Lesson 5 of 14 · Part 3 of 10

Zero growth and the fee

A client sees the account hit $0 and fears a mistake. Run it with no growth: the account ends, but income goes on under the rider's rules.

Do it in Genius

Income rider calculator row ⋮ Illustrate Carrier Illustration

Practice Client, 3 Nov 2026: at 0% growth the account is $0 at age 76. The table still lists $15,810 a year to age 95.

Rates change every day, so yours will differ.

Open Income rider calculator in Genius

In the app: Calculators → Income rider calculator

Carrier illustration table of minimum values by contract anniversary: account value, benefit base and income

1.

Open Deferral snapshot on your top row. Copy Benefit Base and Withdrawal Percentage into the tool below.

In the top row's Genius Illustration, from age 69: base $232,500, payout 6.80%.
2.

Click Illustrate, then open Carrier Illustration and its minimum values table. Type the Account Value for the year income starts.

Use the contract value, not the premium or the hypothetical.
3.

Click the three dots, Annuity info, Riders. Find Fee based on benefit base and type that fee and what it is charged on.

In the Practice Client's illustration the account shrinks about $2,600 a year before income: 1.2% of a $217,500 base.
4.

Read Year the account is gone and Fee's share of the account, first year against last full year.

Illustration: account $0 at 76. The table stops at 95. Its footnote says the contract annuitizes then, so read what the insurer pays afterward. Growth is not the point.

Zero-growth income and rider fee

Study calculation, not a quote. The starting numbers are made up: type the product's own. It is not an insurer's illustration; that comes only from the insurer or software it has authorized. Show the client that one.

Premium

What the client puts in.

Account value when income starts

From the insurer's illustration: the contract value, not the hypothetical.

Benefit base

Benefit Base in Deferral Snapshot.

Payout rate

Withdrawal Percentage in Deferral Snapshot.

Age income starts

Age at the first payment.

Account growth each year

Zero means no growth. Any growth is a what-if, not a forecast.

Rider fee

The yearly fee, as a percent.

The fee is charged on

The contract says which.

Income each year
Income as a share of the premium
Fee in dollars, first year
Fee's share of the account, first year
Fee's share of the account, last full year
Year the account is gone
Age at the end of that year
Total income to age 95

Fix the numbers above to see the result.

How it is worked out

Income each year is the benefit base times the payout rate. Each year the income and the fee come out first, then growth is added to what is left. Charged on the base or premium, the fee is the same dollars each year. Charged on the account value, it is a share of that value at the start of each year. Assumes level income: the base, the income and a fee on the base or premium stay the same each year.

The tool does the math in your browser and does not store what you type. No names or contract numbers needed.

You're done when you know the year the account is gone and the fee in dollars. Find both in the insurer's illustration. I did this

Watch out: This page is for you, not for the client. Zero growth is a picture, not a forecast. The account runs down. The rider keeps paying while withdrawals stay within its rules, as long as the insurer can pay.

Sources