Confidential Review Library · Athene Annuity & Life Company
Athene Agility 10 review
Fixed indexed annuity with income rider
Athene Agility 10 is a fixed indexed annuity with a built-in lifetime income rider and no explicit rider charge. Its trade-off sits in the crediting terms: caps and participation rates fund the income benefit, so accumulation is usually more modest than on rider-free contracts.
Last updated 2026-08-03
The five pillars
Cost
No separate rider fee, but the cost is embedded
Agility carries no explicit annual rider charge, which reads well on a one-page illustration. The economics still have to come from somewhere: the carrier funds the income benefit through the crediting terms it sets on the index options. When you review a contract like this, compare the caps and participation rates against a rider-free contract from the same carrier — that gap is the real cost of the benefit.
Surrender
Ten-year charge schedule
The 10-year surrender period is long relative to the market, and the charge declines on a set schedule. Free-withdrawal provisions typically allow a limited annual percentage without a charge. If money may be needed inside the first decade, this is the pillar that usually drives the score down.
Riders
Income rider is the product, not an add-on
The lifetime withdrawal benefit is the reason this contract exists. Review how the benefit base grows, whether growth stops at activation, and how the payout factor changes with age. A benefit base is an accounting value for calculating income — it is not a cash value you can walk away with.
Rate
Crediting is capped and renewable
Index caps and participation rates are typically declared annually and can move at renewal. Reviewing the renewal history of the specific index option matters far more than the first-year rate on the brochure.
Fit
Best suited to income-first owners
This structure fits an owner whose primary objective is a predictable lifetime withdrawal stream and who has other liquid assets for emergencies. It fits poorly where the objective was growth, or where the contract was purchased with money that may be needed early.
What to watch on your own contract
- —Whether the income benefit was ever activated, and at what age
- —The current declared cap versus the cap in the first contract year
- —How much of the account value is available annually without a charge
- —Whether the benefit base was mistaken for cash value at purchase
Questions owners ask
- Is Athene Agility 10 a good annuity?
- There is no universal answer. Agility is built around a lifetime income benefit with no explicit rider charge, so it reviews well for an income-first objective and poorly for a growth objective. The right question is whether the contract you own matches the goal you had.
- Does Athene Agility have a fee?
- There is no separate stated rider charge. The benefit is funded through the crediting terms on the index options, which is an indirect cost rather than a line item.
- How long is the surrender period?
- Agility 10 uses a ten-year declining surrender charge schedule, with a limited annual free-withdrawal amount available before charges apply.
About the carrier
Athene is a high-volume Iowa-domiciled issuer of fixed indexed and multi-year guaranteed annuities, affiliated with Apollo Global Management. Its MYGA contracts are among the simplest to review; its indexed contracts with built-in income benefits require reading the crediting terms as the true cost of the benefit.
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