Aspida Annuities

The types of annuity products Aspida offers include fixed annuities and fixed index annuities.

Aspida offers three fixed annuity options. All three are multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) with guarantee period options of two, three, five or seven years.

Aspida also sells two fixed index annuity types, the Synergy ChoiceTM and the WealthLock AccumulatorSM.

Aspida is a newcomer to the annuity market, founded in 2021 by insurance industry professionals who wanted to bring an updated, disruptive approach to annuities. As of February 2024, Aspida had over $13 billion in assets under management.

Aspida receives backing from Ares Management Corporation, a global alternative investment manager with over $400 billion in assets under management. Ares’ in-house investment team. Ares Insurance Solutions, is dedicated to supporting Aspida with investment management, capital solutions and corporate development services.

In 2023, Aspida sold nearly $2 billion in direct annuity premiums, commanding 0.57% of the U.S. annuity market, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The company is licensed to sell annuities in every state except New York and in D.C. and a few U.S. territories.

Aspida’s reputation is limited since the company is relatively new. However, the company has received an excellent financial strength rating from AM Best, one of the country’s top credit rating agencies.

Agencies like AM Best assign ratings to represent the overall financial stability of an insurance or annuity company. The higher the rating, the more likely the company is to be able to meet its obligations to its policyholders. It’s important to know the financial strength rating of any annuity company you consider because annuity guarantees are backed by the issuer’s creditworthiness.

AM Best assigned a credit rating of A- (Excellent) to Aspida Life Insurance Company. This rating is the fourth highest out of 13 potential ratings.

Aspida does not seem to have issues with annuity customer satisfaction. According to the NAIC, the company has not had any complaints from annuity customers reported to state insurance commissions since its founding. However, it bears repeating that the company has not been around nearly as long as many of its competitors.

The NAIC tracks consumer complaints each state’s insurance commission receives each year. It uses this data to compile a company’s NAIC Complaint Index.

The index score is calculated by dividing the company’s share of complaints in the U.S. market by the company’s share of premiums in the U.S. market. The National Complaint Index is always 1.00, so a score of 2.00, for example, is twice as high as expected in the market.

These numbers indicate that Aspida received significantly fewer complaints than the insurance and annuity industry average.

Aspida did not appear in the 2023 J.D. Power Annuity Customer Satisfaction Study, which scored annuity companies on a 1,000-point scale of overall customer satisfaction.

Buying an annuity from Aspida could be advantageous depending on your needs, goals and priorities. However, every annuity company has its benefits and drawbacks. It’s important to consider the pros and cons of a provider and its products before deciding to purchase an annuity.