EquiTrust Life annuities

Overview

EquiTrust Life Insurance Company is an annuity insurer with its corporate headquarters in Chicago and its administrative office in West Des Moines, Iowa. It is a single company rather than a group: EquiTrust ranked #19 among U.S. groups by 2024 individual annuity direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with $7.02 billion in premiums and a 1.66% share. It reported $37.8 billion in invested assets at the end of 2025, up from about $14.5 billion in 2014.

EquiTrust sells almost entirely fixed products: fixed indexed annuities: caps, participation rates and trade-offs, a multi-year guaranteed annuity, a traditional fixed annuity and a single premium immediate annuity. Its only life product is a single-premium indexed whole life policy, and the site has no separate life insurance profile for it. Its annuities are sold through independent agents, and in 2025 it began selling through banks and other financial institutions.

Since November 2025 EquiTrust has been part of Amistad Financial Group, LLC, a newly formed parent that, with its affiliates, carries about $3 billion of debt. Rating agencies have since flagged the parent's leverage, as described below.

Annuities it sells

EquiTrust's lineup as listed on its website in October 2026:

• Accumulation fixed indexed annuities: MarketFive Index, MarketSeven Index and MarketValue Index, with surrender periods of five, seven and 10 years. Each guarantees a minimum accumulation value at the end of its surrender period. Interest is credited from index accounts every one or two years, and the account never loses value because of an index decline.
• Bonus fixed indexed annuities: MarketPower Bonus Index, MarketTen Bonus Index and MarketEdge Bonus Index add a premium bonus, which EquiTrust says is vested from day one. The trade-off is time: MarketPower Bonus has a 14-year surrender charge period and the other two have 10 years. A bonus annuity usually pays for the bonus through longer surrender periods or less generous crediting.
• Income fixed indexed annuities: MarketEarly Income Index, for income starting soon, and MarketFuture Bonus Income Index, for income starting later. Both include an Income Benefit Rider that pays lifetime income even if the account value runs out, a form of guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit riders. The rider offers single or joint life payouts and higher payments for a qualifying chronic illness. Its bonus and roll-up apply to a benefit base used to calculate income, not to cash you can withdraw.
• SmartBoost Index: a fixed indexed annuity that guarantees the accumulation value grows by at least 40% over 10 years, with no rider fee, and adds a matching boost to the death benefit when it is paid out over 60 months.
• Bridge: a fixed indexed annuity with a long-term care rider, launched in 2022. It is bought with a single premium, everyone who applies is approved, and qualified LTC benefits are paid without submitting receipts. It includes NeverStop, a health coaching and rewards program run with Assured Allies that can add to LTC benefits.
• Certainty Select: a MYGA with a guaranteed rate for a period you choose and free withdrawal of interest earned.
• ChoiceFour: a traditional fixed annuity with a rate that resets each year, offered in four versions that trade a small first-year bonus and a market value adjustment against more penalty-free access.
• Confidence Income: a Single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs): how they work that pays income for life, for a set period or both, on one or two lives.

EquiTrust does not sell variable or registered index-linked annuities. Like other indexed annuity specialists, its products depend on crediting rates and caps the company sets and can change at renewal, and on long surrender charge schedules. Our annuity sales abuses targeting seniors guide explains what to watch for in an indexed annuity sales pitch.

Ownership and reinsurance

EquiTrust was founded in 2003 as a subsidiary of FBL Financial Group, the Iowa Farm Bureau insurance group, and sold a MYGA as its first product. Guggenheim Partners bought it in 2011. In 2015 Magic Johnson Enterprises became its controlling shareholder. The company moved its domicile from Iowa to Illinois in 2013 and to Arizona in 2022.

In November 2025 EquiTrust became part of Amistad Financial Group, which intends to operate as a diversified financial services firm, including investment and asset management. According to Fitch, former majority shareholders kept a minority stake, no Amistad shareholder owns more than 10%, and the core leadership team stayed in place. The prior structure had no debt; Amistad and its affiliates have about $3 billion outstanding. EquiTrust produces most of the group's earnings, so it is expected to pay large dividends to its parent to service that debt.

Why it matters: an insurer that must send a large share of its earnings upstream has less room to build capital or absorb investment losses. Fitch also noted that hard-to-value Level 3 assets made up about 44% of EquiTrust's bonds at the end of 2025, against an industry average of about 13%, though 98% of bonds were investment grade.

Financial strength

EquiTrust's ratings are lower than those of most large annuity writers, and the agencies disagree:

• AM Best: B++ (Good), affirmed August 20, 2026, with the outlook revised to stable from positive because of high financial leverage and pressured interest coverage at Amistad. B++ is the fifth-highest of AM Best's 13 active-company ratings.
• Fitch: A- (Strong), affirmed May 16, 2026, with the outlook revised to negative from stable, citing the dividend requirements created by the new holding company.
• S&P: A- (Strong), as listed on EquiTrust's financial strength page in October 2026.

See AM Best, S&P, Moody's and Fitch ratings explained for how these grades compare. If an insurer fails, your state guaranty association protects annuity values up to a limit, commonly $250,000 per person per insurer. Check your state's limit with our state guaranty association coverage lookup.

Who it suits

EquiTrust suits buyers working with an independent agent who want a fixed indexed annuity, a fixed annuity with a guaranteed minimum value, or an annuity that also pays long-term care benefits with guaranteed approval. It suits less well people who want variable or index-linked products, who put rating strength first, or who may need their money before a 10- to 14-year surrender period ends.

• Strengths: a long record in fixed and fixed indexed annuities since 2003; products with guaranteed minimum accumulation values; an annuity with long-term care benefits and guaranteed approval; Fitch and S&P ratings of A-.
• Weaknesses: AM Best rating of B++ (Good), below most large annuity writers; Fitch outlook negative since May 2026 because of debt at the new parent; bonus products with surrender periods up to 14 years; no variable or index-linked annuities.

How to contact EquiTrust Life