Why it earned this rating
Our assessment
SecureDesigns X-Share sits in the niche-fit band because it is a bonus variable annuity, and bonus VAs are a specialty tool rather than a mainstream accumulation vehicle. The 85-subaccount menu is genuinely deep, but the layered fee stack and the 0.55% Extra Credit rider charge for seven years materially limit who actually benefits from the 4% premium credit. There is also no living benefit rider on this share class, which is the usual reason buyers choose a VA over an indexed alternative.
The short version
This is a bonus variable annuity, meaning Security Benefit credits 4% on top of every first-year purchase payment, then charges a 0.55% rider fee for seven years to recover the cost of that credit. It also runs a tiered base M&E of 0.60% to 0.85%, plus 0.15% administrative charges, a $30 annual policy fee, and subaccount expenses that can stretch from 0.61% all the way to 2.44%. The 4% credit is real, but in fee dollars it is largely a loan that the contract repays itself through higher ongoing charges. The math only works in narrow scenarios, most often a 1035 exchange where the upfront credit helps cushion a surrender charge being paid on the old contract.
Key facts
The full review
Is Security Benefit SecureDesigns X-Share a Good Annuity?
It depends, and for most buyers the honest answer is no. This is a bonus VA, and bonus VAs only make sense in a narrow set of circumstances. It can be a reasonable choice for someone executing a 1035 exchange out of an older contract with a remaining surrender charge that the 4% credit helps offset. For a buyer with cash that has never been inside an annuity, the layered fees usually erode the value of the credit before it is fully vested.
Why Someone Would Buy This Annuity
The rational reason to buy SecureDesigns X-Share is the 4% upfront credit, almost always in the context of a 1035 exchange. Someone moving out of an older annuity with two or three years of surrender charges left may find that the X-Share's credit offsets the cost of leaving that contract, while still giving the new money the benefit of Security Benefit's 85-subaccount menu. The second reason is investment flexibility: this is a true open-architecture VA, with options spanning U.S. equity, international, fixed income, alternatives, and target-date strategies. A buyer who wants tax deferral on a broad fund menu and is comfortable with the 7-year surrender period gets that here.
Who This Annuity Is Best For
I think SecureDesigns X-Share is best for a mid-career or pre-retiree investor, typically age 50 to 70, working with an advisor who is running a specific 1035-exchange analysis where the 4% upfront credit demonstrably outperforms the lower-fee alternatives over a defined time horizon. It is also more defensible for non-qualified money than for IRA money, because the tax deferral inside a qualified account is redundant. It is a poor fit for buyers who simply want a low-cost VA wrapper, buyers who want guaranteed lifetime income (there is no GLWB on this share class), or anyone who might need the contract value within seven years.
What You're Really Buying Here
A bonus variable annuity is a financing structure. The insurer credits 4% on top of the first-year deposit, then charges a higher ongoing fee to recover that credit over time. So you are not really getting a 4% gift. You are getting a 4% advance against a higher ongoing fee load and a longer surrender commitment. The mechanics matter because they reframe the headline. The 4% is a real credit on your contract value from day one, but the structure is engineered to pay the insurer back through fees, and if you surrender early, parts of the bonus can be recaptured or eroded by withdrawal charges.
How the Core Feature Works
The 4% Extra Credit is added to each purchase payment made within the first contract year. So a $100,000 deposit becomes $104,000 of contract value, immediately exposed to whichever subaccounts the buyer chooses. The cost is a 0.55% Extra Credit rider charge applied to contract value for the first seven years, on top of the tiered base M&E (0.60% to 0.85% depending on account size) and the 0.15% administrative charge. Over seven years, the rider fee alone consumes roughly 3.85% of contract value in straight-line terms, before compounding. That means in fee-recovery math, the 4% bonus is approximately a wash by the end of the surrender period. The reason to choose the X-Share over the standard SecureDesigns share class is therefore almost always a tactical one, where the upfront 4% offsets a specific external cost the buyer is incurring, not a strategic one about long-term return.
Why the Secondary Feature Matters
The secondary feature is the 85-subaccount investment menu. This is genuinely broad for a VA — most carriers offer 40 to 60 options. SecureDesigns gives buyers exposure to nearly every major asset class, including alternatives and ESG-leaning options, plus a Fixed Account that pays a periodic guaranteed rate. The Fixed Account is worth flagging: it is the contract's only true principal-protection sleeve, and the periodic guaranteed rate was not disclosed in the available materials. For a buyer who wants to dial down risk inside the wrapper without rebalancing into a bond subaccount, the Fixed Account provides that lever, though current credited rates were not in the brochure and would need to be confirmed at point of sale.
Liquidity and Surrender Schedule
The contract allows 10% free withdrawal of cumulative purchase payments in the first year and 10% of contract value thereafter. Beyond that amount, withdrawals during the surrender period are subject to the seven-year schedule shown below. There is no market value adjustment. Security Benefit also offers two optional alternate withdrawal-charge structures — a 4-year schedule at 0.60% of contract value per year, and a 0-year schedule (no surrender charge) at 0.70% per year — which are useful to know about because they let an advisor reshape the liquidity profile for buyers who do not want the standard 7-year commitment. Withdrawals before age 59½ may incur the 10% IRS penalty.
| Contract Year | Surrender Charge |
|---|---|
| 1 | 7% |
| 2 | 7% |
| 3 | 6% |
| 4 | 5% |
| 5 | 4% |
| 6 | 3% |
| 7 | 2% |
| 8 | 0% |
Fees and Tradeoffs
The fee stack on SecureDesigns X-Share is dense, so it helps to lay it out plainly. Base M&E runs 0.60% to 0.85% depending on contract value (lower at higher asset tiers). Administrative charges add 0.15%. A flat $30 annual policy fee applies. The 4% Extra Credit rider adds 0.55% for the first seven years. Subaccount fund expenses range from 0.61% on the cheapest index option to 2.44% on the most expensive alternative — that is a meaningful spread, and the menu choice drives much of the all-in cost. Optional add-ons include a 0.20% Annual Stepped-Up Death Benefit and a 0.05% Waiver of Withdrawal Charges that acts as the chronic-illness liquidity provision. On the high end, a buyer holding the actively managed alternative subaccounts during the first seven years can be paying close to 3.5% all-in. On the low end, holding the cheapest index option, the all-in cost still runs above 1.5% during the bonus-recapture period. That is the trade for the 4% upfront credit.
Product snapshot
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Product Type | Variable Annuity |
| Surrender Period | 7 years |
| Issue Ages | 0-90 |
| Minimum Premium | $10,000 |
| Crediting Methods | Variable subaccounts |
| Free Withdrawal | 10% of cumulative purchase payments in first year; 10% of contract value thereafter |
| MGSV | N/A |
| Death Benefit | During accumulation period, ages 0-80: greater of return of Purchase Payments (less withdrawals and premium tax) or Contract Value. Ages 81+: Contract Value. |
| Income Rider | Not available |
| Premium Bonus | 4% bonus on all purchase payments made within the first year of contract |
| Availability | Approved in CA, MA, NJ. Not approved in NY. |
Carrier snapshot
Legal Entity: Security Benefit Life Insurance Company
Parent: Eldridge Industries
A.M. Best Rating: A-
Security Benefit is an established annuity carrier headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, with a long track record in the fixed-indexed and variable-annuity markets. The A- rating from A.M. Best is solid but not top-tier, and worth noting for buyers who weigh carrier strength heavily in a long-dated contract.
Final take
SecureDesigns X-Share is a tactical product, not a default one. The 4% upfront credit is genuinely useful in the narrow case where it offsets a 1035-exchange cost a buyer is already incurring, and the 85-subaccount menu gives advisors real flexibility to build a tax-deferred portfolio inside the wrapper. But the fee stack — tiered M&E plus admin plus the 0.55% Extra Credit rider for seven years plus subaccount expenses — means the bonus is functionally a financed advance, not a gift, and the math typically nets out close to neutral by the end of the surrender period.
If you are not coming in via a 1035 exchange that the bonus helps to offset, you should compare the standard SecureDesigns share class, which has lower ongoing costs and a shorter surrender period. If you want guaranteed lifetime income, this share class is not the right tool — there is no GLWB available. And if you might need access to the money inside seven years, the surrender schedule on the X-Share is meaningfully longer than what a no-bonus VA would charge you for the same flexibility.