Volatility & Outcome Comparison

How an FIA holds the line in a downturn

Modeling a Fixed Indexed Annuity (annual point-to-point, S&P 500® cap, 0% floor) against the S&P 500® through history's hardest stretches — and the years it took the market to recover.

— Indexed annuity Strategy

Fixed Indexed Annuity

S&P 500® annual point-to-point with cap. Principal protected, 0% floor in negative years.

% S&P 500 Cap

3% 20%

0% Floor — credited rate is never less than zero in any year.

Annual Rider Fee (optional)

Income / death benefit rider

Most FIAs have no explicit base contract fee. Use this field only to model an optional rider charge.

— Market reference Direct Market

S&P 500®

Direct, fully-invested exposure to the S&P 500® with dividends reinvested. Full upside, full downside, no protection — and no floor to stop a multi-year decline.

S&P 500® total return. Annual price change plus reinvested dividends — the return a fully-invested index investor would actually experience. Available 1995–2025.

Annual Advisory Fee (optional)

AUM / managed account fee

Models a recurring AUM fee deducted from the market balance each year. Industry-typical range is 0.50%–1.50%. The FIA side is unaffected.

Initial Premium / Investment

Modeled side-by-side from

The market's long roads back to break-even

Stretches that took 5+ years to recover · or drag the custom range

Custom range — drag to adjust

1929 — 1939 11 years

Bars above the line are positive S&P 500 years; below the line are negative. Drag either toggle to set the range, or click anywhere on the timeline to snap the nearest toggle.

FIA — Ending Value

Total return 0% · CAGR 0% · Max drawdown 0%

S&P 500® — Ending Value

Total return 0% · CAGR 0% · Worst year 0% · Max drawdown 0%

Years Below Break-Even

Years the market closed below its starting value

Period observations: Configure inputs above; analytics will display here.

Account growth comparison

Compounded values over period

FIA (0% Floor + Cap)

S&P 500® (with dividends)

Year	S&P 500® (price)	FIA Credit	FIA Value	Comparison Return	Comparison Value	Δ (FIA − Comp.)

Methodology & Assumptions The FIA credits interest annually using S&P 500® price return (calendar year, excluding dividends) — this is how fixed indexed annuity index crediting actually works. Each year's credit equals min(S&P 500 price return, cap) if the index return is positive, or 0% if it is negative. Optional rider fee compounds against year-end values: value × (1 + credit) × (1 − fee). The market comparison uses S&P 500® total return (price change plus reinvested dividends) — the return a fully-invested index investor would actually experience. The optional advisory fee is applied identically on the market side: value × (1 + total return) × (1 − advisory fee); this approximates a recurring AUM fee billed in arrears against year-end balances. The market return includes downside years but does not deduct sales loads, taxes, transaction costs, or other client-level costs beyond the optional advisory fee entered above. Caps, rider fees, and advisory fees are user inputs and may not reflect any specific carrier's currently declared rates or any specific advisor's fee schedule. Max drawdown is the worst peak-to-trough decline in account value during the selected period; years below break-even counts the calendar years a strategy closed below its starting value. For an FIA with a 0% floor and no rider fee, both are zero — it never declines below the premium. This illustration assumes a single, static allocation held for the entire period shown. It does not assume, imply, or suggest that market downturns can be predicted or timed, and it is not a recommendation to move funds into or out of any security or annuity based on a market forecast. Withdrawal charges, surrender charges, premium taxes, market value adjustments, and bonuses are not modeled. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Important Disclosures

Please read carefully before using or relying on this tool

Mach96 is a life insurance agency. Mach96 and its representatives do not offer, sell, recommend, or provide advice on securities, investment products, mutual funds, variable annuities, registered index-linked annuities, or investment advisory services of any kind. References to the S&P 500® in this calculator are for illustrative comparison only and are not solicitations, offers, or recommendations regarding any security or index investment. Securities may only be solicited, offered, sold, or recommended by an individual who holds an appropriate securities registration (such as FINRA Series 6 or Series 7) and is affiliated with a properly licensed broker-dealer.

This is a calculator only — not advice. This tool is a hypothetical illustration calculator made available for the convenience of licensed financial professionals. It is not investment advice, a recommendation, an opinion, a solicitation, an offer to buy or sell any security or insurance product, or a determination of suitability. Nothing displayed in this tool constitutes a representation by Mach96 about any specific product, carrier, mutual fund, rate, feature, or outcome. The user is solely responsible for the use, accuracy, and any subsequent communication of the output.

No prospectus delivery — no replacement for required disclosures. Mutual funds (including any fund referenced by name or ticker in this tool) are sold only by prospectus. The output of this calculator does not constitute, replace, or supplement any current product prospectus, statement of additional information, fact sheet, illustration of guaranteed values, buyer's guide, or any other disclosure document required by federal or state law or by an issuing carrier or fund company. A current prospectus must be delivered to and read by an investor before any mutual fund purchase. Annuity buyer's guides and product disclosure statements must be delivered to and read by the contract owner before any annuity purchase.

Hypothetical FIA features. All caps, floors, and fees shown for the FIA are user-entered hypothetical values selected by the user solely for illustration purposes. They do not necessarily reflect any specific carrier's currently declared rates, contract terms, minimum guarantees, available index options, or product availability. Carriers may change rates at the beginning of each crediting term in accordance with the contract; renewal rates may be lower than initial rates but are subject to contractual minimum guarantees described in each product's disclosure document. Product features, rates, riders, and availability vary by state, share class, broker-dealer or insurance agency selling agreement, and time of issue. The 0% floor is a feature of typical fixed indexed annuity index crediting strategies and is not an additional guarantee by Mach96. Fixed indexed annuities did not exist before approximately 1995. Applying a hypothetical FIA index-crediting structure to market periods before that date — including the 1929–1939 Great Depression and the 1969–1982 era shown here — is purely illustrative; no such product was available, and no carrier offered these terms during those periods. A single fixed cap is applied across all periods for comparison, but in practice declared cap rates are funded by the interest the carrier earns on its general account and therefore tend to be materially higher in high-interest-rate environments (such as the early 1980s) and lower in low-rate environments (such as the 2010s). Real historical caps would have varied considerably from the single value shown.

Index history. The index now known as the S&P 500® has tracked 500 companies only since 1957; figures for years before 1957 reflect the predecessor S&P Composite index (which tracked roughly 90 companies) and reconstructed series derived from it. Pre-1957 returns are therefore not returns of the modern 500-stock index. The earliest data shown begins with calendar-year 1928.

Historical data and past performance. Historical S&P 500® index returns used in this calculator's FIA crediting math are price returns (excluding dividends), as fixed indexed annuities credit based on the price index. S&P 500® total return data used for the market comparison includes the reinvestment of dividends. Return data is sourced from publicly reported index data and has not been independently audited for the purposes of this tool. Past performance is not a guarantee of, indicative of, or predictive of future results. Index returns are not directly investable. Hypothetical back-tested results have inherent limitations because they are calculated with the benefit of hindsight.

Apples-to-oranges comparison. A fixed indexed annuity and a directly-held index investment are fundamentally different products with different objectives, risks, liquidity profiles, tax treatments, fee structures, guarantees, and beneficiary options. An FIA is an insurance contract designed for principal protection and long-term tax-deferred accumulation; an index investment is a securities investment exposed to market risk including loss of principal. This tool's side-by-side comparison is intended to illustrate the volatility-mitigation and downside-protection characteristics of indexed annuities — not to suggest that one product is "better" than the other. Suitability depends on each client's individual financial situation, time horizon, liquidity needs, risk tolerance, tax situation, and objectives.

Modeling simplifications. Calculations are simplified for illustration. Real contracts and real fund investments may differ materially due to: mid-term Daily Adjustments or Interim Value calculations on annuities; quarterly versus annual fee assessment timing; premium taxes; surrender charges and withdrawal charges; optional rider charges beyond those entered; market value adjustments; the precise method by which credits are applied on or near anniversary dates; sales loads (front-end, deferred, or contingent) on mutual fund share classes; advisory fees; taxes payable on dividends, distributions, withdrawals, and capital gains; and other carrier- or fund-specific mechanics. Bonuses, banded rates, multi-year strategies, participation rates, performance triggers, dual-direction or precision strategies, and other strategy variants offered by certain FIA carriers are not modeled here.

Guarantees and product risks. Annuity contract and rider guarantees are backed exclusively by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance carrier. Guarantees are not backed by Mach96, by any broker-dealer, by any bank, or by any federal or state government agency. Annuities are not bank deposits, are not FDIC-insured, and are not guaranteed by any bank or its affiliates. Index and securities investments are subject to investment risk, including possible loss of principal and previously credited interest or distributions. Securities investments are not bank deposits and are not FDIC-insured. Withdrawals from annuities and tax-deferred accounts may be subject to ordinary income tax and, if taken prior to age 59½, may be subject to an additional 10% federal tax.

Trademarks and third parties. S&P 500® is a registered trademark of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P Global, and has been licensed for use by various product issuers. Mach96 is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices, Standard & Poor's, or any issuing insurance carrier referenced or implied by this tool. Use of the S&P 500® name is solely for the purpose of identifying the historical performance benchmark used in this comparison illustration. References to general FIA features (annual point-to-point, cap, floor) are generic product descriptions and do not refer to any specific product or carrier.

Use of this tool. This tool is intended for use by licensed insurance professionals who are evaluating general product structures for educational client conversations. The user is solely responsible for ensuring that any subsequent client communication complies with all applicable federal and state laws, FINRA and SEC regulations (where applicable to that user's other licenses), state insurance regulations, advertising and supervisory requirements, and broker-dealer or insurance carrier policies. Output from this tool should not be presented to a client as a representation of any specific product or as a recommendation. For any specific product recommendation, the consumer should consult the issuing carrier's current product disclosure documents and the fund's current prospectus, and work with a financial professional appropriately licensed for the product in question. Mach96 makes no representation regarding the suitability of any product, fund, or strategy referenced by this tool for any particular client.

© Mach96. All rights reserved. The information herein is believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed for accuracy or completeness. Mach96 reserves the right to modify this tool, its calculations, and these disclosures at any time without notice.