Equitrust Builder Bonus Annuity
The Equitrust Builder Bonus annuity is a unique product that is worth consideration for the right people. Here I will review the product and talk about the strengths and weaknesses of it.
For starters;
the product has approval in some of the more strict annuity states such as New Jersey and Connecticut. It is also one of only two products that has a return of premium feature. Return of premium (ROP) means that you can have your initial investment back without penalty. You can do this at any time regardless of when it is requested. This is a good option if you ever need to take the investment back due to other priorities. This can be done within the surrender period of the plan.
Security Benefit also has a 6% bonus which is the only ROP on the market with a bonus.
They use a variety of crediting methods such as an annual point to point, monthly sum and fixed rate strategy to determine annual gains in the account value. Clients can add an income rider at a .50% annual fee. There is a 9 year surrender charge on this product unless you use the ROP. The company does not recapture the bonus however which is unusual.
My only critiques of this annuity is that the income rider is not competitive with the highest paying income riders.
If you compare it to it’s peers, it is in the middle of the pack. The investment accounts are also your standard issue investments accounts which look very conservative compared to other products such as the Total Value Annuity (Security Benefit) or even the National Western Global Lookback Annuity. To be fair, they are the only company with ROP and a bonus so they probably do not feel compelled to have a top of the line income rider.
Overall this is a flexible annuity that has the rare combination of an ROP benefit, Bonus (that is not recaptured) and approvals in tough annuity states.