Allianz Life Launches Industry-First RILA Rider to Protect Financial Legacies

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has launched the Legacy+™ Income Benefit, a first-of-its-kind rider for the registered index-linked annuity market. For insurance carriers and brokers, this product addresses growing "spend-down" anxiety by guaranteeing a death benefit even if contract values reach zero through income payments, effectively decoupling legacy preservation from longevity risk.

What was announced

The Legacy+™ Income Benefit is an optional rider, available for an additional cost, designed to provide a dual solution of lifetime income and a protected financial legacy. It is specifically integrated into two of the company’s registered index-linked annuity (RILA) products: the Index Advantage+ Select Income® Annuity and the Income Advantage ADV® Annuity. This benefit ensures that a death benefit remains in place for beneficiaries even if the policyholder’s contract value is fully depleted by lifetime income withdrawals.

The core mechanic of the benefit involves locking in a "Legacy Value" for beneficiaries at 50% of the accumulated contract value at the moment income payments commence. This value remains fixed and guaranteed, regardless of how long the retiree continues to receive income or whether those payments eventually exhaust the contract value to zero. Data from the 2026 Annual Retirement Study from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement® shows that 56% of Americans now prioritize leaving a legacy over spending their entire retirement savings on themselves—an 18-percentage-point increase from five years ago.

RILAs function as a middle ground in the annuity market, offering indexed return potential with customizable levels of protection against market downturns. They provide tax-deferred growth and various payout options. However, as with all RILAs, they remain subject to investment risk and market fluctuations, meaning the contract value can vary. The guarantees associated with the Legacy+™ rider are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life.

"Too many retirees may sacrifice their enjoyment of retirement and underspend to ensure that they have money to pass on to their loved ones as a legacy," said Corey Walther, president of Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC. "The Legacy+™ Income Benefit offers a permission to spend and assurance that legacy will not be depleted."

Corey Walther, president of Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.

The companies involved

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz Life) is a provider of retirement income solutions, specializing in the registered index-linked annuity (RILA) and life insurance markets. The company operates alongside Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, which manages the distribution and service of these financial products. Allianz Life has positioned itself as a specialist in addressing the "accumulation-to-distribution" transition for retirees, utilizing its Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement® to generate proprietary insights into consumer behavior.

In the broader insurance market, the firm is recognized for its focus on indexed products that attempt to mitigate market volatility for individual investors. The company’s role involves managing the complex actuarial risks associated with lifetime income guarantees and death benefits. By offering products like the Index Advantage+ Select Income® Annuity and Income Advantage ADV® Annuity, the organization serves a segment of the market looking for tax-deferred growth combined with structured downside protection. Its operations are centered on providing financial security through products whose guarantees are backed by its own financial strength and claims-paying capacity.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has previously tracked the evolving concerns of the American retiree through Allianz Life’s research. In July 2026, the publication detailed findings in Allianz Life Study: 71% of Americans Fear Spending Retirement Savings Despite Decades of Accumulation. That report underscored a pervasive psychological barrier: even after decades of disciplined saving, 71% of Americans expressed a profound fear of actually using those funds. This anxiety is often rooted in the "all-or-nothing" perception of retirement spending, where every dollar spent on lifestyle is viewed as a dollar lost to potential heirs. The introduction of the Legacy+™ Income Benefit appears to be a direct structural response to these specific consumer fears.

What this means from an insurtech perspective

From an insurance product design perspective, this move highlights a shift toward "behavioral underwriting." By embedding a fixed legacy value that survives a zero-balance contract, Allianz is using product architecture to solve a psychological friction point in distribution. For carriers and MGAs, this increases the complexity of reserve management and long-term liability modeling, as the death benefit obligation remains even after the underlying asset is depleted. It puts pressure on incumbent vendors to ensure core policy administration systems can handle such non-traditional, contingent guarantees. Ultimately, this raises the bar for RILA competition, forcing other providers to move beyond simple participation rates and toward more holistic, "permission-to-spend" features.