Other Investors in the Funds

Shares of Fidelity ^® Variable Insurance Products, AIM Variable Insurance Funds (Invesco Variable Insurance Funds), the MFS ^® Variable Insurance Trust ^SM , Oppenheimer Variable Account Funds, Lord Abbett Series Fund, Inc., the Universal Institutional Funds, Inc., Franklin Templeton Variable Insurance Products Trust, Royce Capital Fund, Legg Mason Partners Variable Equity Trust, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust and Goldman Sachs Variable Insurance Trust, are sold to separate accounts of insurance companies, which may or may not be affiliated with Protective Life or each other, a practice known as "shared funding." They may also be sold to separate accounts to serve as the underlying investment for both variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies, a practice known as "mixed funding." As a result, there is a possibility that a material conflict may arise between the interests of Owners of Protective Life's Contracts, whose Contract Values are allocated to the Variable Account, and of owners of other contracts whose contract values are allocated to one or more other separate accounts investing in any one of the Funds. Shares of some of these Funds may also be sold to certain qualified pension and retirement plans. As a result, there is a possibility that a material conflict may arise between the interests of Contract Owners generally or certain classes of Contract Owners, and such retirement plans or participants in such retirement plans. In the event of any such material conflicts, Protective Life will consider what action may be

27

appropriate, including removing the Fund from the Variable Account or replacing the Fund with another fund. The boards of directors (or trustees) of Fidelity ^® Variable Insurance Products, AIM Variable Insurance Funds (Invesco Variable Insurance Funds), the MFS ^® Variable Insurance Trust ^SM , Oppenheimer Variable Account Funds, Lord Abbett Series Fund, Inc., the Universal Institutional Funds, Inc., Franklin Templeton Variable Insurance Products Trust, Royce Capital Fund, Legg Mason Partners Variable Equity Trust, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust and Goldman Sachs Variable Insurance Trust, monitor events related to their Funds to identify possible material irreconcilable conflicts among and between the interests of the Fund's various investors. There are certain risks associated with mixed and shared funding and with the sale of shares to qualified pension and retirement plans, as disclosed in each Fund's prospectus.

Addition, Deletion or Substitution of Investments

Protective Life reserves the right, subject to applicable law, to make additions to, deletions from, or substitutions for the shares that are held in the Variable Account or that the Variable Account may purchase. If the shares of a Fund are no longer available for investment or if in Protective Life's judgment further investment in any Fund should become inappropriate in view of the purposes of the Variable Account, Protective Life may redeem the shares, if any, of that Fund and substitute shares of another registered open-end management company or unit investment trust. The new funds may have higher fees and charges than the ones they replaced. Protective Life will not substitute any shares attributable to a Contract's interest in the Variable Account without notice and any necessary approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission and state insurance authorities.

Protective Life also reserves the right to establish additional Sub-Accounts of the Variable Account, each of which would invest in shares of a new Fund. Subject to applicable law and any required SEC approval, Protective Life may, in its sole discretion, establish new Sub-Accounts or eliminate one or more Sub-Accounts if marketing needs, tax considerations or investment conditions warrant. We may make any new Sub-Accounts available to existing Owner(s) on a basis we determine. All Sub-Accounts and Funds may not be available to all classes of contracts.

If we make any of these substitutions or changes, Protective Life may by appropriate endorsement change the Contract to reflect the substitution or other change. If Protective Life deems it to be in the best interest of Owners and Annuitants, and subject to any approvals that applicable law may require, we may operate the Variable Account as a management company under the 1940 Act, we may de-register it under that Act if registration is no longer required, or we may combine it with other Protective Life separate accounts. Protective Life reserves the right to make any changes to the Variable Account that the 1940 Act or other applicable law or regulation requires.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTRACT

The following sections describe the Contracts currently being offered.

The Contract

The ProtectiveRewards ^® Elite NY Variable Annuity Contract is a flexible premium deferred variable and fixed annuity contract issued by Protective Life. In certain states we offer the Contract as a group contract to eligible persons who have established accounts with certain broker-dealers that have entered into a distribution agreement with Protective Life to offer the Contract. In those states we may also offer the Contract to members of other eligible groups. In all other states, we offer the Contract as an individual contract. If you purchase an interest in a group Contract, you will receive a certificate evidencing your ownership interest in the group Contract. Otherwise, you will receive an individual Contract. If you are issued a certificate, you also will receive a copy of the Contract, and you will be entitled to exercise all rights and privileges provided under the Contract without the consent of the group Contract holder. See "Parties to the Contract" below.

Use of the Contract in Qualified Plans.

You may purchase the Contract on a non-qualified basis. You may also purchase it for use within certain qualified retirement plans or in connection with other employee benefit plans or arrangements that receive

28

favorable tax treatment. Such qualified plans include individual retirement accounts and individual retirement annuities (IRAs), and pension and profit sharing plans (including H.R. 10 Plans). Protective Life no longer issues Contracts under Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code ( i.e. , tax sheltered annuities or "TSAs"). In addition, Protective no longer accepts additional premiums into existing TSAs without prior approval from the Company. Many of these qualified plans, including IRAs, provide the same type of tax deferral as provided by the Contract. The Contract, however, provides a number of benefits and features not provided by such retirement plans and employee benefit plans or arrangements alone. There are costs and expenses under the Contract related to these benefits and features. You should consult a qualified tax and/or financial adviser regarding the use of the Contract within a Qualified Plan or in connection with other employee benefit plans or arrangements. You should carefully consider the benefits and features provided by the Contract in relation to their costs as they apply to your particular situation.

Parties to the Contract

Owner.

The Owner is the person or persons who own the Contract and are entitled to exercise all rights and privileges provided in the Contract. In those states where the Contract is issued as a group contract, the term "Owner" refers to the holder of the certificate evidencing an interest in the group contract. Two persons may own the Contract together. In the case of two Owners, provisions relating to action by the Owner means both Owners acting together. Protective Life may accept instructions from one Owner on behalf of both Owners. Protective Life will only issue a Contract prior to each Owner's 86 ^th birthday (76 ^th birthday if the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit was selected). Individuals as well as nonnatural persons, such as corporations or trusts, may be Owners. In the case of Owner's who are nonnatural persons, age restrictions do not apply to the Owner.

The Owner of this Contract may be changed by Written Notice provided:

(1)  each new Owner's 86 ^th birthday (76 ^th birthday if Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit was selected) is after the Effective Date; and

(2)  each new Owner's 95 ^th birthday is on or after the Annuity Commencement Date.

For a period of 1 year after any change of ownership involving a natural person, the death benefit will equal the Contract Value. Naming a nonnatural person as an Owner or changing the Owner may result in a tax liability. (See "Taxation of Annuities in General.") If you select the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider, changing and/or adding Owners may result in termination of the rider. (See "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits)

Beneficiary.

The Beneficiary is the person or persons who may receive the benefits of this Contract upon the death of any Owner.

Primary — The Primary Beneficiary is the surviving Owner, if any. If there is no surviving Owner, the Primary Beneficiary is the person or persons designated by the Owner and named in our records.

Contingent — The Contingent Beneficiary is the person or persons designated by the Owner and named in our records to be Beneficiary if the Primary Beneficiary is not living at the time of the Owner's death.

If no Beneficiary designation is in effect or if no Beneficiary is living at the time of an Owner's death, the Beneficiary will be the estate of the deceased Owner. If any Owner dies on or after the Annuity Commencement Date, the Beneficiary will become the new Owner.

Unless designated irrevocably, the Owner may change the Beneficiary by Written Notice prior to the death of any Owner. An irrevocable Beneficiary is one whose written consent is needed before the Owner can change the Beneficiary designation or exercise certain other rights. In the case of certain Qualified Contracts, Treasury Department regulations prescribe certain limitations on the designation of a Beneficiary. If you select the

29

SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider, changing and/or adding Beneficiaries may result in termination of the rider. (See "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits.")

Annuitant.

The Annuitant is the person or persons on whose life annuity income payments may be based. The first Owner shown on the application for the Contract is the Annuitant unless the Owner designates another person as the Annuitant. The Contract must be issued prior to the Annuitant's 86 ^th birthday (76 ^th birthday if the Maximum Anniversary Value death benefit is selected. If the Annuitant is not an Owner and dies prior to the Annuity Commencement Date, the Owner will become the new Annuitant unless the Owner designates otherwise. However, if the Owner is a nonnatural person, the death of the Annuitant will be treated as the death of the Owner.

The Owner may change the Annuitant by Written Notice prior to the Annuity Commencement Date. However, if any Owner is not an individual the Annuitant may not be changed. The new Annuitant's 95 ^th birthday must be on or after the Annuity Commencement Date in effect when the change of Annuitant is requested. If you select the Protective Income Manager rider, changing the Annuitant will result in termination of the rider. (See "Protective Income Manager With RightTime ^® Option.")

Payee.

The Payee is the person or persons designated by the Owner to receive the annuity income payments under the Contract. The Annuitant is the Payee unless the Owner designates another party as the Payee. The Owner may change the Payee at any time.

Issuance of a Contract

To purchase a Contract, you must submit certain application information and an initial Purchase Payment to Protective Life through a licensed representative of Protective Life. Any such licensed representative must also be a registered representative of a broker/dealer having a distribution agreement with Investment Distributors, Inc. Protective Life reserves the right to accept or decline a request to issue a Contract. Contracts may be sold to or in connection with retirement plans which do not qualify for special tax treatment as well as retirement plans that qualify for special tax treatment under the Code.

If the necessary application information for a Contract accompanies the initial Purchase Payment, we will allocate the initial Purchase Payment (less any applicable premium tax) to the Allocation Options as you direct on the appropriate form within two business days of receiving such Purchase Payment at the administrative office. If we do not receive the necessary application information, Protective Life will retain the Purchase Payment for up to five business days while it attempts to complete the information. If the necessary application information is not complete after five business days, Protective Life will inform the applicant of the reason for the delay and return the initial Purchase Payment immediately unless the applicant specifically consents to Protective Life retaining it until the information is complete. Once the information is complete, we will allocate the initial Purchase Payment to the appropriate Allocation Options within two business days. You may transmit information necessary to complete an application to Protective Life by telephone, facsimile, or electronic media.

Purchase Payments

We will only accept Purchase Payments before the earlier of the oldest Owner's and Annuitant's 86 ^th birthday. No Purchase Payment will be accepted within 3 years of the Annuity Commencement Date then in effect. If you select the SecurePay rider, you cannot make any Purchase Payments on or after the Benefit Election Date. (See "SecurePay With RightTime ^® Option.") The minimum initial Purchase Payment is $25,000. The minimum subsequent Purchase Payment is $100 or $50 if made by electronic funds transfer. We reserve the right not to accept any Purchase Payment. Under certain circumstances, we may be required by law to reject a Purchase Payment.

Purchase Payments are payable at our administrative office. You may make them by check payable to Protective Life and Annuity Insurance Company or by any other method we deem acceptable. We will process

30

Purchase Payments as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive them at our administrative office. Valuation Periods end at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange, which is generally at 3:00 p.m. Central Time. We will process any Purchase Payment received at our administrative office after the end of the Valuation Period on the next Valuation Day. Protective Life retains the right to limit the maximum aggregate Purchase Payment that can be made without prior administrative office approval. This amount is currently $1,000,000.

Under the current automatic purchase payment plan, you may select a monthly or quarterly payment schedule pursuant to which Purchase Payments will be automatically deducted from a bank account. We currently accept automatic Purchase Payments on the 1 ^st through the 28 ^th day of each month. Each automatic Purchase Payment must be at least $50. You may not allocate payments made through the automatic purchase payment plan to any DCA Fixed Account. You may not elect the automatic purchase payment plan and the partial automatic withdrawal plan simultaneously. (See "Surrenders and Partial Surrenders".) Upon notification of the death of any Owner the Company will terminate deductions under the automatic purchase payment plan. The automatic purchase payment plan is not available if you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider. If you select the Protective Income Manager rider under our RightTime ^® Option, any automatic purchase payment plan in effect will terminate on the Rider Effective Date. See "Protective Income Manager With RightTime ^® Option."

We do not always receive your Purchase Payment or your application on the day you send them or give them to your sales representative. In some circumstances, such as when you purchase a Contract in exchange for an existing annuity contract from another company, we may not receive your Purchase Payment from the other company for a substantial period of time after you sign the application and send it to us.

Right to Cancel

You have the right to return the Contract within a certain number of days after you receive it by returning it, along with a written cancellation request, to our administrative office or the sales representative who sold it. In the state of Connecticut, non-written requests are also accepted. The number of days, which is at least ten, is determined by state law in the state where the Contract is delivered. Return of the Contract by mail is effective on being post-marked, properly addressed and postage pre-paid. We will treat the returned Contract as if it had never been issued. Where permitted, Protective Life will refund the Contract Value plus any fees deducted from either Purchase Payments or Contract Value. This amount may be more or less than the aggregate amount of your Purchase Payments up to that time. In states requiring the return of Purchase Payments, we will refund the greater of the Contract Value or the Purchase Payment.

For individual retirement annuities and Contracts issued in states where, upon cancellation during the right-to-cancel period, we return at least your Purchase Payments, we reserve the right to allocate all or a portion of your initial Purchase Payment (and any subsequent Purchase Payment made during the right-to-cancel period) that you allocated to the Sub-Accounts to the Oppenheimer Money Fund Sub-Account until the expiration of the right-to-cancel period. Thereafter, we will allocate all Purchase Payments according to your allocation instructions then in effect.

Allocation of Purchase Payments

Owners must indicate in the application how their initial and subsequent Purchase Payments are to be allocated among the Allocation Options. If your allocation instructions are indicated by percentages, whole percentages must be used.

Owners may change allocation instructions by Written Notice at any time. Owners may also change instructions by telephone, facsimile, automated telephone system or via the Internet at www.protective.com ("non-written instructions"). For non-written instructions regarding allocations, we may require a form of personal identification prior to acting on instructions and we will record any telephone voice instructions. If we follow these procedures, we will not be liable for any losses due to unauthorized or fraudulent instructions. We reserve the right to limit or eliminate any of these non-written communication methods for any Contract or class of Contracts at any time for any reason.

31

If you select the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider, your options for allocating Purchase Payments will be restricted. You must allocate your Purchase Payments (and Contract Value) in accordance with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions. (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits").

Variable Account Value

Sub-Account Value.

A Contract's Variable Account value at any time is the sum of the Sub-Account values and therefore reflects the investment experience of the Sub-Accounts to which it is allocated. There is no guaranteed minimum Variable Account value. The Sub-Account value for any Sub-Account as of the Effective Date is equal to the amount of the initial Purchase Payment allocated to that Sub-Account. On subsequent Valuation Days prior to the Annuity Commencement Date, the Sub-Account value is equal to that part of any Purchase Payment allocated to the Sub-Account and any Contract Value transferred to the Sub-Account, adjusted by income, dividends, net capital gains or losses (realized or unrealized), decreased by partial surrenders (including any applicable surrender charges and premium tax), Contract Value transferred out of the Sub-Account and fees deducted from the Sub-Account.

The Sub-Account value for a Contract may be determined on any day by multiplying the number of Accumulation Units attributable to the Contract in that Sub-Account by the Accumulation Unit value for the Accumulation Units in that Sub-Account on that day.

Determination of Accumulation Units.

Purchase Payments allocated and Contract Value transferred to a Sub-Account are converted into Accumulation Units. An Accumulation Unit is a unit of measure used to calculate the value of a Sub-Account prior to the Annuity Commencement Date. We determine the number of Accumulation Units to be credited to a Contract by dividing the dollar amount directed to the Sub-Account by the Accumulation Unit value of the appropriate class of Accumulation Units of that Sub-Account for the Valuation Day as of which the allocation or transfer occurs. Purchase Payments allocated or amounts transferred to a Sub-Account under a Contract increase the number of Accumulation Units of that Sub-Account credited to the Contract. We execute such allocations and transfers as of the end of the Valuation Period in which we receive a Purchase Payment or Written Notice or other instruction requesting a transfer.

Certain events reduce the number of Accumulation Units of a Sub-Account credited to a Contract. The following events result in the cancellation of the appropriate number of Accumulation Units of a Sub-Account:

•  surrenders and applicable surrender charges;

•  partial surrenders and applicable surrender charges;

•  partial automatic withdrawals;

•  transfer from a Sub-Account and any applicable transfer fee;

•  payment of a death benefit claim;

•  application of the Contract Value to an Annuity Option; and

•  deduction of the monthly death benefit fee, the monthly SecurePay fee, the monthly Protective Income Manager fee, and the annual contract maintenance fee.

Accumulation Units are canceled as of the end of the Valuation Period in which we receive Written Notice of or other instructions regarding the event. Accumulation Units associated with the monthly death benefit fee, the monthly SecurePay fee, the monthly Protective Income Manager fee, and the annual contract maintenance fee are canceled without notice or instruction.

32

Determination of Accumulation Unit Value.

The Accumulation Unit value for each class of Accumulation Units in a Sub-Account at the end of every Valuation Day is the Accumulation Unit value for that class at the end of the previous Valuation Day times the net investment factor.

Net Investment Factor.

The net investment factor measures the investment performance of a Sub-Account from one Valuation Period to the next. For each Sub-Account, the net investment factor reflects the investment performance of the Fund in which the Sub-Account invests and the charges assessed against that Sub-Account for a Valuation Period. Each Sub-Account has a net investment factor for each Valuation Period which may be greater or less than one. Therefore, the value of an Accumulation Unit may increase or decrease. The net investment factor for any Sub-Account for any Valuation Period is determined by dividing (1) by (2) and subtracting (3) from the result, where:

(1)  is the result of:

a.  the net asset value per share of the Fund held in the Sub-Account, determined at the end of the current Valuation Period; plus

b.  the per share amount of any dividend or capital gain distributions made by the Funds held in the Sub-Account, if the "ex-dividend" date occurs during the current Valuation Period.

(2)  is the net asset value per share of the Fund held in the Sub-Account, determined at the end of the most recent prior Valuation Period.

(3)  is a factor representing the mortality and expense risk charge and the administration charge for the number of days in the Valuation Period and a charge or credit for any taxes attributed to the investment operations of the Sub-Account, as determined by the Company.

Transfers

Before the Annuity Commencement Date, you may instruct us to transfer Contract Value between and among the Allocation Options. When we receive your transfer instructions at our administrative office, we will allocate the Contract Value you transfer at the next price determined for the Allocation Options you indicate. Prices for the Allocation Options are determined as of the end of each Valuation Period, which is the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 3:00 p.m. Central Time). Accordingly, transfer requests received at our administrative office before the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange are processed at the price determined as of the close of regular trading on the day the requests are received; transfer requests received at our administrative office after the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange are processed at the price determined as of the close of regular trading on the next day on which the New York Stock Exchange is open for regular trading. We may defer transfer requests under the same conditions that payment of withdrawals and surrenders may be delayed. (See "Suspension or Delay in Payments.") There are limitations on transfers, which are described below.

After the Annuity Commencement Date, when Variable Income Payments are selected, transfers are allowed between Sub-Accounts, but are limited to one transfer per month. Dollar cost averaging and portfolio rebalancing are not allowed. No transfers are allowed within the Guaranteed Account or between the Guaranteed Account and any Sub-Account.

If you select the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider, your options for transferring Contract Value will be restricted. You must transfer Contract Value in accordance with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions. (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits").

33

How to Request Transfers.

Owners may request transfers by Written Notice at any time. Owners also may request transfers by telephone, facsimile, automated telephone system or via the Internet at www.protective.com ("non-written instructions"). From time to time and at our sole discretion, we may introduce additional methods for requesting transfers or discontinue any method for making non-written instructions for such transfers. We will require a form of personal identification prior to acting on non-written instructions and we will record telephone requests. We will send you a confirmation of all transfer requests communicated to us. If we follow these procedures, we will not be liable for any losses due to unauthorized or fraudulent transfer requests.

Reliability of Communications Systems.

The Internet and telephone systems may not always be available. Any computer or telephone system, whether it is yours, your service providers', your registered representative's, or ours, can experience unscheduled outages or slowdowns for a variety of reasons. Such outages or delays may delay or prevent our processing of your request. Although we have taken precautions to help our systems handle heavy use, we cannot promise complete reliability under all circumstances. If you experience problems, you can make your transaction by writing to us.

Limitations on Transfers.

We reserve the right to modify, limit, suspend or eliminate the transfer privileges (including acceptance of non-written instructions submitted by telephone, automated telephone system, the Internet or facsimile) without prior notice for any Contract or class of Contracts at any time for any reason.

Minimum amounts. You must transfer at least $100 each time you make a transfer. If the entire amount in the Allocation Option is less than $100, you must transfer the entire amount. If less than $100 would be left in an Allocation Option after a transfer, then we may transfer the entire amount out of that Allocation Option instead of the requested amount.

Number of transfers. Currently we do not generally limit the number of transfers that may be made. We reserve the right, however, to limit the number of transfers to no more than 12 per Contract Year. We also reserve the right to charge a transfer fee for each additional transfer over 12 during any Contract Year. The transfer fee will not exceed $25 per transfer. We will deduct any transfer fee from the amount being transferred. (See "Charges and Deductions, Transfer Fee.")

Limitations on transfers involving the Guaranteed Account. No amounts may be transferred into a DCA Fixed Account. No amounts may be transferred to the Fixed Account within six months after any transfer from a Guaranteed Account to the Variable Account. The maximum amount that may be transferred from the Fixed Account during a Contract Year is the greater of (a) $2,500 or (b) 25% of the Contract Value in the Fixed Account. Due to this limitation, if you want to transfer all of your Contract Value from the Guaranteed Account to the Variable Account, it may take several years to do so. The limitation on transfers from the Fixed Account does not apply, however, to dollar cost averaging transfers from the Fixed Account.

Limitations on frequent transfers, including "market timing" transfers. Frequent transfers may involve an effort to take advantage of the possibility of a lag between a change in the value of a Fund's portfolio securities and the reflection of that change in the Fund's share price. This strategy, sometimes referred to as "market timing," involves an attempt to buy shares of a Fund at a price that does not reflect the current market value of the portfolio securities of the Fund, and then to realize a profit when the Fund shares are sold the next Valuation Day or thereafter.

When you request a transfer among the Sub-Accounts, your request triggers the purchase and redemption of Fund shares. Frequent transfers cause frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares. Frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares can cause adverse effects for a Fund, Fund shareholders, the Variable Account,

34

other Owners, beneficiaries, annuitants, or owners of other variable annuity contracts we issue that invest in the Variable Account. Frequent transfers can result in the following adverse effects:

•  Increased brokerage, trading and transaction costs;

•  Disruption of planned investment strategies;

•  Forced and unplanned liquidation and portfolio turnover;

•  Lost opportunity costs; and

•  Large asset swings that decrease the Fund's ability to provide maximum investment return to all Contract Owners.

In order to try to protect our Owners and the Funds from the potential adverse effects of frequent transfer activity, we have implemented certain market timing policies and procedures (the "Market Timing Procedures"). Our Market Timing Procedures are designed to detect and prevent frequent, short-term transfer activity that may adversely affect the Funds, Fund shareholders, the Variable Account, other Owners, beneficiaries, annuitants and owners of other variable annuity contracts we issue that invest in the Variable Account.

We monitor transfer activity in the Contracts to identify frequent transfer activity in any Contract. Our current Market Timing Procedures are intended to detect transfer activity in which the transfers exceed a certain dollar amount and a certain number of transfers involving the same Sub-Accounts within a specific time period. We regularly review transaction reports in an attempt to identify transfers that exceed our established parameters. We do not include transfers made pursuant to the dollar-cost averaging and portfolio rebalancing programs when monitoring for frequent transfer activity.

When we identify transfer activity exceeding our established parameters in a Contract or group of Contracts that appear to be under common control, we suspend non-written methods of requesting transfers for that Contract or group of Contracts. All transfer requests for the affected Contract or group of Contracts must be made by Written Notice. We notify the affected Owner(s) in writing of these restrictions.

In addition to our Market Timing Procedures, the Funds may have their own market timing policies and restrictions. While we reserve the right to enforce the Funds' policies and procedures, Owners and other persons with interests under the Contracts should be aware that we may not have the contractual authority or the operational capacity to apply the market timing policies and procedures of the Funds, except that, under SEC rules, we are required to: (1) enter into a written agreement with each Fund or its principal underwriter that obligates us to provide to the Fund promptly upon request certain information about the trading activity of individual Owners, and (2) execute instructions from the Fund to restrict or prohibit further purchases or transfers by specific Owners who violate the market timing policies established by the Fund.

Some of the Funds have reserved the right to temporarily or permanently refuse payments or transfer requests from us if, in the judgment of the Fund's investment adviser, the Fund would be unable to invest effectively in accordance with its investment objective or policies, or would otherwise potentially be adversely affected. To the extent permitted by law, we reserve the right to delay or refuse to honor a transfer request, or to reverse a transfer at any time we are unable to purchase or redeem shares of any of the Funds because of the Fund's refusal or restriction on purchases or redemptions. We will notify the Owner(s) of any refusal or restriction on a purchase or redemption by a Fund relating to that Owner's transfer request. Some Funds also may impose redemption fees on short-term trading (i.e., redemptions of mutual Fund shares within a certain number of business days after purchase). We reserve the right to implement, administer, and collect any redemption fees imposed by any of the Funds. You should read the prospectus of each Fund for more information about its ability to refuse or restrict purchases or redemptions of its shares, which may be more or less restrictive than our Market Timing Procedures and those of other Funds, and to impose redemption fees.

We apply our Market Timing Procedures consistently to all Owners without special arrangement, waiver or exception. We reserve the right to change our Market Timing Procedures at any time without prior notice as we deem necessary or appropriate to better detect and deter potentially harmful frequent transfer activity, to comply

35

with state or federal regulatory requirements, or both. We may change our parameters to monitor for different dollar amounts, number of transfers, time period of the transfers, or any of these.

Owners seeking to engage in frequent transfer activity may employ a variety of strategies to avoid detection. Our ability to detect and deter such transfer activity is limited by operational systems and technological limitations. Furthermore, the identification of Owners determined to be engaged in transfer activity that may adversely affect others involves judgments that are inherently subjective. Accordingly, despite our best efforts, we cannot guarantee that our Market Timing Procedures will detect or deter every potential market timer. In addition, because other insurance companies, retirement plans, or both may invest in the Funds, we cannot guarantee that the Funds will not suffer harm from frequent transfer activity in contracts or policies issued by other insurance companies or by retirement plan participants.

Dollar Cost Averaging.

Before the Annuity Commencement Date, you may instruct us by Written Notice to transfer automatically on a monthly basis, amounts from a DCA fixed account to any Sub-Account of the Variable Account. This is known as the "dollar-cost averaging" method of investment. By transferring equal amounts of Contract Value on a regularly scheduled basis, as opposed to allocating a larger amount at one particular time, an Owner may be less susceptible to the impact of market fluctuations in the value of Sub-Account Accumulation Units. Protective Life, however, makes no guarantee that the dollar cost averaging method will result in a profit or protection against loss.

You may make dollar cost averaging transfers on the 1 ^st through the 28 ^th day of each month. The minimum period for dollar cost averaging transfers from the Fixed Account is twelve months. In states where, upon cancellation during the right-to-cancel period, we are required to return your Purchase Payment, we reserve the right to delay commencement of dollar cost averaging transfers until the expiration of the right-to-cancel period.

There is no charge for dollar cost averaging. Automatic transfers made to facilitate dollar cost averaging will not count toward the 12 transfers permitted each Contract Year if we elect to limit transfers, or the designated number of free transfers in any Contract Year if we elect to charge for transfers in excess of that number in any Contract Year. We reserve the right to restrict the subaccounts into which you may transfer amounts from a DCA fixed account or discontinue dollar cost averaging upon written notice to the Owner.

Any Purchase Payment allocated to a DCA Fixed Account must include instructions regarding the period of the dollar cost averaging transfers, and the Sub-Accounts into which the transfers are to be made. Currently, the maximum period for dollar cost averaging from DCA Fixed Account 1 is six months and from DCA Fixed Account 2 is twelve months. Dollar cost averaging transfers will be made monthly. From time to time, we may offer different maximum periods for dollar cost averaging amounts from a DCA Fixed Account.

The periodic amount transferred from a DCA Fixed Account will be equal to the Purchase Payment allocated to the DCA Fixed Account divided by the number of dollar cost averaging transfers to be made. Interest credited will be transferred from the DCA Fixed Account after the last dollar cost averaging transfer. We will process dollar cost averaging transfers until the earlier of the following: (1) the DCA Fixed Account Value equals $0, or (2) the Owner instructs us by Written Notice to cancel the automatic transfers. If you terminate transfers from a DCA Fixed Account before the amount remaining in that account is $0, we will immediately transfer any amount remaining in that DCA Fixed Account according to your instructions. If you do not provide instructions, we will transfer the remaining amount to the Sub-Accounts according to your dollar cost averaging allocation instruction in effect at that time. Upon the death of any Owner, dollar cost averaging transfers will continue until canceled by the Beneficiary(s).

The interest rates on the DCA Fixed Accounts apply to the declining balance in the account. Therefore the amount of interest actually paid with respect to a Purchase Payment allocated to the DCA Fixed Account will be substantially less than the amount that would have been paid if the full Purchase Payment remained in the DCA Fixed Account for the full period.

If you select the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider, you may allocate your Purchase Payments to a DCA Fixed Account; however, you must make transfers from the DCA Fixed Account in accordance

36

with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions. (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits").

Portfolio Rebalancing.

Prior to the Annuity Commencement Date, you may instruct Protective Life by Written Notice to periodically transfer your Variable Account value among specified Sub-Accounts to achieve a particular percentage allocation of Variable Account value among such Sub-Accounts ("portfolio rebalancing"). The portfolio rebalancing percentages must be in whole numbers and must allocate amounts only among the Sub-Accounts. Unless you instruct otherwise, portfolio rebalancing is based on your Purchase Payment allocation instructions in effect with respect to the Sub-Accounts at the time of each rebalancing transfer. We deem portfolio rebalancing instructions from you that differ from your current Purchase Payment allocation instructions to be a request to change your Purchase Payment allocation.

You may elect portfolio rebalancing to occur on the 1 ^st through 28 ^th day of a month on either a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. If you do not select a day, transfers will occur on the same day of the month as your Contract Anniversary, or on the 28 ^th day of the month if your Contract Anniversary occurs on the 29 ^th , 30 ^th or 31 ^st day of the month. You may change or terminate portfolio rebalancing by Written Notice, or by other non-written communication methods acceptable for transfer requests. Upon the death of any Owner portfolio rebalancing will continue until canceled by the Beneficiary(s).

There is no charge for portfolio rebalancing. Automatic transfers made to facilitate portfolio rebalancing will not count toward the 12 transfers permitted each Contract Year if we elect to limit transfers, or the designated number of free transfers in any Contract Year if we elect to charge for transfers in excess of that number in any Contract Year. We reserve the right to discontinue portfolio rebalancing upon written notice to the Owner.

Surrenders and Partial Surrenders

At any time before the Annuity Commencement Date, you may request a full or partial surrender from your Contract. Federal and state income taxes may apply to a full or partial surrender (including withdrawals made under the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider), and a 10% federal penalty tax may apply if the full or partial surrender occurs before the Owner reaches age 59 ¹ / ₂ . (See TAXATION OF ANNUITIES IN GENERAL, "Taxation of Partial and Full Surrenders.") A surrender value may be available under certain Annuity Options. (See "Annuitization.") In accordance with SEC regulations, full and partial surrenders are payable within 7 calendar days of our receiving your request. (See "Suspension or Delay in Payments.")

Full Surrender.

At any time before the Annuity Commencement Date, you may request a full surrender of your Contract for its surrender value. To surrender your Contract, you must return the Contract to us and make your surrender request either by Written Notice or by facsimile. Surrenders requested by facsimile are subject to limitations. Currently, we accept requests by facsimile for full surrenders of Contracts that have a Contract Value of $50,000 or less. For Contracts that have a Contract Value greater than $50,000, we will only accept surrender requests by Written Notice. We may eliminate your ability to request a full surrender by facsimile or change the requirements for your ability to request a full surrender by facsimile for any Contract or class of Contracts at any time without prior notice. We will pay you the surrender value in a lump sum.

Surrender Value.

The surrender value of your Contract is equal to the Contract Value minus any applicable surrender charge, contract maintenance fee and premium tax. We will determine the surrender value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive your Written Notice or facsimile requesting surrender and your Contract at our administrative office. Valuation Periods end at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange, which is generally at 3:00 p.m. Central Time. We will process any surrender request received at our administrative office after the end of the Valuation Period on the next Valuation Day.

37

Partial Surrender.

At any time before the Annuity Commencement Date, you may request a partial surrender of your Contract Value provided the Contract Value remaining after the partial surrender is at least $5,000. If you request a partial surrender that would reduce your Contract Value below $5,000, then we will consider your request to be not in good order and we will notify you that we will not process your request. Throughout this prospectus we may refer to a partial surrender of your Contract Value as a "withdrawal" from your Contract. Please note that if you select the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider special withdrawal rules apply, especially on or after the Benefit Election Date for the SecurePay rider. (See "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits").

You may request a partial surrender by Written Notice or by facsimile. If we have received your completed telephone withdrawal authorization form, you also may request a partial surrender by telephone. Partial surrenders requested by telephone or facsimile are subject to limitations. Currently we accept requests for partial surrenders by telephone or by facsimile for amounts not exceeding 25% of Contract Value, up to a maximum of $50,000. For partial surrenders of Contract Value exceeding 25% of the Contract Value and/or $50,000 we will only accept partial surrender requests by Written Notice. We may eliminate your ability to make partial surrenders by telephone or facsimile or change the requirements for your ability to make partial surrenders by telephone or facsimile for any Contract or class of Contracts at any time without prior notice.

We will withdraw the amount of your partial surrender from the Contract Value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive your request for the partial surrender at our administrative office. Valuation Periods end at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange, which is generally at 3:00 p.m. Central Time. We will process any partial surrender request received at our administrative office after the end of the Valuation Period on the next Valuation Day. The amount we will pay you upon a partial surrender is equal to the Contract Value surrendered minus any applicable surrender charge and any applicable premium tax.

You may specify the amount of the partial surrender to be made from any Allocation Option. If you do not so specify, or if the amount in the designated Allocation Option(s) is inadequate to comply with the request, the partial surrender will be made from each Allocation Option based on the proportion that the value of each Allocation Option bears to the total Contract Value.

Cancellation of Accumulation Units.

Surrenders and partial surrenders, including any surrender charges, will result in the cancellation of Accumulation Units from each applicable Sub-Account(s) and/or in a reduction of the Guaranteed Account value.

Surrender and Partial Surrender Restrictions.

The Owner's right to make surrenders and partial surrenders is subject to any restrictions imposed by applicable law or employee benefit plan.

There are certain restrictions on surrenders and partial surrenders of Contracts used as funding vehicles for Code Section 403(b) retirement plans. Section 403(b)(11) of the Code restricts the distribution under Section 403(b) annuity contracts of:

  (i)  contributions made pursuant to a salary reduction agreement in years beginning after December 31, 1988;

  (ii)  earnings on those contributions; and

  (iii)  earnings after December 31, 1988, on amounts attributable to salary reduction contributions held as of December 31, 1988.

These amounts can be paid only if the employee has reached age 59 ¹ / ₂ , had a severance from employment, has become disabled, in the case of hardship, or if the amount is a qualified reservist distribution under Section 72(t)(2)(G) of the Code. Amounts permitted to be distributed in the event of hardship are limited to actual contributions; earnings thereon can not be distributed on account of hardship. In addition, in the case of

38

contracts issued on or after January 1, 2009, a Section 403(b) contract is permitted to distribute retirement benefits (other than those attributable to salary reduction contributions) to a participant no earlier than upon the earlier of the participant's severance from employment or upon the prior occurrence of some event, such as after a fixed number of years, the attainment of a stated age, or disability. (These limitations on withdrawals and distributions do not apply to the extent the Company is directed to transfer some or all of the Contract Value to the issuer of another Section 403(b) annuity contract or into a Section 403(b)(7) custodial account.)

In the case of certain Qualified Plans, federal tax law imposes restrictions on the form and manner in which benefits may be paid. For example, spousal consent may be needed in certain instances before a distribution may be made.

Partial Automatic Withdrawals.

Currently, we offer a partial automatic withdrawal plan. This plan allows you to pre-authorize periodic partial surrenders prior to the Annuity Commencement Date. You may elect to participate in this plan at the time of application or at a later date by properly completing an election form. Payments to you under this plan will only be made by electronic fund transfer. In order to participate in the plan you must have a Contract Value as of the previous Contract Anniversary of at least $25,000.

The partial automatic withdrawal plan and the automatic purchase payment plan may not be elected simultaneously. (See "Purchase Payments".) There may be federal and state income tax consequences to partial automatic withdrawals from the Contract, including the possible imposition of a 10% federal penalty tax if the surrender occurs before the Owner reaches age 59 ¹ / ₂ . You should consult your tax advisor before participating in any withdrawal program. (See "Taxation of Partial and Full Surrenders".)

When you elect the partial automatic withdrawal plan, you will instruct Protective Life to withdraw a level dollar amount from the Contract on a monthly or quarterly basis. Partial automatic withdrawals may be made on the 1 ^st through the 28 ^th day of each month. The amount requested must be at least $100 per withdrawal. We will process withdrawals for the designated amount until you instruct us otherwise. If, during any Contract Year, the amount of the withdrawals exceeds the "penalty-free withdrawal amount" described in the "Surrender Charge" section of this prospectus, we will deduct a surrender charge where applicable. (See "Surrender Charge.") Partial automatic withdrawals will be taken pro-rata from the Allocation Options in proportion to the value each Allocation Option bears to the total Contract Value. We will pay you the amount requested each month or quarter as applicable and cancel the applicable Accumulation Units.

If any partial automatic withdrawal transaction would result in a Contract Value of less than $5,000 after the withdrawal, the transaction will not be completed and the partial automatic withdrawal plan will terminate. Once partial automatic withdrawals have terminated due to insufficient Contract Value, they will not be automatically reinstated in the event that your Contract Value should reach $5,000 again. Upon notification of the death of any Owner, we will terminate the partial automatic withdrawal plan. The partial automatic withdrawal plan may be discontinued by the Owner at any time by Written Notice.

There is no charge for the partial automatic withdrawal plan. We reserve the right to discontinue the partial automatic withdrawal plan upon written notice to you. If you select the SecurePay rider under your Contract, any partial automatic withdrawal plan in effect will terminate on the Benefit Election Date. The partial automatic withdrawal plan is not available if you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider. If you select the Protective Income Manager rider under our RightTime ^® Option, any partial automatic withdrawal plan in effect will terminate on the Rider Effective Date. (See "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits").

THE GUARANTEED ACCOUNT

The Guaranteed Account has not been, and is not required to be, registered with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, and neither these accounts nor the Company's general account have been registered as an investment company under the 1940 Act. Therefore, neither the Guaranteed Account, the Company's general account, nor any interests therein are generally subject to regulation under the 1933 Act or the 1940 Act. The disclosures relating to the Guaranteed Account included in this prospectus are for the Owner's information and

39

have not been reviewed by the SEC. However, such disclosures are subject to certain generally applicable provisions of federal securities law relating to the accuracy and completeness of statements made in prospectuses.

The Guaranteed Account consists of the Fixed Account and the DCA Fixed Accounts. The Fixed Account and certain DCA Fixed Accounts may not be available in all states. Further, we may not always offer the Fixed Account or the DCA Fixed Accounts in new Contracts. If we are offering the Fixed Account or any of the DCA Fixed Accounts in your state at the time you purchase your Contract, however, those accounts will always be available in your Contract. Please ask your sales representative whether the Fixed Account or any DCA Fixed Accounts are available in your Contract.

From time to time and subject to regulatory approval, we may offer Fixed Accounts or DCA Fixed Accounts with different interest guaranteed periods. We, in our sole discretion, establish the interest rates for each account in the Guaranteed Account. We will not declare a rate that yields values less than those required by the state in which the Contract is delivered. You bear the risk that we will not declare a rate that is higher than the minimum rate. Because these rates vary from time to time, allocations made to the same account within the Guaranteed Account at different times may earn interest at different rates.

Our General Account.

The Guaranteed Account is part of our general account. Unlike Purchase Payments and Contract Value allocated to the Variable Account, we assume the risk of investment gain or loss on amounts held in the Fixed Account and the DCA Fixed Account.

The assets of our general account support our insurance and annuity obligations and are subject to our general liabilities from business operations and to claims by our creditors. Because amounts allocated to the Fixed Account and the DCA Fixed Accounts, plus any guarantees under the Contract that exceed your Contract Value (such as those associated with any enhanced death benefits, or the SecurePay rider, or Protective Income Manager rider, are paid from our general account, any amounts that we may pay under the Contract in excess of Contract Value are subject to our financial strength and claims-paying ability. It is important to note that there is no guarantee that we will always be able to meet our claims-paying obligations, and that there are risks to purchasing any insurance product. For this reason, you should consider our financial strength and claims-paying ability to meet our obligations under the Contract when purchasing a Contract and making investment decisions under the Contract.

We encourage both existing and prospective contract owners to read and understand our financial statements. We prepare our financial statements on a statutory basis, as required by state regulators.

Our audited financial statements are included in the Statement of Additional Information (which is available at no charge by calling us at 1-800-456-6330 or writing us at the address shown on the cover page of this prospectus). In addition, the Statement of Additional Information is available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.

You also will find on our website information on ratings assigned to us by one or more independent rating organizations. These ratings are opinions of our financial capacity to meet the obligations of our insurance and annuity contracts based on our financial strength and/or claims-paying ability.

The Fixed Account.

You generally may allocate some or all of your Purchase Payments and may transfer some or all of your Contract Value to the Fixed Account. If you elect the SecurePay rider or the Protective Income Manager rider, you may not allocate any portion of your Purchase Payments or Contract Value to the Fixed Account. (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits"). Amounts allocated or transferred to the Fixed Account earn interest from the date the funds are credited to the account. There are limitations on transfers involving the Fixed Account. Due to this limitation, if you want to transfer all of your Contract Value from the Fixed Account to the Variable Account, it may take several years to do so. You should carefully consider whether the Fixed Account meets your investment needs. (See "Transfers.")

The interest rates we apply to Purchase Payments and transfers into the Fixed Account are guaranteed for one year from the date the Purchase Payment or transfer is credited to the account. When an interest rate

40

guarantee expires, we will set a new interest rate, which may not be the same as the interest rate then in effect for Purchase Payments allocated to the Fixed Account. The new interest rate is also guaranteed for one year.

The DCA Fixed Accounts.

DCA Fixed Accounts are designed to systematically transfer amounts to the Sub-Accounts of the Variable Account over a designated period. (See "Transfers, Dollar Cost Averaging.") We currently offer two DCA Fixed Accounts. The maximum period for dollar cost averaging transfers from DCA Fixed Account 1 is six months and from DCA Fixed Account 2 is twelve months.

The DCA Fixed Accounts are available only for Purchase Payments designated for dollar cost averaging. You may allocate your initial Purchase Payment to either DCA Fixed Account, or a portion of your Purchase Payment to both Accounts. If the value of a DCA Fixed Account is greater than $0, you may allocate an additional Purchase Payment to that Account only if the current interest rate for that Account is the same as the interest rate applicable to the current balance in that Account. In that case, the additional Purchase Payment will be added to the current balance and the new dollar cost averaging period indicated on your service form. Where we agree, under current administrative procedures, to allocate a Purchase Payment to any DCA Fixed Account in installments from more than one source, we will credit each installment with the interest rate applied to the first installment we receive. The interest rate we apply to Purchase Payments allocated to a DCA Fixed Account is guaranteed for the period over which dollar cost averaging transfers are allowed from that DCA Fixed Account.

Guaranteed Account Value.

Any time prior to the Annuity Commencement Date, the Guaranteed Account value is equal to the sum of:

(1)  Purchase Payments allocated to the Guaranteed Account; plus

(2)  amounts transferred into the Guaranteed Account; plus

(3)  interest credited to the Guaranteed Account; minus

(4)  amounts transferred out of the Guaranteed Account including any transfer fee; minus

(5)  the amount of any surrenders removed from the Guaranteed Account, including any premium tax and surrender charges; minus

(6)  fees deducted from the Guaranteed Account, including the monthly death benefit fee and the annual contract maintenance fee.

For the purposes of interest crediting, amounts deducted, transferred or withdrawn from accounts within the Guaranteed Account will be separately accounted for on a "first-in, first-out" (FIFO) basis.

DEATH BENEFIT

If any Owner dies before the Annuity Commencement Date and while the Contract is in force, we will pay a death benefit, less any applicable premium tax, to the Beneficiary. The death benefit terminates on the Annuity Commencement Date.

We will determine the death benefit as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive due proof of death at our administrative office. Valuation Periods end at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange, which is generally at 3:00 p.m. Central Time. If we receive due proof of death after the end of the Valuation Period, we will determine the death benefit on the next Valuation Day. Only one death benefit is payable under the Contract, even though the Contract may, in some circumstances, continue beyond the time of an Owner's death. If any Owner is not a natural person, the death of the Annuitant is treated as the death of an Owner. In the case of certain Qualified Contracts, Treasury Department regulations prescribe certain limitations on the designation of a Beneficiary. The following discussion generally applies to Qualified Contracts and non-Qualified Contracts, but there are some differences in the rules that apply to each.

41

The death benefit provisions of the Contract shall be interpreted to comply with the requirements of Section 72(s) of the Code. We reserve the right to endorse the Contract, as necessary, to conform with regulatory requirements. We will send you a copy of any endorsement containing such Contract modifications.

Please note that any death benefit payment we make in excess of the Contract Value is subject to our financial strength and claims-paying ability.

Payment of the Death Benefit.

The Beneficiary may take the death benefit in one sum immediately, in which event the Contract will terminate. If the death benefit is not taken in one sum immediately, the death benefit will become the new Contract Value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive due proof of death, and the entire interest in the Contract must be distributed under one of the following options:

(1)  the entire interest must be distributed over the life of the Beneficiary, or over a period not extending beyond the life expectancy of the Beneficiary, with distributions beginning within one year of the Owner's death; or,

(2)  the entire interest must be distributed within 5 years of the Owner's death.

If no option is elected, we will distribute the entire interest within 5 years of the Owner's death.

If there is more than one Beneficiary, the foregoing provisions apply to each Beneficiary individually.

Continuation of the Contract by a Surviving Spouse.

In the case of non-Qualified Contracts and Contracts that are individual retirement annuities within the meaning of Code Section 408(b), if the Beneficiary is the deceased Owner's spouse, the surviving spouse may elect, in lieu of receiving a death benefit, to continue the Contract and become the new Owner, provided the deceased Owner's spouse's 86 ^th birthday (76 ^th birthday if Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit was selected) is after the Effective Date. The Contract will continue with the value of the death benefit having become the new Contract Value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we received due proof of death. The death benefit is not terminated by a surviving spouse's continuation of the Contract. The surviving spouse may select a new Beneficiary. Upon this spouse's death, the death benefit may be taken in one sum immediately and the Contract will terminate. If the death benefit is not taken in one sum immediately, the death benefit will become the new Contract Value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive due proof of death and must be distributed to the new Beneficiary according to option (1) or (2), above.

A Contract may be continued by a surviving spouse only once. This benefit will not be available to any subsequent surviving spouse under the continued Contract.

Under the federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"), only individuals of the opposite sex can be treated as married or spouses. DOMA is the controlling law when determining whether individuals are "spouses" for purposes of the federal tax provisions of annuity contracts. Under federal tax law, the beneficiary of an annuity contract who is the spouse (within the meaning of DOMA) of a deceased owner is treated more favorably than a beneficiary who is not recognized as a spouse under DOMA. Specifically, as described above, a beneficiary who is a DOMA recognized spouse of the deceased owner may continue an annuity contract without taking any distributions from the contract. In contrast, a beneficiary who is not recognized as a spouse of the deceased owner under DOMA (e.g., civil union and domestic partners or same-sex spouses) must surrender the contract within 5 years of the owner's death or take distributions from the contract over the beneficiary's life or life expectancy. As a result, a beneficiary of a deceased owner who was treated as married to the owner under state law, but whose marriage is not recognized by DOMA, will be required to take distributions from the Contract in the manner applicable to non-spouse beneficiaries and will not be able to elect to continue the Contract as provided in this section.

Whether a spouse continues the Contract could affect the rights and benefits under the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits. See "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits."

42

If you have questions concerning your status as a spouse and how that status might affect your rights under the Contract, please consult your legal adviser. (See "Tax Consequences — Treatment of Civil Unions and Domestic Partners.")

Selecting a Death Benefit.

At the time you apply for your Contract, you must determine the type of death benefit you want. You may not change your selection after your Contract is issued. If you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider, your death benefit will be the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit. The Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit is not available under the Protective Income Manager rider. (See "Protective Income Manager With RightTime ^® Option." ) If you selected the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit when you purchased your Contract and you later purchase the Protective Income Manager rider under our RightTime ^® option, we will pay the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit at the time of an Owner's death. If the value of your Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit at the time you elect the Protective Income Manager rider is greater than the value of the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit at that time, then you will forfeit this excess. We will stop assessing the fee for the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit when we issue the Protective Income Manager rider, but will not refund the fees you paid for the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit before that date. (See "Protective Income Manager WithRightTime ^® Option.")

We offer two different death benefits: (1) the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit and (2) the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit. The Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit is included with your Contract at no additional charge. You may select the optional Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit for an additional fee, but only if the oldest Owner is younger than 76 on the Effective Date of the Contract. If you choose the optional Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit, you must indicate that you would like this optional death benefit when you apply for your Contract. You may not change your selection after your Contract is issued.

You should carefully consider each of these death benefits and consult a qualified financial adviser to help you carefully consider the two death benefits offered with the Contract, and if you select the Maximum Anniversary Death Benefit, the relative costs, benefits and risks of the fee options in your particular situation.

Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit.

The Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit will equal the greater of (1) the Contract Value, or (2) the aggregate Purchase Payments less an adjustment for each partial surrender; provided however , that the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit will never be more than the Contract Value plus $1,000,000. The adjustment for each partial surrender in item (2) is the amount that reduces the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit at the time of surrender in the same proportion that the amount surrendered, including any associated surrender charges, reduces the Contract Value. If the value of the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit is greater than the Contract Value at the time of the partial surrender, the downward adjustment to the death benefit will be larger than the amount surrendered. See Appendix A for an example of the calculation of the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit.

Suspension of Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit. For a period of one year after any change of ownership involving a natural person, the death benefit will equal the Contract Value regardless of the type of death benefit that was selected. During the one-year suspension period, we will continue to calculate the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit; however, if any Owner dies during this period we will only pay the Contract Value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive due proof of death at our administrative office. This means if death occurs after the one-year period has ended, we will include Purchase Payments received and partial surrenders made during the one-year suspension when calculating the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit.

Optional Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit.

This death benefit is not available if you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider.

43

At the time of application, you may select the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit if the Effective Date of the Contract is before the oldest Owner's 76 ^th birthday.

We will determine an anniversary value for each Contract Anniversary occurring before the earlier of the older Owner's 80 ^th birthday or the deceased Owner's date of death. Each anniversary value is equal to the sum of:

•  the Contract Value on that Contract Anniversary; plus

•  all Purchase Payments since that Contract Anniversary; minus

•  an adjustment for each partial surrender since that Contract Anniversary.

The adjustment for each partial surrender since the relevant Contract Anniversary is the amount that reduces the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit at the time of the surrender in the same proportion that the amount surrendered, including any associated surrender charges, reduces the Contract Value. If the value of the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit is greater than the Contract Value at the time of the partial surrender, the downward adjustment to the death benefit will be larger than the amount surrendered.

The Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit will equal the greatest of (1) the Contract Value, (2) the aggregate Purchase Payments less an adjustment for each partial surrender; or (3) the greatest anniversary value attained prior to the older Owner's 80 ^th birthday; provided however, that the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit will never be more than the Contract Value plus $1,000,000. The adjustment for each partial surrender in item (2) is the amount that reduces the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit at the time of surrender in the same proportion that the amount surrendered, including any associated surrender charges, reduces the Contract Value. If the Contract Value is lower than the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit at the time of the partial surrender, the adjustment will be larger than the amount surrendered. See Appendix A for an example of the calculation of the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit.

It is possible that, at the time of an Owner's death, the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit will be no greater than the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit. You should consult a qualified financial advisor to carefully consider this possibility and the cost of the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit before you decide whether the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit is right for you.

Suspension of Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit. For a period of one year after any change of ownership involving a natural person, the death benefit will equal the Contract Value regardless of the type of death benefit that was selected. We will, however, continue to assess the death benefit fee during this period. During the one-year suspension period, we will continue to calculate the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit; however, if any Owner dies during this period we will only pay the Contract Value as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive due proof of death at our administrative office. This means if death occurs after the one-year period has ended, we will include the Contract Value on the Contract Anniversary occurring during the one-year suspension as well as Purchase Payments received and partial surrenders made during the one year suspension when calculating the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit.

Death Benefit Fee.

We assess a fee for the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit. If you select this death benefit, you must pay a fee ("the CoverPay Fee"), based on the value of the death benefit on the day the fee is assessed. This fee is assessed on a monthly basis. (See "Charges and Deductions, Death Benefit Fee.") It is possible that this fee (or some portion thereof) could be treated for federal tax purposes as a partial surrender from the Contract. (See "Federal Tax Matters.")

Contracts issued before October 1, 2011 had the option of electing either the CoverPay ^® Fee or the ValuPay ^® Fee. See Appendix L for more information regarding the ValuPay ^® Fee.

GUARANTEED LIFETIME WITHDRAWAL BENEFITS

If you are concerned that poor investment performance or market volatility in the Sub-Accounts may adversely impact the amount of money you can withdraw from your Contract, we offer for an additional charge

44

two optional guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit riders — the SecurePay rider and the Protective Income Manager rider. Under these riders, we guarantee the right to make withdrawals each Contract Year for life (subject to certain conditions) — even if your Contract Value declines, or reduces to zero, due to poor market performance.

There are differences between these riders in the features and guarantees they provide. For example, the riders provide different methods in calculating the amount that may be withdrawn each year, identify different transactions that may impact this calculation or that may terminate the rider, and impose different fees. In addition, the purchase of one rider will impact the availability of the other, as you may not purchase both the SecurePay rider and the Protective Income Manager rider. And, if you purchase one rider and it later terminates, you may not then purchase the other rider. Before you select either rider, you should carefully compare both and consult your sales representative to determine which rider (if either) better suits your needs.

The primary distinctions between the SecurePay rider and the Protective Income Manager rider are as follows:

45

Please note that any amounts in excess of the Contract Value that we make available through withdrawals, lifetime payments, or guaranteed values under these riders are subject to our financial strength and claims-paying ability.

SECUREPAY RIDER WITH RightTime ^® OPTION

In general, SecurePay guarantees the right to make withdrawals ("SecurePay Withdrawals") based upon the value of a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit base ("Benefit Base") that will remain fixed if your Contract Value has declined due to poor market performance.

Under the SecurePay rider, the Owner or Owner(s) may designate certain persons as "Covered Persons" under the Contract. See "Selecting Your Coverage Option." These Covered Persons will be eligible to make SecurePay Withdrawals each Contract Year up to a specified amount — the Annual Withdrawal Amount ("AWA") — during the life of the Covered Person(s). Annual aggregate withdrawals that exceed the AWA will result in a reduction of Rider benefits (and may even significantly reduce or eliminate such benefits) because we will reduce the Benefit Base and corresponding AWA. SecurePay Withdrawals are guaranteed, even if the Contract Value falls to zero after the Benefit Election Date (which is the earliest date you may begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals), if you satisfy the SecurePay rider requirements.

46

You may purchase the SecurePay rider when you purchase your Contract, or at a later date under our RightTime ^® option, provided you satisfy the rider's age requirements. See "Purchasing the Optional SecurePay rider."

For an increased SecurePay Fee, we also offer an optional SecurePay feature that you may select when you purchase the SecurePay rider — the SecurePay R72 Benefit. This benefit is designed to provide for potential increases in your Benefit Base of up to 7.2% each Contract Anniversary during a specified period, even if your Contract Value has not increased. The SecurePay R72 Benefit is only available if you purchase the SecurePay rider on or after the youngest Owner's 55 ^th birthday (or, in the case of a Qualified Contract, the Annuitant's 55 ^th birthday). This feature will terminate when the SecurePay rider terminates (if not sooner). It may not be selected after purchase of the SecurePay rider or canceled once we have issued the rider. If you select this benefit, all of the terms and conditions of the SecurePay rider will apply in addition to the specific terms and conditions of the SecurePay R72 Benefit. This benefit may not be available in all states, and we may otherwise limit its availability. See "Secure Pay R72 Benefit" below.

Special Note Regarding the Availability of the SecurePay GMAB: Effective May 1, 2009, the SecurePay Guaranteed Minimum Accumulation Benefit (GMAB) is no longer available for purchase with the SecurePay rider, even if you purchased your Contract prior to May 1, 2009 and you purchased the rider on or after May 1, 2009 by exercising the RightTime ^® option. For information on the SecurePay GMAB, please see Appendix F: The SecurePay GMAB (Not Available On or After May 1, 2009).

SecurePay does not guarantee Contract Value or the performance of any investment option.

Important Considerations

•  If you purchase SecurePay, your options for allocating Purchase Payments and Contract Value are restricted. See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits."

•  Purchase Payments made more than two years after the date the SecurePay rider is issued (the "Rider Effective Date") are not included in the calculation of the Benefit Base (described below). Thus, for example, if you intend to make regular Purchase Payments to the Contract for more than two years after the Rider Effective Date, such as in monthly or annual contributions to an IRA, you should consider whether the rider is appropriate for you.

•  Any change in a Covered Person following the Benefit Election Date (the "Benefit Period"), other than a spousal continuation under a Joint Life Coverage Option, will cause the rider to terminate without any refund of SecurePay Fees.

•  You may not begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals until the Covered Person (or the younger Covered Person in the case of a Joint Life Coverage option) is age 59 ¹ / ₂ or older.

•  You may not make any additional Purchase Payments on or after the Benefit Election Date. In most cases, if the Company receives a Purchase Payment on or after the Benefit Election Date, the Company will return it to the address on file. If the amount of the Purchase Payment would be sufficient to purchase another Contract, however, you will be given the option of purchasing a new Contract.

•  On the Benefit Election Date, we will cancel any existing partial automatic withdrawal plan that you have established.

•  The SecurePay rider may not be available in all states, and we may limit the availability of this benefit.

The ways to purchase SecurePay, conditions for continuation of the benefit, process for beginning SecurePay Withdrawals, and the manner in which your AWA is calculated are discussed below.

You should not purchase SecurePay if:

•  you expect to take annual withdrawals on or after the Benefit Election Date in excess of the AWA ("Excess Withdrawals") because such Excess Withdrawals may significantly reduce or eliminate the value

47

of the benefit (See "Calculating the Benefit Base On or After the Benefit Election Date, Excess Withdrawals "); or

•  you are primarily interested in maximizing the Contract's potential for long-term accumulation rather than building a Benefit Base that will provide guaranteed withdrawals; or

•  there is a significant age disparity between the two Covered Persons; or

•  you do not expect to take SecurePay Withdrawals (especially before the age of 95).

Appendix E demonstrates the operation of the SecurePay rider (with and without the SecurePay R72 Benefit) using hypothetical examples. You should review Appendix E and consult your sales representative to discuss whether SecurePay suits your needs.

Purchasing the Optional SecurePay Rider

You may purchase the SecurePay Rider when you purchase your Contract. Or, if the rider is still available for sale, you may exercise the RightTime ^® option to add it to your Contract any time before the Owner (or older Owner's) 86 ^th birthday or the Annuity Commencement Date, if earlier. For riders purchased with the SecurePay R72 Benefit the youngest Owner must be age 55 or older on the Rider Effective Date. Where the Owner is a corporation, partnership, company, trust, or other non-natural person," eligibility is determined by the age of the Annuitant. If you purchase the rider under the RightTime ^® option, the rider will be subject to the terms and conditions of the SecurePay rider in effect at the time it is issued.

Important Considerations:

•  You will begin paying the SecurePay Fee as of the Rider Effective Date, even if you do not begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals for many years.

•  You may not cancel the SecurePay rider during the ten years following the Rider Effective Date.

•  We do not refund any SecurePay Fees if the rider terminates for any reason or if you choose not to take SecurePay Withdrawals after the Benefit Election Date.

•  You must comply with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions after the Rider Effective Date. (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits").

•  Prior to the Benefit Election Date, you may take partial surrenders according to the terms of your Contract but partial surrenders will proportionally reduce the Benefit Base, and ultimately the value of the SecurePay Withdrawals available to you.

•  You must submit a SecurePay Benefit Election Form to establish the Benefit Election Date and begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals. Partial surrenders taken before the Benefit Election Date are not SecurePay Withdrawals.

•  You may make additional Purchase Payments after the Rider Effective Date, but any Purchase Payments made more than two years after that date do not increase the Benefit Base. See "Calculating the Benefit Base before the Benefit Election Date."

The timing of the SecurePay rider purchase may have a significant impact on the value of the Benefit Base. For example, there are certain advantages to purchasing the SecurePay rider early:

•  We begin reviewing SecurePay Anniversary Values (described below) on the Contract Anniversary following the Rider Effective Date. This means that the earlier you purchase the SecurePay rider, the longer the period of time during which the Benefit Base may increase due to favorable Sub-Account performance. Anniversary Values occurring prior to the Rider Effective Date do not affect the Benefit Base.

•  If you purchase SecurePay when you purchase the Contract, the annual SecurePay Fee is currently 0.10% lower than if you exercise the RightTime ^® option to purchase SecurePay after that date. The SecurePay

48

Fee for new purchasers and the difference between the fee for the rider purchased at Contract issue and under the RightTime ^® option may change.

On the other hand, if you purchase SecurePay too early, you may pay the SecurePay Fee for a longer period than is necessary. Additionally, beginning on the Rider Effective Date, you must comply with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits"), partial surrenders will proportionally reduce the Benefit Base (and therefore the value of SecurePay Withdrawals), and only Purchase Payments made during the first two years following the Rider Effective Date will be included in the Benefit Base.

Please consult your sales representative to discuss the appropriate time for you to purchase the SecurePay rider.

Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions

In order to maintain the SecurePay rider, you must allocate your Purchase Payments and Contract Value in accordance with the Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions that we have established. The Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions are designed to limit our risk under the SecurePay rider. Please see "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits."

Beginning Your SecurePay Withdrawals

You must submit a completed SecurePay Benefit Election Form to our administrative office to establish the Benefit Election Date and begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals under the rider.

•  Even though the SecurePay rider is in effect as of the Rider Effective Date and we begin the SecurePay Fee deductions on that date, any partial surrenders made before we receive your SecurePay Benefit Election Form will not qualify as SecurePay Withdrawals.

You should carefully consider when to establish the Benefit Election Date and begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals.

•  The Benefit Election Date may not be earlier than the date the Covered Person (or the younger Covered Person if a Joint Life Coverage option is selected) reaches age 59 ¹ / ₂ or older.

•  All Contract withdrawals taken on or after the Benefit Election Date are considered either SecurePay Withdrawals or Excess Withdrawals and are subject to the Annual Withdrawal Amount.

•  You may not make any additional Purchase Payments on or after the Benefit Election Date. In most cases, if the Company receives a Purchase Payment on or after the Benefit Election Date, the Company will return it to the address on file. If the amount of the Purchase Payment would be sufficient to purchase another Contract, however, you will be given the option of purchasing a new Contract.

•  You may limit the value of the benefit if you begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals too soon. For example, SecurePay Withdrawals reduce your Contract Value (but not the Benefit Base) and may limit the potential for increasing the Benefit Base through higher Contract Values on Contract Anniversaries. Also, if your Benefit Election Date is within the two years of the Rider Effective Date, you will shorten the period of time during which you could increase your Benefit Base because you may not make additional Purchase Payments on or after the Benefit Election Date.

•  Conversely, if you delay establishing the Benefit Election Date, you may shorten the Benefit Period due to life expectancy, thereby limiting the time during which you may take SecurePay Withdrawals, so you may be paying for a benefit you are not using.

•  Selecting the SecurePay R72 Benefit may impact your decision of when to establish your Benefit Election Date. For more information, see "SecurePay R72 Benefit" below.

Please consult your sales representative regarding the appropriate time for you to establish the Benefit Election Date and begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals.

49

Important Considerations

•   All withdrawals, including SecurePay Withdrawals, reduce your Contract Value and death benefit. Surrender Charges and federal and state income taxes may apply, as well as a 10% federal penalty tax if a withdrawal occurs before the Owner reaches age 59 ¹ / ₂ . See "Charges and Deductions, Surrender Charge" and "TAXATION OF ANNUITIES IN GENERAL, Taxation of Partial and Full Surrenders."

•   All withdrawals, including SecurePay Withdrawals, count towards the penalty-free withdrawal amount under the Contract. However, we do not assess the Surrender Charge on SecurePay Withdrawals, even when Surrender Charges would apply if the withdrawal was not a SecurePay Withdrawal. We do impose a Surrender Charge on Excess Withdrawals and Excess Withdrawals are subject to the minimum Contract Value limitation. See "Charges and Deductions, Surrender Charge", "Surrenders and Partial Surrenders, Partial Surrenders" and "Taxation of Partial and Full Surrenders."

   The SecurePay rider is designed for you to take SecurePay Withdrawals each Contract Year. SecurePay Withdrawals are aggregate withdrawals during any Contract Year on or after the Benefit Election Date that do not exceed the Annual Withdrawal Amount. Aggregate withdrawals during any Contract Year on or after the Benefit Election Date that exceed the Annual Withdrawal Amount are "Excess Withdrawals." You should not purchase the SecurePay rider if you intend to take Excess Withdrawals.

•  Excess Withdrawals could reduce your Benefit Base by substantially more than the actual amount of the withdrawal (described below).

•  Excess Withdrawals may result in a significantly lower AWA in the future.

•  Excess Withdrawals may significantly reduce or eliminate the value of the SecurePay benefit.

   If you would like to make an Excess Withdrawal and are uncertain how an Excess Withdrawal will reduce your future guaranteed withdrawal amounts, then you may contact us prior to requesting the withdrawal to obtain a personalized, transaction-specific calculation showing the effect of the Excess Withdrawal.

Determining the Amount of Your SecurePay Withdrawals

The AWA is the maximum amount of SecurePay Withdrawals permitted each Contract Year. We determine your initial AWA as of the end of the Valuation Period during which we receive your completed SecurePay Benefit Election form at our administrative office in good order by multiplying your Benefit Base on that date by the applicable "Maximum Withdrawal Percentage."

(1)   Maximum Withdrawal Percentage for SecurePay Riders Purchased On or After May 1, 2010 :

(a)  If you do not select the SecurePay R72 Benefit, then where there is a single Covered Person, the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage under the SecurePay rider is 5.0% and where two spouses are Covered Persons, the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage is 4.5%.

(b)  If you select the SecurePay R72 Benefit, then we will apply a Maximum Withdrawal Percentage based on the age bands set forth in the following chart:

50

(2)   Maximum Withdrawal Percentage for SecurePay Riders Purchased On or After May 1, 2009 and Before May 1, 2010 :

(a)  If you do not select the SecurePay R72 Benefit, then where there is a single Covered Person, the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage under the SecurePay rider is 5.0% and where two spouses are Covered Persons, the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage is 4.5%.

(b)  If you select the SecurePay R72 Benefit, then we will apply a Maximum Withdrawal Percentage based on the age bands set forth in the following chart:

(3)   Maximum Withdrawal Percentage for SecurePay Riders Purchased Before May 1, 2009 :

(a)  If you purchased a SecurePay rider either by itself or with the SecurePay GMAB (without the SecurePay R72 Benefit), then we will apply a Maximum Withdrawal Percentage based on the age bands set forth in the following chart:

For example: assume the Owner/Covered Person was age 65 on the Rider Effective Date, 5 years passed between the Rider Effective Date and the Benefit Election Date, and the Benefit Base was $100,000. Because the Covered Person is now 70 years old, the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage would be 6.0%, and the AWA would equal $6,000 ($100,000 x .06). If on the Benefit Election Date the same Owner wants SecurePay Withdrawals based upon himself and his 64 year-old spouse, then the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage would be 4.5% and the AWA would equal $4,500 ($100,000 x .045) because there are two Covered Persons and the younger of the two is less than 70 years old on the Benefit Election Date.

Note: If you delay the Benefit Election Date by 10 or more years following the Rider Effective Date, then you will be permitted to withdraw a greater amount each year once you begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals. This may be a factor for you to consider when deciding when to establish the Benefit Election Date and begin taking SecurePay Withdrawals. Please see Beginning Your SecurePay Withdrawals for other factors to consider when making this decision.

(b)  If you purchased a SecurePay rider with the SecurePay R72 Benefit (either with or without the SecurePay GMAB), then we will apply a Maximum Withdrawal Percentage based on the age bands set forth in the following chart:

Note: This means that if you selected the SecurePay R72 Benefit, then we will not increase your Maximum Withdrawal Percentage by 1%, even if 10 or more years elapse between the Benefit Election Date and the Rider Effective Date.

51

SecurePay ME ^® : Increased AWA for Certain Medical Conditions

If you have certain medical conditions, and you have held your Contract for two years or more, you may qualify for an increase in your AWA at the time you establish your Benefit Election Date. You may not apply for an increased AWA after the Benefit Election Date.

Note: The two-year waiting period for the SecurePay ME ^® benefit begins on the Contract's Effective Date (not necessarily when you select the SecurePay rider). A new waiting period begins if ownership of the Contract changes.

At present, the maximum age at which you may apply for a medical evaluation of your benefit under your SecurePay rider and request the SecurePay ME benefit is age 75. We reserve the right to change this maximum age, so that in the future the maximum age for medical evaluation may increase or decrease. We determine the maximum age based on a variety of factors including current life expectancies, developments in medical treatment and technology, and the costs to us of providing the SecurePay ME benefit, as well as the costs of the various death benefits we make available under the Contract.

After receiving your application for the SecurePay ME benefit, we will determine, in our sole discretion, whether a medical condition will qualify for an increased benefit under the SecurePay ME benefit and, if so, the amount of the increase. In general, in order to qualify for an increased AWA, the medical condition must be one which significantly reduces life expectancy. Our evaluation of life expectancy will be based on a review of the medical records made available to us and our assessment of the specific characteristics and severity of an impairment or impairments, including, but not limited to, our judgment as to your individual medical condition and the likelihood of improved medical treatment for that condition. Based upon this evaluation, we will assign a life expectancy or "table" rating in accordance with the guidance provided in standard industry underwriting manuals and written company guidelines specific to assessing longevity in the context of annuity payments, rather than life insurance underwriting. The table rating will correspond to an estimated decrease in life expectancy compared to other persons of the same age and gender without significant medical impairments. Because of their complexity or severity, or both, certain impairments or combinations of impairments will require the expertise and knowledge of our Medical Director, who will assist us in determining the appropriate life expectancy table rating. As part of this process, the Medical Director will review the medical records in light of our underwriting manual/guidelines and pertinent medical literature.

After a table rating has been assigned, it will be used to determine whether, and the extent to which, we will increase the AWA. Table ratings currently range from 1 to 16. The higher the table rating, the greater the estimated decrease in longevity. In order to qualify for an increased AWA, the estimated decrease in longevity currently must be greater than or equal to 25%. The table rating required to hit this threshold will vary depending on your age and sex. We also will take into account our experience and expectations regarding the mortality of the entire pool of Covered Persons under all SecurePay riders, as well as the investment performance of the required allocations under our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions and our expectations regarding the securities markets in general. The factors upon which we base our decision, the weight we give to each factor and the table rating requirements may change periodically. From time to time, we will publish examples of conditions that would typically qualify for an increase in your AWA.

If we determine that an increase in your AWA is warranted, the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage that you receive will be from 0.25% to 2.00% higher than you would otherwise receive. The amount of any increase in the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage that we may make available will apply consistently to all similarly rated applicants. After the Benefit Election Date, the amount of your increase will not change. An increase in your AWA will not affect the amount of the SecurePay fee, although we may charge a processing fee to establish the SecurePay ME benefit, as described below.

Note: The SecurePay ME ^® benefit may not be available in all states. We reserve the right to discontinue this benefit at any time.

How to Apply for an Increased AWA. You may ask for a determination as to whether you (or in the case of Joint Life Coverage, you and/or your spouse) qualify for an increased AWA because of certain serious medical

52

conditions if you have held your contract for two or more years and if you (or the younger of you and your spouse) are at least 59 ¹ / ₂ years old.

If you believe you may qualify for an increased AWA, you should provide Written Notice to us in order to begin the process. Among other things, you must complete a SecurePay ME ^® questionnaire and authorize us to obtain copies of your medical records and a statement from your attending physician as well as certain other personal information.

If we determine that you do not qualify for the increased AWA, you may request a subsequent determination of qualification if one year or more has passed since the previous determination of qualification.

Note: You may not apply for an increased AWA after the Benefit Election Date.

In the case of a Contract with two Owners who are spouses, a request may be made for a determination regarding an increased AWA for Single Coverage for the older of the spouses or for Joint Coverage for both spouses. If you request Joint Coverage, we will require a medical evaluation of both spouses and we will advise you of our determination with respect to Single and Joint Coverage. Although the base AWA available under the SecurePay rider for Joint Coverage with the SecurePay R72 Benefit is based upon the younger of the two spouses, the determination as to the amount of the increase available for Joint Coverage, if any, will be the smaller increase attributable to each Covered Person. The increased AWA will continue for the lives of both spouses.

Note: Although Single Coverage may provide a higher AWA than Joint Coverage, you should consider that Single Coverage terminates upon the death of the Covered Person following the Benefit Election Date.

We will assess a charge for evaluating your request for an increased AWA only if we determine that you qualify for an increased AWA and you elect to begin taking your SecurePay Withdrawals at the increased AWA. However, if you request an increase in AWA under the SecurePay ME feature more than twice, we will deduct the charge from your current Contract Value whether or not we determine that you qualify for an increased AWA and whether or not you begin taking your SecurePay Withdrawals at the increased AWA.

The current fee is $150 for Single Coverage and $300 for Joint Coverage if the AWA is increased. Although we may increase this charge, it will not be more than $300 per Covered Person. We will deduct the charge from your current Contract Value when you submit your Benefit Election Form.

Electing to Begin Your SecurePay Withdrawals after a Determination that You are Eligible for an Increased AWA. We must receive your Benefit Election Form at our administrative office within 6 months after the date we notify you that you are eligible for the increased AWA. If we do not receive this form within this time period, we will not increase your AWA, but you may request a subsequent determination of qualification if one year or more has passed since the previous determination of qualification.

53

Note: A change of Covered Persons after the Benefit Election Date will cause the SecurePay rider to terminate and any scheduled SecurePay Withdrawals to cease. The Owner(s) may purchase a new SecurePay rider under the RightTime ^® option without the normal five-year waiting period. See "Purchasing a New SecurePay rider after Termination of the Prior SecurePay Rider."

Changing Beneficiaries — Single Owner with Joint Life Coverage

After selecting Joint Life Coverage, a single Owner may decide to remove a spouse Beneficiary or add additional Primary Beneficiaries. This would constitute a change of Covered Persons after the Benefit Election Date, and upon notification of the change, we will terminate the SecurePay rider. In addition, whether a spouse continues the Contract could affect the rights and benefits under the SecurePay rider and could have tax consequences. (See "Tax Consequences — Treatment of Civil Unions and Domestic Partners.")

Similarly, if an Owner adds a spouse as a sole Primary Beneficiary after selecting Single Life Coverage and wants to convert to Joint Life Coverage, the Owner may terminate the SecurePay rider provided it has been 10 years or more since the Rider Effective Date and exercise the RightTime ^® option (if we are still offering SecurePay) to purchase a new SecurePay rider. See "Purchasing a New SecurePay Rider after Termination of the Prior SecurePay Rider."

54

Calculating the Benefit Base Before the Benefit Election Date

The Benefit Base is used to calculate the AWA and determine the SecurePay Fee. As the Benefit Base increases, the AWA and the amount of the SecurePay Fee increase. Your Benefit Base can never be more than $5 million.

Note: The Benefit Base is only used to calculate the AWA and the SecurePay Fee; it is not a cash value, surrender value, or death benefit, it is not available to Owners, it is not a minimum return for any Sub-Account, and it is not a guarantee of any Contract Value.

On the Rider Effective Date, we will determine your initial Benefit Base. If you purchase the SecurePay rider when you purchase the Contract, the Benefit Base is initially equal to your initial Purchase Payment. If you purchase the SecurePay rider after the Contract has been issued by exercising the RightTime ^® option, the Benefit Base is initially equal to the Contract Value as of the Rider Effective Date.

Thereafter, we increase the Benefit Base dollar-for-dollar for each Purchase Payment made within 2 years of the Rider Effective Date. We reduce the Benefit Base for each partial surrender from the Contract prior to the Benefit Period in the same proportion that each partial surrender reduces the Contract Value as of the date we process the partial surrender request.

Example: Assume your Benefit Base is $100,000, but because of poor Sub-Account performance your Contract Value has fallen to $90,000. If you make a $9,000 partial surrender, thereby reducing your Contract Value by 10% to $81,000, we would reduce your Benefit Base also by 10%, or $10,000, to $90,000.

On each Contract Anniversary following the Rider Effective Date, we also will increase the Benefit Base to equal the "SecurePay Anniversary Value," if that value is higher than the Benefit Base. On each Contract Anniversary, the "SecurePay Anniversary Value" is equal to your Contract Value on that Contract Anniversary minus any Purchase Payments made two or more years after your Rider Effective Date. If we receive a partial surrender request on a Contract Anniversary, we will deduct the partial surrender from Contract Value before calculating the SecurePay Anniversary Value.

On each Contract Anniversary, we may also increase the Benefit Base if you have selected the SecurePay rider with the SecurePay R72 Benefit (as described below).

SecurePay R72 Benefit

You may purchase the SecurePay R72 Benefit under the SecurePay rider for an increased SecurePay Fee, provided that the youngest Owner (or, in the case of a Qualified Contract, or a non-natural owner, the Annuitant) is age 55 or older. This benefit is designed to provide for potential increases in your Benefit Base of up to 7.2% each Contract Anniversary during a specified period ("Roll-up Period"), even if your Contract Value has not increased.

For riders issued on or after May 1, 2009, your Contract Value must be at least 50% ( i.e. , half) of your Benefit Base to be eligible for an increase in Benefit Base equal to the "roll-up" amount (described below) on any Contract Anniversary during the Roll-up Period. (For hypothetical examples of the SecurePay rider issued before May 1, 2009, please see Appendix G and H in this prospectus.) For example, if on a Contract Anniversary your Contract Value is $65,000 and the most recently calculated Benefit Base prior to that anniversary is $150,000, you will not be eligible for an increase on that anniversary equal to the "roll-up" amount because your Contract Value ($65,000) is less than 50% of your Benefit Base ($150,000 x 0.5 = $75,000).

Under the SecurePay R72 Benefit, we will recalculate your Benefit Base on each Contract Anniversary during a specified period (the "Roll-up Period") to equal the greatest of:

(1)  the Benefit Base on that Contract Anniversary;

(2)  the SecurePay Anniversary Value on that Contract Anniversary (as described above); or

(3)  the SecurePay Roll-up Value, which is equal to:

(a)    the most recently calculated Benefit Base prior to that Contract Anniversary; plus

55

(b)    the "roll-up" amount, which is equal to:

    i)   for riders issued on or after May 1, 2009:

•  if your Contract Value on that Contract Anniversary is at least 50% ( i.e. , half) of the most recently calculated Benefit Base prior to that Contract Anniversary, then the roll-up amount is equal to 7.2% of the Benefit Base on the previous Contract Anniversary, reduced proportionately for partial surrenders made since that anniversary. This means that we will reduce the "roll-up" amount for each partial surrender made since the previous Contract Anniversary in the same proportion that each partial surrender reduced the Contract Value as of the date we processed the partial surrender request.

  If you purchase the rider when you purchase your Contract (not under RightTime) We will include Purchase Payments made within the first 120 days following the Contract Effective Date when calculating the roll-up amount on the first Contract Anniversary. For example, if your initial Purchase Payment on the Contract Effective Date is $50,000 and we receive an additional $100,000 Purchase Payment 90 days later, then assuming you do not take any partial surrenders during the first Contract Year, the roll-up amount on the first Contract Anniversary will be $10,800 (($50,000 + $100,000) x 7.2%).

•   if your Contract Value on that Contract Anniversary is less than 50% ( i.e. , half) of the most recently calculated Benefit Base prior to that Contract Anniversary, then the roll-up amount is equal to $0.

    ii)   for riders issued prior to May 1, 2009: 7.2% of the Benefit Base on the previous Contract Anniversary, reduced proportionately for partial surrenders made since that anniversary. This means that we will reduce the "roll-up" amount for each partial surrender made since the previous Contract Anniversary in the same proportion that each partial surrender reduced the Contract Value as of the date we processed the partial surrender request.

Note: If the SecurePay Anniversary Value is consistently higher than the SecurePay Roll-up Value (because your Contract Value is generally increasing by more than 7.2% each Contract Year), the SecurePay Roll-up Value may never be used to increase your Benefit Base.

When we calculate the SecurePay Roll-up Value on the first Contract Anniversary following the Rider Effective Date, we will apply the 7.2% (if applicable) to the Benefit Base on the Rider Effective Date to determine the "roll-up" amount, and then reduce the "roll-up" amount proportionately for partial surrenders made since the Rider Effective Date. We will then add the reduced "roll-up" amount to the most recently calculated Benefit Base prior to the first Contract Anniversary to determine the SecurePay Roll-up Value. The Benefit Base can never be greater than $5 million.

Example: Assume on the Rider Effective Date your Benefit Base is $100,000. Three months later, assume your Contract Value is $103,000 and you take a partial surrender of $10,300, reducing your current Contract Value to $92,700, which results in a decrease of 10% (($103,000 – $92,700)/$103,000). Because of the partial surrender, we will reduce your Benefit Base by 10% as well, to $90,000. Also assume that one month later your Contract Value increased from $92,700 to $94,000 due to favorable market performance and you do not make any additional Purchase Payments or partial surrenders.

On the first Contract Anniversary, we will determine the SecurePay Roll-up Value by adding the most recently calculated Benefit Base ($90,000) to 7.2% of the Benefit Base on the previous Contract Anniversary (the Rider Effective Date), increased by any Purchase Payments made within 120 days of the Contract Effective Date and reduced proportionately for partial surrenders made since that anniversary. The Benefit Base on the Rider Effective Date was $100,000, and 7.2% of $100,000 = $7,200. However, because a partial surrender was made during the year, we will reduce this "roll-up" amount in the same proportion that the partial surrender reduced the Contract Value, which was 10%. Because 10% of the "roll-up" amount is $720, the reduced "roll-up" amount is $6,480 ($7,200 – $720). We then calculate the SecurePay Roll-up Value by adding the "roll-up" amount of $6,480 to $90,000 (the most recently calculated Benefit Base), and determine that the SecurePay Roll-up Value is $96,480.

56

We will then recalculate your Benefit Base on the first Contract Anniversary to equal the greatest of:

(1)  the Benefit Base on that Contract Anniversary ($90,000);

(2)  the SecurePay Anniversary Value on that Contract Anniversary ($94,000); or

(3)  the SecurePay Roll-up Value ($96,480)

We will set your Benefit Base equal to $96,480 because the SecurePay Roll-up Value is greater than the Benefit Base on that Contract Anniversary and the SecurePay Anniversary Value on that Contract Anniversary.

Note: Partial surrenders could reduce your SecurePay Roll-up Value by substantially more than the actual amount of the partial surrender. For example, assume your Benefit Base at the beginning of the Contract Year is $100,000. Assuming that you do not make any additional Purchase Payments or partial surrenders and assuming your Contract Value remains at 50% or more of your Benefit Base, the SecurePay Roll-up Value on the next Contract Anniversary would be $107,200 ($100,000 + $7,200 (the 7.2% "roll-up" amount)).

Assume instead, however, that during the Contract Year you make a partial surrender of $45,000 and your Contract Value at that time is $90,000 (i.e ., the partial surrender is 50% of your Contract Value). Both the Benefit Base and the "roll-up" amount are also reduced by 50%, to $50,000 and $3,600, respectively. This would result in a SecurePay Roll-up Value of $53,600 on the next Contract Anniversary ($50,000 + $3,600), rather than $107,200. Thus, the $45,000 partial surrender would reduce the SecurePay Roll-up Value by more than $45,000 — it would reduce it by $53,600 ($107,200 – $53,600).

The Roll-up Period begins on the Rider Effective Date and generally lasts for ten Contract Anniversaries.

•  If your rider was issued on or after May 1, 2009, the Roll-up Period will end on the next Valuation Day following the 10 ^th Contract Anniversary on which we increase your Benefit Base to equal either the SecurePay Anniversary Value or the SecurePay Roll-up Value. This means that when determining the 10 Contract Anniversaries that make up your Roll-up Period, we will not count Contract Anniversaries on which your Benefit Base does not increase.

•  If your rider was issued prior to May 1, 2009, the Roll-up Period will end on the next Valuation Day following the 10 ^th Contract Anniversary that occurs on the later of: (a) the Rider Effective Date; or (b) the most recent date that we reset the Roll-up Period (described below).

However, your Roll-up Period will end sooner — on either the Benefit Election Date or the date the SecurePay rider terminates (see "Terminating the SecurePay Rider") — if either of these events occur while your Roll-up Period is in effect.

If the Roll-up Period ends, the SecurePay R72 Benefit may not terminate. The SecurePay R72 Benefit will only end upon termination of the SecurePay rider. We will continue to assess the increased SecurePay Fee until the SecurePay rider terminates. Also, we will only include the SecurePay Roll-up Value when calculating your Benefit Base while the Roll-up Period is in effect.

Note: This means that if the Roll-up Period ends because you have established the Benefit Election Date, we will still continue to assess the increased SecurePay Fee until termination of the SecurePay Rider. We also will assess the increased SecurePay Fee during times when the Roll-up Period has expired.

Note: Once you establish your Benefit Election Date, you will no longer receive any additional value from the SecurePay R72 Benefit. On the other hand, delaying the Benefit Election Date may limit the time during which you may take SecurePay Withdrawals, due to life expectancy. See "Beginning Your SecurePay Withdrawals." You should carefully weigh the advantages of the SecurePay R72 Benefit with the disadvantages of delaying taking SecurePay Withdrawals.

Special Note For Riders Purchased Before May 1, 2009: If you purchased your SecurePay rider before May 1, 2009, then if at any time before the Benefit Election Date we increase the Benefit Base to equal the

57

SecurePay Anniversary Value, we will reset the Roll-up Period. This is true even if the previous Roll-up Period has expired. We will reset the Roll-up Period for an additional ten years, although any reset will end on the Benefit Election Date (or upon termination of the SecurePay Rider). (For hypothetical examples of the SecurePay rider issued before May 1, 2009, please see Appendix G and H in this prospectus.)

Example: Assume you purchase a Contract on December 1, 2008. If you do not establish the Benefit Election Date during the next 10 years, the Roll-up Period would expire on December 1, 2018. If, however, at any time during the Roll-up Period we increase the Benefit Base to equal the SecurePay Anniversary Value, the Roll-up Period will be reset. In this example, if the Roll-up Period is reset on December 1, 2012, the new Roll-up Period would expire on December 1, 2022. Similarly, if you have still not established the Benefit Election Date and the Benefit Base is again increased to equal the SecurePay Anniversary Value on December 1, 2025, we would once again reset the Roll-up Period to begin on December 1, 2025 and expire on December 1, 2035.

In this example, because there is no Roll-up Period between December 1, 2022 and December 1, 2025, we would not include the SecurePay Roll-up Value in the calculation of the Benefit Base during this time.

Calculating the Benefit Base On or After the Benefit Election Date

We continue calculating the Benefit Base after the Benefit Election Date in the same manner as we did prior to the Benefit Election Date, except withdrawals are treated differently . The effect of a withdrawal on the Benefit Base depends on whether the withdrawal is a SecurePay Withdrawal or an Excess Withdrawal. An Excess Withdrawal is any withdrawal after the Benefit Election Date which, when aggregated with all prior withdrawals during that Contract Year, exceeds the Contract Year's Annual Withdrawal Amount.

If you have selected the SecurePay R72 Benefit, we will not calculate the SecurePay Roll-up Value on or after the Benefit Election Date.

SecurePay Withdrawals

SecurePay Withdrawals do not reduce the Benefit Base. Therefore, if all your withdrawals during the Benefit Period are SecurePay Withdrawals, your Annual Withdrawal Amount will never decrease and you may continue to withdraw at least that amount for the lifetime of the Covered Person (or the last surviving Covered Person, if you selected Joint Life Coverage).

If your Benefit Base increases on a Contract Anniversary because the SecurePay Anniversary Value exceeds the Benefit Base on that date, your Annual Withdrawal Amount and therefore SecurePay Withdrawals available to you in subsequent Contract Years will also increase.

Important Consideration

•  SecurePay Withdrawals are not cumulative. If you choose to receive only a part of, or none of, your AWA in any given Contract Year, you should understand that you cannot carry over any unused SecurePay Withdrawals to any future Contract Years.

  For example, assume your Maximum Withdrawal Percentage is 5% and your Benefit Base is $100,000, which means your AWA is $5,000 ($100,000 x .05). If you withdraw only $4,000 during the Contract Year, the AWA will not increase the next Contract Year by the $1,000 you did not withdraw.

We do not impose a Surrender Charge on any SecurePay Withdrawals.

Excess Withdrawals

During the Benefit Period any portion of a withdrawal that, when aggregated with all prior withdrawals during that Contract Year, exceeds the Annual Withdrawal Amount constitutes an Excess Withdrawal. Therefore, a withdrawal during the Benefit Period that causes the aggregate withdrawals for that Contract Year to exceed the Annual Withdrawal Amount may include amounts that qualify as a SecurePay Withdrawal as well as amounts that are Excess Withdrawals.

58

An Excess Withdrawal will reduce the Benefit Base. The effect of the Excess Withdrawal on the Benefit Base depends, in part, on the relationship of the Benefit Base to the Contract Value at that time.

(a)  If, at the time of the Excess Withdrawal, your Contract Value minus the non-excess portion of the withdrawal (the portion of the withdrawal that qualifies as a SecurePay Withdrawal) is greater than the Benefit Base, we will reduce the Benefit Base by the amount of the Excess Withdrawal plus any applicable Surrender Charge.

(b)  If, at the time of Excess Withdrawal, your Contract Value minus the non-excess portion of the withdrawal (the portion of the withdrawal that qualifies as a SecurePay Withdrawal) is less than or equal to the Benefit Base, we will reduce the Benefit Base in the same proportion that the Excess Withdrawal, plus any applicable Surrender Charge, bears to the Contract Value minus the SecurePay Withdrawal.

For example, suppose your Benefit Base is $100,000, your Contract Value is $110,000, your Maximum Withdrawal Percentage is 5% (i.e., your AWA is $5,000), and no Surrender Charges apply. If you have already taken $3,000 of SecurePay Withdrawals in the Contract Year and then request another $3,000 SecurePay Withdrawal (which means you have exceeded your AWA by $1,000), we will consider $2,000 of that withdrawal to be SecurePay and $1,000 to be Excess. In this case, rule (a) above applies because the Contract Value less the SecurePay Withdrawal ($110,000 – $2,000 = $108,000) is greater than your Benefit Base ($100,000). We will therefore reduce your Benefit Base by the Excess Withdrawal and your new Benefit Base will be $99,000 ($100,000 – $1,000).

However, if your Contract Value is $70,000 then rule (b) applies. We determine the reduction in your Benefit Base first by determining the proportion that the Excess Withdrawal bears to the Contract Value less SecurePay Withdrawal. We calculate this by dividing the $1,000 Excess Withdrawal by the Contract Value less the $2,000 SecurePay Withdrawal ($1,000 ÷ ($70,000 – $2,000)) = 1.4706%). We will then apply this same percentage to reduce your Benefit Base. Thus your new Benefit Base will be equal to $98,529 ($100,000 – ($100,000 x 0.014706)).

The examples above do not include the effect of any surrender charges that may be applicable.

We will recalculate the Annual Withdrawal Amount on the next Contract Anniversary by multiplying the Benefit Base on that date by the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage. We also will apply a Surrender Charge to the Excess Withdrawal, if a Surrender Charge would otherwise be applicable.

Reduction of Contract Value to Zero

If the Contract Value is reduced to zero due to the deduction of fees or a SecurePay Withdrawal, the Contract will terminate and we will settle the benefit under your SecurePay rider as follows:

•  We will pay the remaining AWA not yet withdrawn in the current Contract Year, if any, in a lump sum;

•  we will establish an Annuity Commencement Date no earlier than the Contract Anniversary following the date of the transaction that reduced the Contract Value to zero; and

•  we will pay a monthly payment equal to the AWA divided by 12 until the death of the Owner, or if the rider covers two spouses, the death of the second spouse.

Please note that we may accept different payment intervals. If you request a full surrender and your Contract Value at the time of the request is less than your remaining AWA for that Contract Year, first, we will pay you a lump sum equal to such remaining AWA. We will then establish an Annuity Commencement Date, as described immediately above. As with any distribution from the Contract, there may be tax consequences. In this regard, we intend to treat any amounts that you receive before the Annuity Commencement Date is established as described above and that are in the form of SecurePay Withdrawals as partial surrenders. We intend to treat any amounts that you receive after the Annuity Commencement Date is established as described above and that are a settlement of the benefit under your SecurePay rider as annuity payments for tax purposes. See "TAXATION OF ANNUITIES IN GENERAL."

59

If your Contract Value reduces to zero due to an Excess Withdrawal, we will terminate your Contract and the SecurePay rider. You will not be entitled to receive any further benefits under the SecurePay rider.

Required Minimum Distributions

If SecurePay is purchased for use with a Qualified Contract, the Qualified Contract must comply with the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules under the Code Section 401(a)(9). The SecurePay rider, and certain other benefits that the IRS may characterize as "other benefits" for purposes of the regulations under Code Section 401(a)(9), may increase the amount of the RMD that must be taken from your Qualified Contract. See "QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS."

After the Benefit Election Date, we permit withdrawals from a Qualified Contract that exceed the AWA in order to satisfy the RMD for the Qualified Contract without compromising the SecurePay guarantees. In particular, if you provide us with written notice of an RMD at the time you request a SecurePay Withdrawal from your Qualified Contract, we will compute an amount that is treated under the SecurePay rider as the RMD for the calendar year with respect to your Qualified Contract. Note that although the tax law may permit you in certain circumstances to take distributions from your Qualified Contract to satisfy the RMDs with respect to other retirement plans established for your benefit, only the amount computed by us as the RMD with respect to your Qualified Contract is treated as an RMD for purposes of the SecurePay rider. Also, if you do not provide us with Written Notice of an RMD at the time you request a SecurePay Withdrawal, the entire amount by which the withdrawal exceeds any remaining AWA for the Contract Year will reduce the amount of your future AWA and could reduce your Benefit Base.

In the future, we may institute certain procedures, including requiring that RMD be established as automatic, periodic distributions, in order to ensure that RMDs for a calendar year do not exceed the AWA for the corresponding Contract Year.

In general, under the SecurePay rider, you may withdraw the greater of (i) your AWA for a contract year or (ii) the RMD attributable to your Contract that is determined as of December 31 ^st immediately preceding the beginning of your contract year.

Note: If you submit your Benefit Election Form before the first RMD under Code Section 401(a)(9) is due, we may adjust the amount of your maximum SecurePay withdrawal for the contract year that includes the due date for the first RMD so that the maximum amount of your withdrawal under the SecurePay Benefit will be the greater of your first RMD or AWA plus the greater of your second RMD or AWA minus your actual withdrawals in the previous contract year. Thereafter, the maximum allowed is the greater of the AWA or the RMD determined as of the preceding December 31 ^st .

Benefit Available on Maximum Annuity Commencement Date (oldest Owner's or Annuitant's 95 ^th birthday)

You must annuitize the Contract no later than the oldest Owner's or Annuitant's 95 ^th birthday ("Maximum Annuity Commencement Date"). The SecurePay rider will terminate on the Annuity Commencement Date, whether or not you have begun your SecurePay Withdrawals.

If your SecurePay rider is in effect on the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date, in addition to the other Annuity Options available to you under your Contract, one of your Annuity Options will be to receive monthly annuity payments equal to the AWA divided by 12 for the life of the Covered Person (or the last surviving Covered Person if Joint Life Coverage was selected). If you do not select an Annuity Option, your monthly annuity payments will be the greater of (i) the AWA divided by 12 or (ii) payments based upon the Contract Value for the life of the Annuitant with a 10-year Certain Period. We must receive written notification of your election of such annuity payments at least three days but no earlier than 90 days before the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date. For more information regarding Annuity Options, including Certain Period options, see ANNUITY PAYMENTS, Annuity Options.

SecurePay Fee

We deduct a fee for the SecurePay rider that compensates us for the costs and risks we assume in providing this benefit. This SecurePay Fee is a percentage of the Benefit Base. We deduct this fee from your Contract Value

60

on the Valuation Day that occurs after each Valuation Period containing a Monthly Anniversary Day. The SecurePay Fee is deducted from the Sub-Accounts of the Variable Account only; it is not deducted from the assets in the DCA. Accordingly, you must have transferred some assets from your DCA account to Sub-Accounts in accordance with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions before the fee is charged.

The SecurePay Fee will vary depending on when you purchase the rider and whether or not you have selected an optional SecurePay feature.

*  The current SecurePay Fee may be lower for certain Owners who elected not to pay an increase in the fee that became effective on February 16, 2009.

We may increase the SecurePay fee. However, we will not increase the SecurePay Fee above the maximum amounts listed in the table above.

If we increase the SecurePay Fee, we will give you at least 30 days' notice prior to the increase. You may elect not to pay the increase in your SecurePay Fee. If you elect not to pay the increased SecurePay Fee, your SecurePay rider will not terminate, but your Benefit Base will be capped at its then current value (i.e., your SecurePay Anniversary Value will be reset to $0) and you will give up the opportunity for any future increases in the Benefit Base if your Contract Value exceeds your Benefit Base on subsequent Contract Anniversaries. You will continue to be assessed your current SecurePay Fee. If you purchased the SecurePay R72 Benefit, we also will no longer calculate the SecurePay Roll-up Value when determining your Benefit Base if you elect not to pay the increase in your SecurePay Fee. You will continue to be assessed your current SecurePay Fee, even though you will no longer be entitled to additional SecurePay Roll-up Values. See "SecurePay R72 Benefit."

If you purchased a SecurePay rider before May 1, 2009 and you purchased the SecurePay GMAB, you also will not be permitted to "step-up" the GMAB Guaranteed Amount or repurchase the SecurePay GMAB following its termination if you elect not to pay the increase in your SecurePay Fee. You will continue to be assessed your current SecurePay Fee, even though you will no longer be entitled to additional "step-ups" of the GMAB Guaranteed Amounts or repurchase the SecurePay GMAB following its termination. See Appendix F: The SecurePay GMAB (Not Available On or After May 1, 2009).

61

Terminating the SecurePay Rider

The SecurePay rider will terminate upon the earliest of:

•  termination of the SecurePay rider by the Owner (permitted after the SecurePay rider has been in effect for at least ten years);

•  full surrender or termination of the Contract;

•  changing your designation of a Covered Person or Persons on or after the Benefit Election Date;

•  the Annuity Commencement Date;

•  noncompliance with the Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions.

Deduction of the monthly fee for the SecurePay rider ceases upon termination. If purchased, the SecurePay R72 Benefit will terminate on the date the SecurePay rider terminates (if not sooner). See "Secure Pay R72 Benefit".

Spousal Continuation

If the Benefit Election indicates Single Life Coverage and the SecurePay rider terminates due to the death of the Covered Person following the Benefit Election Date and the surviving spouse elects to continue the Contract and become the new Owner, the surviving spouse may also exercise the RightTime ^® option immediately (if it is available at that time) and purchase a new SecurePay rider. We will waive the 5-year waiting period. The surviving spouse's benefit under the SecurePay rider will be subject to the terms and conditions of the rider in effect at that time. See "Purchasing a New SecurePay Rider after Termination of the Prior SecurePay Rider."

If the SecurePay Benefit Election indicates Joint Life Coverage (see "Selecting Your Coverage Option"), and the surviving spouse elects to continue the Contract and the SecurePay rider, the Annual Withdrawal Amount remains the same until the next Contract Anniversary. On the next Contract Anniversary, the Benefit Base will be the greater of the Contract Value (which will reflect the Death Benefit) or the current Benefit Base and we will recalculate the Annual Withdrawal Amount, if necessary, using the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage.

Reinstating the SecurePay Rider Within 30 Days of Termination

If your SecurePay rider terminated due to a Prohibited Allocation instruction (See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits") and you made no additional Purchase Payment after the termination, you may request that we reinstate the rider.

Your written reinstatement request must correct the previous Prohibited Allocation instruction by either directing us to allocate your Contract Value in accordance with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions and/or resume portfolio rebalancing. We must receive your written reinstatement request within 30 days of the date the rider terminated. The reinstated rider will have the same terms and conditions, including the same SecurePay Rider Effective Date, Benefit Base, AWA, SecurePay Fee and, if applicable, Maximum Withdrawal Percentage, as it had prior to termination. In addition, if you purchased the SecurePay R72 Benefit, we also will reinstate your SecurePay R72 Benefit. (And, if you purchased a SecurePay rider before May 1, 2009 and you selected the SecurePay GMAB, we also will reinstate your SecurePay GMAB.)

Purchasing a New SecurePay Rider after Termination of the Prior SecurePay Rider

If your SecurePay rider has terminated, you may exercise the RightTime ^® option and purchase a new SecurePay rider before the Annuity Commencement Date if five years have passed since the termination of the prior SecurePay rider. We do not require a five-year waiting period, however, if your prior SecurePay rider terminated because of the death or change of a Covered Person during the Benefit Period.

If all the conditions to purchase a new SecurePay rider have been met, we will issue the rider upon our receipt of your written request to exercise the RightTime ^® option. The new rider will be subject to the terms and conditions of the SecurePay rider in effect at the time it is issued. This means:

•  The initial Benefit Base will be equal to the Contract Value as of the new Rider Effective Date.

•  We will impose the current SecurePay Fee in effect on the new Rider Effective Date.

62

If you have selected the SecurePay R72 Benefit with your new SecurePay rider, then when we calculate the AWA under the new SecurePay rider, we will base the Maximum Withdrawal Percentage on the age of the Owner (the younger Owner in the case of two Owners), as of the new rider's Benefit Election Date.

Please note you may only purchase a new SecurePay rider with the SecurePay R72 Benefit if this benefit was available on the date that you purchased the Contract.

Tax Consequences

Treatment of Civil Unions and Domestic Partners. The SecurePay rider's provisions relating to marital status are interpreted under applicable state law. For example, if the state law governing the SecurePay rider treats individuals who are in a bona fide civil union or a domestic partnership as married, or the parties to a valid same sex marriage as spouses, such treatment will be recognized under the rider. However, as described above in "Death Benefit Continuation of the Contract by a Surviving Spouse", DOMA is the controlling law when determining whether individuals are married (or are spouses) for federal tax purposes and when interpreting certain provisions of the Contract to which the SecurePay rider is attached. As a result, a beneficiary of a deceased owner who was treated as married to the owner under state law and for purposes of the SecurePay rider, but whose marriage is not recognized by DOMA, will be required to take distributions from the Contract in the manner applicable to non-spouse beneficiaries. In some circumstances, these required distributions could substantially reduce or eliminate the value of the SecurePay rider benefit.

In addition, the SecurePay rider allows the surviving spouse of a deceased owner who continues the underlying Contract and becomes the new owner to purchase a new rider if the benefit is being offered at that time. This right is only available to an individual who was the spouse of the deceased owner within the meaning of DOMA.

An individual who is treated as a spouse for state law purposes, but not for DOMA, should not purchase the SecurePay rider before consulting legal and financial advisors, and carefully evaluating whether the SecurePay rider is suitable for her or his needs.

Other Tax Matters. For a discussion of other tax consequences specific to the SecurePay benefit, please see TAXATION OF ANNUITIES IN GENERAL, Tax Consequences of Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits and QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS, Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits.

PROTECTIVE INCOME MANAGER (patent pending) WITH RightTime ^® OPTION

The Protective Income Manager rider is not available with Contracts purchased before May 1, 2011.

In general, the Protective Income Manager rider guarantees the right to make withdrawals ("Protective Income Manager Withdrawals") each year even if your Contract Value is reduced to zero due to poor market performance, and provides fixed lifetime income payments for the life of any Covered Person ("Protected Lifetime Payments") beginning on the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date. Protective Income Manager is specifically designed for you to withdraw all your Contract Value systematically over a particular period of time.

•  If you purchased the rider before October 1, 2011, the rider is designed to distribute your Contract Value by the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date, which is the (older) Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday, in annual amounts that may vary from year to year (the "Optimal Withdrawal Amount").

•  If you purchased the rider on or after October 1, 2011, the rider is designed to distribute your Contract Value by the (younger) Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday in annual amounts that may vary from year to year (the "Optimal Withdrawal Amount").

Note: The rider may not operate as designed if joint life coverage is selected and there is a significant age difference between the two Covered Persons. In that event, it is likely that on the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date (the older Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday), a substantial amount of Contract Value will still be remaining and you will choose to apply this amount to an Annuity Option instead of the rider's Protected Lifetime Payment Annuity Option. If so, you will have paid for the rider

63

without receiving its benefit. If there is a significant age disparity between you and your spouse, then joint life coverage under the rider may not be appropriate for you. You should discuss this with your financial advisor to ascertain if joint life coverage will address your financial needs and be suitable for you. See "Selecting Your Coverage Option" below for factors to consider when discussing this with your advisor. Also see Appendix M for examples of joint life coverage when there is a significant age difference.

Under the Protective Income Manager rider, the Owner or Owner(s) may designate certain persons as "Covered Persons" under the Contract. See "Selecting Your Coverage Option." These Covered Persons will be eligible to make Protective Income Manager Withdrawals each Contract Year up to a specified amount — during the life of the Covered Person(s). This amount is called the "Optimal Withdrawal Amount," and is calculated as a percentage of your Contract Value. Annual aggregate withdrawals that exceed the Optimal Withdrawal Amount may result in a reduction of rider benefits (and may even significantly reduce or eliminate such benefits) because we will recalculate the minimum guarantees associated with your Optimal Withdrawal Amount on the next Contract Anniversary. Protective Income Manager Withdrawals are guaranteed to be no lower than your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount, even if your Contract Value falls to zero, if you do not take any withdrawals in excess of your Optimal Withdrawal Amount ("Excess Withdrawals").

You may purchase the Protective Income Manager rider when you purchase your Contract, or at a later date under our RightTime ^® option, provided the Covered Person (or both Covered Persons) are between ages 60 and 80 on the date the Protective Income Manager rider is issued (the "Rider Effective Date") and your Contract Value is at least $25,000 on that date if you purchase under the RightTime option.

The Protective Income Manager rider does not guarantee Contract Value or the performance of any investment option.

Important Considerations

•  If you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider, your options for allocating Purchase Payments and Contract Value are restricted. See "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits."

•  If you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider, your death benefit will be the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit. The Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit is not available under the Protective Income Manager rider. If you selected the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit when you purchased your Contract and you later purchase the Protective Income Manager rider under our RightTime ^® option, we will pay the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit at the time of an Owner's death. If the value of your Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit at the time you elect the Protective Income Manager rider is greater than the value of the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit at that time, then you will forfeit this excess. We will stop assessing the fee for the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit when we issue the Protective Income Manager rider, but will not refund the fees you paid for the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit before that date. (See "Death of a Covered Person.")

•  Any change in a Covered Person other than a spousal continuation under a Joint Life Coverage option, will cause the rider to terminate without any refund of fees.

•  Excess Withdrawals will cause a "reset" of the floor on your Optimal Withdrawal Amount (which is the lowest amount we guarantee your Optimal Withdrawal Amount will be each year) on the next Contract Anniversary. This may result in a substantially lower Optimal Withdrawal Amount in the future, which could significantly reduce or even eliminate the value of the Protective Income Manager rider. See "Determining Your Optimal Withdrawal Amount."

•  You will begin paying the Protective Income Manager fee as of the Rider Effective Date, even if you do not begin taking Protective Income Manager Withdrawals for many years.

64

•  You may not cancel the Protective Income Manager rider during the ten years following the Rider Effective Date.

•  We do not refund any Protective Income Manager fees if the rider terminates for any reason or if you choose not to take Protective Income Manager Withdrawals.

•  The automatic purchase payment plan and partial automatic withdrawal plan are not available if you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider. If you select the Protective Income Manager rider under our RightTime ^® Option, on the Rider Effective Date we will cancel any existing automatic purchase payment plan or partial automatic withdrawal plan that you have established.

•  The Protective Income Manager rider may not be available in all states, and we may otherwise limit its availability.

The ways to purchase the Protective Income Manager rider, conditions for continuation of the benefit, process for beginning Protective Income Manager Withdrawals, and the manner in which your Optimal Withdrawal Amount is calculated are discussed below.

You should not purchase the Protective Income Manager rider if:

•  you expect to take Excess Withdrawals because such Excess Withdrawals may significantly reduce or eliminate the value of the benefit (see "Excess Withdrawals");

•  you are primarily interested in maximizing the Contract's potential for long-term accumulation rather than systematically withdrawing all of your Contract Value over time;

•  it is important for you to leave a death benefit for your heirs;

•  there is a significant age disparity between the two Covered Persons; or

•  you do not expect to take Protective Income Manager Withdrawals (especially before the age of 95).

Appendix I demonstrates the operation of the Protective Income Manager rider using hypothetical examples. You should review Appendix I and consult your sales representative to discuss whether the Protective Income Manager rider suits your needs.

Purchasing Protective Income Manager

You may purchase the Contract and the Protective Income Manager rider if your initial Purchase Payment is at least $25,000. If your initial Purchase Payment is funded, in whole or in part, by the exchange of another annuity contract or contracts, the aggregate value of your Purchase Payments within the first 120 days following the Contract Effective Date must be equal to or greater than $25,000. If the total of your Purchase Payments is less than $25,000 at the end of the Valuation Period on the 120 ^th day following the Contract Effective Date, we will terminate Protective Income Manager and credit to your account all Protective Income Manager fees previously deducted from your Contract Value. In addition, if we terminate your Protective Income Manager, any withdrawals that you took under Protective Income Manager during the initial 120 day period will be treated as Contract withdrawals.

If the rider is still available for sale, you may instead exercise the RightTime ^® option to add it to your Contract any time before the Annuity Commencement Date so long as your Contract Value on the Rider Effective Date is at least $25,000 and you meet the age requirements. If you purchase the rider under the RightTime ^® option, the rider will be subject to the terms and conditions of the Protective Income Manager rider in effect at the time it is issued.

A Covered Person must be the Annuitant under the Contract. In addition, the Covered Person (or both Covered Persons) must be a living person between ages 60 and 80 on the Rider Effective Date, and must be either an Owner of the Contract or the spouse of the sole Owner, if the spouse is the sole Primary Beneficiary. If any Owner is a corporation, partnership, company, trust, or other "non-natural person," the Annuitant must be the sole Covered Person.

65

Important Considerations

The timing of the Protective Income Manager rider purchase may have a significant impact on the minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount guarantee under the rider:

•  For example, there are certain advantages to purchasing the Protective Income Manager rider early. Foremost, the rider is designed for you to receive income over the long term through periodic withdrawals. In addition, the amount you can withdraw each Contract Year under the rider will never drop below your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount, which is calculated as a percentage of your Contract Value on the Rider Effective Date (so long as you do not take an Excess Withdrawal, which would result in a recalculation of your minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount based on your current Contract Value). This means if you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider at issue, or early on under the RightTime ^® option, then you will "lock in" a minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount that will not decrease even if there is a future downturn in Sub-Account performance.

•  On the other hand, if you wait to purchase the Protective Income Manager rider, you may be able to lock in a higher minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount if Sub-Account performance has been favorable and your Contract Value has increased. In addition, the minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount may be higher the closer you are to a Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday when you elect the rider (assuming Sub-Account performance has not significantly decreased since the Contract Effective Date) as the rider is designed for you to withdraw a greater proportion of Contract Value over time.

•  You also should consider:

•  If you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider when you purchase the Contract, the annual Protective Income Manager fee is currently 0.10% lower than if you exercise the RightTime ^® option to purchase the Protective Income Manager rider after that date. The Protective Income Manager fee for new purchasers and the difference between the fee for the rider purchased at Contract issue and under the RightTime ^® option may change.

•  But, if you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider too early, you may pay the Protective Income Manager fee for a longer period than is necessary. Additionally, beginning on the Rider Effective Date, your death benefit will be the Return of Purchase Payments Death Benefit (the Maximum Anniversary Value Death Benefit will not be available) and you must comply with our Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions.

Please consult your sales representative to discuss the appropriate time for you to purchase the Protective Income Manager rider.

Selecting Your Coverage Option

If both Owners of the Contract are spouses, or if there is one Owner and a spouse who is the sole Primary Beneficiary, you must indicate at the time you purchase the rider whether there will be one or two Covered Persons. Please pay careful attention to this designation, as it will impact the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor and whether the Optimal Withdrawal Amount will continue to be available for the life of the surviving spouse.

The various coverage options are illustrated in the following table:

66

Note:  A change of Covered Persons will cause the Protective Income Manager rider to terminate and any scheduled Protective Income Manager Withdrawals to cease. If you remove a Covered Person (which may occur, for example, if you remove a spouse Beneficiary or add additional Primary Beneficiaries or change the Annuitant), or if you add a Covered Person (which may occur, for example, if you add a spouse as a sole Primary Beneficiary), then this would constitute a change of Covered Persons. In addition, whether a spouse continues the Contract could affect the rights and benefits under the Protective Income Manager rider and could have tax consequences. (See "Tax Consequences — Treatment of Civil Unions and Domestic Partners.")

Important Note on Joint Life Coverage: The version of the rider issued on or after October 1, 2011 is designed to distribute all of your Contract Value by the younger Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday. The rider may not operate as designed if joint life coverage is selected and there is a significant age difference between the two Covered Persons. In that event, it is likely that on the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date (the older Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday), a substantial amount of Contract Value will still be remaining and you will choose to apply this amount to an Annuity Option instead of the rider's Protected Lifetime Payment Annuity Option. If so, you will have paid for the rider without receiving its benefit. See "Determining Your Optimal "Protected Lifetime Payments Available on Maximum Annuity Commencement Date (Oldest Owner's or Annuitant's 95 ^th Birthday)."

Factors for you, your spouse, and your financial advisor to consider before purchasing joint life coverage under the rider include:

•  Your expectations as to Separate Account performance between now and the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date. Please see Appendix M for examples demonstrating how negative, flat, and positive market performance may influence the payment of lifetime income under the rider when there is a significant age difference between Covered Persons.

•  The age difference between you and your spouse. As the age difference increases (particularly when there is more than ten years between you), the more likely it is that the rider will not distribute all of your Contract Value and then make Protected Lifetime Payments.

•  The age and health of the older Covered Person. If the older Covered Person does not live to age 95, then the Contract Value will be distributed by the surviving Covered Person's 95 ^th birthday, at which time Protected Lifetime Payments under the rider will begin. You may also want to consider the sex of the older Covered Person, as females are more likely to live to age 95 than are males.

•  Whether the Contract was purchased for use in connection with a Qualified Contract owned by the younger spouse. If the younger spouse is the sole Owner under the Contract, then there may be a desire for the older spouse to receive Protected Lifetime Payments under the rider in the event of the younger

67

spouse's death. You should discuss these payments as well as the payments you might receive under other Annuity Options under your Contract.

If there is a significant age disparity between you and your spouse, then joint life coverage under the rider may not be appropriate for you. You should discuss this with your financial advisor to ascertain if joint coverage under the Protective Income Manager rider will address your financial needs and be suitable for you.

Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions

In order to maintain the Protective Income Manager rider, you must allocate your Purchase Payments and Contract Value in accordance with the Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions that we have established. The Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions are designed to limit our risk under the Protective Income Manager rider. Please see "Allocation Guidelines and Restrictions for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits."

Determining Your Optimal Withdrawal Amount

The Optimal Withdrawal Amount is the maximum amount that you may withdraw from your Contract Value each Contract Year without reducing or eliminating the benefits under the Protective Income Manager rider. We calculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount each year by multiplying your Contract Value by the "Protective Income Manager Payment Factor." This factor, described in more detail below, depends upon when you purchased your rider.

If you purchased your rider before October 1, 2011, the factor is based on:

•  the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Rider Effective Date; and

•  the number of years remaining until the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date.

If you purchased your rider on or after October 1, 2011, the factor is based on:

•  the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Rider Effective Date; and

•  the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the date we calculate the Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

Note: So long as you never take an Excess Withdrawal (described below), the amount you may withdraw from your Contract Value each year will never be less than your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

1.  We determine your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount as of the Rider Effective Date by multiplying the "Protective Income Manager Payment Factor" (described below) by your Contract Value on that date.

  For example, assume there is one Covered Person under the Protective Income Manager rider, a 75-year old who has made an initial Purchase Payment of $100,000. As provided in the Single Life Coverage table in Appendix J, the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor is 0.06661 (because she is 75). We determine the initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount by multiplying the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor by the Contract Value. Therefore, the initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount is $6,661 (0.06661 x $100,000).

  If you purchase the Protective Income Manager rider at the time you purchase the Contract and we receive an additional Purchase Payment within the first 120 days, then we will recalculate your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount on the 120 ^th day following the Contract Effective Date to equal the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor as of the Contract Effective Date multiplied by the total aggregate Purchase Payments received, less any partial surrenders made, during the 120-day period (including your initial Purchase Payment). If the 120 ^th day is not a Valuation Day, then we will make this calculation on the next Valuation Day. We will consider this to be your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount for purposes of calculating future Optimal Withdrawal Amount amounts.

68

2.  We recalculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount on each subsequent Contract Anniversary prior to the Annuity Commencement Date by multiplying the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor by your Contract Value on that anniversary.

  Your Optimal Withdrawal Amount for any Contract Year can not be more than 110% of your Optimal Withdrawal Amount for the prior Contract Year. In addition, unless you have taken an Excess Withdrawal (which would result in a Reset of the Optimal Withdrawal Amount, as described below), we guarantee that your Optimal Withdrawal Amount will always be at least the greater of:

  a.  90% of your Optimal Withdrawal Amount for the prior Contract Year; or

  b.  Your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

  For example, assume that the Covered Person described above did not take an Excess Withdrawal during her first Contract Year, and that her Contract Value on the first Contract Anniversary is $95,684. We determine the Optimal Withdrawal Amount on each Contract Anniversary by multiplying the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor by the Contract Value on that anniversary, subject to the minimum and maximum limits described above. Therefore, we first calculate the Optimal Withdrawal Amount as the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor at attained age 76 (while also taking into account her age 75 on the Rider Effective Date, since she did not take an Excess Withdrawal) times the Contract Value, or $6,614 (0.06912 x $95,684). Because this amount is less than her initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount but not more than 110% of that amount, her Optimal Withdrawal Amount will remain at $6,661 for the second Contract Year.

Note: The Optimal Withdrawal Amount is not cumulative. If you choose to withdraw only a part of, or none of, your Optimal Withdrawal Amount in any given Contract Year, you should understand that you cannot carry over any unused Optimal Withdrawal Amount to any future Contract Years.

Increase in Protective Income Manager Fee.   If you elect not to pay an increase in your Protective Income Manager Fee, then we will "lock in" your current Protective Income Manager Payment Factor and will use this factor when we calculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount on all future Contract Anniversaries. Your Protective Income Manager Payment Factor will never change, even if there is a Reset following the date you elect not to pay the fee increase due to an Excess Withdrawal. This could ultimately mean a significant reduction in your future Optimal Withdrawal Amount because the Protective Income Manager Payment Factors are designed to increase each year. You should carefully consider whether or not it is in your best interest to decline an increase in the Protective Income Manager fee. See "Protective Income Manager Fee."

The Protective Income Manager Payment Factor.  The manner in which we calculate the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor depends upon when you purchased the rider.

•  If you purchased the rider on or after October 1, 2011 , we determine the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor based upon the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Rider Effective Date, as well as that person's attained age on the date we calculate the Optimal Withdrawal Amount. On each Contract Anniversary when we recalculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount, we will use a new Protective Income Manager Payment Factor based upon the current attained age of the (younger) Covered Person at that time, but the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor will still continue to be based on the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Rider Effective Date unless there has been a Reset (discussed below). If you take no Excess Withdrawals, the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor increases each year as the (younger) Covered Person's age increases. Because the Protective Income Manager is designed for you to withdraw a greater proportion of Contract Value over time, the Optimal Withdrawal Amount tends to increase over time (assuming Sub-Account performance has not significantly decreased since the Contract Effective Date). The Protective Income Manager Payment Factors are set forth in Appendix J for Single Life Coverage and Joint Life Coverage.

•  If you purchased the rider before October 1, 2011 , we determine the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor based upon the number of years remaining until the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date and

69

the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Rider Effective Date. On each Contract Anniversary when we recalculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount, we will use a new Protective Income Manager Payment Factor based upon the current number of years remaining until the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date; however, the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor will continue to be based on the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Rider Effective Date unless there has been a Reset (discussed below). If you take no Excess Withdrawals, the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor increases as the length of time to the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date decreases. Because the Protective Income Manager is designed for you to withdraw a greater proportion of Contract Value over time, the Optimal Withdrawal Amount tends to increase over time (assuming Sub-Account performance has not significantly decreased since the Contract Effective Date). The Protective Income Manager Payment Factors are set forth in Appendix J for Single Life Coverage and Joint Life Coverage.

Reset of the Minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount. If you take an Excess Withdrawal, the next Contract Anniversary will be a Reset Date. On that date we will Reset the "floor" for all future Optimal Withdrawal Amounts following the Reset Date. This floor is the lowest amount we guarantee your Optimal Withdrawal Amount will be each year, as follows:

Your Optimal Withdrawal Amount on each Contract Anniversary following the Reset Date will be the lesser of:

a.  Your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount; or

b.  Your Optimal Withdrawal Amount as of the Reset Date.

Note: This means we will no longer guarantee that your Optimal Withdrawal Amount will never be lower than your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

In addition, on a Reset Date, we will use a new Protective Income Manager Payment Factor to calculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount on that date. For riders issued on or after October 1, 2011, this will be based solely on the attained age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Reset Date (provided you have not declined an increase in the Protective Income Manager fee, as discussed above). For riders issued before October 1, 2011, this will be based on the current number of years remaining until the Maximum Annuity Commencement Date, and the age of the younger covered person on the Reset Date (provided you have not declined an increase in the Protective Income Manager fee, as discussed above). For either version, this will result in a lower Protective Income Manager Payment Factor. For future Optimal Withdrawal Amount calculations, we will continue to base the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor on the age of the (younger) Covered Person on the Reset Date (until the next Reset Date, if any) and, for riders issued on or after October 1, 2011, as well as on that person's attained age on the date we calculate the Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

For example, assume there is one Covered Person under the Protective Income Manager rider who was 60 on the Rider Effective Date, with an initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount of $6,852 ($6,852 = 0.05152 x $133,000). Further assume that he takes an Excess Withdrawal five years later. On the next Contract Anniversary, he is 65, and his Contract Value is $100,000. On that anniversary, we will calculate his Optimal Withdrawal Amount by multiplying the Protective Income Manager Payment Factor at age 65 by the Contract Value, or $5,406 (0.05406 x $100,000). We will reset his minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount for all future years to equal the lesser of his initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount ($6,852) or the Optimal Withdrawal Amount on the Reset Date ($5,406). Therefore, his new minimum Optimal Withdrawal Amount is $5,406.

Note: If you take an Excess Withdrawal, your Optimal Withdrawal Amount as of the Reset Date may be substantially lower than your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount, which would mean a significant reduction in the Optimal Withdrawal Amount available to you on and after a Reset Date. You should carefully consider whether or not it is in your best interest to take an Excess Withdrawal.

Beginning Your Protective Income Manager Withdrawals

All Contract withdrawals taken on and after the Rider Effective Date are considered either Protective Income Manager Withdrawals or Excess Withdrawals.

70

•  Protective Income Manager Withdrawals are aggregate withdrawals you make from your Contract Value each Contract Year that do not exceed your Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

•  An Excess Withdrawal is any portion of a withdrawal that, when aggregated with all prior withdrawals during that Contract Year, exceeds the Optimal Withdrawal Amount.

At any time prior to the Annuity Commencement Date, you may request Protective Income Manager Withdrawals individually or instruct us to send you specific Protective Income Manager Withdrawal amounts periodically by submitting to us a request that includes all of the information necessary for us to complete your request.

Note: The Protective Income Manager rider is designed for you to take Protective Income Manager Withdrawals each Contract Year. If all your withdrawals on and after the Rider Effective Date are Protective Income Manager Withdrawals, your Optimal Withdrawal Amount will never decrease below your initial Optimal Withdrawal Amount and you may continue to withdraw that amount for the lifetime of the Covered Person (or the last surviving Covered Person, if you selected Joint Life Coverage).

The Protective Income Manager rider is designed for you to receive income. If you delay taking Protective Income Manager Withdrawals, you may shorten the period during which you may take such withdrawals due to life expectancy, so you may be paying for a benefit you are not using. Please consult your sales representative regarding the appropriate time for you to begin taking Protective Income Manager Withdrawals.

Important Considerations

•  All withdrawals, including Protective Income Manager Withdrawals, reduce your Contract Value and death benefit. Surrender charges and federal and state income taxes may apply, as well as a 10% federal penalty tax if a withdrawal occurs before the Owner reaches age 59 ¹ / ₂ . See "Charges and Deductions, Surrender Charge" and "TAXATION OF ANNUITIES IN GENERAL, Taxation of Partial and Full Surrenders."

•  All withdrawals, including Protective Income Manager Withdrawals, count towards the penalty-free withdrawal amount under the Contract. However, we do not assess a surrender charge on Protective Income Manager Withdrawals, even when surrender charges would otherwise apply. See "Charges and Deductions, Surrender Charge." Protective Income Manager Withdrawals are not subject to the minimum Contract Value limitation. See "Surrender and Partial Surrenders, Partial Surrender."

Excess Withdrawals

An Excess Withdrawal is any portion of a withdrawal that, when aggregated with all prior withdrawals during that Contract Year, exceeds the Optimal Withdrawal Amount. We will not recalculate your Optimal Withdrawal Amount until the next Contract Anniversary, so any subsequent withdrawal you request that Contract Year is also an Excess Withdrawal. A withdrawal that causes the aggregate withdrawals for that Contract Year to exceed the Optimal Withdrawal Amount may include amounts that qualify as a Protective Income Manager Withdrawal as well as amounts that are deemed an Excess Withdrawal.

If you have instructed us to send you all or a portion of the Optimal Withdrawal Amount periodically, an Excess Withdrawal automatically terminates these periodic withdrawals. You may resume periodic Protective Income Manager Withdrawals beginning on the next Contract Anniversary based on the recalculated Optimal Withdrawal Amount by sending us Written Notice.

Excess withdrawals reduce your Contract Value and death benefit. Excess Withdrawals are subject to surrender charges and count towards the penalty-free withdrawal amount under the Contract, and federal and state income taxes may apply. Excess Withdrawals are subject to the minimum Contract Value limitation. See "Charges and Deductions, Surrender Charge," "Surrender and Partial Surrenders, Partial Surrender," and "TAXATION OF ANNUITIES IN GENERAL, Taxation of Partial and Full Surrenders."

Note: An Excess Withdrawal will cause a Reset on the next Contract Anniversary. This may result in a substantially lower Optimal Withdrawal Amount in the future, which could significantly reduce or even eliminate the value of the Protective Income Manager rider. See "Determining Your Optimal Withdrawal

71

Amount." You should not purchase the Protective Income Manager rider if you intend to take Excess Withdrawals.

If your Contract Value reduces to zero due to an Excess Withdrawal, we will terminate your Contract and the Protective Income Manager rider. You will not be entitled to receive any further benefits under the Protective Income Manager rider.

If you would like to make an Excess Withdrawal and are uncertain how an Excess Withdrawal will reduce your future guaranteed withdrawal amounts, then you may contact us prior to requesting the withdrawal to obtain a personalized, transaction-specific calculation showing the effect of the Excess Withdrawal.

Required Minimum Distributions

If the Protective Income Manager rider is purchased for use with a Qualified Contract, the Qualified Contract must comply with the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules under the Code Section 401(a)(9). The Protective Income Manager rider, and certain other benefits that the IRS may characterize as "other benefits" for purposes of the regulations under Code Section 401(a)(9), may increase the amount of the RMD that must be taken from your Qualified Contract. See "Qualified Retirement Plans."

We permit withdrawals from a Qualified Contract that exceed the Optimal Withdrawal Amount in order to satisfy the RMD for the Qualified Contract without compromising the Protective Income Manager guarantee. In particular, if you provide us with written notice of an RMD at the time you request a Protective Income Manager Withdrawal from your Qualified Contract, we will compute an amount that is treated under the Protective Income Manager rider as the RMD for the calendar year with respect to your Qualified Contract. Note that although the tax law may permit you in certain circumstances to take distributions from your Qualified Contract to satisfy the RMDs with respect to other retirement plans established for your benefit, only the amount computed by us as the RMD with respect to your Qualified Contract is treated as an RMD for purposes of the Protective Income Manager rider. Also, if you do not provide us with Written Notice of an RMD at the time you request a Protective Income Manager Withdrawal, the entire amount by which the withdrawal exceeds any remaining Optimal Withdrawal Amount for the Contract Year will reduce the amount of your future Optimal Withdrawal Amount and could reduce or eliminate the benefit under the Protective Income Manager rider.

In the future, we may institute certain procedures, including requiring that the RMD be established as automatic, periodic distributions, in order to ensure that RMDs for a calendar year do not exceed the Optimal Withdrawal Amount for the corresponding Contract Year.

In general, under the Protective Income Manager rider, you may withdraw the greater of (i) your Optimal Withdrawal Amount for a Contract Year or (ii) the RMD attributable to your Contract that is determined as of December 31 ^st immediately preceding the beginning of your Contract Year.

Note: If you begin taking Protective Income Manager Withdrawals before the first RMD under Code Section 401(a)(9) is due, we may adjust the amount of your maximum Protective Income Manager Withdrawal for the Contract Year that includes the due date for the first RMD so that the maximum amount of your withdrawal under the Protective Income Manager rider will be the greater of your first RMD or Optimal Withdrawal Amount plus the greater of your second RMD or Optimal Withdrawal Amount minus your actual withdrawals in the previous Contract Year. Thereafter, the maximum allowed is the greater of the Optimal Withdrawal Amount or the RMD determined as of the preceding December 31 ^st .

Reduction of Contract Value to Zero

If your Contract Value is reduced to zero due to poor Sub-Account performance, the deduction of fees, and/or a Protective Income Manager Withdrawal, we will terminate your rider and settle the benefit under your Protective Income Manager rider as follows: