American National Insurance

One area where American National falls short is that it doesn’t offer as much upfront information about its products compared to other annuity companies, RetireGuide.com has examined.

To get the full scope of the company’s offerings, you may need to work directly with an agent.

While it does not have easily accessible, robust brochures or information packets about the products, the company does offer three different types of annuities.

American National offers single premium MYGAs with terms of three, five, six or seven years. These are relatively straightforward contracts, with the typical tax deferral benefits and a 30-day window at the end of your term to withdraw all your money or continue the annuity.

The company also sells the WealthQuest 7, a flexible premium deferred annuity. You receive a guaranteed interest rate on all payments made in the first two years, and an interest rate enhancement is available for payments made within 36 months.

American National also sells index deferred annuities. These allow you to take advantage of tax deferral features while also participating in market gains by tying your annuity to an index but keeping your principal protected.

SPIAs are available through American National as well. The carrier does not provide a lot of upfront information on how their SPIAs work, but contracts for this type of annuity tend to be simple and fairly similar across companies.

American National is one of the oldest providers active in the annuity space, originally opening its doors in 1905. It is a massive insurance operation, and annuities are just one part of its larger business. Brookfield Reinsurance acquired the company in 2022.

There are different ways to look at American National’s size and reach. Since annuities are not as large a part of its business, it may have fewer robust options or infrastructure around those products compared to some providers dedicated specifically to annuity sales or focused on only a few areas.

On the flip side, American National’s name, reputation and financial standing can be difficult to beat, especially for smaller annuity-specific competitors.

American National has built a strong reputation through its nearly 120-year history. The company is financially sound and does substantial business in the annuity space.

According to the NAIC, it has surpassed $4 billion in annual annuity premiums. Few competitors can top that number. The company is also financially stable and strong.

Unfortunately there is not a lot of customer satisfaction information available for American National.

The company did not appear in the 2022 or 2023 editions of the J.D. Power Overall Customer Satisfaction Index, which measures satisfaction among annuity customers. Note that this index does not measure all companies, so the lack of a score doesn’t mean American National graded poorly.

The company did score a 0.28 in the NAIC Complaint Index. This is a very favorable score, indicating there are far fewer customer complaints than expected against American National.

As with any major provider, there are pros and cons to working with American National. Much of this will come down to your personal situation and whether a product from the carrier makes the most sense for you.

The pros to working with American National are simple: The company offers solid products, is financially secure and does not have a poor track record of customer issues.

Altogether, it’s not a bad pitch. If an American National product meets your needs, you can know you are buying from a company that is stable and well-regarded and not known for being a headache.

The big drawback for American National is its lack of publicly available product info on a website that is not overly user-friendly.

If you’re planning to work with an agent or advisor, this isn’t necessarily a problem. They likely can access brochures and information to get you what you need.

For more financially literate customers who prefer to do their own baseline of research and see differences in products for themselves, this can be a definite drawback.