Not sure what the other reviewers are carping about in terms of liquidity or access to funds.
Yes, this is an insurance products and it is an indexed annuity. The reality is that any insurance guarantee comes at a cost, and surrender charges are a fact of life with equity indexed products.
That said, a 10 year surrender charge is NOT at the upper end of the range when compared to other indexed products. There are some products that have surrender periods up to 18 years.
Also, there is a free withdrawal provision that comes with the Masterdex 10 annuity. Annuity owners are allowed to take up to 10 percent per year from the product with no fees applied.
There is also a loan provision that allows loans of up to 50 percent of the value and is capped at $50,000.
Last, there is a nursing home benefit that provides owners with access to their funds (without fees and penalties) if they end-up in a nursing home.
It's easy to rant about fees and surrender charges with any annuity product.
What you have to do though is look at the contract details because there are often plenty of features that allow for access to money without being dinged by surrender fees.