MarketSeven Index review

Yes, with a caveat. It's a genuinely well-built accumulation FIA — the strategy menu is broader than most, the riders that are included (nursing home and terminal illness) cost nothing extra, and the guaranteed 107% floor at year 7 gives buyers a real downside backstop beyond the standard minimum guaranteed surrender value. The caveat is EquiTrust's B++ rating from A.M. Best, which is meaningfully below the A-range ratings carried by many competing FIA issuers. For a 7-year commitment, carrier strength is a legitimate part of the decision, not a footnote.

The main draw is optionality: nine crediting strategies means a buyer isn't locked into one index formula for seven years. Someone can split allocations between a conservative fixed account, a capped S&P 500 strategy, and a participation-rate strategy on the S&P MARC 5% Excess Return Index, then rebalance among those choices at each contract anniversary. The secondary draw is the no-cost long-term care protection — the nursing home waiver and terminal illness rider come standard, not as paid add-ons, which is unusual for a product with this level of crediting flexibility.

I think this fits someone in their late 50s through 70s who wants a diversified, principal-protected accumulation vehicle and is comfortable actively managing strategy allocations rather than picking one crediting method and leaving it alone. It's a reasonable fit for both qualified and non-qualified money. It's a weaker fit for someone whose top priority is carrier financial strength above all else, or someone who wants meaningful access to funds in the first contract year, since Year 1 liquidity here is limited to interest withdrawals only.

You're not buying a single fixed rate. You're buying a chassis that lets you allocate premium across up to nine different interest-crediting formulas — some capped, some participation-based, one a "performance trigger" that pays a flat declared rate if the index is flat or positive and nothing if it's negative. None of these formulas give you the index's actual return; they're all approximations bounded by caps, participation rates, or trigger thresholds that EquiTrust sets and can adjust at each contract anniversary. Two of the strategies let you pay a 1.00% annual fee, deducted from the Account Value every anniversary for the life of the contract, in exchange for a higher cap or participation rate — that fee applies whether or not the index gains anything that year.

The crediting menu includes a 1-Year Interest Account (a straightforward declared fixed rate, currently 4.75% per Wink data as of the brochure date), annual point-to-point cap and participation strategies on the S&P 500, a monthly averaging participation strategy, a monthly point-to-point cap strategy, a 2-year point-to-point participation strategy, and strategies tied to the S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA Index, the S&P MARC 5% Excess Return Index, and the Barclays Focus50 Index. Two of the S&P 500 point-to-point strategies also come in a "buy-up" version — the same crediting formula but with a higher cap or participation rate, paid for with the 1.00% annual fee. Participation rates run from roughly 65% up to 200% depending on strategy, and the standard annual cap runs around 9.00% (11.00% on the buy-up version) as of the rate date in the source materials. These figures move with the market and the specific numbers quoted here shouldn't be treated as current — ask for the live rate sheet before applying.

The Guaranteed Accumulation Value benefit is the feature that separates this from a plain multi-strategy FIA: it guarantees the Accumulation Value will be no less than 107% of premiums paid (net of withdrawals and any buy-up fees) by the end of the 7-year surrender period. That's not an account-value bonus credited at issue — it's a floor that only matters if crediting performance is weak across the whole term — but it does mean a buyer who allocates conservatively and gets unlucky on index performance still has a contractual backstop above the standard minimum guaranteed surrender value. Paired with the no-cost nursing home waiver (up to 100% of Accumulation Value after 90 days of confinement, starting contract year 2) and terminal illness rider (up to 75% of Accumulation Value, one-year wait), this product does more for care-related liquidity than most accumulation-focused FIAs at this price point.

This is a real 7-year commitment. Withdrawals beyond the free amount trigger the surrender schedule below, and a market value adjustment (MVA — an additional adjustment to the withdrawal amount that moves with interest rate changes, on top of the stated surrender charge) applies outside of California. Year 1 is more restrictive than most peer products: rather than a standard 10% free-withdrawal allowance, the first year limits withdrawals to systematic EFT payments of interest earned on the fixed strategy only. From Year 2 on, buyers can take up to 10% of the prior anniversary's Accumulation Value, either as a single withdrawal (minimum $250) or systematically. RMD (required minimum distribution) treatment was not addressed in the available brochure materials — if this contract will hold qualified money subject to RMDs, confirm directly with EquiTrust or an agent whether RMD withdrawals are carved out of the surrender schedule, since that's a standard provision on many competing FIAs that isn't documented here.

There's no M&E charge, product fee, administration charge, or annual contract fee on the base contract — a real advantage over hybrid products that layer a base fee on top of rider costs. The only fee in this contract is optional: the 1.00% annual buy-up fee, and it only applies if you specifically choose one of the two buy-up crediting strategies. That fee is deducted from Account Value at every contract anniversary for the life of the contract, including years where the underlying strategy credits nothing — so it's worth running the math on whether the higher cap or participation rate is likely to outearn a full percentage point of guaranteed annual drag. The bigger tradeoff isn't a fee at all — it's the carrier rating. B++ from A.M. Best is a step below the A-range ratings held by many FIA issuers, and that's a real consideration for a contract meant to sit for seven years or longer.

Legal Entity: EquiTrust Life Insurance Company

Parent: Magic Johnson Enterprises (controlling interest)

A.M. Best Rating: B++