Structured Capital Strategies PLUS 21 review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a strong accumulation RILA for someone who wants meaningful exposure to equity index performance, needs structured downside protection rather than full principal protection, and can leave the money in place for six years. It is not a good fit for someone who needs guaranteed lifetime income — there is no rider pathway here — or for someone who wants principal protection (a RILA buffer absorbs a defined portion of loss, not all of it). The contract's depth is a genuine advantage for buyers who know what they want; it will feel like overkill for anyone who just wants a simple one-index buffer strategy.

The rational case for SCS Plus 21 is accumulation with more controlled downside than a pure variable annuity offers, without sacrificing as much upside as a traditional FIA usually requires. A buyer picks this when they want real equity-linked growth potential but are not willing to absorb the full drawdown risk of direct market exposure. The seven segment types give that buyer genuine flexibility — they can match their downside tolerance and time horizon to the right structure rather than accepting whatever single buffer the product provides. The six-index menu adds geographic diversification that most RILAs in this class do not offer.

I think SCS Plus 21 is best for a buyer in their late 40s through early 60s who has retirement-earmarked dollars, a moderate-to-higher risk tolerance within the annuity context, and a clear preference for accumulation over guaranteed income. This is also well-suited for someone comfortable making active allocation decisions — choosing among segment types and indices — rather than wanting a set-and-forget design. It is less suited for someone who is primarily managing RMD cashflow (though RMDs are handled without surrender charges), someone who needs growth and income simultaneously, or someone who is new to structured product mechanics and just wants a simple guaranteed rate.

You are not buying stock market participation. You are buying a series of structured contracts — called segments — where Equitable commits to a defined payoff based on how an index performs over the segment term. Each segment has a buffer (the portion of loss Equitable absorbs) and a cap (the maximum gain you can earn). If the S&P 500 rises 25% but your segment cap is 18%, you earn 18%. If the index falls 20% and your buffer is 20%, you absorb zero. If the index falls 30% with a 20% buffer, you absorb the 10% beyond the buffer. That is a fundamentally different proposition from a fixed indexed annuity — a RILA does not guarantee you cannot lose money, it guarantees that you will not lose money up to the buffer amount. That distinction matters enormously in how you should think about this product.

The Structured Investment Option operates through seven segment types, each with its own risk/reward profile. Standard segments offer a cap on upside and a defined buffer below a set loss level. Dual Direction segments let you earn a positive return equal to the absolute value of the index decline, as long as the decline stays within the buffer — so a 10% drop could translate to a 10% gain. Step Up segments provide a fixed-rate return if the index finishes flat or positive, regardless of how much it rises. Dual Step Up combines both the step-up return and the dual-direction feature. Annual Lock segments lock in any gains once per year and carry them forward, which can smooth out volatile index paths. Enhanced Upside segments can offer participation rates above 100% on the upside in exchange for a larger buffer threshold or other structural adjustment. Loss Limiter segments cap the maximum loss you can experience rather than absorbing the first loss.

Six indices are available across these structures: S&P 500, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, NASDAQ 100, MSCI Emerging Markets, and EURO STOXX 50. That breadth is notable — most retail RILAs run one to three indices. The actual cap rates for each segment type and index term are set at issue and subject to change on renewals; the spec notes a range of 6.5% to 300% depending on structure, with costs factored into the cap rates rather than extracted as a separate line-item fee.

The variable sub-account layer — the Variable Investment Option — sets SCS Plus 21 apart from most accumulation RILAs. Buyers can allocate a portion of their premium into VIO sub-accounts alongside the structured segments. This gives a buyer the ability to maintain a fully invested equity sleeve inside the same contract, without the downside protection of a segment but with full upside participation. The VIO carries a 0.68% annual expense. For most buyers focused purely on structured accumulation, the VIO is background noise. But for a buyer who wants to combine structured protection on a portion of assets with an unprotected equity allocation — essentially a hybrid of RILA and VA mechanics — this contract supports that strategy natively.

SCS Plus 21 is a 6-year commitment. Withdrawals during the surrender period are subject to the schedule below, starting at 7% in years one and two and stepping down to 3% in year six. There is no market value adjustment on this product, which removes one layer of interest-rate-driven surrender risk. Free withdrawals of 10% of the beginning-of-contract-year account value are available annually. In the first contract year, the free-withdrawal amount is 10% of premiums paid in the first 90 days. Required minimum distributions that exceed the free-withdrawal amount are not subject to surrender charges, which makes this workable for RMD-generating IRA and qualified-plan assets.

There is no base contract fee and no income rider fee — because there is no income rider. The one explicit ongoing charge is the 0.68% annual expense on the Variable Investment Option sub-accounts, which only applies if you allocate to the VIO. If you stay entirely in structured segments, your cost exposure is zero in terms of explicit fees. The actual cost of the segment structure is embedded in the cap rate pricing — Equitable uses options to fund the buffers and sets caps accordingly, so the lower the cap, the higher the cost the market is implying for the downside protection you are buying. That is standard RILA mechanics, but it means you cannot look at a fee disclosure and know your total drag the way you can with a fixed indexed annuity. The optional Return of Premium Death Benefit rider adds a 0.20% annual charge if elected, and it restores the original premium adjusted for withdrawals as the death benefit — useful if the account value has dropped below what was contributed.

Legal Entity: Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company of America

Parent: Equitable Holdings Inc.

A.M. Best Rating: A