Delaware Life Momentum Growth Review (2026): VersaGain, Rates, Pros and Cons

By the MyAnnuityStore review team. Last updated May 1, 2026.

Delaware Life’s Momentum Growth is a 10-year fixed index annuity built around one selling point: a feature called VersaGain that lets the contract owner toggle how much of each year’s index gain gets locked in versus left exposed for a higher crediting rate. That’s the headline. But behind the marketing, this is a fairly conventional 10-year FIA with a steep surrender schedule, no premium bonus on the standard configuration, and a current rate sheet that leans hard on two volatility-controlled indices, one of which is a bitcoin-flavored proprietary index that hasn’t existed long enough to have real-world performance.

We’ve reviewed the 04/30/2026 illustration, the product disclosure, and current rate cards. Here’s the honest take.

Product Snapshot

What Momentum Growth Actually Is

Momentum Growth is Delaware Life’s accumulation-focused FIA. There is no built-in lifetime income guarantee, and the illustration we reviewed does not attach an optional GLWB. If a client wants guaranteed lifetime income from Delaware Life, they should be looking at Momentum Income, not this chassis.

So who is Momentum Growth for? The honest answer: a client in their late 50s through early 70s who wants principal protection and meaningful upside over a 10-year horizon, has no need to pull more than 10% annually, and does not need a contractual income guarantee. The 10-year surrender schedule essentially forces a buy-and-hold posture. If a client might need liquidity, this is the wrong product.

In Delaware Life’s lineup, Momentum Growth sits as the “growth” sibling to Momentum Income. It is positioned to compete with accumulation-focused FIAs like Athene Performance Elite, Allianz 222, and North American Performance Choice. Against that field, Momentum Growth is middle-of-the-pack on surrender terms and depends on the strength of its current cap and participation rates to win business. Compare current cap and participation rates from across the industry on our live fixed annuity rates page.

Index Options and Crediting Methods: The Real Story

The illustration we reviewed allocates 50/50 between two indices. Both are 1-year point-to-point with annual reset and use a participation rate (no cap, no spread).

1-Year BlackRock U.S. Equity Bitcoin Balanced Risk 12% PTP — 55% participation rate

This is a proprietary, volatility-controlled index targeting 12% volatility, blending U.S. equity exposure with a bitcoin sleeve. Inception date is 06/30/2025. That means the index has roughly 10 months of live history at the time of this review. Everything else is backtested.

A 55% participation rate sounds low until you remember the index targets 12% volatility, well below the S&P 500’s natural 16-18% range. Volatility-controlled indices smooth returns by moving in and out of cash; the par rate has to be higher to compensate. The carrier’s hypothetical illustrations show this index throwing off 16-37% credited returns in single years. We’re skeptical. Volatility-controlled indices in the real world rarely produce double-digit point-to-point returns year after year, and adding bitcoin to the mix is a marketing decision more than a structural one. The bitcoin allocation is small enough (and risk-managed enough) that it is unlikely to drive meaningful additional returns net of the volatility cap. BlackRock’s index methodology documentation is worth reading before relying on backtested figures.

1-Year S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA PTP — 65% Flexible Participation Rate

This is S&P’s intraday-rebalanced volatility-controlled S&P 500 index. Inception 08/14/2023. About two and a half years of live data. The “Flexible” designation refers to VersaGain. A 65% par rate is reasonable for a vol-controlled S&P variant; comparable indices are priced at 50% to 75% across the market. S&P’s index page shows the live history.

What’s missing from this illustration: The standard S&P 500 1-year point-to-point with a cap. Most well-built FIAs offer a vanilla S&P option as a benchmark. If Momentum Growth offers one, the agent should disclose its current cap. If it does not, that is a yellow flag because it forces the client into proprietary indices to get any equity exposure. Read more about how these crediting methods work on our guide to the best fixed index annuity companies.

Bottom line on crediting: Both indices on this illustration are vol-controlled and proprietary. Delaware Life is leaning on backtested data here. We would feel much better about this product with a third option that offers a transparent S&P 500 PTP with a cap, even at a modest cap rate, so the client has a benchmark they can verify.

The VersaGain Feature: Genuinely Useful or Marketing Polish?

VersaGain is the product’s real differentiator. At each contract anniversary, the owner elects a “Protected Auto-Credit Percentage” of 0%, 50%, or 100%. This determines how much of any unrealized index gain is locked in throughout the year. Owners can also lock in a gain mid-year on any individual index account.

The illustration we reviewed uses the 100% Protected default. That is the most conservative setting and effectively reduces VersaGain to a “lock-in any time” feature.

Our take: VersaGain is a real benefit, but it is more useful in theory than in practice. The mid-year lock-in is the most valuable part. If the S&P 500 is up 18% in July and an owner believes a correction is coming, they can lock that gain and ignore the rest of the year. Few FIAs offer that. The 0%/50%/100% election is more cosmetic; in practice, most owners will set it once and forget it.

The fine print matters: locking in mid-year ends the index term and starts a new one at the next contract anniversary. If a client locks in May 2026 at +12%, that 12% is theirs, but they earn no further crediting until the contract anniversary. That is a fair trade, but it’s not free upside.

Hypothetical Performance: What the Numbers Actually Show

The illustration shows a 10.63% annualized return over 30 years, ending at $2,136,848 on a $100,000 deposit. That headline number is misleading and we want to be direct about why.

The carrier illustrates the most recent 10 calendar years of index data, then repeats that same 10-year sequence three times across the 30-year run. The 2016-2025 window includes 2017 (+37.62% on the BlackRock index), 2019 (+17.94%), 2020 (+16.99%), 2021 (+9.37%), 2023 (+13.39%), and 2024 (+10.65%). That is one of the most favorable 10-year windows in U.S. equity history. Repeating it three times produces compounding that does not reflect any plausible 30-year reality.

The honest read of the data is in the carrier’s own High/Low/Most Recent comparison on the index pages. For the BlackRock index, the High Period is 11.89% and the Low Period is 10.90%. For the S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA, the High is 9.69% and the Low is 8.82%.

These are not real Low Periods. They are the worst 10-year windows within a backtest that starts in 2014. They include zero recessions of consequence, no extended bear markets, no rate-cycle environments comparable to 1973-1982 or 2000-2009. A client should expect, in a more representative environment, annualized credited rates in the 4% to 7% range from this allocation, not 9% to 11%. NAIC consumer guidance on annuity illustrations is worth reading for context on how these projections are constructed.

Compared to a simple 10-year MYGA at current rates (top of market is around 5.50% to 5.80% as of May 2026), Momentum Growth needs to clear roughly 5.5% net annualized to justify its surrender period and complexity. That is achievable in a normal market environment but is not the layup the illustration suggests.

Income Rider Deep Dive

The illustration we reviewed does not include an income rider. Delaware Life’s income-focused FIA is Momentum Income, which is a separate product with its own rate card. If a client wants income guarantees, request a Momentum Income illustration; do not buy Momentum Growth and try to retrofit income from systematic withdrawals beyond the 10% free amount.

If you are an agent comparing this to F&G Safe Income Plus, Athene Ascent Pro 10, or North American Income Pay Pro, you are comparing the wrong product. We would need a Momentum Income illustration to make that comparison fair. See our full Delaware Life annuity review for the carrier’s broader product lineup.

Surrender Schedule and Liquidity

The 10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 surrender schedule is standard for a 10-year FIA without a bonus. It is not aggressive, but it is also not generous. A starting surrender of 10% means a client who needs to walk away in year 1 forfeits $10,000 on a $100,000 contract before MVA.

The MVA applies on top of the surrender charge for withdrawals above the free amount. The illustration does not disclose the MVA formula in detail, which is typical at the illustration stage but worth requesting from Delaware Life directly. MVAs based on Treasury or corporate bond movements can swing 3-8% in either direction in a rate-volatile environment.

The 10% free withdrawal is the standard market offering. Some competitors (Athene, F&G) offer slightly more flexible early-year free withdrawal terms; some (Allianz, Nationwide) offer less. Delaware Life is firmly in the middle.

The death benefit is straightforward: the greater of account value or cash surrender value, paid at death with no surrender charge or MVA. This is the right answer and is consistent across the FIA market.

Nursing home and terminal illness waivers are not detailed in the illustration. We assume they are standard but would want the agent to confirm waiting periods (typically 12 months from issue) and state availability before recommending this product to any client where long-term care risk is a meaningful planning concern.

Premium Bonus Analysis

There is no premium bonus on the standard Momentum Growth configuration. We view this as a positive. Bonus FIAs almost always come with longer surrender periods, lower caps and participation rates, or both. Delaware Life is being honest by pricing this product without a bonus and offering competitive participation rates instead.

A client asking “where is my bonus?” is asking the wrong question. The right question is “what are my caps and participation rates over time?” A 55% to 65% participation rate on a vol-controlled index without a bonus is generally a better mathematical bet than a 7% bonus with 30% participation rates.

What We Like

• No premium bonus, no gimmick. Delaware Life prices Momentum Growth on its participation rates, not on a marketing hook. That is increasingly rare and we respect it.
• VersaGain mid-year lock-in is genuinely useful. The ability to lock in an index gain mid-term is rare in the FIA market and gives an attentive client real optionality.
• 65% participation on the S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA is competitive. Reasonable rate for a vol-controlled S&P variant. The index has a longer track record than the BlackRock alternative and pricing is fair.
• Modified single premium structure. Allowing $500 follow-up premiums in year one is friendly for clients still consolidating accounts at the time of purchase.
• A- rated carrier with $40+ billion in assets. Delaware Life is owned by Group 1001 (Resolute Investment Managers); financial strength is solid for the FIA category.

What Gives Us Pause

• Heavy reliance on proprietary, vol-controlled indices. Both indices on this illustration are proprietary and have less than three years of live performance. The BlackRock Bitcoin Balanced Risk 12% index has roughly 10 months of live data. Backtesting can make any index look attractive.
• No transparent S&P 500 cap option visible on the illustration. A vanilla S&P 500 1-year PTP with a cap rate is the benchmark every FIA should offer. If Delaware Life offers one on Momentum Growth, the agent should be illustrating it.
• The 10.63% headline return is misleading. Repeating the 2016-2025 window three times to project 30 years of growth is standard FIA illustration practice but it is not honest math. Realistic long-term annualized credited rates on this allocation are likely 4% to 7%, not 10%+.
• 10-year surrender with no bonus. Some clients will reasonably ask why they should accept a 10-year tie-up with no premium bonus when 7-year surrender alternatives exist (Athene Performance Elite 7, North American Performance Choice 7). The participation rates have to be meaningfully better to justify the extra three years, and on the surface they are not dramatically so.
• No income rider on this chassis as illustrated. Clients who think they want income later will be tempted to use this product for “flexible accumulation” and then take systematic withdrawals. That works only if they actually never need a guarantee.

Who Momentum Growth Is Best For

Best for: A 60-to-72-year-old non-qualified or IRA buyer with $100,000 to $500,000 they will not touch for 10 years, who has lifetime income covered elsewhere (Social Security plus pension or a separate income annuity), and who wants principal-protected equity-linked growth with the option to lock in gains mid-year. Florida and Texas residents in particular benefit because there is no state income tax drag on tax-deferred growth.

Not ideal for: Anyone who might need more than 10% annually. Anyone who wants guaranteed lifetime income (use Momentum Income instead). Anyone uncomfortable with proprietary, short-history indices. Anyone in California, where the absence of MVA is offset by a shorter 9-year schedule but the participation rates and caps may price differently. Anyone under 55 who has not maxed out other tax-deferred vehicles.

Bottom Line Verdict

Momentum Growth is a competent, no-bonus 10-year FIA with one genuinely interesting feature (VersaGain mid-year lock-in) and one significant concern (heavy reliance on short-history proprietary indices). The participation rates are fair without being extraordinary, and the surrender schedule is standard. We would recommend Momentum Growth over a peer 10-year bonus FIA in most cases, but we would want to see a transparent S&P 500 cap option on the rate card before fully endorsing it for accumulation-focused clients.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars — A solid mid-tier accumulation FIA whose biggest weakness is the indices Delaware Life chose to price aggressively, not the chassis itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Reading

• Today’s Best Fixed Annuity Rates
• Top 10 Best Fixed Index Annuity Companies (2026)
• Delaware Life Insurance Company Review

Editorial disclosure: Our review team independently evaluates annuity products. MyAnnuityStore is a licensed annuity agency and may earn commissions when clients purchase recommended products. Reviews reflect our genuine assessment based on current rates, contract provisions, and competitive positioning as of the publication date. Rates and product features change frequently; verify current terms with Delaware Life or your agent before purchasing.