EliteDesigns review

Yes, but only inside a specific use case. For a client who is already working with a fee-based advisor, has filled up qualified accounts, and wants to defer taxes on a portion of taxable savings while keeping it actively managed, this contract is a reasonable container. For a retail shopper looking for guaranteed lifetime income, a market crash buffer, or a premium bonus, EliteDesigns is not the right product — and the brochure does not pretend otherwise.

The rational reason to buy EliteDesigns is tax deferral on actively managed money. A client who already has substantial taxable assets, has used up 401(k) and IRA capacity, and wants to keep an actively traded sleeve from generating annual capital-gains and dividend tax drag can put that money inside a variable annuity and let the gains compound untaxed. The secondary reason is liquidity — no surrender charges means the client can move money in or out without waiting out a schedule. The third reason is breadth — 300-plus subaccounts cover almost every major asset class, so the advisor is not boxed into a thin menu.

I think EliteDesigns is best for clients of fee-based or fee-only advisors, typically affluent (the $50,000 minimum signals the floor), with non-qualified taxable money they want to keep working without annual tax friction. It fits the asset-location playbook — put the tax-inefficient holdings (bonds, REITs, actively traded equity) inside the tax-deferred wrapper, keep the tax-efficient holdings (broad-market equity index funds) in the taxable account. It is a poor fit for anyone shopping on their own for an income annuity, anyone who needs principal protection against market drops, or anyone who would object to layering an advisory fee on top of the contract costs.

You are buying a tax-deferred container — not insurance against markets, not guaranteed income, not a death benefit windfall. The contract gives you access to a large menu of subaccounts (mutual fund-like sub-portfolios held inside the insurance wrapper) and lets gains compound without annual tax reporting. The insurance company is charging you a base contract fee, an administration fee, and a tiered mortality-and-expense fee for that wrapper. Your advisor charges you an advisory fee for managing the underlying allocation. Each subaccount has its own internal fund expense. Once you stack those layers, you are paying somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5% to 2.5% per year all-in before any market return, depending on fund selection and advisory fee. That is the real economics here — not the headline 0.45% base contract.

The core feature is subaccount allocation. Security Benefit lists 300-plus underlying funds across equity, fixed income, money market, real estate, commodities, and tax-inefficient asset classes. The advisor (or the client, in self-directed arrangements) builds a portfolio inside the contract by allocating premium across those subaccounts. Daily values move with the underlying funds — gains and losses pass through directly. There is no smoothing, no cap, no participation rate, no buffer. If the underlying fund drops 20%, the subaccount value drops 20%, minus the insurance fees taken out along the way.

Security Benefit also offers Target Portfolios by Mesirow — five pre-built model portfolios for clients who want a managed allocation without bespoke construction. Those models still sit inside the same subaccount menu; they are just curated combinations rather than blank-slate selection.

The takeaway: EliteDesigns is a deferred mutual fund platform with insurance-company wrapping, not an indexed product with engineered crediting. Performance is whatever the underlying funds do, minus layered fees.

The fee structure is the most important secondary feature, and it is genuinely better-engineered than most variable annuities. M&E (Mortality and Expense, which compensates the insurer for the death-benefit guarantee and contract risk) is 0.20% under $500,000 in contract value and drops to 0.00% at $500,000 and above. Most retail VAs charge M&E of 1.00%–1.40% regardless of size. That tiered structure is the clearest signal that EliteDesigns is built for larger advisor-managed accounts — the all-in insurance cost gets thinner as the account grows.

The base contract fee of 0.45% plus 0.25% administration is layered on every subaccount. The optional return-of-premium death benefit adds 0.35% if elected, and is only available if the owner is age 80 or younger at issue. That rider is the only insurance guarantee in the contract — it ensures heirs get back at least what was paid in (less proportional withdrawals), even if markets are down at the time of death. Whether 0.35% is worth it depends on the client's age, time horizon, and confidence in markets recovering.

There is no surrender schedule. None. From day one, the client can take systematic withdrawals (minimum $100) or full surrenders without any withdrawal charge or CDSC. That is the structural definition of an I-share or advisor-share variable annuity — the insurer skips the surrender mechanism because there is no commission-recovery problem (advisors get paid through ongoing advisory fees, not upfront commission). For the client, the practical effect is full liquidity. Money can move in or out as the portfolio strategy requires.

Tax treatment is still tax treatment, though. Gains withdrawn before age 59½ are subject to a 10% IRS penalty on top of ordinary-income tax. The IRS does not care about the contract's liquidity terms — it cares about whether withdrawals come out of gain or basis (for non-qualified contracts) or fully taxable (for qualified). So "no surrender charge" does not mean "no tax consequence." The inherited non-qualified stretch option allows non-spousal beneficiaries to take distributions over their own life expectancy, which preserves some tax planning flexibility on death.

The fee stack on EliteDesigns is unusually disclosed and worth itemizing:

- Base contract fee: 0.45%

- M&E: 0.20% under $500,000 in contract value, 0.00% at $500,000+

- Administration: 0.25% on every subaccount

- Optional return-of-premium death benefit: 0.35% (if elected)

- Underlying fund expense ratios: ranges from approximately 0.11% to 5.19% net, depending on fund selection

That puts the insurance-side cost at roughly 0.90% under $500,000 (without the death-benefit rider) and 0.70% at $500,000 and above. Add the optional death benefit and you are at 1.25% or 1.05%. Add an advisory fee (typically 0.50%–1.25% on advisor-managed assets) and underlying fund expenses (commonly 0.30%–1.00% for a diversified portfolio), and the all-in cost lands somewhere between 1.55% and 3.50% per year. The honest version of the math is that this contract is fee-competitive for the variable annuity category, but it is not cheap in absolute terms — it just shifts where the cost goes (fewer insurance dollars, more advisor dollars, more fund-internal dollars).

The tradeoff to name plainly: EliteDesigns moves the value proposition from "the insurer protects me" to "my advisor builds me a tax-deferred portfolio." If the advisor is not actually adding allocation or behavioral value at least equal to the layered cost, the math does not work.

Legal Entity: Security Benefit Life Insurance Company

Parent: Eldridge Industries

A.M. Best Rating: A-

Security Benefit is a Kansas-based annuity carrier with a long history in qualified retirement plans (notably 403(b) markets) and a broad annuity book under Eldridge Industries ownership. The A- rating from A.M. Best is solid but not the top of the chart — it sits a notch below carriers like New York Life or MassMutual on financial-strength scoring.