Secure Landing 7 review

Yes, for a specific type of buyer. If your main goal is accumulation with principal protection over a 7-year window and you do not need income rider benefits, Secure Landing 7 is a reasonable choice. It is less compelling for someone who might need access to more than 10% of their account value in any given year, or for someone whose situation could shift and suddenly require guaranteed lifetime income — there is no rider option to layer on later.

The practical case for Secure Landing 7 is principal protection plus growth potential in a moderately long commitment. Someone who has already met their guaranteed income needs elsewhere and wants to allocate a portion of their savings to index-linked growth without direct market downside would find this product fits that role well. The $10,000 minimum makes it accessible compared to carriers with higher entry thresholds. The illness waivers — covering nursing home stays, impairment, and terminal illness — add a layer of protection that many accumulation FIAs charge extra for or do not offer at all.

I think Secure Landing 7 is best for someone in their mid-50s to mid-70s who has a clear 7-year time horizon, wants to avoid direct stock market exposure, and already has income needs addressed through other products or income sources. Qualified or non-qualified money both work here, and the broad issue-age window (0-85 non-qualified) gives unusual flexibility. It is less attractive for someone who wants guaranteed lifetime income, someone who needs a shorter commitment window, or someone in New York where the product is not approved.

You are not buying stock market exposure. You are buying an insurance contract that credits interest based on index formulas — caps, participation rates, and performance triggers — while guaranteeing that your principal will not decline from index losses. Interest either gets credited at the end of each annual period or it does not; the index itself is just the measuring stick. The account value only grows or stays flat on an annual reset basis, never falls from market movement. The tradeoff is that your upside is limited by those crediting constraints, and the product's value proposition depends entirely on whether the surrender period fits your actual financial timeline.

Secure Landing 7 offers four crediting approaches. The first is the S&P 500 Annual Point-to-Point with Cap, where interest is credited up to a stated cap (9.75% as of the brochure date) based on one-year S&P 500 performance. The second is an S&P 500 Annual Point-to-Point with Participation Rate, where the contract credits a percentage of the index gain (55% as of the brochure date) with no cap ceiling. The third is an Annual Performance Trigger — if the S&P 500 or Balanced Asset 5 Index is flat or positive at the end of the year, a preset rate is credited (6.75% for the S&P 500 trigger, 8.00% for the Balanced Asset 5 trigger as of the brochure date); if the index is negative, zero is credited. The fourth option is a Fixed Account at a guaranteed 4.00%.

The Balanced Asset 5 Index stands out: the 205% participation rate on that strategy is notably high, reflecting the fact that this is a volatility-controlled index with built-in dampening mechanisms rather than a plain equity index. The high participation rate compensates for the more muted underlying index performance. That is important context — it is not the same as getting 205% of the S&P 500's return. All rates reflect the brochure effective date of January 9, 2026, and are subject to change.

The illness waivers are the second most important feature here. Most accumulation FIAs are silent on what happens if your health changes and you need to access your money. Secure Landing 7 includes waivers for nursing home confinement, impairment (activities of daily living), and terminal illness — all at no additional charge. That matters because it reduces the real-world lockup risk. If your health forces you to access funds, you are not subject to surrender charges or the MVA under those specific circumstances. The product spec lists these waivers with medium confidence; shoppers should verify the exact qualifying conditions in the contract before relying on them.

After the first contract year, you can withdraw up to 10% of account value each year without surrender charges or MVA. That is a reasonable liquidity valve for ongoing needs or RMD obligations. Above that threshold, the surrender schedule applies — and so does an MVA.

The MVA is the most important liquidity risk to understand. A market value adjustment means that if interest rates have risen since you bought the contract, surrendering or taking above-free-threshold withdrawals can cost more than just the stated surrender charge. The charge schedule starts at 9% in year one and steps down to 3% in year seven, but the MVA can add to or subtract from that number based on prevailing rates. That makes early exit genuinely unpredictable in cost. The 10% free withdrawal carve-out is exempt from both the surrender charge and the MVA, but anything above that is subject to both during the surrender period.

Up to 4 non-systematic withdrawals per year and systematic options (monthly, quarterly, semi-annual) are available. Liquidity features are not available in California.

The base contract carries no explicit annual fee. There is an optional Maturity Income Continuation (MIC) rider available at 0.40% annually (charged monthly), but that is elective — if you do not need it, you do not pay for it. Given that no income rider is available on this product, the MIC rider likely relates to annuitization or continuation benefits; shoppers should confirm the specific benefit provided before adding it.

The real cost here is structural. Caps and participation rates limit upside. The Balanced Asset 5 Index uses an internal index mechanism that reduces volatility but also limits raw index participation. The 4.00% fixed account is the one certainty. And the MVA means the actual exit cost during years one through seven cannot be known in advance. None of these are unusual for a 7-year FIA, but they are real constraints worth understanding.

Legal Entity: Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company

Parent: FGL Holdings

A.M. Best Rating: A

F&G is a mid-tier carrier with a solid but not top-shelf financial strength profile. The A rating from A.M. Best is respectable and indicates adequate claims-paying ability, but buyers who prioritize carrier strength above all else may want to compare against A+ rated alternatives. F&G has meaningful distribution through the independent advisor channel and focuses heavily on the FIA space, which means this product line represents a core competency rather than a peripheral offering.