New Horizon 7 review

It depends on what you're comparing it to. Judged purely on structure — free withdrawal terms, death benefit, no explicit fees — it holds up fine. Judged against the broader FIA market, where multi-index menus and A-rated carriers are common, it's a step behind. I think it's a reasonable option for someone who already likes Western United Life or is working with an advisor who has access to current rates, but it isn't a product I'd point to as best-in-class on its own merits.

The practical case for New Horizon 7 is simple: principal protection with some equity-linked upside, a death benefit that pays the full account value with no surrender charge deducted, and free access to 10% of the contract every year starting immediately rather than after a one-year waiting period. Someone who wants a clean accumulation contract — no income rider fees, no rider complexity to evaluate — and values that day-one liquidity provision would find this workable. It also suits someone who specifically wants a nursing-home and terminal-illness waiver built in at no extra cost, since New Horizon 7 includes both.

This fits a buyer in their 50s to 70s, non-qualified or qualified money either way, who wants a portion of savings shielded from market loss with some indexed growth potential, and who has no interest in converting the contract to guaranteed lifetime income later. It's a weaker fit for someone whose retirement plan depends on a guaranteed income stream — this contract offers none — or for someone who wants to compare crediting strategies across several indices, since New Horizon 7 only links to the S&P 500.

You're not buying stock market exposure. You're buying an insurance contract that guarantees you won't lose principal to market declines, in exchange for capped or participation-limited upside tied to the S&P 500's performance. There are three ways to earn interest: a fixed account currently crediting 1.95%, an annual point-to-point strategy with a cap (currently 6.75%, guaranteed never below 1.00%), and an annual point-to-point strategy with a participation rate (currently 25% of the index gain, guaranteed never below 10%). None of these give you the index's full return — they're formulas layered on top of index performance, designed so the insurer can guarantee your principal.

Each contract year, you (or your advisor) allocate premium among the fixed account, the cap strategy, and the participation strategy. The cap strategy credits index gains up to the stated cap — so if the S&P 500 rises 9% in a year and the cap is 6.75%, you're credited 6.75%. The participation strategy credits a percentage of the index gain instead — at a 25% participation rate, a 9% index gain nets you roughly 2.25% credited interest. If the index is flat or negative, both strategies credit zero for that year, but you never lose money already credited to the contract. The guaranteed minimums (1.00% cap floor, 10% participation floor) only matter if the current rates are pulled down significantly in a future renewal — they're a backstop, not something you should expect to receive. Worth flagging: the cap and participation figures above are from a rate sheet dated February 2023. Current rates should be confirmed directly with the carrier or your advisor before purchase, since indexed annuity rates typically reset annually.

The death benefit here is stronger than what you'll find on many FIAs. New Horizon 7 pays the full annuity value to a beneficiary with no surrender charge deducted, regardless of when the annuitant dies during the surrender period. Many competing contracts instead pay the greater of contract value or a reduced minimum guaranteed surrender value, which can be lower than what a beneficiary would receive here. Combined with the built-in nursing-home and terminal-illness waivers (both included at no additional cost, waiving surrender charges if the annuitant is confined to a nursing home for 90+ consecutive days or diagnosed with a terminal illness), this product leans toward protecting the buyer and their heirs from being trapped by surrender charges during a health event or at death — even without a dedicated chronic-illness rider.

New Horizon 7 allows a 10% free withdrawal of the annuity value every contract year, starting in year one — no waiting period, which is more generous than the "after year one" structure common on comparable contracts. Withdrawals beyond that 10%, or full surrender, trigger the schedule below, and a market value adjustment (MVA) can also apply — meaning your actual surrender proceeds can move up or down with prevailing interest rates, not just the stated percentage. The schedule front-loads more steeply than some peers (9.3% in year one versus the more common 8%), which matters if you think there's any real chance you'll need more than the free amount in the first year or two. RMD amounts are also treated as penalty-free if they exceed the standard 10% allowance, which keeps this workable for qualified accounts subject to required distributions.

There's no explicit base contract fee and no rider fee disclosed in the source materials — there's no rider to charge for, since New Horizon 7 doesn't offer an income or chronic-illness rider at all. The real cost here isn't a line-item fee; it's the cap and participation rate structure itself, which caps how much of the S&P 500's gain you actually receive. The bigger practical tradeoff is the single-index design — if the S&P 500 has a flat or down stretch, you have no alternative index strategy to diversify into within this contract, unlike FIAs that offer a Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, or specialty-index option alongside the S&P 500. Combine that with the B++ carrier rating (below the A-range many FIA shoppers use as a baseline) and this is a contract where the tradeoffs are structural rather than fee-based.

Legal Entity: Western United Life Insurance Company

Parent: ManhattanLife

A.M. Best Rating: B++