SecureKey (LPL) 7-Year review

Yes, for the right buyer. If you are working with an LPL advisor and want a 7-year principal-protected annuity with index-linked growth potential and the option to build in a guaranteed income floor, this is a reasonable choice. It is less compelling if you need short-term liquidity, want a premium bonus to offset the surrender commitment, or are shopping outside the LPL channel — you simply cannot access it otherwise.

The main reason to buy SecureKey 7-Year is accumulation with a safety net. Specifically: someone wants their money protected from direct market losses, wants a shot at index-linked gains over seven years, and either already knows they want guaranteed lifetime income eventually or wants the option available without committing to it at purchase. The 7% simple roll-up on the ReadyPay GLWB means the benefit base grows meaningfully during the deferral years — a real planning tool for someone retiring five or more years out. The secondary appeal is simplicity: no base contract fee, a clean crediting menu, and straightforward surrender terms.

I think SecureKey 7-Year is best for someone in their mid-50s to early 70s, working with an LPL advisor, who has a medium-risk tolerance and wants to move a portion of retirement savings into a principal-protected vehicle with meaningful upside potential. It works well for both qualified and non-qualified money — the RMD-friendly structure and nursing home and terminal illness waivers make it viable for IRA assets. It is a poor fit for someone who needs frequent access to more than 10% of their money, is not an LPL client, or is looking for a simpler fixed-rate product without index complexity.

You are not buying stock market participation. You are buying a principal-protected insurance contract that uses index-linked formulas — caps, participation rates, and performance-triggered rules — to determine how much interest may be credited each year. If the index goes down, you get zero credit, not a loss. If it goes up, you get a portion of that gain, constrained by whatever crediting parameters apply to your chosen strategy. The optional ReadyPay GLWB rider is layered on top: it guarantees a minimum income stream for life once you activate it, regardless of what the account value has done by then. That is a separate promise from the accumulation mechanics.

SecureKey 7-Year offers four index options: the S&P 500, MSCI EAFE, Russell 2000, and S&P 500 Low Volatility Price Return Daily Risk Control 5%. You can allocate across these using either an Annual Point-to-Point strategy, which credits interest based on the index change over a one-year period subject to a cap or participation rate, or a Performance Triggered strategy, which credits a declared rate whenever the index is flat or positive and nothing when it is negative.

The cap range disclosed in the brochure runs from 9.25% to 10.50%, and the participation range runs from 25% to 115% — the wide spread reflects that different indices and contract sizes carry different terms, and rates can change at each annual renewal. Performance-triggered rates run 4.50% to 7.00%. The practical implication: in strong market years, the cap or participation limit constrains the upside; in flat years, the performance-triggered option earns its declared rate while traditional cap strategies credit zero; in down years, every strategy credits zero and the principal stays intact. That is the core tradeoff that defines every FIA.

The ReadyPay Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit is the product's most meaningful optional feature. It adds a 7% simple interest roll-up to the benefit base — the number used to calculate your lifetime withdrawal amount — for each year you defer income. At a 1.00% annual fee, it is not cheap, but the 7% annual growth on the benefit base is a competitive deferral incentive. If you are five or ten years from needing income, that roll-up can substantially increase the guaranteed payment you will eventually receive. Adding the rider at issue is cleaner than shopping for a new income product later, because you lock in the terms now. The caution: if you never activate the income stream, you paid that 1% fee for nothing, and you will have been better off without it.

SecureKey 7-Year is a long-term commitment. You can take up to 10% of premiums paid in year one, or 10% of the prior anniversary account value in years two and beyond, without surrender charges — as long as you leave at least $2,000 in the account. Anything above that is subject to the surrender schedule below and a Market Value Adjustment (MVA — meaning your effective penalty fluctuates with interest rates at the time of withdrawal, not just the stated charge percentage). In a rising rate environment, the MVA can make early exits more expensive than the schedule alone suggests.

The good news on liquidity: RMDs attributable to the contract are not subject to surrender charges, which makes this usable for IRA money without the tax distribution forcing a penalty hit. The contract also waives surrender charges for nursing home confinement of 90 or more consecutive days after year one, and for a terminal illness diagnosis. Those waivers do not eliminate the commitment, but they limit the worst-case scenarios.

The base contract carries no explicit annual product fee. The only fee to budget for is the ReadyPay GLWB rider at 1.00% per year — and only if you add it. That fee is assessed on the benefit base, which grows at 7% simple interest during deferral, so the dollar cost increases over time even as a fixed percentage.

The structural tradeoffs are what they are for any FIA. Crediting is capped or participation-limited, so you will not capture the full return of a strong equity year. The MVA is real and can compound the cost of an early exit beyond the face value of the surrender schedule. And the advisor-channel distribution means you are relying on an LPL advisor to manage the product, which is fine if the relationship is solid but removes the direct-purchase option that some buyers prefer.

Legal Entity: Brighthouse Life Insurance Company

Parent: Brighthouse Financial

A.M. Best Rating: A

Brighthouse Financial was spun off from MetLife in 2017 and is now an independent annuity-focused carrier. The A rating from A.M. Best is solid for this market, and Brighthouse has a track record on fixed indexed annuity administration. This is not a niche or startup carrier.