Strategic Growth Plus Annuity review

It depends on what you are buying it for. If you want an accumulation FIA with a premium bonus, multiple index options, and are comfortable holding for 10 years without needing income guarantees, this is a legitimate option. If you want the strongest possible participation rates, a built-in income rider, or a shorter surrender period, this product will feel limited.

The primary reason someone buys Strategic Growth Plus is the 13% account-value bonus applied in year one. That is a real immediate increase to the starting value on which future index credits are calculated. The secondary reason is the breadth of the index menu — eleven indices and fourteen crediting strategies gives buyers more ways to pursue growth than most FIAs with a bonus offer. For someone who wants a long-duration accumulation contract and is drawn to both the upfront lift and strategy variety, the combination is appealing in the right context.

I think Strategic Growth Plus is best for someone in their 50s or early 60s using qualified or non-qualified long-term dollars who wants accumulation potential with downside protection and values the psychological and mathematical appeal of an immediate account credit at issue. It is less appropriate for someone who expects to need withdrawals in the early years, wants retirement income guarantees, or assumes the bonus comes without any pricing offset.

You are not buying index-linked growth plus a bonus with no strings. You are buying a long-term insurance contract where the carrier fronts you a 13% account-value credit in exchange for a decade-long commitment and reduced credited rates relative to bonus-free alternatives. The protection floor is intact — the MGSV guarantee ensures you will not lose more than about 12.5% of your principal in the worst case — but the premium bonus structure means the growth potential over the full term needs to be weighed against what a comparable no-bonus FIA might offer. The bonus adds value mainly if you hold for the full 10 years and the crediting terms come in near current rates.

The 13% account-value premium bonus is applied to purchase payments received in the first contract year. It is not a benefit-base credit or a shadow account — it goes directly into your account value, which means it participates in index crediting from day one. That is a real distinction from bonus structures that only appear in income rider bases.

The index menu spans eleven indices including the S&P 500 (with cap, participation rate, and participation rate plus spread options), MSCI EAFE, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 Small Cap, plus five volatility-controlled or multi-asset managed indices: S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA, S&P 500 Factor Rotator Daily RC2 7%, S&P Multi-Asset Risk Control (MARC) 5%, Morgan Stanley Global Equity Allocator, Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Barclays VC 7%, UBS Market Pioneers, and UBS Multi Asset Inflation Aware. Participation rates on the specialty indices range from 30% to 215% depending on the strategy and whether a Rate Buy-Up feature is elected.

The Rate Buy-Up Feature is worth noting. It allows buyers to pay a monthly charge — around 0.95% annually on select strategies — to increase caps, raise participation rates, or lower spreads. The option adds flexibility but also adds cost, and the tradeoff needs to be evaluated strategy by strategy.

The most meaningful secondary feature here is the breadth of the specialty index lineup. Where many premium bonus FIAs stick to one or two mainstream indices, Strategic Growth Plus includes volatility-controlled and multi-asset managed benchmarks that tend to show high participation rates precisely because their volatility profiles are lower. That can look compelling on a rate sheet, but it is worth understanding that lower volatility does not automatically mean better outcomes — it means more stable but potentially lower returns in a strong equity market.

The Rate Buy-Up option sits alongside this. For buyers who want to optimize a specific strategy, it provides a dial to turn up potential credits — but that monthly charge adds a fee layer that needs to be weighed against realistic credited amounts.

Strategic Growth Plus is a genuine 10-year commitment. Free withdrawals become available starting in year 2, capped at 10% of the prior Contract Anniversary Account Value, with no surrender charge, bonus recapture, or MVA on that amount. Year 1 has no free withdrawal access at all.

Amounts above the free withdrawal limit, full surrenders, and certain other events are subject to the surrender schedule and an MVA — Market Value Adjustment — which means the effective penalty can move up or down depending on prevailing interest rates at the time. Bonus recapture also applies to excess withdrawals, which means the 13% account credit is not fully locked until you are well past the early surrender years.

State variations apply: reduced surrender schedules are available in a significant number of states including AK, CT, MA, NJ, TX, and others. The product is not available in IA, ID, or NY.

There is no base contract fee, no rider fee, and no mortality and expense charge on this product. That is a clean structure on the surface. The real costs are structural rather than explicit.

The premium bonus is the first tradeoff. A 13% upfront credit is an expensive guarantee for the carrier to make, and it is funded through lower caps and participation rates than a comparable no-bonus contract from the same or a competing carrier. The actual delta is not disclosed in available materials, but it is industry standard to expect bonus FIAs to trail non-bonus competitors on raw crediting terms by a margin that roughly offsets the bonus over the surrender period.

The MVA is the second tradeoff. In a rising rate environment, surrendering early does not just mean paying the published schedule — the MVA can push the effective penalty higher. That is not unusual for FIAs in this segment, but it is meaningful given the steep early surrender charges.

The Rate Buy-Up feature adds a third optional cost layer at roughly 0.95% annually on participating strategies. It is elective, but buyers using it should understand they are trading current account value for higher potential credits.

Legal Entity: Security Benefit Life Insurance Company

Parent: Eldridge Industries

A.M. Best Rating: A-