can provide income for life and what mechanisms support that, reviewing how annuities can pay income for life covers the range of income delivery options across product types.

The Index Menu: Four Strategy Choices Plus Fixed Account

ClearFlex offers four index options alongside a fixed declared interest account. The S&P 500 Index is the broadest and most transparent — 500 large-cap US equities with publicly available performance history, no embedded fee deductions in the index itself, and multiple crediting strategy choices (point-to-point with cap, and potentially other methods) that give buyers flexibility in how growth is measured. The S&P 500 is the most familiar benchmark in the FIA market and the simplest to evaluate historically. The S&P MARC 5% Excess Return Index is a multi-asset, risk-controlled S&P strategy targeting 5% annualized volatility — it dynamically reallocates between equity and fixed income components to manage return consistency, and carries an excess return calculation structure that factors in certain costs. The S&P 500 Sector Rotator Daily RC2 5% Index ER is a sector-rotation strategy with a 5% risk control and a daily rebalancing mechanism, subject to an embedded excess return structure — buyers should confirm how this index’s embedded costs affect net credited interest before allocating to it. The BNP Paribas Technology Balanced 7 Index is a technology-sector-oriented, volatility-controlled index co-developed with BNP Paribas, targeting 7% volatility through allocation between technology equity exposure and fixed income — the technology sector concentration means this strategy can perform well in technology bull cycles and may underperform when technology equities lag broader market returns.

For buyers evaluating index allocation, a few practical principles apply. The S&P 500 strategies are the most straightforward to benchmark because the underlying index is transparent and widely tracked — you can independently evaluate historical S&P 500 performance across different market cycles to build expectations for how the FIA strategy might behave. The volatility-controlled and sector-specific strategies (S&P MARC 5%, Sector Rotator, BNP Paribas Technology) involve more complex underlying methodologies, embedded cost structures, and narrower sector exposures that require more detailed analysis before allocation. The fixed account offers a declared rate guaranteed for the crediting period — the most predictable outcome at the cost of giving up indexed growth potential. Most buyers use a combination of strategies rather than a single allocation, with the S&P 500 component providing broad market participation and specialty strategies providing potential diversification in different market environments. Reallocation between strategies is available at each contract anniversary with 10 business days’ advance notice, giving buyers an annual opportunity to adjust as their market outlook or strategy performance evolves. For a full breakdown of crediting methods — including how point-to-point caps, participation rates, and performance triggers produce different outcomes across market conditions — reviewing index annuity crediting methods provides the structural framework.

The MVA: What It Is, When It Applies, and How It Affects Buyers

The Market Value Adjustment is one of the most misunderstood features in the FIA market, and ClearFlex buyers should understand it clearly before committing funds. The MVA is an adjustment — positive or negative — applied to withdrawals or surrenders that exceed the free withdrawal amount during the surrender period. It reflects the change in interest rates between the time the contract was purchased and the time of the excess withdrawal or surrender. If interest rates have risen since contract issue, the MVA is negative — it reduces the amount received on early surrender, reflecting the fact that the carrier’s investment backing the contract is now worth less in a higher-rate environment. If interest rates have fallen since issue, the MVA is positive — it increases the amount received. The MVA does not affect penalty-free withdrawals, the death benefit, annuitization after the fifth contract year with payments made over at least five years, or the end-of-surrender-period full surrender. Understanding what a market value adjustment is in full — including how it interacts with the surrender charge to determine the total cost of early exit — is essential before funding any annuity that includes an MVA provision.

For buyers who hold ClearFlex within the free withdrawal limits and for the full surrender period without needing excess access, the MVA remains entirely in the background and has no practical impact on the outcome. The MVA only becomes relevant when a buyer needs to withdraw more than 10% annually or surrender the contract before the term ends. This is why ClearFlex — like all annuities with MVA provisions — is most appropriate for buyers who have clearly defined the purpose of the allocated funds, have adequate external liquidity for unexpected needs, and can commit to the chosen surrender period with reasonable confidence. The 10% annual free withdrawal provision, the full RMD waiver, and the nursing home and terminal illness waivers together provide meaningful access in the circumstances where access is most commonly needed — planned distributions, required IRS distributions, and qualifying health events — without triggering the MVA.

Tax Deferral, IRA Rollovers, and the Deferred Annuity Structure

ClearFlex is designed around the deferred annuity structure: your premium and credited interest accumulate over time without annual taxation, with distributions taxed when they occur. This tax deferral enhances compounding efficiency, particularly for buyers in higher marginal tax brackets who would otherwise pay annual taxes on investment gains in a taxable account. For buyers comparing ClearFlex to a CD or savings account, the tax deferral advantage means that even at the same nominal credited rate, the after-tax accumulated value inside ClearFlex may be meaningfully higher over a 5- to 10-year period because no annual tax drag has reduced compounding. ClearFlex is commonly used by individuals rolling over IRA or 401(k) assets, repositioning conservative brokerage funds, or carving out a protected accumulation segment within a diversified retirement strategy. For buyers who want a foundational explanation of what a deferred annuity is — including how the accumulation phase, surrender period, and distribution phase interact — reviewing what a deferred annuity is provides the structural context.

For IRA and rollover clients specifically, ClearFlex’s flexible-premium design and RMD waiver make it a more functional vehicle than single-premium-only FIAs for buyers who want to continue contributing to the annuity over time. Qualified accounts do not receive additional tax deferral benefit from the annuity beyond what the qualified plan already provides — the value of ClearFlex in a qualified account comes from the principal protection, indexed growth potential, and flexible liquidity provisions rather than from incremental tax deferral. Buyers funding ClearFlex with non-qualified (after-tax) funds capture the full deferral advantage and should understand LIFO distribution sequencing — earnings are distributed first and taxed as ordinary income, followed by return of the cost basis, which is not taxed again. Coordinating annuity withdrawals with Social Security timing, pension elections, and other taxable income sources is a key component of efficient retirement income planning that a personalized illustration and tax plan can address.

Estate Planning, Death Benefit, and Annuitization Options

ClearFlex is not a “use it or lose it” product. At death, the full accumulation value passes to named beneficiaries with no surrender charges and with the MVA waived — meaning the death benefit is always the full contract value at the time of death, unaffected by the interest rate environment that would have applied to an early surrender. Proper beneficiary designation allows the proceeds to pass directly to named heirs outside of probate in most cases, simplifying and accelerating the transfer compared to estate-based asset distribution. For families coordinating multiple retirement accounts and investment assets across a broader estate plan, understanding how annuity death benefit mechanics — including beneficiary settlement options and tax treatment — differ from account-based and probate-based transfers is important. Our resource on how annuity death benefits work covers the full landscape of beneficiary options across product types.

For buyers who eventually want to convert ClearFlex accumulation value into structured income rather than taking systematic withdrawals, annuitization is available after the first contract year through multiple settlement options — including period certain, lifetime income, and joint life income structures. Annuitization is irrevocable and exchanges the lump-sum contract value for a defined income stream, so it should be carefully compared against withdrawal-based income strategies before election. At Diversified Insurance Brokers, we model ClearFlex accumulation projections alongside income conversion options at different start ages to give buyers a complete picture of how the annuity serves their retirement timeline at each phase — accumulation, transition, and income distribution. A comparison of current fixed annuity rates, current bonus annuity rates, and FIA alternatives is also part of a responsible product selection process, ensuring ClearFlex is evaluated against the full range of conservative retirement tools rather than as a standalone decision.