Market growth, downside protection.
Caps and participation rates from 11 top-rated carriers across all 50 states, refreshed every market day. Pick your state to see what is available where you live.
8 carriers. One transparent comparison.
Every carrier we track, sorted by AM Best financial strength and headline cap rate.
See what your money does.
Drag the slider, pick a term, watch all three scenarios update. This is the same math we run on every product detail page, fed by today's best S&P 500 cap rate.
Transparent rates. Clear charts. Zero pressure.
Annuity Lock turns live caps, participation rates, and term-by-term projections into clear, side-by-side charts you can read in seconds. Take your time, browse the data freely, and only talk to a licensed advisor when you are ready, never before.
See live rates in your state
Pick your state to see today's live caps and participation rates from the carriers we track. No estimates, no stale data.
Lock in your rate
Share a few quick details with us and we will hold today's rate for you. No commitment to move forward.
Hand off to a licensed advisor
A licensed agent in your state takes it from here. They confirm what you picked, no upsell, no detour.
Open your annuity
Your advisor handles the final steps so the contract gets issued at the rate you locked. From there, your annuity is open and earning.
What is a fixed index annuity?
A fixed index annuity (FIA) is an insurance contract that pairs principal protection with market-linked growth. When the index you're tied to (typically the S&P 500) rises, the carrier credits a portion of that gain to your account, up to a cap or participation rate. When the index falls, your account value stays flat. You never lose money to market movement.
Compared with a fixed annuity, you trade a contractually guaranteed interest rate for the chance at higher index-linked credits. Compared with a variable annuity, you trade the upside of being directly invested for the certainty of a 0% floor. The result is a middle path: more potential than a CD, less risk than the market, with a tax-deferred growth wrapper.
FIAs are most useful in the 5 to 15 years before retirement: long enough for the index links to do meaningful work, close enough to your draw-down phase that the principal protection matters.
The terms you'll see on every product page.
- Cap rate
- The maximum annual credit you can earn on an FIA. If the cap is 6.25% and the index returns 10%, your credit is 6.25%.
- Participation rate
- The percentage of the index's gain credited to your account. At 150% participation with an 8% index gain, you'd earn 12%.
- Floor
- The minimum credit you can receive in a given term. Almost all FIAs use a 0% floor, so your account value can never decrease from index movement.
- Spread
- A flat amount subtracted from the index's return before crediting. With a 2% spread and an 8% index return, you'd earn 6%.
- AM Best rating
- An independent grade of an insurer's financial strength. A- or better is considered strong. We surface AM Best ratings on every product.
Unlock the full projections.
A free account shows the actual cap rate behind every projection, full side-by-side carrier comparisons, and a licensed advisor in your state when you want to talk.
“I had no idea how a Fixed Index Annuity actually worked before. This walked me through it in plain English and made the trade-offs really easy to see.”
Pick your state.
Carrier licensing is state-by-state. Choose where you live to see exactly which carriers and products are available.
