Advanced Choice 4-Year (DPL) review

Yes, in the right channel. For a client already working with a fee-only RIA who wants a four-year locked-rate vehicle inside a fee-managed portfolio, this is a good annuity. For a self-directed shopper or anyone working with a traditional commission-based agent, it simply is not the right access point — the commission-distributed Advanced Choice siblings would be the comparable product to look at instead.

The reason to buy this version specifically is the distribution channel. DPL Financial Partners is an insurance marketplace built for Registered Investment Advisors who charge a fee for advice rather than collect commissions on products they sell. Because there is no commission baked into the contract, an RIA can recommend it without the compensation conflict that makes traditional commission-based annuities awkward inside a fiduciary practice. The rate gets to the client without first being reduced to fund a commission, and the client pays the advisor's fee separately under the existing advisory agreement.

I think Advanced Choice 4-Year (DPL) is best for someone who already has a fee-only or fee-based advisor on the DPL platform, has roughly $10,000 or more in non-emergency money, and wants a defined four-year holding period inside a broader fee-managed portfolio. It works well for the fixed-income or cash sleeve of a retirement plan where the client wants slightly more yield than a CD without giving up principal protection or tax deferral. It is less useful for anyone whose access path to annuities goes through a commission-based agent, anyone who might need significant liquidity inside the next four years, and anyone shopping purely on rate without a fiduciary advisor in the picture.

Stripped of the brochure language, this is a four-year guaranteed-rate insurance contract with a market value adjustment and a 10% annual free-withdrawal allowance after the first contract year. You give Security Benefit a single premium, they credit a fixed rate for four years, and at the end of the period the contract reaches its surrender-charge-free window. The DPL piece changes how the contract is sold and compensated, not how it works mechanically. The headline rate you see from a DPL-channel quote is the rate before any advisor fee — you and your RIA settle that separately under your advisory agreement.

The core feature is the multi-year guaranteed rate. The brochure language at the time of review references current rates of 5.20% / 5.40% guaranteed for the full four years, with the higher band tied to larger premium and an Account Value Bonus of 0.10% kicking in once the account value reaches $125,000 or more. The Guaranteed Minimum Interest Rate is disclosed as varying within a 1-3% band depending on rate environment at issue. Rates are snapshots — they reset with the broader interest-rate market, so what you see on a current quote may not be what you see next quarter. The structure, on the other hand, is durable: a fixed rate locked for four years with no resets and no caps to track.

The channel itself is the meaningful secondary feature. Fee-only RIAs historically struggled to use annuities in client portfolios because nearly every annuity sold in the United States embedded a commission paid to the agent at the point of sale — that commission funded the agent's compensation and, by mechanics, came out of the rate the carrier could otherwise credit. DPL Financial Partners built a marketplace where carriers offer commission-free versions of their products. The Advanced Choice 4-Year (DPL) is one of those. For a client whose advisor charges a transparent AUM or flat fee, this lets the annuity live inside the same compensation framework as the rest of the portfolio, which is the whole point of working with a fee-only advisor in the first place.

The surrender schedule runs four years at 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, then 0% in year five and beyond. A Market Value Adjustment applies during the surrender period, which means your effective surrender penalty can move up or down depending on where interest rates have gone since you issued the contract. The MVA cannot be waived in CT, PA, and TX. Free withdrawals of up to 10% of Account Value are available annually after the first contract year, with the contract required to maintain at least $5,000.

Security Benefit treats this as RMD-friendly: required minimum distributions during the surrender period are not subject to surrender charges or MVA by company practice. A Nursing Home Waiver waives charges after the third contract year (first year in PA and TX, beginning in the first year in CT), and a Terminal Illness Waiver works similarly, with the same state-specific timing carve-outs. The Nursing Home Waiver is not available in CA or MA, and the Terminal Illness Waiver is not available in CA or NJ. Even with those carve-outs, four years is the planning horizon — this is not emergency cash.

There is no base contract fee, no rider fee, and no income rider to buy because no income rider is offered on this product. The 0.10% Account Value Bonus on balances at or above $125,000 is structurally a tiered rate bump, not a true bonus that vests over time. The Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value was not specified in the available materials, which is worth asking about directly if you are comparing to other MYGAs that disclose theirs explicitly. The main tradeoff is structural: a four-year commitment with an early surrender schedule that opens at 9%, plus an MVA in most states, in exchange for a locked rate and tax deferral.

Legal Entity: Security Benefit Life Insurance Company

Parent: Eldridge Industries

A.M. Best Rating: A-