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Carrier

Athene

Athene is headquartered at 7700 Mills Civic Parkway, West Des Moines, Iowa, and describes itself as "a leading retirement services company that is focused on providing financial security to retirees." Founded in 2009, Athene merged with Apollo Global Management in 2022 and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo, drawing on Apollo's institutional investment platform to back its annuity liabilities. Athene's product menu spans fixed indexed annuities (FIAs), registered index-linked annuities (RILAs), fixed annuities, immediate annuities, structured settlement annuities, and pension group annuities.


Founded
2009
Headquarters
West Des Moines, Iowa
Structure
Subsidiary of Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO)

Known for

  • Fixed and fixed-indexed annuities
  • Retirement income and rollover products
  • Pension risk transfer
  • Backed by Apollo's institutional asset-management platform

Products written

  • Annuities

What we use them for

Through Family First Life, we have access to Athene’s annuity product lines. From an agent’s perspective, they tend to be a strong fit when:

  • The conversation is about annuities — specifically rollovers and retirement income. Athene is, by design, an annuity-first carrier. They aren’t trying to be everything to everyone; they’re trying to be a serious option when the goal is moving qualified retirement money into a fixed or fixed-indexed annuity contract.
  • The buyer cares about institutional backing. As an Apollo-owned subsidiary, Athene’s general account is managed within Apollo’s broader investment platform. Some buyers find that scale reassuring; others don’t weight it heavily. We surface it when it’s relevant.
  • The case is pension-style guaranteed income. Athene is active in the pension risk transfer market, which speaks to the kind of long-duration income obligations they’re built to handle.

A note on financial strength

Athene’s current AM Best, S&P, Fitch, and Moody’s ratings are published on the carrier’s financial-strength page and on each agency’s public directory. Pull live values from AM Best before quoting them on a call — ratings change quarterly and a cited number must be current as of the conversation.

When to consider another carrier

Athene isn’t a fit if the buyer wants life insurance — they’re an annuity-focused carrier. For life cases, we’ll quote across Mutual of Omaha, Lincoln Financial, or other carriers in the relevant product category. Inside the annuity bucket itself, the right answer depends on age, qualified vs. non-qualified money, income-rider needs, and surrender-charge tolerance — and that’s a conversation, not a brochure.

Get a quote

Want to see what Athene looks like for your retirement-income situation? We pull current annuity illustrations on the call. The form below pre-fills your interest as Athene — we’ll come back with side-by-side options.


Sources

Facts on this page were drawn from the following sources. Ratings, products, and corporate facts change — verify against the source before relying on a specific claim.

Ready to compare

Want to see Athene side-by-side with another carrier?

We pull current illustrations on the call. The form below pre-fills your interest as Athene — we'll come back with side-by-side options from carriers that fit your specific situation.