Strategic Growth Annuity review

Yes, for the right buyer. It is a good choice for someone who has true long-term money, wants principal protection, and is interested in exploring a wider range of index strategies than a basic FIA usually provides. It is less appealing for someone who might need access to principal in year one, wants a simpler single-index design, or is primarily shopping for lifetime income guarantees.

The main reason to buy Strategic Growth Annuity is accumulation with downside protection and strategy flexibility. The secondary reason is the depth of the index menu — eleven options spanning domestic equity, international equity, factor-based, volatility-controlled, and inflation-aware indices is genuinely unusual at this price point. In practice, this is the kind of annuity someone buys when they want more than a plain S&P 500 cap strategy, are comfortable with a ten-year horizon, and have no immediate income needs.

I think this product is best for accumulation-focused buyers in their late forties to early sixties who have a clear ten-year window and want to diversify across multiple index crediting strategies inside one contract. The issue-age ceiling of 80 is wide, but the ten-year surrender horizon makes most sense for buyers who are not yet at or near required minimum distribution age. It is less suited to someone whose primary goal is guaranteed income, anyone who might need meaningful liquidity in year one, or someone who wants the simplest possible FIA design.

You are not buying direct stock market participation. You are buying a long-term insurance contract that earns interest based in part on the performance of chosen indices while guaranteeing that principal will not decline due to market losses. Crediting is shaped by caps, participation rates, and spreads — none of which are the raw market return. The Rate Buy Up feature can shift those parameters, but it adds a monthly charge in exchange. The practical value here is the combination of principal protection, a long accumulation runway, and the ability to distribute allocations across very different index approaches.

Strategic Growth Annuity credits interest using annual or biennial point-to-point strategies tied to eleven indices: S&P 500, MSCI EAFE, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000, S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA Index, S&P 500 Factor Rotator Daily RC2 7% Index, S&P 500 Multi-Asset Risk Control 5% Index, Morgan Stanley Global Equity Allocator Index, Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Barclays VC 7% Index, UBS Market Pioneers Index, and UBS Multi Asset Inflation Aware Index. A fixed account is also available.

Annual strategies carry caps of 9.25%–14.50% and participation rates from 52%–262%, depending on the index. Spreads range from 0%–3.00%. Two-year strategies use similar structures on an annualized basis. The Rate Buy Up feature lets buyers pay a monthly charge on any indexed strategy to receive better crediting parameters — this is optional per strategy, so buyers can mix and match. Per the brochure, the fixed account earns 4.75% (rates as of November 2025 and subject to change).

The Rate Buy Up feature is the product's most distinctive design element. Most FIAs offer a single set of cap and participation rates per strategy. Here, buyers can pay a recurring monthly charge on any individual index option to unlock higher caps or participation rates. That creates a real tradeoff: if the index performs well, the upgraded terms add meaningful interest; if the index returns zero, the buyer paid the charge and received nothing. Understanding that dynamic before allocating is important, especially across a long 10-year contract term.

The biennial crediting option is also worth noting. Two-year point-to-point measurement gives buyers a longer window to capture index growth, which in some rate environments can work in the contract holder's favor. Having both annual and biennial options inside the same contract adds another layer of flexibility.

This is a 10-year commitment, and the surrender schedule starts steep. Charges of 12% apply in years one and two, dropping gradually to 4% in year ten before falling to zero. A market value adjustment — MVA — also applies during the surrender period in most states (not California). An MVA means the effective surrender cost fluctuates with interest rates at the time of withdrawal, which can make it larger or smaller than the stated percentage charge alone.

Free withdrawals of 10% of the prior contract anniversary account value are available, but not until contract year two. That year-one lockout is a real constraint and is less common among 10-year FIA peers. Unused free-withdrawal amounts do not carry over. If a full surrender is taken, no free withdrawal applies for that transaction, and any free withdrawals taken in the last twelve months prior to full surrender are retroactively subject to MVA.

Terminal illness and nursing home waivers may be available depending on state (not in California or Massachusetts/New Jersey, respectively). Required minimum distributions were not specifically addressed in the available materials with respect to waiver eligibility — verify with the carrier if RMD planning is relevant.

There is no mandatory base contract fee and no income rider fee, because no income rider is available. The only explicit ongoing cost is the optional Rate Buy Up monthly charge on any indexed strategies where the buyer elects the upgrade — that charge is strategy-level and varies by index and current rate environment.

The less visible tradeoffs are structural. Several of the specialty indices are volatility-controlled or factor-based, which means their returns can behave very differently from the broad market indices buyers may be more familiar with. Volatility-controlled indices tend to dampen both gains and losses, which can affect how much interest accumulates over a decade. Spreads of up to 3.00% on some strategies also reduce effective participation in any given year. And the Rate Buy Up adds monthly drag if the credited index returns zero or near zero in a given period.

Legal Entity: Security Benefit Life Insurance Company

Parent: Eldridge Industries

A.M. Best Rating: A-