Allianz 222 Fixed Indexed Annuity Review

The Allianz 222 is a fixed indexed annuity (FIA): it gives the annuitant a way to earn a market-index-linked return without having to take on the risk of market downside. That makes it a suitable plan for people approaching retirement who want to grow and protect their savings — and it's built especially for buyers who also want guaranteed lifetime income or plan to leave a legacy, on top of protecting and growing their nest egg.

Current crediting rates, caps, participation rates, spreads, bonuses, and fees for the Allianz 222 refresh daily in the live rates panel on this page. This review explains how the contract works and where it fits — the numbers themselves live in that panel.

How does the Allianz 222 policy work?

Any annuitant up to a maximum issue age of 80 can purchase the Allianz 222 with a minimum initial premium of $20,000, and in return earns market-index returns — calculated through a crediting formula we'll walk through below — without exposure to market losses, credited according to the crediting period chosen. Beyond the regular crediting period, several events can also trigger an earnings credit: free withdrawals, a long-term-care or terminal-illness/injury event, or when a death benefit becomes payable.

What sets the 222 apart from a plain FIA is that it runs two separate values side by side.

1. Protected Income Value (PIV). This is the account designed for enhanced lifetime income. Allianz establishes the PIV on the day your contract is issued at 100% of your initial premium, and it can be credited with two bonuses:

• Premium bonus — a bonus credited on all premiums you place in the contract during the first 18 months.
• Interest bonus — after your allocation interest is determined, it's multiplied by a 150% interest-bonus factor and credited to the PIV. So if your allocations earned 3% for the year, the company credits 4.5% to your PIV (3% × 50% = 1.5%; 3.0% + 1.5% = 4.5%). The interest bonus is credited every year in which your allocation earns positive interest, regardless of which allocation options you choose.

The catch: the PIV is only available as lifetime-income withdrawals, and only after you've held the contract for at least 10 contract years. It is not a lump sum you can simply walk away with.

2. Accumulation Value. This is the standard account most annuities use. It equals your total premium paid plus 100% of any interest earned from your chosen allocations, less withdrawals, optional-rider charges, any allocation charges and surrender charges, and adjusted by any Market Value Adjustments (MVAs). It does not include any bonuses, and it's available as a lump sum any time after 10 contract years (or after 5 years for standard annuity-payout options).

The practical takeaway: the bonuses that make the 222 attractive live entirely in the PIV, and you only unlock them by committing to lifetime income years down the road.

The five index options

The Allianz 222 lets you allocate across one or more of five indexes to determine your crediting, each offering multiple point-to-point strategies, plus a fixed-rate guaranteed-interest option:

1. S&P 500 Index — one of the most popular and oldest indexes in the world, tracking 500 large-cap U.S. stocks. In the 222 the S&P 500 is used with a cap rate, meaning you're credited index growth only up to that cap.

2. Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance Index II — blends the S&P 500 with the Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate RBI Series 1 Index (a bond benchmark). Created in August 2015, it targets a low annualized realized volatility, which limits the index's return potential.

3. PIMCO Tactical Balanced Index — a rules-based, dynamic benchmark that balances exposure between equities, bonds, and cash, adjusting its allocations daily based on market volatility: favoring equities when swings are low, shifting toward bonds when volatility rises, and moving to cash in periods of extreme uncertainty.

4. BlackRock iBLD Claria Index — designed for exposure to a diversified global-equity portfolio at a targeted volatility level. Built from iShares ETFs, it rebalances daily between equity and fixed-income baskets using 20- and 40-day historical volatility measures.

5. S&P 500 Futures Daily Risk Control 5% Index — a volatility-targeted benchmark that allocates daily between S&P 500 futures and a liquid bond index to hold roughly 5% annualized volatility, smoothing returns but trimming upside since equity exposure is scaled back when markets get choppy.

You can also allocate to a fixed-interest option. That fixed rate changes over time and tends to run low relative to comparable fixed products like CDs and MYGAs.

In my opinion, the S&P 500, Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance Index II, and PIMCO Tactical Balanced are the most attractive indexes to choose from — they offer uncapped strategies with above-average participation rates and reasonable back-tested returns. Keep in mind, though, that except for the S&P 500, all of these are volatility-control indexes, which limit the index's true return-earning potential.

The earnings crediting formula

The earnings-crediting formula is the most important part of any FIA discussion. You don't simply receive the index return — participation rates, caps, and spreads put in place by the company shape what's actually credited, and those figures change over time (they're shown in the live rates panel on this page). At a high level:

• Strategies with participation: Participation Rate % × Index Return.
• Strategies with caps: the index return over the crediting period, up to a maximum of the cap rate.
• Strategies with spreads: the index return less the spread percentage.

Here's what each of those terms means in the 222's strategies:

1. Participation Rate (PR) — your participation percentage in an index's return. At a 120% participation rate, a 5% index return credits 6%. 2. Cap Rate — the ceiling on your credit. If an index returns 12% but the cap is 6%, you're credited 6%; it doesn't matter how far the index runs above the cap. 3. Monthly Sum — the year's credit is based on monthly index changes. Each month's change (end-of-month vs. start-of-month close) is taken, positive months are capped at that term's monthly cap, and the 12 adjusted changes are summed. The credited rate is never less than 0%. 4. Fixed Account Rate — a flat declared rate for a set period. These tend to run low versus other fixed avenues like CDs and MYGAs, so they're generally less compelling than the indexed strategies.

Out of these strategies, I'd lean to the annual and multi-year point-to-point options with participation rates, since they carry the higher participation rates. Allianz tends to offer lower cap rates and higher spread rates on the 222, so I wouldn't favor the cap- and spread-based strategies here. And in general, the 222 is a decent *growth* annuity only if you intend to use the PIV account for lifetime income (after holding at least 10 contract years). For the regular accumulation account, other carriers such as Athene and F&G offer stronger growth opportunities.

Index Lock and Auto Lock

On both annual point-to-point and multi-year point-to-point strategies with a participation rate, you can manually lock in an index value one time at any point during the crediting period. Normally, index gains are locked in only at the end of the strategy term, so this feature helps when you believe the index has peaked and want to capture the gain before term-end.

In Allianz's own hypothetical: the index rises to 111 in month 18 and you lock it in. The beginning value (100) compared to the locked value (111) is an 11% change; at an 80% participation rate, the indexed interest for that crediting period is 8.8% (80% of 11%) — assured regardless of what the index does over the remaining months. This free, built-in feature is one of the most popular in Allianz's FIA lineup.

Auto Lock automates the same idea. Instead of watching the index, you set upper and lower index-interest-rate targets for each crediting period (measured as the indexed interest earned after the participation rate is applied), and the lock triggers automatically when a target is hit.

Accessing your money

Each year you're allowed a 10% free withdrawal of your contract value without charges, fees, or penalties. If your needs change and you take an excess withdrawal — anything above the remaining free-withdrawal amount in a given contract year — that excess is subject to a surrender charge, and during the withdrawal-charge period a Market Value Adjustment (MVA) also applies to the portion above the free amount.

The Allianz 222 uses a standard ten-year surrender schedule that starts in the low double digits and grades down to zero by the end of year 10. The exact percentages apply only to the Allianz 222 and can vary by state — the current, state-specific schedule is shown in the live rates panel on this page. The 222's surrender terms are broadly in line with other annuity issuers. Once the surrender period ends, you can generally access your full contract value without charges, though any withdrawal reduces both your contract value and, where applicable, the income base tied to optional riders, which can affect future guaranteed income.

You can also convert the contract into a stream of guaranteed income through annuitization, choosing among several payout options to fit different needs:

• Life Only — income for as long as you live.
• Joint and Survivor Life — payments over two lifetimes, often used by couples.
• Life with Period Certain (up to 30 years) — income for life, with payments guaranteed for a minimum period even if death occurs earlier.
• Period Certain (up to 30 years) — guaranteed payments for a set number of years regardless of lifespan.
• Single or Joint Life with Cash Refund — if the annuitant(s) die before receiving payments equal to the original premium, the difference is refunded to beneficiaries.
• Single or Joint Life with Installment Refund — similar to the cash refund, but any remaining balance is paid out over time in installments.

Together these let you balance lifetime-income needs against legacy goals.

Death benefit

Before annuitization, the 222 gives your beneficiaries two death-benefit options. They can receive the greater of the accumulation value, guaranteed minimum value, or cumulative withdrawal amount as a lump sum (this option does not include any bonuses). Or they can receive the Protected Income Value — including the premium and interest bonuses — in payments over a minimum of five years.

Always keep in mind that, unlike CDs, annuities are not guaranteed by the FDIC or any federal insurance agency. An annuity's guarantee is only as strong as the insurance company that issues it, so it's important to assess the issuer before buying.

Allianz Life has been in business since 1896 and is a subsidiary of Allianz SE — one of the oldest financial-services and insurance companies, with more than thirteen decades of history and a spot on the Fortune 500 at #47. Allianz has long been one of the largest providers of fixed and fixed-indexed annuities in the U.S. and a regular top-ten FIA seller. Its financial-strength ratings sit near the top of every major scale: A+ from AM Best (2nd of 13), Aa2 from Moody's (5th of 21), and AA from S&P (3rd of 21).

As of year-end 2024, Allianz SE reported roughly EUR 17.8 billion in total sales/direct written premium, EUR 43.1 billion of total stockholders' equity, EUR 7.8 billion in net operating income, and EUR 137.1 billion in total assets. By any reasonable measure of operating history and financial strength, this is a carrier you can trust to stand behind a multi-decade promise.

*Pros*

• Multiple index options — a real menu of five broad-market indexes to allocate across.
• Free Index Lock and Auto Lock — manual and automatic ways to capture index gains mid-term rather than waiting for term-end, at no cost.
• Premium and interest bonuses — meaningful enhancements on the PIV, provided you commit to the lifetime-income path.

*Cons*

• Weak accumulation value — the accumulation account earns no premium or interest bonus, and its indexed crediting is below average for pure growth.
• Volatility-control indexes — every index except the S&P 500 is a volatility-control design that limits true return potential.
• Modest realistic returns — this is a conservative, income-protection contract; realistic return expectations are average, and it's not the best fit for someone focused purely on growth and accumulation.

People are living longer than ever, which makes a safe, steady, guaranteed income stream — one that can also grow — more valuable than ever in retirement. That's exactly the brief the Allianz 222 is built to fill. It's a capable lifetime-income contract with a couple of genuinely differentiated features in the PIV premium/interest bonuses and Index Lock. It is not the ideal choice if your goal is accumulation, where its low caps, low participation rates, and volatility-control indexes hold it back. But for a very conservative buyer who prizes income protection above all else, backed by one of the strongest insurers in the world, the Allianz 222 can be an excellent fit.