The Corebridge Power Series of Index Annuities includes five fixed index annuities issued by American General Life. Power 5, 7, and 10 Protector focus on growth. Power 7 and 10 Protector Plus Income add a lifetime income rider for an annual fee. The main difference between them is how long your money stays committed.
If someone handed you a stack of Corebridge brochures, you probably noticed the problem right away. Five products, nearly identical names, and cover pages that all say the same three things about growth and protection. Power 5 Protector. Power 7 Protector. Power 10 Protector. Then two more with “Plus Income” tacked on the end.
Here’s the good news: the differences are simpler than the naming makes them look. This review walks through what all five share, what actually separates them, where the fine print matters, and which one fits which kind of buyer.
What Is the Corebridge Power Series of Index Annuities?
The Power Series is a family of fixed index annuities issued by American General Life Insurance Company, based in Houston. AGL is a member company of Corebridge Financial, which most people still know by its former name, AIG. The rebrand came when AIG spun off its retirement business. If you want a closer look at the carrier itself, we’ve published our American General Life company review separately.
A fixed index annuity is an insurance contract, not an investment in the stock market. You hand the insurance company a premium. In exchange, you get the chance to earn interest based partly on how an index performs, without losing money when that index drops. In a flat or down year, your credited interest is zero. Not negative. Zero. If that mechanism is new to you, start with our full breakdown of how index annuities work.
One thing to know upfront: none of these contracts are available in New York. If you’re a New York resident, this whole series is off the table.
The Five Power Protector Products at a Glance
Every product in the series requires a $25,000 minimum premium, uses the same four indices, and carries the same core contract guarantees. What changes is the commitment period, the age window, and whether an income rider comes attached.
| Product | Withdrawal charge period | Issue age | Income rider | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power 5 Protector | 5 years (8-7-6-5-4-0%) | 18-85 | No | Shortest commitment, growth focus |
| Power 7 Protector | 7 years (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-0%) | 18-85 | No | Middle ground on time and rates |
| Power 10 Protector | 10 years (9-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1%) | 18-75 | No | Longest commitment, growth focus |
| Power 7 Protector Plus Income | 7 years (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-0%) | 50-80 | Yes, for a fee | Income within a shorter window |
| Power 10 Protector Plus Income | 10 years (9-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1%) | 50-75 | Yes, for a fee | Maximum income build-up time |
California has its own withdrawal charge schedule on the 10-year contracts, starting at 9% and stepping down over nine years.
Power 5 Protector
The Power 5 is the shortest contract in the series and the only one with a feature the others don’t offer: a 5-year point-to-point account tied to the S&P 500. Instead of measuring index performance year by year, that account measures it once across the full five years. It’s a different bet, and it suits someone who doesn’t want to think about annual resets.
Issue ages run from 18 to 85, which is wide. Withdrawal charges start at 8% and disappear after year five.
Power 7 Protector
The Power 7 splits the difference. Same 18 to 85 age window as the Power 5, same index lineup minus the 5-year account, and a withdrawal charge schedule that runs seven years starting at 8%. Across the FIA market, longer commitments generally earn better caps and participation rates, so you’d expect the Power 7 to price better than the Power 5 on the same account type. Check the current rate flyer rather than assuming it.
Power 10 Protector
Ten years is a real commitment, and Corebridge prices it accordingly. The tradeoff shows up in the age limit. Where the Power 5 and Power 7 accept applicants up to 85, the Power 10 stops at 75. The withdrawal charge also starts higher, at 9%, and holds at 9% through year two before stepping down.
Power 7 Protector Plus Income
This is the Power 7 with the Lifetime Income Choice rider built in. The rider isn’t optional and it isn’t free. It carries an annual fee calculated as a percentage of your income base and deducted from your contract value.
The age window tightens considerably: 50 to 80. That’s the giveaway that this contract is built for people already thinking about turning on retirement income, not for accumulation.
Power 10 Protector Plus Income
Same rider, ten-year schedule, ages 50 to 75. The longer window gives your income base more time to build before you activate income, which is the entire point of buying an income rider years ahead of when you need the paycheck.
How Your Money Actually Earns Interest
This is where most annuity reviews get vague. Corebridge gives you more choices here than most carriers do, and the choices matter more than the product name you pick.
The Four Index Choices
Every Power Protector contract lets you spread money across four indices plus a fixed account:
- S&P 500 – Tracks 500 large U.S. companies. It’s a price return index, meaning dividends aren’t included. That’s not a knock on Corebridge, it’s how nearly every FIA handles it, but it does mean the index you’re tracking underperforms the one you see quoted on the news.
- AQR DynamiQ Allocation Index – Spreads across global stocks and bonds.
- ML Strategic Balanced Index – Mixes stocks, bonds, and cash, rebalancing to manage volatility.
- PIMCO Global Optima Index – Shifts between global stocks and U.S. bonds based on rules.
- 1-Year Fixed Account – A flat guaranteed rate, reset each contract anniversary.
Two of those indices, the ML Strategic Balanced and the AQR DynamiQ Allocation, carry an embedded cost baked into the index calculation. You don’t pay it as a fee and Corebridge doesn’t collect it, but it does reduce the index’s reported change, which reduces what gets credited to you. Worth knowing before you assume a higher participation rate on those accounts is a free upgrade.
Caps, Participation Rates, and Performance-Triggered Rates
Once the index does its thing, one of four crediting methods decides what actually lands in your account:
- Index rate cap – Sets a ceiling. If the cap is 6% and the index gains 10%, you’re credited 6%.
- Participation rate – Gives you a slice. At a 40% participation rate, a 10% index gain credits 4%.
- Performance-triggered rate – Pays a preset rate any time the index is flat or positive, no matter how much it gained. If the trigger is 5% and the index gains 1%, you still get 5%. If the index gains 20%, you still get 5%.
- Enhanced participation rate – A higher participation rate that you pay an annual fee to access.
The performance-triggered account is underrated for cautious buyers. In a year where the index limps to a 1% gain, a capped account credits you 1% and a triggered account credits you the full preset rate. In a year the index runs 25%, you’d rather have had the cap. Neither is better, they just win in different markets.
The Enhanced Participation Rate and Level-Up Credit
The enhanced participation rate, or EPR, is where Corebridge does something you don’t see everywhere. You pay an annual fee, deducted from that account, in exchange for a participation rate higher than the no-fee versions. There’s no guarantee it works out. Down markets credit zero interest but the fee still comes out.
That’s where the EPR level-up credit comes in. At the end of your withdrawal charge period, Corebridge compares the total EPR fees you paid against the total interest your annuity earned. If the fees came out ahead, they credit you the difference. So if you paid $10,000 in EPR fees and earned $9,000 in total interest, you’d get $1,000 credited back.
It’s a real backstop, and it’s better than nothing. But read what it actually promises. It compares fees to total interest earned, not to what you would have earned in the no-fee account. You can pay for the EPR, come out ahead of the level-up threshold, and still have done worse than if you’d picked the plain participation rate account.
What Every Power Protector Contract Includes
Free Withdrawals and Withdrawal Charges
All five contracts let you take up to 10% of your contract value each year without a withdrawal charge, based on your prior anniversary value. Take more than that during the charge period and you’ll pay the percentage for whatever contract year you’re in.
The 87.5% Minimum Withdrawal Value
Read this part carefully. Annuity marketing throws around “principal protection” pretty loosely.
Your index accounts can’t lose money to market drops. That part is true.
The contract’s actual floor is called the Minimum Withdrawal Value. It guarantees that on full surrender, death benefit, or annuitization, you’ll never receive less than 87.5% of your premium. Net withdrawals reduce it. It also grows at a rate specified in your contract.
That’s 87.5%, not 100%. The growth rate is designed to lift the floor back past your original premium over time. Hold to the end of the withdrawal charge period and your contract value should sit well above the floor anyway. The floor protects you in a bad exit. It isn’t a promise you can walk away in year two with everything you put in.
Every fixed index annuity on the market is built this way, so it isn’t a Corebridge shortcoming. It just isn’t what “you can’t lose your principal” sounds like.
Market Value Adjustment
Withdraw more than your free amount during the charge period and a market value adjustment applies on top of the withdrawal charge. The MVA can move in either direction based on how interest rates have shifted since your contract was issued. Rates up since issue, the adjustment usually works against you. Rates down, it can work in your favor. Some states don’t allow it at all.
Terminal Illness and Extended Care Waivers
Withdrawal charges and the MVA can be waived in two situations. The first is a terminal illness diagnosis. The second is extended care needs that put you in a nursing home or assisted living facility. Restrictions apply, and these riders aren’t offered in every state.
The death benefit also passes directly to your named beneficiary without going through probate. Your beneficiary receives the greater of your contract value or the Minimum Withdrawal Value.
The Income Rider on the Plus Income Contracts
Lifetime Income Choice is the rider attached to both Plus Income contracts. It costs 1.10% of your income base per year, deducted from your contract value. You can’t buy it on its own, and on these two products you can’t decline it. Before the product-specific details, it helps to understand how an income rider works in general.
How the Income Base Grows Before You Turn Income On
The income base is a bookkeeping number. It isn’t your contract value. You can’t withdraw it, and you can’t take it as a lump sum. Its only job is to size your future paycheck.
It starts equal to your eligible premium, meaning whatever you paid in the first 30 days. From there it earns an income credit every year you wait, for up to 10 years or until you activate income, whichever comes first.
Be precise about what that credit is. It isn’t a rate of return. It never touches your contract value or your death benefit. Someone who waits five years to activate watches the income base climb on a schedule while the contract value follows a completely different path, driven by whatever the index accounts actually earned.
The daily growth feature is a genuine convenience. Activate halfway through a contract year and you’re credited half that year’s income credit rather than forfeiting the partial year. Plenty of competing riders make you wait for the anniversary to get anything.
You can also take withdrawals before activating without losing the income credit rate. Those withdrawals still reduce the income base and income credit base proportionally, so they aren’t free.
Max Income or Level Income
You pick one at contract issue. You can’t change it afterward.
Max Income starts higher. It pays a larger withdrawal percentage for as long as your contract value stays positive. Once that value hits zero, your income steps down to a lower guaranteed rate, called the protected income payment percentage, and stays there for life.
Level Income starts lower and never moves. The percentage you activate at is the percentage you draw for life, whether your contract value is healthy or long since spent.
Here’s the part worth sitting with. The names describe the shape of the income stream, not the lifetime total. Max Income front-loads. Level Income spreads evenly. Which one delivers more over your lifetime depends on two things you can’t know in advance: how long you live, and how fast your contract value drains. Live well past the point where the contract value runs out and the steady option can catch up and pass the front-loaded one.
Both options run through age bands, and the older you are when you activate, the higher your percentage. Joint life coverage pays less than single life, since the guarantee has to cover two people.
Those percentages reset. We’ll pull current numbers for your age and situation when you’re ready to compare.
After you activate income, withdrawing more than your maximum annual withdrawal amount permanently reduces your future income. Excess withdrawals also wipe out that year’s income credit.
The Confinement Benefit
Both Plus Income contracts include an Enhanced Income Benefit at no extra fee. You need to be confined to a qualified facility for at least 90 days, and the benefit becomes available on or after your second contract anniversary. Once you qualify, your income doubles to 200% of your maximum annual withdrawal percentage on a single life contract. Joint life gets 150%.
Corebridge’s own arithmetic: draw $10,000 a year normally, and you could take up to $20,000 while the benefit applies. The enhanced payment runs up to five contract years, or until your contract value hits zero.
Be clear on what this is not. It isn’t long-term care insurance. It doesn’t underwrite for health, it doesn’t pay from a separate pool of money, and it accelerates income you already own instead of adding new benefits. It’s a useful feature that costs nothing extra. It is not a substitute for real long-term care coverage.
Where the Power Series Falls Short
No product review is worth much if it only lists benefits. Here’s the honest side:
- The floor is 87.5%, not 100%. A bad early exit can cost you real money.
- The EPR fee isn’t guaranteed to pay off. The level-up credit protects you against total fees exceeding total interest, not against underperforming the free version of the same account.
- The rider fee runs 1.10% of your income base annually. It’s locked for the life of your contract once issued, but it comes out in flat and down markets too, when no interest is going in.
- Income credits stop after 10 years. Waiting longer than that to activate doesn’t grow your income base any further.
- “Max Income” describes the early years, not the lifetime total. The option that pays more depends on longevity, not the name.
- No New York availability. Full stop.
- Subsequent premiums close after 30 days. You can’t add money later. If you’re planning to fund gradually, this series isn’t built for it.
- The Power 10 cuts off at age 75. Older than that and you can’t get the ten-year pricing.
- Rates aren’t permanent. Caps, participation rates, and the income withdrawal percentages all reset. Whatever you’re quoted today isn’t a feature of the contract forever.
Who Each Power Protector Product Fits Best
- Power 5 Protector – You want index-linked growth with money you can’t tie up for a decade, or you like the idea of a single five-year measurement instead of annual resets.
- Power 7 Protector – You want better rates than the Power 5 offers, you’re comfortable with seven years, and you don’t need contractual income guarantees.
- Power 10 Protector – You’re under 75, this money isn’t earmarked for the next decade, and you want the strongest accumulation pricing in the series.
- Power 7 Protector Plus Income – You’re between 50 and 80, you want guaranteed lifetime income, and you’re planning to turn it on within roughly seven to ten years.
- Power 10 Protector Plus Income – You’re between 50 and 75, income is the goal, and you have a long enough runway to let the income base build before you activate.
If none of those descriptions match your situation, that’s useful information too. A fixed index annuity is a long-term contract, and the right answer is sometimes a different product family or a different carrier entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Corebridge the same company as AIG?
Corebridge Financial is the company formed when AIG separated its life and retirement business. American General Life Insurance Company, the issuer of every Power Series contract, is a Corebridge member company and was previously an AIG subsidiary. The contract form numbers on these annuities, AG-800 and AG-801, still date back to 2012.
Can you lose money in a Power Protector annuity?
Your index accounts won’t lose value from market declines, since credited interest is never less than zero. You can still lose money by surrendering early and paying withdrawal charges and a market value adjustment, or through fees on the enhanced participation rate accounts and the income rider. The contract’s guaranteed floor is 87.5% of premium, less net withdrawals, growing at a contractual rate.
What’s the difference between Power 10 Protector and Power 10 Protector Plus Income?
Both use the same ten-year withdrawal charge schedule and the same index accounts. The Plus Income version includes the Lifetime Income Choice rider at an annual fee of 1.10% of your income base, plus the confinement benefit at no extra cost, and it limits issue ages to 50 through 75. The standard Power 10 Protector has no rider, no rider fee, and accepts ages 18 through 75.
Does the income credit mean my annuity earns that much every year?
No, and this trips up a lot of people. The income credit applies only to your income base, which is the number used to calculate future lifetime withdrawals. It isn’t a rate of return, it doesn’t get added to your contract value, and your beneficiaries don’t receive it. Your contract value grows separately, based on the index accounts you chose.
How much do I need to open a Power Series annuity?
The minimum initial premium is $25,000 for both qualified and non-qualified money across all five products. You can add more only during the first 30 days after your contract is issued. Total premium above $2 million for one owner or annuitant requires company approval first.
Are Power Series annuities available in every state?
No. None of the Power Series contracts are offered in New York. Specific riders, index accounts, and withdrawal charge schedules also vary by state, and California uses a different schedule on the ten-year contracts.
Key Takeaways
- Five products, one chassis – All Power Protector contracts share the same four indices, the same $25,000 minimum, and the same core guarantees. Commitment length, age limits, and the income rider are what actually differ.
- Longer surrender periods usually buy better pricing – Carriers pay for time across the FIA market. Compare the current rate flyer across all three schedules before you assume it holds here.
- The Plus Income contracts are income products, not growth products – The 50-and-up age floor and the mandatory rider fee tell you exactly who they’re built for.
- The 87.5% floor is the real guarantee – Zero-interest downside protection and a full return of premium are two different promises. Know which one you’re getting.
- The income base is not your money – An income credit sounds like growth. It sizes your future paycheck and nothing else.
- Rates aren’t in the brochure – Caps and participation rates come from a separate flyer and reset over time, so any comparison you run needs current numbers.
Withdrawals from any annuity may be subject to federal and state income taxes, and an additional 10% federal tax may apply before age 59½. The IRS explains annuity taxation in Publication 575.
Ready to see how the Power Series compares to what else is out there? We’ve been selling fixed index annuities for over 30 years, and we’ll run current Corebridge rates side by side with the other carriers competing for the same money.
Call us at 334-821-7137 or request a free comparison.
