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Table of contents Prospectus supplement
Index to financial statements and schedules

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Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-184162

Subject to completion, dated July 11, 2013

The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities and are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Preliminary prospectus supplement
(To prospectus dated September 28, 2012)

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company

$400,000,000

         % Notes due 2021

Interest payable                      and

Issue price:         %

We are offering $400,000,000 aggregate principal amount of         % Notes due 2021 (the "notes"). We will pay interest on the notes on                          and                           of each year, beginning                          , 2013. The notes will mature on                          , 2021.

We may redeem all or part of the notes at any time on or after                          , 2017, at the redemption prices set forth in this prospectus supplement plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date. In addition, we may redeem up to 35% of the notes before                          , 2016 with the net cash proceeds from certain equity offerings. We may also redeem all or part of the notes at any time and from time to time prior to                          , 2017, at a price equal to         % of the aggregate principal amount of the notes to be redeemed plus a make-whole premium and accrued interest, if any, to the redemption date. See "Description of the notes—Optional redemption." In addition, we may be required to make an offer to purchase the notes upon the sale of certain assets or upon a change of control. See "Description of the notes—Change of control" and "Description of the notes—Certain covenants—Limitations on sales of assets and subsidiary stock."

The notes will be our senior unsecured obligations and will rank equally in right of payment to all of our existing and future senior unsecured debt and senior in right of payment to all of our existing and future subordinated debt. The notes will be effectively subordinated to any of our existing and future secured debt to the extent of the value of the assets securing such debt. None of our subsidiaries will guarantee the notes as of the issue date, and the notes will be structurally subordinated to the liabilities of our subsidiaries. The notes will be guaranteed by certain of our wholly owned domestic subsidiaries (not including our insurance subsidiaries, other subsidiaries not permitted by law or regulation to guarantee the notes and certain immaterial subsidiaries) only under limited circumstances. See "Description of the notes—Certain covenants—Future subsidiary guarantors." The notes will be issued only in registered form in minimum denominations of $2,000 and integral multiples of $1,000 above that amount.

The notes will not be listed on any securities exchange. Currently, there is no public market for the notes.

Investing in the notes involves risks that are described under "Risk factors" beginning on page S-22 of this prospectus supplement.

(1)   Plus accrued interest, if any, from                          , 2013.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The notes will be ready for delivery in book-entry form only through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company for the accounts of its participants, including Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V., as operator of the Euroclear System, and Clearstream Banking, société anonyme, on or about                          , 2013.

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Sole book-running manager

J.P. Morgan

Co-managers

                          , 2013

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Prospectus supplement

Prospectus

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About this prospectus supplement

This document is in two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which contains the terms of this offering of notes. The second part is the accompanying prospectus, dated September 28, 2012, which is part of our Registration Statement on Form S-3.

This prospectus supplement may add to, update or change the information in the accompanying prospectus or the documents incorporated by reference herein. If information in this prospectus supplement is inconsistent with information in the accompanying prospectus or the documents incorporated by reference herein, the information in this prospectus supplement will apply and will supersede the information in the accompanying prospectus or the documents incorporated by reference herein, as the case may be.

It is important for you to read and consider all information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in making your investment decision. You should also read and consider the information in the documents to which we have referred you in "Where you can find more information" in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.

No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus, and, if given or made, such information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized. Neither the delivery of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, nor any sale made hereunder, shall under any circumstances create any implication that there has been no change in our affairs since the date of this prospectus supplement, or that the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is correct as of any time subsequent to the date of such information.

The distribution of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and the offering of the notes in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus do not constitute an offer, or an invitation on our behalf or the underwriters or any of them, to subscribe to or purchase any of the notes and may not be used for or in connection with an offer or solicitation by anyone, in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation. See "Underwriting."

Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires, as used in this prospectus supplement, all references to "American Equity," the "Company," "we," "our" and similar references are to American Equity Investment Life Holding Company and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements typically are identified by the use of terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "contemplate," "possible," "attempt," "seek," "should," "could," "goal,"

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"target," "on track," "comfortable with," "optimistic" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. You should consider statements that contain these words carefully because they describe our expectations, plans, strategies and goals and our beliefs concerning future business conditions, our results of operations, financial position, and our business outlook or they state other "forward-looking" information based on currently available information. The "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, filed with the SEC on March 7, 2013 (and any updates of such section in any subsequent filings subsequently incorporated by reference herein), provides examples of risks, uncertainties and events that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in our forward-looking statements. Assumptions and other important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements include, among other things:

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changes in or sustained low interest rates causing reductions in returns on our invested assets, the spread on our annuity products, and sales of, and demand for, our products;

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fluctuations in interest rates and investment spread adversely affecting our financial condition, operating results and cash flows;

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periods of rising interest rates causing increased policy surrenders, withdrawals and requests for policy loans on deferred annuity products, which may lead to net cash outflows and affect our liquidity and financial condition;

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market uncertainty and continued financial instability of national, state and local governments and difficult conditions in the global capital markets;

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the ultimate outcome of lawsuits filed against us and other legal and regulatory proceedings to which we are subject;

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changes in the interpretation of the methodologies, estimates and assumptions included in our valuation of fixed maturity and equity securities;

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our ability to compete with companies that have greater financial resources, broader arrays of products, higher ratings and stronger financial performance to retain existing customers and attract new customers;

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the failure of our reinsurers to meet the obligations assumed by them;

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volatility in net income due to the application of fair value accounting to our derivative instruments;

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deviations from our assumptions regarding the probabilities that our annuity contracts will remain in force from one period to the next;

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our ability to effectively manage our growth as our historical growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth;

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our ability to obtain sufficient capital to support our business or to obtain sufficient capital on favorable terms;

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our ability to maintain effective controls over financial reporting;

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our ability to continue to attract and retain a qualified workforce, including members of senior management;

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our ability to maintain our financial strength ratings and the impact of our ratings on our business, our ability to access capital, and the cost of capital;

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regulatory changes or actions, including insurance holding company statutes, in the various states in which our life insurance subsidiaries transact business;

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changes in the U.S. federal income tax laws and regulations which may affect or eliminate the relative tax advantages of some of our products;

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the risk factors or uncertainties listed from time to time in our filings with the SEC; and

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the risk factors identified below under "Risk factors" beginning on page S-22.

Other factors and assumptions not identified above are also relevant to the forward-looking statements, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them; nor can we assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combinations of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statement. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the SEC, we do not have any intention or obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting the forward-looking statements. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in reports we file with the SEC.

Market, ranking, industry data and forecasts

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus include market share, ranking, industry data and forecasts that we obtained from industry publications and surveys, public filings and internal company sources. Industry publications, surveys and forecasts generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but there can be no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of included information. While we are not aware of any misstatements regarding the industry data presented in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, we have not independently verified any of the data from third-party sources, nor have we ascertained the underlying economic assumptions relied upon by those sources. Neither we nor the underwriters can guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information contained in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.

Where you can find more information

We are subject to the informational reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). You may read and copy any document that we file at the public reference facilities of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Information on the operation of the public reference facilities may be obtained by calling the

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SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. You may also inspect our annual, quarterly and current reports, any proxy statements and other information over the Internet at the SEC's home page at http://www.sec.gov.

The SEC allows us to "incorporate by reference" information into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document that we have filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Information that we file with the SEC after the date of this prospectus supplement will automatically modify and supersede the information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus to the extent that the subsequently filed information modifies or supersedes the existing information. Nothing in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus shall be deemed to incorporate by reference information furnished to, but not filed with, the SEC, unless specifically stated otherwise. We incorporate by reference the following documents (each with SEC file number 001-31911):

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our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, filed on March 7, 2013 (our "2012 Form 10-K"), including our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A, filed on April 22, 2013 (our "Proxy Statement") and incorporated by reference into our 2012 Form 10-K;

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our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, filed on May 8, 2013 (our "Q1 2013 Form 10-Q");

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our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated March 11, 2013, filed on March 14, 2013;

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our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated April 15, 2013, filed on April 18, 2013;

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our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated June 6, 2013, filed on June 10, 2013;

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our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated June 18, 2013, filed on June 18, 2013;

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our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated June 21, 2013, filed on June 21, 2013; and

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our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated July 11, 2013, filed on July 11, 2013.

We will provide to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom this prospectus supplement is delivered a copy of any or all of the information that we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus but not delivered with this prospectus supplement, at no cost to the requestor. To receive a free copy of any of the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus, other than exhibits, unless they are specifically incorporated by reference into those documents, call or write:

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company
6000 Westown Parkway
West Des Moines, IA 50266
Attention: Corporate Secretary
Tel: (515) 221-0002

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Risk factors

Investing in the notes involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, and in consultation with your own financial and legal advisors, you should carefully consider the following risk factors and all other information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement (including the risk factors contained under the heading "Risk factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012). The risks and uncertainties described below and incorporated by reference herein are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties of which we are unaware, or that we currently deem immaterial, also may become material factors that affect us. If any of the following risks or those incorporated by reference herein occur or intensify, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. If this were to happen, the value of the notes could decline significantly, and you may lose some or all of your investment. In connection with the forward-looking statements that appear in this prospectus supplement, you should also carefully review the cautionary statements under "Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements."

Risks related to the notes

Despite our current debt levels, we may still incur substantially more debt or take other actions which would intensify the risks discussed below.

Our level of indebtedness will increase as a result of this offering, even after the use of the net proceeds of the offering to purchase debt securities in the Exchange Offers. As of March 31, 2013, after giving effect to this offering and the use of proceeds therefrom (including the Exchange Offers), our total debt would have been approximately $669.6 million.

Despite our current consolidated debt levels, we and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional debt in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our debt instruments. We will not be restricted under the terms of the indenture governing the notes from incurring additional debt, recapitalizing our debt or taking a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the indenture governing the notes that could have the effect of diminishing our ability to make payments on the notes when due. If we incur any additional indebtedness that ranks equally with the notes, the holders of that debt will be entitled to share ratably with you in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up of our company. This may have the effect of reducing the amount of proceeds paid to you. These restrictions also will not prevent us from incurring obligations that do not constitute indebtedness.

In addition, we expect to repay all amounts outstanding under our existing revolving credit facility in connection with the issuance of the notes. Our existing revolving credit agreement expires in 2014, and we anticipate (though we can give no assurances) that we will enter into a new senior term loan and/or revolving credit facility to meet our working capital needs. Any new facility may (1) contain covenants that limit the discretion of our management with respect to certain business matters, and (2) require us to meet certain financial ratios and financial condition tests.

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Such new credit facility, and, generally, our ability to recapitalize, incur additional debt and take a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the indenture and the notes could have important consequences for you. For example, it could:

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make it difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to the notes;

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increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;

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require us to dedicate a portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and investments and other general corporate purposes;

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make it difficult for us to optimally capitalize and manage the cash flow for our businesses;

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limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our businesses and the markets in which we operate;

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place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt; and

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limit our ability to borrow additional funds.

In addition, it is possible that we may need to incur additional indebtedness in the future in the ordinary course of business or otherwise. Furthermore, if future debt financing is not available to us when required or is not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to grow our business, take advantage of business opportunities, respond to competitive pressures or refinance maturing debt, any of which could have a material and adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our debt.

Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, including the notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.

The notes will be effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness of our company to the extent of the value of the property securing that indebtedness.

The notes will not be secured by any of our assets. As a result, the notes will be effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness with respect to the assets that secure that indebtedness. As of May 31, 2013, we have no secured indebtedness, but we may incur secured debt in the future. The effect of this subordination is that upon a default in payment on, or the acceleration of, any of our secured indebtedness, or in the event of bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, dissolution or reorganization of our company, the proceeds from the sale of assets securing our secured indebtedness will be available to pay obligations on the notes only after

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all secured indebtedness has been paid in full. As a result, the holders of the notes may receive less, ratably, than the holders of secured debt in the event of our bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, dissolution or reorganization.

The notes will be structurally subordinated to all obligations of our subsidiaries, except to the extent any of those subsidiaries become guarantors of the notes in the future.

None of our subsidiaries will guarantee the notes as of the issue date. The notes will be guaranteed by certain of our wholly owned domestic subsidiaries only under the limited circumstances described in "Description of the notes—Certain covenants—Future subsidiary guarantors." Even if certain of our wholly owned domestic subsidiaries guarantee the notes in the future, those subsidiaries will not include our insurance subsidiaries, other subsidiaries not permitted by law or regulation to guarantee the notes and certain immaterial subsidiaries. Except to the extent that certain of our wholly owned domestic subsidiaries guarantee the notes in the future, our subsidiaries will have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay amounts due under the notes or to make any funds available to pay those amounts, whether by dividend, distribution, loan or other payment. The notes and any future subsidiary guarantees will be structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other obligations of any non-guarantor subsidiary such that in the event of insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up of any subsidiary that is not a guarantor, all of that subsidiary's creditors (including trade creditors) would be entitled to payment in full out of that subsidiary's assets before we would be entitled to any payment.

In addition, the indenture that will govern the notes will, subject to some limitations, permit these subsidiaries to incur additional indebtedness and will not contain any limitation on the amount of other liabilities, such as trade payables, that may be incurred by these subsidiaries.

For the twelve months ended March 31, 2013, our subsidiaries represented 99.8% of our total revenues, 124.8% of our Operating Income (which is a non-GAAP financial measure) and 142.2% of our net income. As of March 31, 2013, our subsidiaries represented 99.7% of our total assets and had $34.5 billion of total liabilities, including trade payables but excluding intercompany liabilities.

In addition, to the extent any of our subsidiaries guarantee the notes in the future, those subsidiary guarantees will be automatically released from those note guarantees upon the occurrence of certain events, including the following:

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the designation of that subsidiary guarantor as an unrestricted subsidiary;

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the release or discharge of any guarantee or indebtedness that resulted in the creation of the note guarantee of the notes by such subsidiary guarantor; or

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the sale or other disposition, including the sale of substantially all the assets, of that subsidiary guarantor.

If any subsidiary guarantee is released, no holder of the notes will have a claim as a creditor against that subsidiary, and the indebtedness and other liabilities, including trade payables and preferred stock, if any, whether secured or unsecured, of that subsidiary will be effectively senior to the claim of any holders of the notes. See "Description of the notes—Certain covenants—Future subsidiary guarantors."

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The terms of our existing revolving credit facility restrict, and the terms of the indenture that will govern the notes will restrict, our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes or to take certain actions.

Our existing revolving credit facility contains, and the indenture that will govern the notes offered hereby will contain, a number of restrictive covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us and may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interest. In addition, any new senior term loan or revolving credit facility that we enter into to replace our existing revolving credit facility would have similar restrictive covenants. These covenants include restrictions on our ability to:

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incur additional indebtedness or, in the case of our restricted subsidiaries, issue preferred stock;

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pay dividends, make certain investments or make other restricted payments;

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create liens;

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sell assets;

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enter into transactions with affiliates;

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enter into mergers, consolidations, or sales of all or substantially all of our assets; and

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allow limitations on any restricted subsidiary's ability to pay dividends, make loans or sell assets to American Equity Investment Life Holding Company or our other restricted subsidiaries.

A breach of the covenants or restrictions under the existing revolving credit facility, any new senior term loan or revolving credit facility and the indenture that will govern the notes could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such a default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies.

We conduct substantially all of our operations through our subsidiaries, which are not expected to guarantee the notes.

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company is a holding company with no business operations of its own. We conduct our operations through our subsidiaries, which are not expected to guarantee the notes, except under the limited circumstances described in "Description of the notes—Certain covenants—Future subsidiary guarantors." Accordingly, repayment of our indebtedness, including the notes, is dependent on the generation of cash flow by our subsidiaries and their ability to make such cash available to us, by dividend, debt repayment or otherwise. Our subsidiaries do not have any obligation to pay amounts due on the notes or our other indebtedness or to make funds available for that purpose. Our subsidiaries may not be able to, or may not be permitted to, make distributions to enable us to make payments in respect of our indebtedness, including the notes. Each subsidiary is a distinct legal entity, and, under certain circumstances, legal and contractual restrictions may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries. While the indenture that will govern the notes will limit the ability of our subsidiaries to incur consensual restrictions on their ability to pay dividends or make other intercompany payments to us, these limitations are subject to qualifications and exceptions. In the event that we do not receive distributions from our

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subsidiaries, we may be unable to make required principal and interest payments on our indebtedness, including the notes.

Our liquidity and ability to meet our obligations under the notes may be constrained by the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to distribute cash to us.

We depend on our insurance subsidiaries for cash to make principal and interest payments on debt and to pay administrative expenses and income taxes. We receive cash from our insurance subsidiaries, consisting of dividends and distributions, fees earned under investment advisory agreements, principal and interest payments on surplus debentures and tax-sharing payments, as well as cash from our non-insurance subsidiaries consisting of dividends, distributions, loans and advances. Deterioration in the financial condition, earnings or cash flow of these significant subsidiaries for any reason could hinder the ability of such subsidiaries to pay cash dividends or other disbursements to American Equity, which would limit our ability to meet our debt service requirements, including our obligations under the notes, and satisfy other financial obligations. In addition, we may elect to contribute additional capital to certain insurance subsidiaries to strengthen their surplus for covenant compliance or regulatory purposes (including, for example, maintaining adequate RBC levels) or to provide the capital necessary for growth, in which case it is less likely that our insurance subsidiaries would pay us dividends. Accordingly, this could limit our ability to meet debt service requirements and satisfy other holding company financial obligations.

The payment of dividends or surplus debenture interest by our insurance subsidiaries to American Equity is subject to state insurance department regulations and may be prohibited by insurance regulators if they determine that such dividends or other payments could be adverse to our policyholders or contract holders. Insurance regulations generally permit dividends to be paid from statutory earned surplus of the insurance company without regulatory approval for any twelve-month period in amounts equal to the greater of (or in a few states, the lesser of):

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statutory net gain from operations or statutory net income for the prior year, or

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10% of statutory surplus as of the end of the preceding year.

This type of dividend is referred to as an "ordinary dividend." In the year ended December 31, 2012, our insurance subsidiaries paid no ordinary dividends, and for 2013, up to $165.6 million can be distributed as ordinary dividends. Any dividend in excess of these levels requires the approval of the director or commissioner of the applicable state insurance department and is referred to as an "extraordinary dividend." In the year ended December 31, 2012, our insurance subsidiaries paid no extraordinary dividends to American Equity.

In addition, although we are under no obligation to do so, we may elect to contribute additional capital to strengthen the surplus of certain insurance subsidiaries for covenant compliance or regulatory purposes or to provide the capital necessary for growth. Any election regarding the contribution of additional capital to our insurance subsidiaries could affect the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends. The ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends is also impacted by various criteria established by rating agencies to maintain or receive higher financial strength ratings and by the capital levels that we target for our insurance subsidiaries, as well as RBC and statutory capital and surplus compliance requirements under our existing revolving credit facility.

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There is currently no public market for the notes, and we do not know if a market will ever develop or, if a market does develop, whether it will be sustained.

The notes are a new issue of securities, and there is no existing trading market for the notes. Although the underwriters have informed us that they intend to make a market in the notes, they have no obligation to do so and may discontinue making a market at any time without notice. As a result, a liquid market may not develop for the notes, and you may not be able to sell your notes when you wish to sell them, or the prices that you receive when you sell the notes may not be favorable. We do not intend to apply for listing of the notes on any securities exchange. If a market for the notes does not develop, you may not be able to resell your notes for an extended period of time, if at all. Moreover, if markets for the notes do develop in the future, these markets may not continue indefinitely, and the notes may not be sold at a price equal to or greater than their initial offering price. In addition, in response to prevailing interest rates and market conditions generally, as well as our performance, the notes could trade at a price lower than their initial offering price.

We may not be able to repurchase the notes upon a change of control.

Upon the occurrence of a Change of Control, each holder of notes will have the right to require us to repurchase all or any part of such holder's notes for cash at a price equal to 101% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the date of such repurchase. If a Change of Control occurs, we may not have sufficient financial resources available to satisfy our obligations to repurchase the notes, or the terms of other indebtedness may preclude us from doing so. Our failure to repurchase the notes as required under the indenture governing the notes would result in a default under the indenture that could have material adverse consequences for us and the holders of the notes. In order to avoid the obligations to repurchase the notes and events of default and potential breaches of our existing revolving credit facility and other indebtedness, we may have to avoid certain change of control transactions that would otherwise be beneficial to us.

In addition, certain important corporate events, such as leveraged recapitalizations, may not, under the indenture that will govern the notes, constitute a "change of control" that would require us to repurchase the notes, even though those corporate events could increase the level of our indebtedness or otherwise adversely affect our capital structure, credit ratings or the value of the notes. See "Description of the notes—Change of control."

Holders of the notes may not be able to determine when a change of control giving rise to their right to have the notes repurchased has occurred following a sale of "substantially all" of our assets.

One of the circumstances under which a change of control may occur is upon the sale or disposition of "all or substantially all" of our assets. There is no precise established definition of the phrase "substantially all" under applicable law, and the interpretation of that phrase will likely depend upon particular facts and circumstances. Accordingly, the ability of a holder of notes to require us to repurchase its notes as a result of a sale of less than all our assets to another person may be uncertain.

Our credit ratings may not reflect all risks of your investment in the notes.

Our credit ratings are an assessment by rating agencies of our ability to pay our debts when due. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit ratings will generally affect the

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market value of the notes. These credit ratings may not reflect the potential impact of risks relating to the structure or marketing of the notes. In addition, if any of our outstanding debt that is rated is downgraded, raising capital will become more difficult for us, and borrowing costs under our credit agreement and other future borrowings may increase. Agency ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security and may be revised or withdrawn at any time by the issuing organization. Each agency's rating should be evaluated independently of any other agency's rating.

Federal and state fraudulent transfer laws may permit a court to void the notes and/or any future subsidiary guarantees, and if that occurs, you may not receive any payments on the notes.

Federal and state fraudulent transfer and conveyance statutes may apply to the issuance of the notes and the incurrence of any future subsidiary guarantees of the notes. Under federal bankruptcy law and comparable provisions of state fraudulent transfer or conveyance laws, which may vary from state to state, the notes or any future subsidiary guarantees thereof could be voided as a fraudulent transfer or conveyance if we or any future subsidiary guarantor, as applicable, (a) issued the notes or incurred any subsidiary guarantee with the intent of hindering, delaying or defrauding creditors or (b) received less than reasonably equivalent value or fair consideration in return for either issuing the notes or incurring any subsidiary guarantee and, in the case of (b) only, one of the following is also true at the time thereof:

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we or any future subsidiary guarantor, as applicable, were insolvent or rendered insolvent by reason of the issuance of the notes or the incurrence of any subsidiary guarantee;

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the issuance of the notes or the incurrence of any future subsidiary guarantee left us or any subsidiary guarantor, as applicable, with an unreasonably small amount of capital or assets to carry on the business;

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we or any future subsidiary guarantor intended to, or believed that we or such future subsidiary guarantor would, incur debts beyond our or such subsidiary guarantor's ability to pay as they mature; or

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we or any future subsidiary guarantors were a defendant in an action for money damages, or had a judgment for money damages docketed against us or the subsidiary guarantor if, in either case, the judgment is unsatisfied after final judgment.

As a general matter, value is given for a transfer or an obligation if, in exchange for the transfer or obligation, property is transferred or a valid antecedent debt is secured or satisfied. A court would likely find that a future subsidiary guarantor did not receive reasonably equivalent value or fair consideration for its subsidiary guarantee to the extent the subsidiary guarantor did not obtain a reasonably equivalent benefit directly or indirectly from the issuance of the notes.

We cannot be certain as to the standards a court would use to determine whether or not we or any future subsidiary guarantor was insolvent at the relevant time or, regardless of the standard that a court uses, whether the notes or any future subsidiary guarantee would be

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subordinated to our or any subsidiary guarantors' other debt. In general, however, a court would deem an entity insolvent if:

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the sum of its debts, including contingent and unliquidated liabilities, was greater than the fair saleable value of all of its assets;

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the present fair saleable value of its assets was less than the amount that would be required to pay its probable liability on its existing debts, including contingent liabilities, as they become absolute and mature; or

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it could not pay its debts as they became due.

If a court were to find that the issuance of the notes or the incurrence of any future subsidiary guarantee was a fraudulent transfer or conveyance, the court could void the payment obligations under the notes or that subsidiary guarantee, could subordinate the notes or that subsidiary guarantee to presently existing and future indebtedness of ours or of the related subsidiary guarantor or could require the holders of the notes to repay any amounts received with respect to that subsidiary guarantee. In the event of a finding that a fraudulent transfer or conveyance occurred, you may not receive any repayment on the notes. Further, the avoidance of the notes could result in an event of default with respect to our and our subsidiaries' other debt that could result in acceleration of that debt.

Finally, as a court of equity, the bankruptcy court may subordinate the claims in respect of the notes to other claims against us under the principle of equitable subordination if the court determines that (1) the holder of notes engaged in some type of inequitable conduct, (2) the inequitable conduct resulted in injury to our other creditors or conferred an unfair advantage upon the holders of notes and (3) equitable subordination is not inconsistent with the provisions of the bankruptcy code.

Risks related to the business

We are exposed to significant financial and capital risk, including changing interest rates, credit spreads and equity prices which may have an adverse effect on sales of our products, profitability, investment portfolio and reported book value per share.

Future changes in interest rates, credit spreads and equity and bond indices may result in fluctuations in the income derived from our investments. These and other factors due to the current economic uncertainty could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Interest rate and credit spread risk.    Our interest rate risk is related to market price and changes in cash flow. Substantial and sustained increases and decreases in market interest rates can materially and adversely affect the profitability of our products, our ability to earn predictable returns, the fair value of our investments and the reported value of stockholders' equity. A rise in interest rates, in the absence of other countervailing changes, will decrease the unrealized gain position of our investment portfolio and may result in an unrealized loss position. With respect to our available for sale fixed maturity securities, such declines in value (net of income taxes and certain adjustments for assumed changes in amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements) reduce our reported stockholders' equity and book value per share.

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If interest rates rise dramatically within a short period of time, our business may be exposed to disintermediation risk. Disintermediation risk is the risk that our policyholders may surrender all or part of their contracts in a rising interest rate environment, which may require us to sell assets in an unrealized loss position. Alternatively, we may increase crediting rates to retain business and reduce the level of assets that may need to be sold at a loss. However, such action would reduce our investment spread and net income.

We hold an amount of fixed maturity securities that are callable by the issuer prior to maturity, and since 2008, we have received significant amounts of redemption proceeds related to calls of securities issued by United States Government sponsored agencies. We have reinvested the proceeds from these redemptions into new securities issued by such agencies, corporate securities and securities issued by United States municipalities, states and territories. The callable United States Government sponsored agencies that we own / purchase typically provide for 12 months of call protection, after which they may be called on the first anniversary of the issue date, or any semi-annual or annual redemption date thereafter. As such, at any financial reporting date, substantially all of the securities we own issued by United States Government sponsored agencies that are not residential mortgage-backed securities are callable by the respective agency within 12 months.

Due to the long-term nature of our annuity liabilities, sustained declines in long-term interest rates may result in increased redemptions of our fixed maturity securities that are subject to call redemption prior to maturity by the issuer and expose us to reinvestment risk. If we are unable to reinvest the proceeds from such redemptions into investments with credit quality and yield characteristics of the redeemed securities, our net income and overall financial performance may be adversely affected. We have a certain ability to mitigate this risk by lowering crediting rates on our products subject to certain restrictions as discussed below.

Our exposure to credit spreads is related to market price and changes in cash flows related to changes in credit spreads. If credit spreads widen significantly it would probably lead to additional other than temporary impairments. If credit spreads tighten significantly it could result in reduced net investment income associated with new purchases of fixed maturity securities.

Credit risk.    We are subject to the risk that the issuers of our fixed maturity securities and other debt securities and borrowers on our commercial mortgages will default on principal and interest payments, particularly if a major downturn in economic activity occurs. An increase in defaults on our fixed maturity securities and commercial mortgage loan portfolios could harm our financial strength and reduce our profitability.

Credit and cash flow assumption risk is the risk that issuers of securities, mortgagees on mortgage loans or other parties, including reinsurers and derivatives counterparties, default on their contractual obligations or experience adverse changes to their contractual cash flow streams. We attempt to minimize the adverse impact of this risk by monitoring portfolio diversification by asset class, creditor, industry, and by complying with investment limitations contained in state insurance laws and regulations as applicable. We also consider all relevant objective information available in estimating the cash flows related to residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities. We monitor and manage exposures to determine whether securities are impaired or loans are deemed uncollectible.

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We use derivative instruments to fund the annual credits on our fixed index annuities. We purchase derivative instruments, consisting primarily of one-year call options, from a number of counterparties. Our policy is to acquire such options only from counterparties rated "A-" or better by a nationally recognized rating agency, and the maximum credit exposure to any single counterparty is subject to concentration limits. In addition, we have entered into credit support agreements which allow us to require posting of collateral by our counterparties to secure their obligations to us under the derivative instruments. If our counterparties fail to honor their obligations under the derivative instruments, our revenues may not be sufficient to fund the annual index credits on our fixed index annuities. Any such failure could harm our financial strength and reduce our profitability.

Liquidity risk.    We could have difficulty selling our commercial mortgage loans because they are less liquid than our publicly traded securities. If we require significant amounts of cash on short notice, we may have difficulty selling these loans at attractive prices or in a timely manner, or both.

Fluctuations in interest rates and investment spread could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

A key component of our net income is the investment spread. A narrowing of investment spreads may adversely affect operating results. Although we have the right to adjust interest crediting rates (cap, participation or asset fee rates for fixed index annuities) on most products, changes to crediting rates may not be sufficient to maintain targeted investment spreads in all economic and market environments. In general, our ability to lower crediting rates is subject to minimum crediting rates filed with and approved by state regulators. In addition, competition and other factors, including the potential for increases in surrenders and withdrawals, may limit our ability to adjust or maintain crediting rates at levels necessary to avoid the narrowing of spreads under certain market conditions. Our policy structure generally provides for resetting of policy crediting rates at least annually and imposes surrender charges for withdrawals during the first 3 to 17 years a policy is in force.

Managing the investment spread on our fixed index annuities is more complex than it is for fixed rate annuity products. We manage the index-based risk component of our fixed index annuities by purchasing call options on the applicable indices to fund the annual index credits on these annuities and by adjusting the caps, participation rates and asset fees on policy anniversary dates to reflect changes in the cost of such options which varies based on market conditions. The price of such options generally increases with increases in the volatility in both the indices and interest rates, which may either narrow the spread or cause us to lower caps or participation rates. Thus, the volatility of the indices adds an additional degree of uncertainty to the profitability of the index products. We attempt to mitigate this risk by resetting caps, participation rates and asset fees annually on the policy anniversaries.

Persistent environment of low interest rates affects and may continue to negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Prolonged periods of low interest rates may have a negative impact on our ability to sell our fixed index annuities as consumers look for other savings instruments with potentially higher yields to fund retirement. In times of low interest rates, such as we have been experiencing since 2010 and which we expect to continue to experience in 2013, it is difficult to offer attractive rates and benefits to customers while maintaining profitability, which may limit sales growth of interest sensitive products.

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Sustained declines in interest rates may subject us to lower returns on our invested assets, and we have had to and may have to continue to reinvest the cash we receive from premiums and interest or return of principal on our investments in instruments with yields less than those we currently own. This may reduce our future net investment income and compress the spread on our annuity products. Further, borrowers may prepay fixed maturity securities in order to borrow at lower market rates. Any related prepayment fees are recorded in net investment income and may create income statement volatility.

An environment of rising interest rates may materially affect our liquidity and financial condition.

Periods of rising interest rates may cause increased policy surrenders, withdrawals and requests for policy loans on deferred annuity products, as policyholders seek investments with higher returns, commonly referred to as disintermediation. This may lead to net cash outflows and the resulting liquidity demands may require us to sell investment assets when the prices of those assets are adversely affected by the increase in interest rates, which may result in realized investment losses. Further, a portion of our investment portfolio consists of commercial mortgage loans and privately placed securities, which are relatively illiquid, thus increasing our liquidity risk in the event of disintermediation. We may also be required to accelerate the amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements related to surrendered contracts, which would adversely affect our results of operations.

During such times, we may offer higher crediting rates on new sales of annuity products and increase crediting rates on existing annuity products to maintain or enhance product competitiveness. We may not be able to purchase enough higher yielding assets necessary to fund higher crediting rates and maintain our desired spread, which could result in lower profitability on our in force business. In rising interest rate environments, especially when interest rates are rapidly rising, it may be difficult to position our products to offer attractive rates and benefits to customers while maintaining profitability, which may limit sales growth of interest sensitive products.

Our valuation of fixed maturity and equity securities may include methodologies, estimates and assumptions which are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

Fixed maturity securities and equity securities are reported at fair value in our consolidated balance sheets. During periods of market disruption including periods of significantly rising or high interest rates, rapidly widening credit spreads or illiquidity, it may be difficult to value certain of our securities if trading becomes less frequent and/or market data becomes less observable. Prices provided by independent broker quotes or independent pricing services that are used in the determination of fair value can vary significantly for a particular security. There may be certain asset classes that were trading in active markets with significant observable data that become illiquid due to the current financial environment. As such, valuations may include inputs and assumptions that are less observable or require greater judgment as well as valuation methods that require greater judgment. Further, rapidly changing and unprecedented credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities as reported in our consolidated financial statements and the period-to-period changes in value could vary significantly. Decreases in value may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

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Defaults on commercial mortgage loans and volatility in performance may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Commercial mortgage loans face heightened delinquency and default risk due to recent economic conditions which have had a negative impact on the performance of the underlying collateral, resulting in declining values and an adverse impact on the obligors of such instruments. An increase in the default rate of our commercial mortgage loan investments could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, environmental conditions at properties securing our commercial loans may impair the value of our collateral or prevent us from foreclosing on some properties.

In addition, the carrying value of commercial mortgage loans is negatively impacted by such factors. The carrying value of commercial mortgage loans is stated at outstanding principal less any loan loss allowances recognized. Considerations in determining allowances include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) declining debt service coverage ratios and increasing loan to value ratios; (ii) bankruptcy filings of major tenants or affiliates of the borrower on the property; (iii) catastrophic events at the property; and (iv) other subjective events or factors, including whether the terms of the debt will be restructured. There can be no assurance that management's assessment of loan loss allowances on commercial mortgage loans will not change in future periods, which could lead to investment losses.

We remain vulnerable to market uncertainty and continued financial instability of national, state and local governments. Continued difficult conditions in the global capital markets and economy could deteriorate in the near future and affect our financial position and our level of earnings from our operations.

Recovery from the most recent recession in the United States has proven to be slow and long-term. High unemployment rates and lower average household income levels have emerged as continued lagging indicators of a slow economic recovery. The continuing market uncertainty has directly and materially affected our investment portfolio. One of the strategies used by the U.S. government to stimulate the economy has been to keep interest rates low and increase the supply of United States dollars. While these strategies have appeared to be somewhat successful, any future economic downturn or market disruption could negatively impact our ability to invest funds.

Specifically, if market conditions deteriorate in 2013 or beyond:

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our investment portfolio could incur additional other than temporary impairments;

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our commercial mortgage loans could experience a greater amount of loss;

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due to potential downgrades in our investment portfolio, we could be required to raise additional capital to sustain our current business in force and new sales of our annuity products, which may be difficult in a distressed market. If capital would be available, it may be at terms that are not favorable to us;

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we may be required to limit growth in sales of our annuity products; and/or

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our liquidity could be negatively affected and we could be forced to limit our operations and our business could suffer, as we need liquidity to pay our policyholder benefits, operating expenses, dividends on our capital stock, and to service our debt obligations.

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The principal sources of our liquidity are annuity deposits, investment income and proceeds from the sale, maturity and call of investments. Additional sources of liquidity in normal markets also include a variety of short and long-term instruments, including long-term debt and capital securities.

Governmental initiatives intended to improve global and local economies that have been adopted may not be effective and, in any event, may be accompanied by other initiatives, including new capital requirements or other regulations, that could materially affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity in ways that we cannot predict.

We are subject to extensive laws and regulations that are administered and enforced by a number of different regulatory authorities including state insurance regulators, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC"), the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange. Some of these authorities are or may in the future consider enhanced or new regulatory requirements intended to prevent future economic crises or otherwise assure the stability of institutions under their supervision. These authorities may also seek to exercise their supervisory or enforcement authority in new or more robust ways. All of these possibilities, if they occurred, could affect the way we conduct our business and manage our capital, and may require us to satisfy increased capital requirements, any of which in turn could materially affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.

We face competition from companies that have greater financial resources, broader arrays of products, higher ratings and stronger financial performance, which may impair our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers and maintain our profitability and financial strength.

We operate in a highly competitive industry. Many of our competitors are substantially larger and enjoy substantially greater financial resources, higher ratings by rating agencies, broader and more diversified product lines and more widespread agency relationships. Our annuity products compete with index, fixed rate and variable annuities sold by other insurance companies and also with mutual fund products, traditional bank investments and other retirement funding alternatives offered by asset managers, banks and broker-dealers. Our insurance products compete with those of other insurance companies, financial intermediaries and other institutions based on a number of factors, including premium rates, policy terms and conditions, service provided to distribution channels and policyholders, ratings by rating agencies, reputation and commission structures.

While we compete with numerous other companies, we view the following as our most significant competitors:

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Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America;

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Aviva USA;

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Security Benefit Life;

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Great American Life Insurance Company;

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Midland National Life Insurance Company; and

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North American Company for Life and Health Insurance.

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Our ability to compete depends in part on returns and other benefits we make available to our policyholders through our annuity contracts. We will not be able to accumulate and retain assets under management for our products if our investment results underperform the market or the competition, since such underperformance likely would result in asset withdrawals and reduced sales.

We compete for distribution sources for our products. We believe that our success in competing for distributors depends on our financial strength, the services we provide to and the relationships we develop with these distributors, as well as offering competitive commission structures. Our distributors are generally free to sell products from whichever providers they wish, which makes it important for us to continually offer distributors products and services they find attractive. If our products or services fall short of distributors' needs, we may not be able to establish and maintain satisfactory relationships with distributors of our annuity and life insurance products. Our ability to compete in the past has also depended in part on our ability to develop innovative new products and bring them to market more quickly than our competitors. In order for us to compete in the future, we will need to continue to bring innovative products to market in a timely fashion. Otherwise, our revenues and profitability could suffer.

Our reinsurance program involves risks because we remain liable with respect to the liabilities ceded to reinsurers if the reinsurers fail to meet the obligations assumed by them.

Our life insurance subsidiaries cede certain policies to other insurance companies through reinsurance agreements. American Equity Life has entered into two coinsurance agreements with EquiTrust Life Insurance Company ("EquiTrust") covering $1.0 billion of policy benefit reserves at March 31, 2013 and into two funds withheld coinsurance agreements with Athene Life Re Ltd. ("Athene"), an unauthorized life reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda, covering $1.9 billion of policy benefit reserves at March 31, 2013. Since Athene is an unauthorized reinsurer, the annuity deposits that have been ceded to Athene are held in a trust on a funds withheld basis. The funds withheld are required to remain at a value that is sufficient to support the current balance of policy benefit liabilities of the ceded business on a statutory basis. If the value of the funds withheld would ever reach a point where it is less than the amount of the ceded policy benefit liabilities on a statutory basis, Athene is required to either establish a letter of credit or deposit securities to the funds withheld for the amount of any shortfall. We remain liable with respect to the policy liabilities ceded to EquiTrust and Athene should either fail to meet the obligations assumed by them.

In addition, we have entered into other types of reinsurance contracts including indemnity reinsurance and financing arrangements. Should any of these reinsurers fail to meet the obligations assumed under such contracts, we remain liable with respect to the liabilities ceded.

Further, no assurances can be made that reinsurance will remain continuously available to us to the same extent and on the same terms as are currently available. If we were unable to maintain our current level of reinsurance or purchase new reinsurance protection in amounts that we consider sufficient and at prices that we consider acceptable, we would have to accept an increase in our net liability exposure, reduce the amount of business we write, or develop other alternatives to reinsurance.

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We may experience volatility in net income due to the application of fair value accounting to our derivative instruments.

All of our derivative instruments, including certain derivative instruments embedded in other contracts, are recognized in the balance sheet at their fair values and changes in fair value are recognized immediately in earnings. This impacts certain revenues and expenses we report for our fixed index annuity business as follows:

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We must present the call options purchased to fund the annual index credits on our fixed index annuity products at fair value. The fair value of the call options is based upon the amount of cash that would be required to settle the call options obtained from the counterparties adjusted for the nonperformance risk of the counterparty. We record the change in fair value of these options as a component of our revenues. The change in fair value of derivatives includes the gains or losses recognized at expiration of the option term or upon early termination and changes in fair value for open positions.

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The contractual obligations for future annual index credits are treated as a "series of embedded derivatives" over the expected life of the applicable contracts. Increases or decreases in the fair value of embedded derivatives generally correspond to increases or decreases in equity market performance and changes in the interest rates used to discount the excess of the projected policy contract values over the projected minimum guaranteed contract values. We record the change in fair value of these embedded derivatives as a component of our benefits and expenses in our consolidated statements of operations.

The application of fair value accounting for derivatives and embedded derivatives in future periods to our fixed index annuity business may cause substantial volatility in our reported net income.

We may face unanticipated losses if there are significant deviations from our assumptions regarding the probabilities that our annuity contracts will remain in force from one period to the next.

The expected future profitability of our annuity products is based in part upon expected patterns of premiums, expenses and benefits using a number of assumptions, including those related to the probability that a policy or contract will remain in force, or persistency, and mortality. Since no insurer can precisely determine persistency or mortality, actual results could differ significantly from assumptions, and deviations from estimates and assumptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. For example, actual persistency that is lower than our assumptions could have an adverse impact on future profitability, especially in the early years of a policy or contract primarily because we would be required to accelerate the amortization of expenses we deferred in connection with the acquisition of the policy.

In addition, we set initial crediting rates for our annuity products based upon expected claims and payment patterns, using assumptions for, among other factors, mortality rates of our policyholders. The long-term profitability of these products depends upon how our actual experience compares with our pricing assumptions. For example, if mortality rates are lower than our pricing assumptions, we could be required to make more payments under certain annuity contracts in addition to what we had projected.

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If our estimated gross profits change significantly from initial expectations we may be required to expense our deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements in an accelerated manner, which would reduce our profitability.

Deferred policy acquisition costs represent costs that vary with and primarily relate to the acquisition of new business. Deferred sales inducements are contract enhancements such as first-year premium and interest bonuses that are credited to policyholder account balances. These costs are capitalized when incurred and are amortized over the life of the contracts. Current amortization of these costs is generally in proportion to expected gross profits from interest margins and, to a lesser extent, from surrender charges. Unfavorable experience with regard to expected expenses, investment returns, mortality or withdrawals may cause acceleration of the amortization of these costs resulting in an increase of expenses and lower profitability.

If we do not manage our growth effectively, our financial performance could be adversely affected; our historical growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth.

We have experienced rapid growth since our formation in December 1995. We intend to continue to grow by recruiting new independent agents, increasing the productivity of our existing agents, expanding our insurance distribution network, developing new products, expanding into new product lines, and continuing to develop new incentives for our sales agents. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on our management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain and integrate additional employees, including management. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in expanding our business or that our systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support our operations as they expand. In addition, due to our rapid growth and resulting increased size, it may be necessary to expand the scope of our investing activities to asset classes in which we historically have not invested or have not had significant exposure. If we are unable to adequately manage our investments in these classes, our financial condition or operating results in the future could be less favorable than in the past. Further, we have utilized reinsurance in the past to support our growth. The future availability and cost of reinsurance is uncertain. Our failure to manage growth effectively, or our inability to recruit, maintain and integrate additional qualified employees and independent agents, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, due to our rapid growth, our historical growth rates are not likely to accurately reflect our future growth rates or our growth potential. We cannot assure you that our future revenues will increase or that we will continue to be profitable.

The loss of key employees could disrupt our operations.

Our success depends in part on the continued service of key executives and our ability to attract and retain additional executives and employees. We do not have employment agreements with our executive officers. The loss of key employees, or our inability to recruit and retain additional qualified personnel, could cause disruption in our business and prevent us from fully implementing our business strategies, which could materially and adversely affect our business, growth and profitability.

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Controls and disaster recovery plans surrounding our information technology could fail or security could be compromised, which could damage our business and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is highly dependent upon the effective operation of our information technology (IT). We rely on IT throughout our business for a variety of functions, including processing claims and applications, providing information to policyholders and distributors, performing actuarial analyses and maintaining financial records. Despite the implementation of security and back-up measures, our IT may be vulnerable to physical or electronic intrusions, computer viruses or other attacks, programming errors and similar disruptive problems. The failure of controls and/or disaster recovery plans surrounding our IT for any reason could cause significant interruptions to our operations, which could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We retain confidential information within our IT, and we rely on sophisticated commercial technologies to maintain the security of those systems. Anyone who is able to circumvent our security measures and penetrate our IT could access, view, misappropriate, alter, or delete any information in the systems, including personally identifiable policyholder information and proprietary business information. In addition, an increasing number of states and foreign countries require that persons be notified if a security breach results in the disclosure of personally identifiable customer information. Any compromise of the security of our computer systems that results in inappropriate disclosure of personally identifiable customer information could damage our reputation in the marketplace, deter people from purchasing our products, subject us to significant civil and criminal liability and require us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses.

If we are unable to attract and retain national marketing organizations and independent agents, sales of our products may be reduced.

We distribute our annuity products through a variable cost distribution network which includes over 60 national marketing organizations and approximately 24,000 independent agents. We must attract and retain such marketers and agents to sell our products. Insurance companies compete vigorously for productive agents. We compete with other life insurance companies for marketers and agents primarily on the basis of our financial position, support services, compensation and product features. Such marketers and agents may promote products offered by other life insurance companies that may offer a larger variety of products than we do. Our competitiveness for such marketers and agents also depends upon the long-term relationships we develop with them. If we are unable to attract and retain sufficient marketers and agents to sell our products, our ability to compete and our revenues would suffer.

We may require additional capital to support our business and sustained future growth which may not be available when needed or may be available only on unfavorable terms.

Our long-term strategic capital requirements will depend on many factors including the accumulated statutory earnings of our life insurance subsidiaries and the relationship between the statutory capital and surplus of our life insurance subsidiaries and various elements of required capital. To support long-term capital requirements, we may need to increase or maintain the statutory capital and surplus of our life insurance subsidiaries through additional financings, which could include debt, equity, financing arrangements and/or other surplus relief transactions. Adverse market conditions have affected and continue to affect the availability

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and cost of capital. Such financings, if available at all, may be available only on terms that are not favorable to us. If we cannot maintain adequate capital, we may be required to limit growth in sales of new annuity products, and such action could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. See "—Risks related to the notes."

Changes in state and federal regulation may affect our profitability.

We are subject to regulation under applicable insurance statutes, including insurance holding company statutes, in the various states in which our life insurance subsidiaries transact business. Our life insurance subsidiaries are domiciled in New York and Iowa. We are currently licensed to sell our products in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Insurance regulation is intended to provide safeguards for policyholders rather than to protect shareholders of insurance companies or their holding companies. As increased scrutiny has been placed upon the insurance regulatory framework, a number of state legislatures have considered or enacted legislative proposals that alter, and in many cases increase, state authority to regulate insurance companies and holding company systems.

Regulators oversee matters relating to trade practices, policy forms, claims practices, guaranty funds, types and amounts of investments, reserve adequacy, insurer solvency, minimum amounts of capital and surplus, transactions with related parties, changes in control and payment of dividends.

The NAIC and state insurance regulators continually reexamine existing laws and regulations. The NAIC may develop and recommend adoption of new or modify existing model laws and regulations. State insurance regulators may impose those recommended changes, or others, in the future.

Our life insurance subsidiaries are subject to state insurance regulations based on the NAIC's risk-based capital requirements which are intended to be used by insurance regulators as an early warning tool to identify deteriorating or weakly capitalized insurance companies for the purpose of initiating regulatory action. Our life insurance subsidiaries also may be required, under solvency or guaranty laws of most states in which they do business, to pay assessments up to certain prescribed limits to fund policyholder losses or liabilities for insolvent insurance companies.

Although the federal government does not directly regulate the insurance business, federal legislation and administrative policies in several areas, including pension regulation, age and sex discrimination, financial services regulation, securities regulation and federal taxation, can significantly affect the insurance business. In addition, legislation has been enacted which could result in the federal government assuming some role in the regulation of the insurance industry.

In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted and signed into law. The Dodd-Frank Act made extensive changes to the laws regulating the financial services industry and requires various federal agencies to adopt a broad range of new rules and regulations. Among other things, the Dodd-Frank Act imposes a comprehensive new regulatory regime on the over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives marketplace. This legislation subjects swap dealers and "major swap participants" (as defined in the legislation and further clarified by the rulemaking) to substantial supervision and regulation, including capital standards, margin requirements, business conduct standards, recordkeeping and reporting requirements. It also requires central

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clearing for certain derivatives transactions that the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") determines must be cleared and are accepted for clearing by a "derivatives clearing organization" (subject to certain exceptions) and provides the CFTC with authority to impose position limits across markets. Many of the key concepts, definitions, processes and issues surrounding regulation of the OTC derivatives have been left to the relevant regulators to address and many of these regulations have yet to be proposed. The Dodd-Frank Act and any such regulations may subject us to additional restrictions on our hedging positions which may have an adverse effect on our ability to hedge risks associated with our business, including our fixed index annuity business, or on the cost of our hedging activity.

The Dodd-Frank Act also created a Financial Stability and Oversight Council ("FSOC"). The FSOC may designate by a 2/3 vote whether certain insurance companies and insurance holding companies pose a grave threat to the financial stability of the United States, in which case such companies would become subject to prudential regulation by the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve (the "Federal Reserve Board") (including capital requirements, leverage limits, liquidity requirements and examinations). The Federal Reserve Board may limit such company's ability to enter into merger transactions, restrict its ability to offer financial products, require it to terminate one or more activities, or impose conditions on the manner in which it conducts activities.

The Dodd-Frank Act also established a Federal Insurance Office under the U.S. Treasury Department to monitor all aspects of the insurance industry and of lines of business other than certain health insurance, certain long-term care insurance and crop insurance. The director of the Federal Insurance Office has the ability to recommend that an insurance company or an insurance holding company be subject to heightened prudential standards. The Dodd-Frank Act also provides for the pre-emption of state laws in certain instances involving the regulation of reinsurance and other limited insurance matters. The Dodd-Frank Act requires extensive rule-making and other future regulatory action, which in some cases will take a period of years to implement. It is not possible at this time to assess the impact on our business of the establishment of the Federal Insurance Office and the FSOC. However, the regulatory framework at the state and federal level applicable to our insurance products is evolving. The changing regulatory framework could affect the design of such products and our ability to sell certain products. Any changes in these laws and regulations could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We cannot predict the requirements of any regulations ultimately adopted under the Dodd-Frank Act, the effect that such regulations will have on financial markets or on our business, the additional costs associated with compliance with such regulations, or any changes to our operations that may be necessary to comply with the Dodd-Frank Act, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

Changes in federal income taxation laws, including any reduction in individual income tax rates, may affect sales of our products and profitability.

The annuity and life insurance products that we market generally provide the policyholder with certain federal income tax advantages. For example, federal income taxation on any increases in non-qualified annuity contract values (i.e. the "inside build-up") is deferred until it

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is received by the policyholder. With other savings investments, such as certificates of deposit and taxable bonds, the increase in value is generally taxed each year as it is realized. Additionally, life insurance death benefits are generally exempt from income tax.

From time to time, various tax law changes have been proposed that could have an adverse effect on our business, including the elimination of all or a portion of the income tax advantages described above for annuities and life insurance. If legislation were enacted to eliminate all or a portion of the tax deferral for annuities, such a change would have an adverse effect on our ability to sell non-qualified annuities. Non-qualified annuities are annuities that are not sold to a qualified retirement plan.

Beginning in 2013, distributions from non-qualified annuity policies will be considered "investment income" for purposes of the newly enacted Medicare tax on investment income contained in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. As a result, in certain circumstances a 3.8% tax ("Medicare Tax") may be applied to some or all of the taxable portion of distributions from non-qualified annuities to individuals whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts. This new tax may have an adverse effect on our ability to sell non-qualified annuities to individuals whose income exceeds these threshold amounts.

We face risks relating to litigation, including the costs of such litigation, management distraction and the potential for damage awards, which may adversely impact our business.

We are occasionally involved in litigation, both as a defendant and as a plaintiff. In addition, state regulatory bodies, such as state insurance departments, the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"), the Department of Labor and other regulatory bodies regularly make inquiries and conduct examinations or investigations concerning our compliance with, among other things, insurance laws, securities laws, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, and laws governing the activities of broker-dealers. Companies in the life insurance and annuity business have faced litigation, including class action lawsuits, alleging improper product design, improper sales practices and similar claims. We are currently a defendant in a purported class action lawsuit involving allegations that generally attack the suitability of sales of deferred annuity products to persons over the age of 65. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit seek rescission and injunctive relief including restitution and disgorgement of profits on behalf of all class members; compensatory damages for breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting of breach of fiduciary duty; unjust enrichment and constructive trust; and other pecuniary damages. See "Business—Legal proceedings" for more information about this lawsuit.

A downgrade in our credit or financial strength ratings may increase our future cost of capital, reduce new sales, adversely affect relationships with distributors and increase policy surrenders and withdrawals.

Currently, our senior unsecured indebtedness carries a "bbb-" rating from A.M. Best Company, a "BB+" rating from Standard & Poor's and a "BB" rating from Fitch Ratings. Our ability to maintain such ratings is dependent upon the results of operations of our subsidiaries and our financial strength. If we fail to preserve the strength of our balance sheet and to maintain a capital structure that rating agencies deem suitable, it could result in a downgrade of the ratings applicable to our senior unsecured indebtedness. A downgrade would likely reduce the fair value of the common stock and may increase our future cost of capital.

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Financial strength ratings are important factors in establishing the competitive position of life insurance and annuity companies. In recent years, the market for annuities has been dominated by those insurers with the highest ratings. A ratings downgrade, or the potential for a ratings downgrade, could have a number of adverse effects on our business. For example, distributors and sales agents for life insurance and annuity products use the ratings as one factor in determining which insurer's annuities to market. A ratings downgrade could cause those distributors and agents to seek alternative carriers. In addition, a ratings downgrade could materially increase the number of policy or contract surrenders we experience, as well as our ability to obtain reinsurance or obtain reasonable pricing on reinsurance.

Financial strength ratings are measures of an insurance company's ability to meet contractholder and policyholder obligations and generally involve quantitative and qualitative evaluations by rating agencies of a company's financial condition and operating performance. Generally, rating agencies base their ratings upon information furnished to them by the insurer and upon their own investigations, studies and assumptions.

Ratings are based upon factors of concern to agents, policyholders and intermediaries and are not directed toward the protection of investors and are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities.

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Use of proceeds

We estimate that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $391.0 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and our estimated expenses related to this offering. We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering (1) to pay the cash consideration required to purchase the September 2015 Notes and the December 2029 Notes tendered in connection with the Exchange Offers for any and all of our outstanding September 2015 Notes and December 2029 Notes if we commence the Exchange Offers, including the payment of any applicable accrued and unpaid interest on such September 2015 Notes and December 2029 Notes, (2) to repay all amounts outstanding under our existing revolving credit facility, (3) to pay related fees and expenses and (4) for general corporate purposes.

Affiliates of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., each an underwriter, are lenders under our existing revolving credit facility and will receive a portion of the net proceeds of this offering as repayment of amounts we have borrowed from them. See "Underwriting."

The following table sets forth our estimated sources and uses of funds:

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Capitalization

The following table sets forth, as of March 31, 2013, our consolidated cash and cash equivalents and capitalization:

•

on an actual basis;

•

as adjusted to give effect to the redemption of the December 2024 Notes; and

•

as further adjusted to give effect to the sale of the notes offered hereby but not the Exchange Offers.

See "Use of proceeds." You should read this table in conjunction with "Use of proceeds," "Selected historical financial information," "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations," "Description of other indebtedness" and our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, included elsewhere in this prospectus supplement.

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Ratios of earnings to fixed charges

The following table sets forth our ratio of earnings to fixed charges for the periods indicated:

The ratio of earnings to fixed charges is calculated by dividing consolidated earnings, as defined, by fixed charges, as defined. For this purpose, "consolidated earnings" consists of consolidated income/(loss) from continuing operations before income taxes plus fixed charges, and "fixed charges" consist of interest-sensitive and index product benefits and amortization of deferred sales inducements, interest expense, both expensed and capitalized (including amortization of debt discounts and deferred loan costs), and the representative interest portion of rent expense.

The ratio of consolidated earnings to fixed charges, both excluding interest-sensitive and index product benefits and amortization of deferred sales inducements, is calculated by dividing consolidated earnings, as defined, by fixed charges, as defined. For this purpose, "consolidated earnings" consists of consolidated income/(loss) from continuing operations before income taxes plus fixed charges, excluding interest-sensitive and index product benefits (which consists of interest we credit to policyholders) and amortization of deferred sales inducements. "Fixed charges" consist of interest expense, both expensed and capitalized (including amortization of debt discounts and deferred loan costs), and the representative interest portion of rent expense. The 3.0x ratio shown for the year ended December 31, 2012 updates and supersedes the 4.1x ratio set forth for that period in Exhibit 12.1 to our 2012 Form 10-K incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement.

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Selected historical financial information

The following table sets forth our summary consolidated financial information as of and for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 and as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012. The information as of and for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 was derived from our audited annual consolidated financial statements. The information as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 was derived from our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and includes, in the opinion of management, all normal and recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly the information for such periods. The results for past periods are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for future periods. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year ending December 31, 2013. You should read the following summary consolidated financial information together with "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations" and our audited consolidated financial statements and unaudited consolidated financial statements, including the related notes, included elsewhere in this prospectus supplement.

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Management's discussion and analysis
of financial condition and results of operations

Management's discussion and analysis reviews our consolidated financial position at December 31, 2012 and 2011, our unaudited consolidated financial position at March 31, 2013, our consolidated results of operations for the three years in the period ended December 31, 2012, and our unaudited consolidated results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, and where appropriate, factors that may affect future financial performance. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our audited and unaudited consolidated financial statements, the notes thereto and selected consolidated financial data, included elsewhere in this prospectus supplement.

Our business and profitability

We are a leader in the development and sale of fixed index and fixed rate annuity products. We sell fixed index and fixed rate annuities and life insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Our business consists primarily of the sale of fixed index and fixed rate annuities, and our annuity sales for each of the year ended December 31, 2012 and the twelve months ended March 31, 2013, before coinsurance, were $3.9 billion. Our strategy is focused on growing our annuity business and earning returns by managing investment spreads and investment risk. We had an investment portfolio of $29.2 billion as of March 31, 2013. For the year ended December 31, 2012, we generated total revenues of $1,588.6 million, Operating Income of $110.2 million and net income of $57.8 million. See "—Summary consolidated financial information" for a reconciliation of Operating Income, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, to net income.

We underwrite our fixed annuity and life insurance products through our wholly-owned life insurance subsidiaries, American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company ("American Equity Life"), American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company of New York and Eagle Life Insurance Company ("Eagle Life"). We market those products through a distribution network of approximately 60 national marketing organizations and, through them, approximately 24,000 independent agents.

We specialize in the sale of individual annuities (primarily deferred annuities), and, to a lesser extent, we also sell life insurance policies. Under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), premium collections for deferred annuities are reported as deposit liabilities instead of as revenues. Similarly, cash payments to policyholders are reported as decreases in the liabilities for policyholder account balances and not as expenses.

Sources of revenues and components of expenses

Our sources of revenues for products accounted for as deposit liabilities are net investment income, surrender and other charges deducted from the account balances of policyholders, net realized gains (losses) on investments and changes in fair value of derivatives. Components of expenses for products accounted for as deposit liabilities are interest-sensitive and index product benefits (primarily interest credited to account balances), changes in fair value of embedded derivatives, amortization of deferred sales inducements and deferred policy acquisition costs, other operating costs and expenses and income taxes.

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Business drivers

Our business model contemplates continued growth in invested assets and Operating Income while maintaining a high quality investment portfolio that will not experience significant losses from impairments of invested assets. Growth in invested assets is predicated on a continuation of our high sales achievements of the last four years while at the same time maintaining a high level of retention of the funds received. The economic and personal investing environments continue to be conducive for high sales levels as retirees and others look to put their money in instruments that will protect their principal and provide them with consistent cash flow sources in their retirement years. We are committed to maintaining a high quality investment portfolio with limited exposure to below investment grade securities and other riskier assets.

Our profitability depends in large part upon the amount of assets under our management, investment spreads we earn on our policyholder account balances, our ability to manage our investment portfolio to maximize returns and minimize risks such as interest rate changes and defaults or impairment of investments, our ability to manage interest rates credited to policyholders and costs of the options purchased to fund the annual index credits on our fixed index annuities, our ability to manage the costs of acquiring new business (principally commissions to agents and bonuses credited to policyholders) and our ability to manage our operating expenses.

Managing our investment spread

Earnings from products accounted for as deposit liabilities are primarily generated from the excess of net investment income earned over the interest credited or the cost of providing index credits to the policyholder, or the "investment spread." Our investment spread is summarized as follows:

Our investment spread in 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 has been impacted by shortfalls in investment income from excess liquidity resulting from a lag in the reinvestment of proceeds of government agency bonds called for redemption. The callable government agency securities have been a cornerstone of our investment portfolio since our formation. Through the years they have provided very acceptable yields that met our spread requirements without any risk-based capital charges. We have been through several cycles of calls on these securities and each time we have reinvested a portion of the call redemption proceeds into new callable government agency securities. This kept cash balances low but perpetuated the call risk. However, in the current interest rate environment, we have been reluctant to reinvest the call

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redemption proceeds in government agency securities and only purchased $948.9 million in 2012 compared to $4.3 billion in calls. Consequently, we have been managing excess cash and other short-term investments throughout 2012 and into the first quarter of 2013. We ended the first quarter of 2013 with $1.3 billion in excess cash and other short-term investments compared to $2.2 billion at the end of 2012. Our progress in reducing the excess cash and other short-term investments is likely to be interrupted in the second quarter of 2013 as we had $678 million in government agency securities called in April. While high levels of excess cash and other short-term investments may persist for several more quarters, the average quarterly balances should decline in second half of 2013 due to reinvestment of year end cash and other short-term investments into longer term securities. Subsequent to the April calls, there is no exposure to callable securities for the remainder of 2013. See "—Results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012—Net investment income" and "—Results of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2012—Net investment income" for additional information regarding our excess liquidity.

The cost of money for fixed index annuities and average crediting rates for fixed rate annuities are computed based upon policyholder account balances and do not include the impact of amortization of deferred sales inducements. See "—Critical accounting policies—Deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements." With respect to our fixed index annuities, the cost of money includes the average crediting rate on amounts allocated to the fixed rate strategy, expenses we incur to fund the annual index credits and, where applicable, minimum guaranteed interest credited. Proceeds received upon expiration or early termination of call options purchased to fund annual index credits are recorded as part of the change in fair value of derivatives, and are largely offset by an expense for interest credited to annuity policyholder account balances. See "—Critical accounting policies—Policy liabilities for fixed index annuities" and "—Financial condition—Derivative instruments."

In response to the continuing low interest rate environment, we implemented reductions of policyholder crediting rates for new annuities and existing annuities in the fourth quarter of 2011. Rates on new sales were reduced 0.40% - 0.50% beginning with applications received after October 7, 2011. Renewal rate adjustments began taking effect on November 15, 2011 and continued to take effect on the policy anniversary dates over the twelve months following that date. Rates on new sales were again reduced by approximately 0.25% beginning with applications received after December 5, 2012. As of March 31, 2013, our base rates for new sales ranged from 1.10% to 1.25%, and our base rates for renewals ranged from 1.60% to 3.15%, subject to minimum guaranteed rates. Our 2013 and 2012 spread results reflect the benefit from these reductions; however, the reductions in cost of money were partially offset by continued lower yields available on investments including reinvestment of proceeds from calls of the callable bonds in our investment portfolio. We expect this low interest rate environment to extend at least through 2014 as the United States Federal Reserve has publicly stated their current policy of maintaining downward pressure on longer-term interest rates to support mortgage markets and help make broader financial conditions more accommodative.

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Results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012

Annuity deposits by product type collected during the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, were as follows:

Annuity deposits before coinsurance ceded decreased 5% during the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. We attribute this in part to the low interest rate environment which appears to have made prospective policyholders less willing to commit funds to fixed index annuities. We attribute the continuing significant sales of our products to factors including the highly competitive rates of our products, our continued strong relationships with our national marketing organizations and field force of licensed, independent insurance agents, the increased attractiveness of safe money products in volatile markets, lower interest rates on competing products, such as bank certificates of deposit, and product enhancements, including a new generation of guaranteed income withdrawal benefit riders. The extent to which this trend will be sustained in future periods is uncertain.

Net income, in general, has been positively impacted by the growth in the volume of business in force and the investment spread earned on this business. The average amount of annuity liabilities outstanding (net of annuity liabilities ceded under coinsurance agreements) increased 13% to $28.1 billion during first quarter of 2013 compared to $24.8 billion for the same period in 2012. Our investment spread measured in dollars was $161.1 million during first quarter of 2013 compared to $154.9 million during the same period in 2012. As previously mentioned, our investment spread has been negatively impacted by both the extended low interest rate environment and our excess liquidity due to calls of our United States government agency securities (see "—Net investment income" below).

Operating Income, a non-GAAP financial measure (see reconciliation to net income in "Summary—Summary consolidated financial data"), increased 12% to $33.5 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $29.8 million for the same period in 2012.

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In addition to net income, we have consistently utilized Operating Income, a non-GAAP financial measure commonly used in the life insurance industry, as an economic measure to evaluate our financial performance. Operating Income equals net income adjusted to eliminate the impact of net realized gains (losses) on investments including net other than temporary impairment ("OTTI") losses recognized in operations and fair value changes in derivatives and embedded derivatives. Because these items fluctuate from year to year in a manner unrelated to core operations, we believe measures excluding their impact are useful in analyzing operating trends. We believe the combined presentation and evaluation of Operating Income together with net income provides information that may enhance an investor's understanding of our underlying results and profitability.

Operating Income is not a substitute for net income determined in accordance with GAAP. The adjustments made to derive Operating Income are important to understanding our overall results from operations and, if evaluated without proper context, Operating Income possesses material limitations. As an example, we could produce a low level of net income in a given period, despite strong operating performance, if in that period we experience significant net realized losses from our investment portfolio. We could also produce a high level of net income in a given period, despite poor operating performance, if in that period we generate significant net realized gains from our investment portfolio. As an example of another limitation of Operating Income, it does not include the decrease in cash flows expected to be collected as a result of credit loss from OTTI. Therefore, our management and board of directors also separately review net realized investment gains (losses) and analyses of our net investment income, including impacts related to OTTI write-downs, in connection with their review of our investment portfolio. In addition, our management and board of directors examine net income as part of their review of our overall financial results.

The adjustments made to net income to arrive at Operating Income for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 are set forth in the table that follows:

Net realized gains/losses on investments and net impairment losses recognized in operations fluctuate from period to period based upon changes in the interest rate and economic environment and the timing of the sale of investments or the recognition of other than temporary impairments. The amounts disclosed in the reconciliation above are net of related adjustments in amortization of deferred sales inducements and deferred policy acquisition costs and income taxes.

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Amounts attributable to the fair value accounting for fixed index annuity derivatives and embedded derivatives fluctuate from year to year based upon changes in the fair values of call options purchased to fund the annual index credits for fixed index annuities and changes in the interest rates used to discount the embedded derivative liability. The amounts disclosed in the reconciliation above are net of related adjustments to amortization of deferred sales inducements and deferred policy acquisition costs and income taxes. The significant changes in the impact from the item disclosed in the reconciliation above relate primarily to changes in the interest rates used to discount the embedded derivative liabilities.

Revenues

Annuity product charges (surrender charges assessed against policy withdrawals and fees deducted from policyholder account balances for lifetime income benefit riders) increased 11% to $21.5 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $19.4 million for the same period in 2012. These increases were primarily attributable to increases in the amounts of fees assessed for lifetime income benefit riders, which were $10.0 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $7.7 million for the same period in 2012. The increases in these fees are attributable to a larger volume of business in force subject to the fees. The weighted average per policy fees assessed for lifetime income benefit riders was 0.53% and 0.51% for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Fund values on policies with lifetime income benefit riders being assessed these fees increased from $1.5 billion during the three months ended March 31, 2012 to $1.9 billion during the three months ended March 31, 2013. See "—Interest sensitive and index product benefits" below for the corresponding expense recognized on lifetime income benefit riders. Surrender charges decreased by $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. This decrease was primarily attributable to reductions in withdrawals subject to a surrender charge. Withdrawals from annuity and single premium universal life policies subject to surrender charges were $78.0 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $89.8 million for the same period in 2012. The lower amount of withdrawals was influenced by the continuing low interest rate environment. The average surrender charge collected on withdrawals subject to a surrender charge was 14.5% in the first quarter of 2013 compared to 12.9% for the same period in 2012.

Net investment income increased 1% to $329.7 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $326.9 million for the same period in 2012. This increase was principally attributable to the growth in our annuity business and a corresponding increase in our invested assets. Average invested assets excluding derivative instruments (on an amortized cost basis) increased 13% to $26.4 billion for the first quarter of 2013 compared to $23.4 billion for the same period in 2012. The average yield earned on average invested assets was 5.01% for the first quarter of 2013 compared to 5.61% for the same period in 2012.

The decrease in yield earned on average invested assets was attributable to lower yields on investments purchased in 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. In addition, net investment income and average yield were negatively impacted by a lag in reinvestment of proceeds from bonds called for redemption during the periods into new assets causing excess liquidity held in low yielding cash and other short-term investments. The average balance held in cash and short-term investments was $1.8 billion and $0.8 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The average yield on our cash and short-term investments during the first quarter of 2013 and 2012 was 0.33% and 0.11%, respectively. Additionally, net investment income and average yield were positively impacted by prepayment and fee income

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received, resulting in additional net investment income of $5.0 million and $3.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Change in fair value of derivatives (principally call options purchased to fund annual index credits on fixed index annuities) is affected by the performance of the indices upon which our options are based and the aggregate cost of options purchased. The components of change in fair value of derivatives are as follows:

The differences between the change in fair value of derivatives between periods for call options are primarily due to the performance of the indices upon which our call options are based. A substantial portion of our call options are based upon the S&P 500 Index with the remainder based upon other equity and bond market indices. The range of index appreciation (after applicable caps, participation rates and asset fees) for options expiring during the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 is as follows:

The change in fair value of derivatives is also influenced by the aggregate costs of options purchased. The aggregate cost of options has increased primarily due to an increased amount of fixed index annuities in force. The aggregate cost of options is also influenced by the amount of policyholder funds allocated to the various indices and market volatility which affects option pricing. See "—Critical accounting policies—Policy liabilities for fixed index annuities."

Concurrently with the issuance of our 3.5% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2015 (the "2015 notes"), we entered into hedge transactions (the "2015 notes hedges") to provide the cash needed to meet our cash obligations in excess of the principal amount of the 2015 notes upon conversion of the 2015 notes. The fair value of the 2015 notes hedges changes based upon

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changes in the price of our common stock, interest rates, stock price volatility, dividend yield and the time to expiration of the 2015 notes hedges. Similarly, the fair value of the conversion option obligation to the holders of the 2015 notes changes based upon these same factors and the conversion option obligation is accounted for as an embedded derivative liability with changes in fair value reported in "—Change in fair value of embedded derivatives." The amount for the change in fair value of the 2015 notes hedges equals the amount of the change in the related embedded derivative liabilities, and there is an offsetting expense in the change in fair value of embedded derivatives. See Note 9 to our audited consolidated financial statements for a discussion of the 2015 notes hedges.

Net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding OTTI losses include gains and losses on the sale of securities and impairment losses on mortgage loans on real estate, which fluctuate from year to year due to changes in the interest rate and economic environment and the timing of the sale of investments, as well as gains (losses) recognized on real estate owned due to any sales and impairments on long-lived assets. The components of net realized gains (losses) on investments are set forth in the table that follows:

See "—Financial condition—Investments—Mortgage loans on real estate" for additional discussion of allowance for credit losses on mortgage loans on real estate.

Net OTTI losses recognized in operations increased to $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $2.9 million for the same period in 2012. See "Financial Condition—Investments" and Note 3 to our unaudited financial statements, included elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, for additional discussion of write-downs of securities for other than temporary impairments.

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Benefits and expenses

Interest sensitive and index product benefits increased to $225.8 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $139.1 million for the same period in 2012. The components of interest credited to account balances are summarized as follows:

The amount of index credits were attributable to changes in the appreciation of the underlying indices (see discussion above under "—Change in fair value of derivatives") and the amount of funds allocated by policyholders to the respective index options. Total proceeds received upon expiration of the call options purchased to fund the annual index credits was $135.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013, compared to $50.9 million for the same period in 2012. The decrease in interest credited was due to a decrease in the average rate credited to the amount of annuity liabilities outstanding receiving a fixed rate of interest. The average amount of annuity liabilities outstanding (net of annuity liabilities ceded under coinsurance agreements) increased 13% to $28.1 billion in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $24.8 billion during the same period in 2012. The increases in benefits recognized for living income benefit riders were due to increases in the number of policies with lifetime income benefit riders and correlate to the increase in fees discussed in "—Annuity product charges."

Amortization of deferred sales inducements increased 73% to $28.8 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $16.7 million for the same period in 2012. In general, amortization of deferred sales inducements has been increasing each period due to the growth in our annuity business and the deferral of sales inducements incurred with respect to sales of premium bonus annuity products. The initial annuity deposit on these products is increased at issuance by a specified premium bonus ranging from 3% to 10%. Bonus products represented 97% of our net annuity deposits during the three months ended March 31, 2013, compared to 96% during the same period in 2012. The anticipated increase in amortization from these factors has been affected by amortization associated with fair value accounting for derivatives and embedded derivatives utilized in our fixed index annuity business, amortization associated with net realized gains (losses) on investments and net OTTI losses recognized in operations. Fair value accounting for derivatives and embedded derivatives utilized in our fixed index annuity business creates differences in the recognition of revenues and expenses from derivative instruments, including the embedded derivative liabilities in our fixed index annuity contracts. The change in fair value of the embedded derivatives does not correspond to the change in fair value of the derivatives (purchased call options) because the purchased call options are one-year options while the options valued in the fair value of embedded derivatives cover the

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expected lives of the contracts, which typically exceeds ten years. Amortization of deferred sales inducements is summarized as follows:

Change in fair value of embedded derivatives primarily relates to fixed index annuity embedded derivatives and resulted from (i) changes in the expected index credits on the next policy anniversary dates, which are related to the change in fair value of the call options acquired to fund these index credits discussed above in "—Change in fair value of derivatives"; (ii) changes in discount rates used in estimating our liability for policy growth; and (iii) the growth in the host component of the policy liability. See "—Critical accounting policies—Policy liabilities for fixed index annuities." The primary reasons for the decrease in the change in fair value of the fixed index annuity embedded derivatives during the first quarter of 2013 was an increase in the discount rate used in estimating our liability for policy growth offset by increases in the expected index credits that resulted from increases in the fair value of the call options acquired to fund these index credits. The changes for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 also include increases of $28.1 million and $16.8 million, respectively, in the fair value of the 2015 notes embedded conversion derivative. As discussed previously, these amounts were offset by comparable increases in the fair value of the 2015 notes hedges.

Interest expense on subordinated debentures decreased 16% to $3.0 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $3.6 million for the same period in 2012. The decrease is attributable to a decrease in the weighted average interest rates on outstanding subordinated debentures, which were 4.80% and 5.24% for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and due to the redemption of $22 million principal amount of our 8% Convertible Junior Subordinated Debentures in July 2012. The weighted average interest rate fluctuates from period to period because $169.6 million principal amount of the subordinated debentures has floating rates of interest based upon the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate plus an applicable margin. See "—Financial condition—Liabilities."

Amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs increased 35% to $46.2 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $34.3 million for the same period in 2012. In general, amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs has been increasing each period due to the growth in our annuity business and the deferral of policy acquisition costs incurred with respect to sales of annuity products. The anticipated increase in amortization from these factors has been affected by amortization associated with fair value accounting for derivatives and embedded derivatives utilized in our fixed index annuity business, amortization associated

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with net realized losses on investments and net OTTI losses recognized in operations. As discussed above, fair value accounting for derivatives and embedded derivatives utilized in our fixed index annuity business creates differences in the recognition of revenues and expenses from derivative instruments including the embedded derivative liabilities in our fixed index annuity contracts.

Amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs is summarized as follows:

Other operating costs and expenses decreased 10% to $19.5 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $21.7 million for the same period in 2012. The decrease was primarily due to decreases of $1.5 million in various state taxes, assessments and fees that vary period to period based in part on the amount of annuity deposits we collect and the amount and timing of assessments and fees we are charged by states in which we do business.

Income tax expense increased to $13.5 million in the first quarter of 2013 compared to $5.7 million for the same period in 2012. The change in income tax expense was primarily due to changes in income before income taxes. Income tax expense and the resulting effective tax rate are based upon two components of income before income taxes ("pretax income") that are taxed at different tax rates. Life insurance income is generally taxed at an effective rate of approximately 35.6% reflecting the absence of state income taxes for substantially all of the states that the life insurance subsidiaries do business in. The income for the parent company and other non-life insurance subsidiaries is generally taxed at an effective tax rate of 41.5% reflecting the combined federal / state income tax rates. The effective tax rates resulting from the combination of the income tax provisions for the life / non-life sources of income (loss) vary from period to period based primarily on the relative size of pretax income (loss) from the two sources. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 was 34.1% and 35.1%, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate in 2013 is due to sources of net investment income that are exempt from Federal income tax.

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Results of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2012

Annuity deposits by product type collected during 2012, 2011 and 2010, were as follows:

Annuity deposits before coinsurance ceded decreased 22% during 2012 compared to 2011 and increased 9% during 2011 compared to 2010. We attribute the relatively slower sales in part to the low interest rate environment which appears to have made prospective policyholders less willing to commit funds to fixed index annuities. We also attribute the 2012 decrease in annuity deposits to certain competitors who were more aggressive in their product pricing in the first half of 2012. The extent to which this will continue to affect our annuity deposits is uncertain. In addition, sales for 2011 benefited from higher demand in advance of a rate decrease implemented during that period. We attribute the continuing significant sales of our products to factors including the highly competitive rates of our products, our continued strong relationships with our national marketing organizations and field force of licensed, independent insurance agents, the increased attractiveness of safe money products in volatile markets, lower interest rates on competing products such as bank certificates of deposit and product enhancements including a new generation of guaranteed income withdrawal benefit riders. The extent to which this trend will be sustained in future periods is uncertain.

We entered into a $50 million "financing" reinsurance transaction in the first quarter of 2011 to help support sales growth in 2011 that provided an initial after tax statutory surplus benefit of $31.8 million. We believe our existing statutory capital and surplus and the statutory surplus we expect to generate internally through statutory earnings will support a higher level of new business growth than in previous years. However, while we have the capital resources to accept more business than was sold in 2012 and 2011, our capacity is not unlimited and sales growth must be matched with available resources to maintain desired financial strength ratings from credit rating agencies and in particular, A.M. Best Company. Should sales growth accelerate to levels that cannot be supported by internal capital generation, we would intend to obtain capital from external sources to facilitate such growth.

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Net income, in general, has been positively impacted by the growth in the volume of business in force and the investment spread earned on this business. The average amount of annuity liabilities outstanding (net of annuity liabilities ceded under coinsurance agreements) increased 16% to $26.0 billion for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to $22.4 billion in 2011 and 24% for the year ended December 31, 2011 compared to $18.1 billion in 2010. Our investment spread measured in dollars was $596.7 million, $585.9 million and $502.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010. As previously mentioned, our investment spread in 2012 has been negatively impacted by both the extended low interest rate environment and our excess liquidity due to calls of our United States government agency securities (see "—Net investment income").

Net income was negatively affected by the prospective adoption on January 1, 2012, of an accounting standards update that defines the types of costs that are deferrable with policy acquisition. This resulted in $9.1 million of costs that were expensed as incurred during the year ended December 31, 2012, which under the accounting method in effect for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 would have been capitalized as deferred policy acquisition costs and amortized in future periods. This change in accounting, including the impact on related amortization expense, resulted in a $5.8 million decrease in net income for the year ended December 31, 2012.

We periodically revise the key assumptions used in the calculation of amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements retrospectively through an unlocking process when estimates of current or future gross profits/margins (including the impact of realized investment gains and losses) to be realized from a group of products are revised. The impact of unlocking on our results of operations, including the impact of account balance true ups and adjustments to future period assumptions for interest margins and surrenders, was as follows:

Net income for 2012 was positively impacted by a revision of assumptions used in determining liabilities for living income benefit riders. This revision was consistent with unlocking for deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements. The impact decreased interest sensitive and index product benefits by $2.2 million and increased net income by $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2012.

In 2012, based upon developments in mediation discussions concerning potential settlement terms of a purported class action lawsuit, we established an estimated litigation liability of $17.5 million ($9.6 million after offsets for income taxes and adjustments to deferred policy acquisition costs and deferred sales inducements). See "Business—Legal proceedings." In 2010, we recognized the cost to settle a class action lawsuit which included a settlement benefit to

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policyholders and attorneys' fees and expenses that aggregated $48 million. This decreased net income for the year ended December 31, 2010 by $27.3 million.

During 2011, we discovered a prior period error related to policy benefit reserves for our single premium immediate annuity products. We evaluated the materiality of the error from qualitative and quantitative perspectives and concluded it was not material to any prior periods. The correction of the error in 2011 is not material to the results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2011. Accordingly, we made an adjustment in the first quarter of 2011 which resulted in a decrease of policy benefit reserves and a decrease in interest sensitive and index product benefits of $4.2 million. On an after-tax basis, the adjustment resulted in a $2.7 million increase in net income for the year December 31, 2011.

Operating Income, a non-GAAP financial measure (see reconciliation to net income in "Summary—Summary consolidated financial data") decreased 18% to $110.2 million in 2012 and increased 23% to $133.7 million in 2011 from $108.9 million in 2010.

The adjustments made to net income to arrive at Operating Income for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 are set forth in the table that follows:

Net realized gains (losses) on investments and net impairment losses recognized in operations fluctuate from year to year based upon changes in the interest rate and economic environment and the timing of the sale of investments or the recognition of other than temporary impairments. The amounts disclosed in the reconciliation above are net of related reductions in amortization of deferred sales inducements and deferred policy acquisition costs and income taxes.

Amounts attributable to the fair value accounting for fixed index annuity derivatives and embedded derivatives fluctuate from year to year based upon changes in the fair values of call options purchased to fund the annual index credits for fixed index annuities and changes in the interest rates used to discount the embedded derivative liability. The amounts disclosed in the reconciliation above are net of related adjustments to amortization of deferred sales inducements and deferred policy acquisition costs and income taxes. The significant changes in the impact from the item disclosed in the reconciliation above relate primarily to changes in the interest rates used to discount the embedded derivative liabilities.

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The impact of unlocking on Operating Income, including the impact of account balance true ups and adjustments to future period assumptions for interest margins and surrenders, was as follows:

The revision of assumptions in 2012 used in determining liabilities for living income benefit riders had the same effect on Operating Income as it had on net income as discussed under "—Net income" above.

Revenues

Annuity product charges (surrender charges assessed against policy withdrawals and fees deducted from policyholder account balances for living income benefit riders) increased 17% to $89.0 million in 2012 and 10% to $76.2 million in 2011 from $69.1 million in 2010. These increases were primarily attributable to increases in the amount of fees assessed for lifetime income benefit riders which were $43.8 million, $26.2 million and $13.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The increases in these fees are attributable to a larger volume of business in force subject to the fee. The weighted average per policy fees assessed for lifetime income benefit riders were 0.54%, 0.47% and 0.45% during 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Fund values on policies with lifetime income benefit riders being assessed these fees grew from $3.0 billion in December 31, 2010 to $5.6 billion in December 31, 2011 and to $8.1 billion in December 31, 2012. See "—Interest sensitive and index product benefits" below for corresponding expense recognized on lifetime income benefit riders. Surrender charges decreased by $4.6 million and $5.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. These decreases was primarily attributable to reductions in withdrawals subject to a surrender charge. Withdrawals from annuity and single premium universal life policies subject to surrender charges were $335.6 million, $378.9 million and $418.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The average surrender charge collected on withdrawals subject to a surrender charge was 13.4%, 13.1% and 13.2% for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Withdrawals have decreased in 2012 and 2011 due to the low interest rate environment which has made new annuity policies or other retirement savings products less attractive.

Net investment income increased 6% to $1,286.9 million in 2012 and 18% to $1,218.8 million in 2011 from $1,036.1 million in 2010. The increases were principally attributable to the growth in our annuity business and corresponding increases in our invested assets. Average invested assets excluding derivative instruments (on an amortized cost basis) increased 16% to $24.4 billion in 2012 and 23% to $21.0 billion in 2011 compared to $17.1 billion in 2010. The average yield earned on average invested assets was 5.28%, 5.80% and 6.06% for 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

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The decrease in yield earned on average invested assets in 2012 and 2011 was attributable to lower yields on investments purchased in those periods. In addition, net investment income and average yield were negatively impacted by a lag in reinvestment of proceeds from bonds called for redemption during 2012, 2011 and 2010 into new assets causing excess liquidity held in low yielding cash and other short-term investments. The average cash and other short-term investments held was $1.7 billion, $387.0 million and $428.8 million in 2012, 2011 and 2010. The average yield on our cash and short-term investments in 2012 was 0.25%. Additionally, net investment income and average yield was positively impacted by prepayment and fee income received, resulting in additional net investment income in 2012 and 2010 of $14.8 million and $7.4 million, respectively. There was no prepayment and fee income impact for 2011.

Change in fair value of derivatives (principally call options purchased to fund annual index credits on fixed index annuities) is affected by the performance of the indices upon which our options are based and the aggregate cost of options purchased. The components of change in fair value of derivatives are as follows:

The differences between the change in fair value of derivatives between years for call options are primarily due to the performance of the indices upon which our call options are based. A substantial portion of our call options are based upon the S&P 500 Index with the remainder based upon other equity and bond market indices. The range of index appreciation (after applicable caps, participation rates and asset fees) for options expiring during these years is as follows:

Actual amounts credited to policyholder account balances may be less than the index appreciation due to contractual features in the fixed index annuity policies (caps, participation rates, and asset fees) which allow us to manage the cost of the options purchased to fund the annual index credits. The change in fair value of derivatives is also influenced by the aggregate costs of options purchased. The aggregate cost of options has increased primarily due to an

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increased amount of fixed index annuities in force. The aggregate cost of options is also influenced by the amount of policyholder funds allocated to the various indices and market volatility which affects option pricing. Costs for options purchased during the year ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 decreased compared to prior years due to lower volatility in equity markets and adjustments to caps, participation rates and asset fees.

Concurrently with the issuance of the 2015 notes, we entered into the 2015 notes hedges to provide the cash needed to meet our cash obligations in excess of the principal amount of the 2015 notes upon conversion of the 2015 notes. The amount for the change in fair value of the 2015 notes hedges equals the amount for the change in the related embedded derivative liabilities and there is an offsetting expense in the change in fair value of embedded derivatives.

Net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding OTTI losses include gains and losses on the sale of securities and impairment losses on mortgage loans on real estate, which fluctuate from year to year due to changes in the interest rate and economic environment and the timing of the sale of investments, as well as gains (losses) recognized on real estate owned due to any sales and impairments on long-lived assets. The components of net realized gains (losses) on investments are set forth in the table that follows: