Methodology: How We Rate Annuity Companies
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Our Financial Strength Score rates how sound an insurance company is as a counterparty, on a five point scale. It is built from independent rating agency data, not from our own opinion of a company’s products. No carrier can pay to change its score, and we apply the same formula whether or not we are appointed to sell that company’s annuities.
What the score measures
The Financial Strength Score answers one question: how likely is this company to pay its claims over the life of a contract you might hold for seven, ten, or twenty years.
That is the only question it answers. It is not a judgment of any product, rate, rider, or surrender schedule, and it is not a recommendation to buy from one company over another.
We deliberately keep rate competitiveness out of the score. Rates change weekly, and a rating that moved every time a carrier adjusted a renewal rate would be a price signal wearing a star rating. We also earn commissions from the carriers we place business with, so a score that rose whenever a carrier improved a rate on a product we sell would not be independent in any meaningful sense.
The formula
The score starts from the Comdex ranking and is adjusted by three financial measures. Every adjustment is capped, so a company with incomplete data is still comparable to one with a full record.
| Input | What it measures | Effect on score |
|---|---|---|
| Comdex ranking | A percentile of a company’s standing across AM Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch | Base, 0 to 100. Required. |
| Capital adequacy | Statutory surplus measured against total liabilities | Minus 4.0 to plus 4.0 |
| Company size | Total admitted assets | Minus 2.0 to plus 3.0 |
| Operating history | Year the insurance company was founded | Zero to plus 3.0 |
The adjusted result is a number from 0 to 100. We convert it to the published five point scale with a fixed formula: the score minus 40, divided by 60, multiplied by 3.4, plus 1.5.
The published value is capped at 4.9. Six companies reach a raw 100, and a perfect score would imply an absolute judgment rather than a relative one.
Why Comdex rather than AM Best alone
AM Best is the most recognised rating in the annuity industry, but on its own it cannot separate strong companies from very strong ones. Of the 418 life insurance companies in our ratings source, 366 sit in just three AM Best grades.
A score built on AM Best alone would put almost every company we list at four or five stars, which would tell you nothing. Comdex blends four independent agencies into a percentile, so it spreads across a usable range.
You can see every company’s underlying agency ratings on our insurance company ratings chart.
The scale in practice
We score 61 of the annuity companies we cover. Here is how those scores currently distribute.
| Score | Companies |
|---|---|
| 4.5 to 4.9 | 23 |
| 4.0 to 4.4 | 16 |
| 3.5 to 3.9 | 8 |
| 3.0 to 3.4 | 5 |
| 2.0 to 2.9 | 8 |
| Below 2.0 | 1 |
A low score does not mean a company is failing or that its contracts are at risk. Every company we list is licensed and solvent, and annuity contracts carry state guaranty association protection up to statutory limits.
It means the company ranks lower than its peers on independent financial strength measures. For a ten year commitment, that difference is worth knowing before you sign.
Companies we do not score
Not every company on this site carries a score, and a missing score is not a neutral result.
Seventeen companies hold only one major agency rating, which is AM Best. Comdex requires at least two agencies, so no composite exists and we show the AM Best grade on its own rather than inventing a number.
Ten companies do not appear in our ratings source at all. That source covers companies rated B++ or higher by AM Best, so a company can be absent because it is rated below that level or because no agency rates it. We show no rating for those companies and say so on the page.
We also exclude three companies from rating entirely because they do not issue annuities. Charles Schwab distributes them, Sammons Financial Group is a holding company whose subsidiaries issue the contracts, and Voya Financial has exited the retail annuity business.
How we stay independent
My Annuity Store is compensated by insurance companies when a client purchases an annuity. That is how the platform is free to use, and it is the obvious reason to ask whether our ratings can be trusted.
Three rules make the score independent of that compensation. No company can pay to receive, raise, or remove a score. Commission levels are not an input to the formula and never have been. The same formula runs against every company we cover, including the many we are not appointed to sell.
Every input is published above and every input comes from a third party. You can check any score yourself against the agency ratings on our insurance company ratings chart.
Data sources and updates
Agency ratings and Comdex rankings come from VitalSigns, a rating comparison service that compiles published ratings from AM Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch, and Weiss. Our current data set covers 418 life insurance companies as of July 15, 2026.
Financial figures for surplus, liabilities, admitted assets, and year founded come from statutory annual statements filed with state insurance departments.
We recalculate every score when a new ratings release is published, and we review the formula annually. Ratings agencies change their opinions, so a score you see today may differ from the score on the same page next year.
Limitations you should know about
A financial strength score is a measure of the company, not of the contract you are considering. A very strong company can issue an uncompetitive annuity, and a lower scoring company can issue an excellent one. Compare today’s best fixed annuity rates alongside the score rather than relying on either one on its own.
Rating agencies also disagree with each other, sometimes sharply. Comdex smooths that disagreement into a single percentile, which is useful for comparison but hides the spread.
The financial adjustments currently apply to a subset of companies, because we hold complete statutory records for some and not others. Where a record is missing, that adjustment is simply not applied, and the cap on each adjustment keeps the resulting scores comparable.
Questions about a specific score
If you believe a score is wrong, or you represent a company and want to discuss the inputs behind its score, contact us at info@myannuitystore.com or call 855-277-8088. We will review the underlying data and correct any factual error.
We will not change a score because a company disagrees with it.
Sources
- VitalSigns Ratings Comparison, agency ratings and Comdex rankings, data as of July 15, 2026
- AM Best Financial Strength Rating Guide
- What a Comdex score is and how it is calculated
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners, statutory financial filings
- State guaranty association coverage limits
Last reviewed September 10, 2026. The Financial Strength Score is an editorial assessment produced by My Annuity Store, Inc. It is not a credit rating, it is not issued by a rating agency, and it is not investment advice.
