Nothing is free. The cap is the cost — and it’s printed.
A Foundations contract has no advisory fee, no mortality & expense charge, and no fund expense ratio. Compared with a typical brokerage account or 403(b) sleeve, the difference compounds — and it compounds hardest in down years, where conventional accounts pay fees on top of losses while the FIA credits zero and holds.
| Cost component | Brokerage / 403(b) | Variable annuity | Foundations FIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advisory fee | ~1.00% | ~1.00% | $0 |
| Platform / admin fee | 0.30–0.45% | 0.20–0.35% | $0 |
| Mortality & expense | N/A | 1.00–1.40% | $0 |
| Fund expense ratio | 0.04–0.85% | 0.50–1.20% | $0 |
| Downside in a −20% year | −20% + fees | −20% + M&E + fees | 0% |
| Total annual drag in a flat year | ~1.4–2.3% | ~2.7–3.6% | 0% |
Brokerage and 403(b) ranges reflect Capital Wealth’s most-common custodians (Orion, Security Benefit Election 1, Vanguard direct); variable-annuity ranges are typical industry values, not specific to any single carrier. The honest framing cuts both ways: in a year the S&P returns 25%, the capped contract credits its 9.4% and no more. What you are buying is the removal of the left tail, priced as a ceiling on the right one — which is why an FIA belongs to the protected sleeve of a plan, not in place of the growth sleeve.
Where it fits, and where it doesn’t. Foundations suits clients nearing or already in retirement, with a low-to-moderate appetite for market risk, who can set funds aside for at least five years — the surrender period is real, and money that might be needed sooner belongs elsewhere. In a review we look at your time horizon, your existing retirement assets, and whether a portion in a fixed index annuity lowers your sequence-of-returns risk without giving up all of your upside. For the adjacent tool that accepts some downside in exchange for higher caps, see the RILA buffer annuity and calculator — the two products are cousins, and the right one depends on which risk you’d rather price.
An FIA is a contract, not a portfolio: upside to a printed cap, a floor at zero, no internal fees, and a five-plus-year commitment. It solved 2008 and 2022 by crediting nothing and losing nothing. If that trade fits a slice of your retirement money — and only a review of your actual timeline can say — the rate sheet above is the whole deal, in the open.
Is a slice of your plan better off capped and floored?
Fifteen minutes, one conversation — your retirement date, your existing accounts, your appetite for the down years. We’ll show you what a Foundations allocation would have credited through the markets you’ve actually lived through, and whether it earns a place in your plan at all.
Begin step one — book the review → Compare: RILA & the annuity calculator →