How Allianz Benefit Control® works

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America

If you want more potential for tax-deferred growth while you’re saving for retirement – and you also want flexibility to adapt as your needs change, plus the potential for income increases – Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity may be a good choice.

Allianz Benefit Control Annuity provides the typical features of fixed index annuities – including principal protection from market downturns, the potential for tax-deferred growth, options for lifetime retirement income, and a death benefit for your beneficiaries.

While you're saving for retirement, Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity can help by giving you two ways to get a bonus to your Protected Income Value (PIV):

  • a 25% bonus on any premium you put into your annuity in the first 18 months, and
  • an interest bonus, based on a feature we call the Bonus Control Benefit. We explain this in more detail in the Bonus section below.

And when you're ready to start receiving income, your lifetime withdrawals can increase based on any interest you’ve earned, in addition to the interest bonus. Plus, you can double your annual maximum available for withdrawal under qualifying circumstances.

Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity also gives your beneficiaries two ways to get a death benefit prior to annuitization:

  • They can receive the annuity's remaining accumulation value in a lump sum if they wish, or
  • They can receive the remaining PIV if taken as annuity payments over a period of at least five years, limited to 250% of the accumulation value.

Issue age and minimum

The minimum initial premium payment is $20,000 for qualified and nonqualified money.

Bonus

Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity offers two ways to receive a bonus on the PIV of your contract. You’ll receive a 25% premium bonus on any premium you place in your annuity in the first 18 months.

You’ll also have the potential to receive an interest bonus on interest earned through an innovative feature we call the Bonus Control Benefit. Before you’ve begun taking lifetime withdrawals from your annuity, you can choose one of the following two options — and you can change your choice every contract year. Once you begin lifetime withdrawals, you will continue to have the opportunity to earn an interest bonus based on the Balanced PIV interest bonus option:

Accelerated PIV interest bonus option
250% interest bonus to PIV
50% accumulation value interest factor

Balanced PIV interest bonus option
150% interest bonus to PIV
100% accumulation value interest factor

Both the premium bonus and interest bonus are credited only to the Protected Income Value (PIV). To receive the PIV, including the value of these bonuses, lifetime withdrawals must be taken. The PIV is not available as a lump sum. You will not receive these bonuses if the contract is fully surrendered or if traditional annuitization payments are taken. If it is partially surrendered the PIV will be reduced proportionally, which could result in a partial loss of bonuses. Lifetime withdrawals are considered partial withdrawals and are subject to ordinary income tax and, if taken prior to 59½, a 10% federal additional tax. Because this is a bonus annuity, it may include higher surrender charges, longer surrender charge periods, lower caps, or other restrictions that are not included in similar annuities that don't offer a bonus feature.

Participation rates and caps

The participation rate is 100% for monthly sum and annual point-to-point with a cap allocation options. This means we use the entire percentage of index change when we calculate the indexed interest rate. A cap would still apply. The cap is the maximum percentage of index change we use for a specified time period to determine how much interest we credit to your annuity in a given contract year. For annual point-to-point with a participation rate and MY point-to-point with a participation rate, we multiply the index change at the end of the crediting period by the participation rate to determine the indexed interest rate for the crediting period.

Call your Allianz financial professional for current caps, participation rates, and interest rates.

Allocation options

Monthly sum with a cap: S&P 500® Index

Annual point-to-point with a cap: S&P 500® Index

Annual point-to-point with a participation rate: Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index, PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index, BlackRock iBLD Claria® ER Index

MY point-to-point with a participation rate (2-year or 5-year point-to-point): Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index, PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index, S&P 500® Futures Daily Risk Control 5% Index

Amounts allocated to annual point-to-point and MY point-to-point crediting methods are subject to an allocation charge that is deducted annually from the accumulation value and guaranteed minimum value. The current allocation charge percentage is 0%.

A fixed interest allocation is also available.

Allocation options may vary by state.1

Index Lock

With both annual point-to-point and MY point-to-point with a participation rate crediting methods, you have the ability to manually lock in an index value on any of your individual indexed interest allocation(s) one time at any point during the crediting period. If an Index Lock is activated, then:

  • For the annual point-to-point crediting method, the indexed interest credit will be applied at the end of the crediting period based on the locked index value and the applicable participation rate.
  • For the MY point-to-point crediting method, you do not have to wait until the end of the crediting period. The indexed interest credit is calculated based on the locked index value and the corresponding participation rate for the contract year you activate an Index Lock. Any indexed interest credit will be applied on the next contract anniversary. You will then have the opportunity to reallocate to new allocation options. If you choose to lock in an index value, the beginning index value for your next crediting period will be the index value at the end of the previous contract anniversary (not the chosen locked-in index value). Because the lock is executed at the end of the trading day, the index value used to determine interest credited may be higher or lower than the index value at the time of request. Note: An Index Lock can only be activated on index returns that are greater than 0%, unless otherwise indicated. Activating Index Lock manually will cancel any current targets you have set for the current crediting period. If you decide to activate Index Lock manually – or if neither target has been reached at the end of your current crediting period – you will need to set new targets for the next crediting period unless auto-renewal is active.

Learn more about the details and business rules that apply.

If I request a manual Index Lock, when will the index value be locked?
If you request an Index Lock prior to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on a business day, the index will lock at the ending index value of that day. If you request the lock after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on a business day, the index will lock at the ending index value at the end of the following business day. Your locked index value is the index value at the end of the business day on the day the index is locked. A business day is defined as each day on which the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open for trading. Our business day closes when regular trading on the NYSE closes.

Can I cancel my manual Index Lock request?
Your Index Lock request can only be canceled by calling our service team at 800.950.1962 before 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on the day the index value will be locked.

Auto Lock
As another option alongside our manual Index Lock capability, Auto Lock lets you set upper and lower index interest rate percentage targets during each crediting period. The index interest rate percentage target set will be equal to the amount of indexed interest earned after the participation rate is applied.

If the end-of-day index interest rate percentage meets or exceeds your upper target during a given crediting period, Auto Lock will automatically lock in that index value until the next contract anniversary. If a lower target is set and the end-of-day index interest rate percentage is less than or equal to your lower target during a given crediting period, Auto Lock will automatically lock in that index value until the next contract anniversary.2 You also have the option to choose auto-renewal. This means the set target will continue from year to year for the length of the contract, unless you change or cancel it.

You also have the flexibility to adjust their target index interest rate percentage – either up or down – as many times as you wish, as long as an Auto Lock hasn’t been activated during that crediting period.3

Please note: When setting targets, the upper target must be greater and the lower target must be less than the current index return for the crediting period. Setting targets authorizes Allianz to automatically activate an Index Lock once the target is reached, based on the index interest rate percentage at the end of the business day. Targets need to be renewed after each crediting period unless auto-renewal is active. Also, when setting upper targets with MY point-to-point crediting methods, keep in mind that participation rates may increase each year and could activate an Index Lock immediately on the contract anniversary. Upper and lower targets do not have to be set at the same time. Because Auto Locks are activated based on end-of-day index interest rate percentages, you may end up with less than your lower target and greater than your upper target.

Learn more about Index Lock and Auto Lock and the details and business rules that apply.

Income through lifetime withdrawals

As described above, Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity offers two ways to receive a bonus on the Protected Income Value of your contract – the value in your annuity that is specifically designed for lifetime withdrawals.

Once you start receiving lifetime withdrawals from your Protected Income Value, there is an opportunity to increase your lifetime withdrawals based on the interest rate credited to your allocations, including the interest bonus.

After you’ve owned your annuity for at least five years, you can double your annual maximum available for withdrawal with the Allianz Income Multiplier Benefit rider, if you qualify due to hospitalization or confinement in an eligible nursing home or assisted living facility or if you become unable to perform two of the six activities of daily living (ADLs).

To receive the Allianz Income Multiplier Benefit, you must be confined to a qualified hospital, nursing facility, or assisted living facility for at least 90 days in a consecutive 120-day period. Confinement must occur after the first contract year and either during the contract year before the start of lifetime income withdrawals or at any time thereafter. The six activities of daily living are bathing, continence, dressing, eating, toileting, and transferring. The enhanced withdrawals will occur until a full recovery or the accumulation value reaches zero, at which time the withdrawals will revert back to the standard amount.

Other ways to access your money

In the contract year following the most recent premium payment, up to 10% of the contract's premium paid, minus withdrawals, can be withdrawn each contract year without incurring withdrawal charges or market value adjustment or penalties; maximum is cash surrender value.

10-year withdrawal charge period (9.3%, 9.3%, 8.3%, 7.3%, 6.25%, 5.25%, 4.2%, 3.15%, 2.1%, 1.05%, 0%). At the beginning of the 11th contract year, the withdrawal charge will be zero. The withdrawal charge and withdrawal charge period apply to the accumulation value, which does not include the premium bonus or the interest bonus. These withdrawal charges may vary by state.

Market value adjustment (MVA): If the contract is partially or fully surrendered (not including 10% free withdrawals and required minimum distributions), it will be subject to an MVA during the withdrawal charge period. An MVA will also apply if the contract is annuitized prior to the sixth contract year or if annuity payments are taken over a period of less than 10 years. The MVA reference rate is a component used to calculate the MVA. For additional information on MVAs and their calculation, see the contract or Statement of Understanding.

MVA reference rate

Payout options

You can start taking lifetime withdrawals from your annuity immediately or on any monthly anniversary after age 50 – but remember that you may be subject to a 10% federal early withdrawal penalty if you take withdrawals before age 59½. These lifetime withdrawal payments will last as long as you live.

After your lifetime withdrawals begin, your income payments will have the opportunity to increase following each crediting period your contract earns interest, including the 150% interest bonus factor. Also, as long as you don't take other withdrawals, your payment is guaranteed to never decrease.

And if you should later be confined to an eligible nursing home, hospital, or assisted living facility, you can receive up to double your annual maximum income with the Allianz Income Multiplier Benefit rider.

Anytime on or after the 10th contract anniversary, the contract owner can receive a lump-sum payment of the full accumulation value (which does not include the premium bonus or interest bonus).

In addition, anytime on or after the fifth contract anniversary, the full accumulation value can be annuitized using any one of the standard annuity options.

Death benefit

Prior to annuitization, Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity gives you two death benefit options. Your beneficiary(ies) can receive the greater of the accumulation value, guaranteed minimum value, or cumulative withdrawal amount as a lump sum (this option doesn't include any premium or interest bonuses). Or, they can receive the Protected Income Value – including the premium and interest bonuses – in payments over a minimum of five years, limited to 250% of the accumulation value (PIV death benefit limit can vary by state).

Current MVA reference rate: 6.10 % as of 10/3/2023

Uses the yield of the Bloomberg US Intermediate Corporate Bond Index

Historical MVA reference rates

InformationInformation

Ready to take the next step?

Because annuities are complex products, Allianz Benefit Control® is available exclusively through financial professionals. Ask your financial professional if it may be a good fit as part of your overall portfolio.

Questions to consider

Talk to your financial professional to see if Allianz Benefit Control® Annuity is appropriate for you. Here are some questions they can help answer:

  1. How are the annuity’s principal and any credited interest protected?
  2. How can this product provide income for life and assist with the rising cost of living?
  3. What backs up any guarantees available with this product?
  4. What else should I consider that might impact my retirement?
tile-azl-woman-talking-to-people

1 BlackRock iBLD Claria® ER Index not available in Iowa.

2 Setting targets authorizes Allianz to automatically activate an Index Lock once the target is reached based on the index interest rate percentage at the end of the business day.

3 You may activate an Index Lock manually online at any time, as long as an Auto Lock hasn’t already been activated. Activating Index Lock manually will cancel any current targets you have set for the current crediting period. If you decide to activate Index Lock manually – or if neither target has been reached at the end of your current crediting period – you will need to set new targets for the next crediting period.

Purchasing an annuity within a retirement plan that provides tax deferral under sections of the Internal Revenue Code results in no additional tax benefit. An annuity should be used to fund a qualified plan based upon the annuity’s features other than tax deferral. All annuity features, risks, limitations, and costs should be considered prior to purchasing an annuity within a tax-qualified retirement plan.

Any distributions are subject to ordinary income tax and, if taken prior to age 59½, a 10% federal additional tax.

Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.

This content does not apply in the state of New York.

The S&P 500® Index is comprised of 500 stocks representing major U.S. industrial sectors. The S&P 500® Futures Daily Risk Control 5% Index is comprised of the S&P 500 Futures Index ER and the S&P 10-year Treasury Note Futures Index ER and is balanced daily to achieve target volatility.

The "S&P 500® Futures Daily Risk Control 5% Index" is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC or its affiliates (“SPDJI”), and has been licensed for use by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz). Standard & Poor’s® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”); Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”); these trademarks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by Allianz. Allianz products are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P, their respective affiliates, and none of such parties make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s) nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the S&P 500 Futures Daily Risk Control 5% Index.

S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”). This trademark has been licensed for use by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and its affiliates. S&P® and S&P 500® are trademarks of S&P. These trademarks have been sublicensed for certain purposes by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz”). The S&P 500 is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates and has been licensed for use by Allianz. Allianz products are not sponsored, endorsed, sold, or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P, or their respective affiliates and neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P, or their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product.

The PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index is comprised of the U.S. Equity Futures Custom Index, a bond component comprised of the PIMCO Synthetic Bond ER Index and a duration overlay, and shifts weighting between them daily based on historical realized volatility of the components. The U.S. Equity Futures Custom Index provides exposure to large cap U.S. stocks in excess of a benchmark rate. The PIMCO Synthetic Bond ER Index is comprised of a small number of derivative instruments designed to provide exposure to U.S. investment-grade and Treasury bond markets in excess of a benchmark rate.

The "PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index" (the "Index") is a rules-based index that tactically allocates across U.S. equity and fixed income markets using quantitative signals. The Index is a trademark of Pacific Investment Management Company LLC ("PIMCO") and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (the "Company" or “Allianz”) with respect to this Allianz product (the "Product"). The Index is the exclusive property of PIMCO and is made and compiled without regard to the needs, including, but not limited to, the suitability or appropriateness needs, as applicable, of the Company, the Product, or any Product owners. The Product is not sold, sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by PIMCO or any other party involved in, or related to, making or compiling the Index.

Neither PIMCO nor any other party involved in, or related to, making or compiling the Index has any obligation to continue to provide the Index to the Company with respect to the Product. In the event that the Index is no longer available to the Product or Product owners, the Company may seek to replace the Index with another suitable index, although there can be no assurance that one will be available.

PIMCO disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use. PIMCO shall have no responsibility or liability with respect to the Product.

The Index is comprised of a number of constituents, some of which are owned by entities other than PIMCO. All disclaimers referenced in the Agreement relative to PIMCO also apply separately to those entities that are owners of the constituents of the Index.

The BlackRock iBLD Claria® ER Index is comprised of an equity component, a bond component, and a cash component. It shifts weighting between the components daily based on historical realized volatility of the components. The index tracks the return in excess of a benchmark rate. Annually, BlackRock will set allocations to the ETFs within each of the equity component and the bond component. The equity component will be comprised of the following ETFs: iShares Russell 2000 ETF, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF. The bond component will be comprised of the following ETFs: iShares 1-3 year Treasury Bond ETF, iShares 3-7 year Treasury Bond ETF, iShares 7-10 year Treasury Bond ETF. The cash component is represented by the 3 month LIBOR rate.

The BlackRock iBLD Claria® ER Index (the "index") is a product of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and has been licensed for use by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz”). BlackRock®, BlackRock iBLD Claria® ER Index, and the corresponding logos are registered and unregistered trademarks of BlackRock. The Allianz product is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, BlackRock, Inc., or any of its affiliates, or any of their respective third party licensors (including the Indices calculation agent, as applicable) (collectively, “BlackRock”). BlackRock has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration or marketing of the Allianz product. BlackRock makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Allianz product or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in the Allianz product or the ability of the Index to track general market performance. BlackRock does not guarantee the adequacy, accuracy, timeliness, and/or completeness of the index or any data or communication related thereto nor does it have any liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions of the index.

The Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index is comprised of the Bloomberg US Aggregate Custom RBI Unfunded Index and the Bloomberg US Equity Custom Futures ER Index and shifts weighting daily between them based on realized market volatility. The Bloomberg US Aggregate Custom RBI Unfunded Index is comprised of a portfolio of derivative instruments that are designed to provide exposure to U.S. Investment-grade and Treasury bond markets in excess of a benchmark rate. The Bloomberg US Equity Custom Futures ER Index is designed to provide exposure to large cap U.S stocks in excess of a benchmark rate.

“Bloomberg®” and Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index are service marks of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index Services Limited (“BISL”), the administrator of the index (collectively, “Bloomberg”) and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America ("Allianz"). Bloomberg is not affiliated with Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America ("Allianz"), and Bloomberg does not approve, endorse, review, or recommend the Allianz product. Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accurateness, or completeness of any data or information relating to the Allianz product.

• Not FDIC insured • May lose value • No bank or credit union guarantee • Not a deposit • Not insured by any federal government agency or NCUA/NCUSIF

Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, PO Box 59060, Minneapolis, MN 55459-0060.
(C64237-MVA, R95581-MVA, ICC17C64237-MVA)

Product and feature availability may vary by state and broker/dealer.

PSABC