Corebridge Financial Annuities

Corebridge Financial currently sells three types of annuities: fixed products, index products and variable products. Remember that each type of annuity generally caters to a different audience.

Corebridge sells two fixed annuities.

The first is the Assured Edge Income Builder, which offers predictable income and a guaranteed growth rate. It’s a straightforward fixed annuity, offering industry-standard benefits such as extended care and terminal illness riders along with a 10% free withdrawal policy.

Significant flexibility is also built in, with customers able to make changes such as who is covered under the contract after a death or divorce even after the contract is active.

Corebridge’s other fixed option is the American Pathway annuity. This product offers additional benefits such as guaranteed interest earnings along with an automatically included death benefit.

In addition, they offer indexed annuities. Corebridge provides two variations of its Power Series Index Annuity, each with distinct riders that influence the product’s operation.

By adding the Lifetime Income Plus Multiplier Flex, you can double the interest you earn before starting income and can match the interest earned after lifetime income begins.

With the Lifetime Income Max rider, you can receive 10% income credits for every year you defer income.

Regardless of which rider you choose, the Power Series allows you to grow your money in part based on the returns of an index while keeping your principal protected. Lifetime withdrawals are included at up to 7.35% per year.

Corebridge Financial sells one variable annuity product: the Polaris. This annuity allows customers to potentially take advantage of daily step-ups to have a better shot at capturing market highs.

That feature is available through the Income Plus Daily Flex rider, which provides the ability to capture the highest daily value 252 times per year.

Several different income options are available through a Polaris annuity, with choices varying based on the age at which you activate income and whether you opt for single or joint coverage.

There is also a high amount of customization available, with investment options that span 12 asset classes.

Like other Corebridge annuities, you can make some coverage changes without penalty at the time you choose to activate income.

Corebridge Financial is a new name for a company that has technically existed for some time. These products and services initially operated as AIG’s Life and Retirement division before being spun off into a separate company in 2022.

On top of that, Corebridge actually issues the annuities it advertises through companies with different names. For example, American General Life issues many of its annuities. However, Corebridge remains the front-facing name and brand of the organization.

While the brand is still young, Corebridge has a solid financial standing and reputation, in part due to being spun off AIG, a major and well-regarded company in the financial sector.

American General Life, which issues many of Corebridge’s annuities, has superb financial strength.

There are no noteworthy concerns about Corebridge’s customer satisfaction, but it is also not necessarily an industry leader in this area. Under the AIG name, the company scored just above the industry average in the 2023 edition of the J.D. Power Overall Customer Satisfaction Index for annuities.

It scored ahead of key competitors like Allianz and Athene but well behind giants such as Nationwide and MassMutual. The company’s score did rise slightly from 2022.

American General Life, the issuing company of many of Corebridge’s annuities, also holds a worrying NAIC Complaint Index Score of 2.48. This means the number of customer complaints is more than twice as high as expected given the company’s presence in the market.

One pro of Corebridge Financial is the different types of annuities available. A wide range of customers may find a product that makes sense for them through Corebridge thanks to its mix of fixed, index and variable offerings.

Another benefit of Corebridge is its strong financial standing.

The several different names connected to Corebridge’s products can cause brand confusion. There’s AIG, which formerly operated the company as AIG Life & Retirement until 2022 when it was spun off and rebranded as Corebridge.

Then there is American General Life, the issuing company that actually issues most of the products that Corebridge advertises.

While none of this impacts the effectiveness of the company’s annuities, it can potentially turn away customers who want a clearer understanding of what company they will be working with.

Another downside to Corebridge’s annuities is that, while they offer strong features, many of these features are only available through riders that may result in an additional cost to you.

However, it may be harder to justify the purchase of some of these annuities without adding on the riders.