The issuer behind the guarantee.
An annuity guarantee is a promise from one company, sometimes lasting forty years. The product matters less than the balance sheet standing behind it.
| AM Best rating | B++ (Good) |
|---|---|
| Recent action | Removed from under review; affirmed, stable |
| Headquarters | Fort Worth, Texas |
| Market pattern | Board-topping rates, notably short terms |
| Rate structure note | Some quotes are simple interest — check |
| Best fit | Guaranty-limit-sized allocations in a ladder |
Checked against public sources on 19 August 2026. Ratings change without notice — a rating without a date is not a rating.
A B++ carrier at the very top of the board is the tier working as designed — with one wrinkle worth catching
CL Life has recently held the single highest MYGA rate in the country, displacing other B-tier names, after AM Best removed the company from under review with developing implications and affirmed its B++ (Good) rating with a stable outlook. The standard tier economics apply: the rate premium over A-rated carriers is compensation for the credit profile, and the premium belongs inside your state guaranty limit. The wrinkle specific to some board-topping quotes: certain headline rates are quoted as simple interest rather than compound — a 7%+ simple-interest figure over a multi-year term produces meaningfully less than the same number compounded, and rate tables do not always label the difference. Confirm compound versus simple in writing before comparing CL Life's number against anything else's; it is a thirty-second question that can move the true yield by a full point.
Three things to understand about CL Life.
Under-review-then-affirmed is a specific kind of history
AM Best places carriers under review when something material is in motion — ownership, capital, strategy — and resolves it once the picture settles. CL Life emerged with its grade affirmed and a stable outlook, which is the benign resolution. It also means the company's recent past includes exactly the kind of transition that makes primary-source verification, rather than a cached rating from last year's article, the only acceptable diligence.
Short-term board leadership serves a real purpose
Most B-tier leaders compete at five and seven years; CL Life's aggression has included one- and two-year terms, which suits a specific buyer: someone parking money briefly at maximum yield inside the guaranty limit, fully intending to reprice at maturity. For that job, a short-term B++ contract is arguably the least risky way to hold the tier — the exposure window is as short as the term.
The verification set, one more time
Current AM Best grade and outlook at ambest.com; state licensure at your insurance department; your state's guaranty limit at NOLHGA; the guaranteed renewal minimum and the compound-versus-simple question in writing. The tier's entire safety analysis lives in those four checks, and none of them takes longer than a coffee.
How to read any carrier.
Palm Wealth Capital publishes independent annuity research and education. No carrier pays for placement on this site. Nothing here is individualized investment, tax, or legal advice, and no page on this site is a recommendation to buy or avoid any contract. Annuity guarantees rely on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
Holding a CL Life contract — or being shown one?
Send the illustration or statement. We will check CL Life’s current AM Best rating and outlook against the date on this page, read the surrender schedule and any market value adjustment, price the riders, and tell you what the guaranteed terms are rather than the illustrated ones. If the answer is that you don’t need it, that is the answer you get — there is nothing here for us to sell you.