Future Flex Preferred 8 review

It depends, and more specifically it depends on how much you value the flexible-premium feature versus rate certainty. Yes, if you want a fee-free, no-MVA annuity you can keep contributing to over time, with a genuinely useful bundle of built-in health-event liquidity riders. Less so if the main reason you're considering an 8-year commitment is to lock in today's above-5% rate, because you're not locking it in — only the first year is guaranteed, and the remaining seven float, with a 2.00% floor as the only backstop.

The rational buyer here isn't chasing the best possible 8-year yield — they're choosing a savings vehicle they can add to over time without penalty, up to $1,000,000 a year, without paying fees to do it. A $10,000 minimum is accessible, there's no MVA to worry about on excess withdrawals, and the bundled Living Benefits riders (waiving surrender charges for critical illness, cognitive impairment, terminal diagnosis, nursing-home confinement, or home health care) add real practical value at no extra cost. For someone building savings gradually — say, funneling in periodic contributions from a business or a series of smaller windfalls — the flexible-premium design solves a problem that single-premium MYGAs like GBU's own Asset Guard series simply don't address.

I think this is best suited for savers (issue ages run 0-95, so it spans essentially every buyer) with qualified or non-qualified money who want to make ongoing contributions to a guaranteed-floor annuity rather than depositing a single lump sum, and who are comfortable not knowing the exact rate they'll earn in years two through eight. It's a weaker fit for anyone who wants the certainty of a true multi-year rate lock — that buyer is better served by GBU's own Asset Guard MYGA series, which guarantees one rate for the entire term. It's also not for anyone in California, New York, or Oregon, where the product isn't approved.

You're not buying an 8-year rate. You're buying an insurance company's promise to declare a rate every year for eight years, guaranteed only to be at least 2.00% in any given year, wrapped inside a contract that won't let you out without a surrender charge — or, after the first 10% withdrawal, more than a limited free amount — until the schedule runs out. GBU Financial Life, marketed under the GBU Life brand, is a not-for-profit, member-owned insurer with a 133-year history that describes its policyholders as "members" rather than shareholders or clients. The source materials consistently use "policy" language rather than certificate or fraternal-membership terminology, so this reads as a member-owned, mutual-style structure rather than a classic fraternal-certificate product requiring lodge dues or assessments. A.M. Best rates the company A-, which sits exactly at the floor this site treats as the minimum for a recommendable carrier.

The core mechanic is an annual-reset declared rate, not a rate lock. GBU currently credits 5.05% on deposits under $25,000, 5.40% between $25,000 and $100,000, and 5.60% at $100,000 or more (Wink data as of 2/23/2026 — treat this as a snapshot, not a permanent number). Here's the part that matters most: that rate is guaranteed for the first contract year only. On each contract anniversary after that, GBU redeclares the rate for the coming year at its own discretion, with a stated guaranteed minimum crediting rate of 2.00% acting as the only floor across all eight years. That's a materially different promise than what GBU's own Asset Guard MYGA series offers — those contracts lock a single declared rate (currently 4.75%-5.00% on the Low Band, depending on term) for the entire guarantee period, full stop. Preferred 8's headline rate is higher than Asset Guard's locked rate, but it's higher because it's only guaranteed for one year out of eight; a true apples-to-apples comparison has to weigh that first-year number against seven years of renewal-rate uncertainty down to a 2.00% floor, not against a comparably locked yield. GBU doesn't market this as a bonus or a teaser rate — the brochure language frames it as the mechanics of an annually redeclared contract, not a promotional come-on — but the practical effect for a shopper is similar: the number that gets quoted up front is not the number you're guaranteed to keep earning.

The Living Benefits Riders bundle is where this product earns real credit. Included automatically at no charge, it waives the surrender charge on withdrawals triggered by a Critical Illness diagnosis, Cognitive Impairment, a Terminal Condition, Nursing Home Confinement, or the need for Home Health Care. That's five separate health-event triggers built into the base contract rather than sold as an optional add-on, and it matters specifically because this is an 8-year commitment — the single biggest risk in a long surrender schedule is needing the money for a reason you didn't anticipate at issue, and this rider bundle covers several of the most common ones.

The flexible-premium design is the other feature worth understanding. Unlike GBU's single-premium Asset Guard MYGAs, Preferred 8 accepts ongoing deposits of up to $1,000,000 per contract year without starting a new 8-year surrender clock. New money credits at whatever rate is currently declared when it's received, subject to the same annual-reset mechanic as the original deposit. That's genuinely useful for someone who wants to keep contributing over time, but it also means the rate you'll earn on next year's contribution is exactly as uncertain as the rate you'll earn on this year's renewal — flexibility and rate certainty are being traded against each other here, not offered together.

The surrender schedule runs 7%, 7%, 6%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2% over eight years — a long commitment as fixed annuities go, though the charges themselves aren't unusually steep for the category. Free withdrawals allow 10% of account value each contract year; if you skip that withdrawal in a given year, up to 20% becomes available the following year (the allowance is cumulative but caps at 20%, it doesn't keep stacking indefinitely). Withdrawals beyond the free amount during the surrender period reduce principal and are subject to the schedule above. The available materials don't specifically address RMD treatment for this product, which is worth confirming directly with GBU before relying on this contract inside an IRA required-minimum-distribution strategy.

One point worth noting in this product's favor: there's no Market Value Adjustment. That means an excess withdrawal only costs the stated surrender charge — it can't also be penalized (or helped) by a rate-driven adjustment the way GBU's own MVA-bearing Asset Guard contracts can. Given how long the 2.00%-floor renewal-risk exposure runs here, that's a genuine mitigant: if renewal rates disappoint and you decide to walk away early, you're not also exposed to MVA math on top of the surrender charge.

There's nothing to flag here in the traditional sense — no upfront sales charge, no annual contract fee, no M&E charge, no administration fee. All disclosed fee fields in the Wink product profile read N/A, and the brochure confirms 100% of every premium dollar starts earning interest immediately. The real cost of this contract isn't a line-item fee; it's the renewal-rate uncertainty baked into the annual-reset design. Every year GBU chooses not to renew at a competitive rate is, in effect, a cost to the policyholder that a fee schedule would never capture, and unlike a fee, it isn't disclosed anywhere in advance. That's the tradeoff to weigh against the flexible-premium feature and the no-MVA structure: you're not paying explicit fees, but you are accepting seven years of rate risk in exchange for the flexibility and the fee-free structure.

Legal Entity: GBU Financial Life

AM Best Rating: A-

GBU Financial Life, marketed as GBU Life, is a not-for-profit, member-owned insurer with a 133-year history. Its most recent financial summary reports roughly $4.7 billion in assets and $314 million in surplus as of December 31, 2024, with a 107% solvency ratio. Its A- A.M. Best rating sits exactly at the floor this site treats as the minimum for a recommendable carrier — solid, but not a top-tier financial-strength story.