American Equity Investment Reviews

American Equity is a terrible company. Some disrespectful staff. Don't return phone calls. And now there may be fraud on one annuity that is being handled. Terrible results on gains, around 1.6% (including the bonus portion for the year). I don't know how this company is rated as good, because I would give it a zero star if I could. If your agent wants you to get an annuity, don't use American Equity. I personally think annuities are scams - you know: "Annuity Scam". Maybe MYGA is okay but don't do a full surrender because you will stolen from.

American Equity!! In 2022 the stock market went up 26%. They paid me nothing. In 2023 the stock market went up 28%. They paid me nothing. In 2024 the stock market went up 24%. They paid me $8/10 of 1%. In 2025 the market went up 18% to an all-time high. They paid me .8 of 1%. After 10 years of nothing I decided to pay their $21,200 penalty to be free of them. You buy their product, you get paid nothing, you get tired of it so you pay the high penalty, and they win and you lose. You stay the course, they pay you nothing to use your money, they win and you lose. The worst part of this all, I am 90 years old and I have to live with this nightmare the rest of my days. I would give American Equity zero Stars if that was possible.

I had to unravel investments at American Equity on behalf of my father in law when his wife passed away. She had done these investments and he really didn't have a clue what she had bought. As I dug into it I was horrified at what I found. Basically, this company gets its product sold through these will mills; companies that get old people to attend their seminars by offering them dinner, etc. Old people love a free dinner and then are sold this package of estate planning that includes shoehorning them into truly terrible investment products like the ones sold by American Equity.

Worse annuity I ever owned (and I own several). The explanation on how this annuity works is not clear. The paperwork is even more confusing. It has not made any money in the best years of the stock market. The company does not offer any help.

American Equity are thieves. They just cut my monthly payment by more than half and I want OUT of the contract, so I have to give them over $1000.00. I would never recommend them to my worst enemy. They are corrupt with a capital C!!

In my experience, American Equity is a Den of Thieves. Through my own stupidity I was convinced it was a good idea to enter into a 10-year annuity contract that paid, at best, 4.5%. True, I'd never lose in a downturn, but the upside was pathetic. I finally decided to bail out of this dog and was hit with both a surrender charge and an even bigger 'Market Value Adjustment' charge. This company is run by money-grubbing scum bags who will be happy to take your money in return for a few bread crumbs. Should you decide to leave early they'll take that back too. Terrible, awful, despicable, rotten scoundrels - that about sums up American Equity experience from my 7 years as their customer.

I helped my mom set up her retirement years ago with this company. My mom passed away at the end of May 2025 so me and my brother filed our claim since we were the beneficiaries which that part was easy, I had access to my mom’s account online because she wanted me to handle all of her accounts online since she was not able to so I could see the amount plus me and my brother were told our amount each was 3,300, neither of us received this we both received over 1,000 less and they refuse to explain, this money along with her small life insurance was to bury her and get her headstone plus it was money our mother put in, do not use them move your money because if you think your children are getting it they are not

I had a wonderful contact at this company since my original broker stopped servicing my account. Darren must have left! The person that answered the call center today must not know the meaning of one’s LIFE'S SAVINGS.

American Equity along with my financial advisor lied, lied, lied to me. They convinced me to do a 7-year term, with the notion that I would make an average 5% yearly return for the 7 years. In three years I have made a so little interest on my investment. In fact the first two years I made nothing, If I wanted to put my investment in a fixed account the rate of return is 1.5 %. That is highway robbery. I would not recommend American Equity to anyone.

ASSETSHIELD 10. My worst investment so far. I was sold on this annuity at age 62 with a rosy projection that it would last me to age 102 years old by withdrawing an equal amount annually. After 3 years into this thing, I'm NOT getting the projected earnings of $95,000. My actual earnings are less than 1% for a lousy $4,500. At this rate, this annuity will be dragging me down below poverty level by age 70 and staring at bankruptcy at age 75. I'm still hoping for better returns to come but there might not be much left by then to earn on.