MaxRate 5 review

Yes, for a specific type of buyer. If you want a 5-year fixed rate, no market exposure, and no ongoing fees, MaxRate 5 does its job cleanly. It is less attractive if you want any flexibility to touch principal before the term ends, because the flat 10% surrender charge and the MVA make early exits materially expensive. This is not an annuity you buy hoping you might need the money back sooner — it is an annuity you buy because you genuinely do not need the money for five years.

The core reason to buy MaxRate 5 is a locked rate with a credible guarantee. Athene carries an A+ from A.M. Best, which is the highest rating tier, and the rate structure is straightforward — no moving parts, no rider fees eroding the crediting, no crediting-method complexity to manage. For someone who has already decided they want a 5-year MYGA and is comparison-shopping carriers, the combination of the rate banding, RMD accommodation, and carrier quality makes this a reasonable finalist. The $10,000 minimum also keeps it accessible for buyers who are not moving large sums.

I think MaxRate 5 is best for retirement savers in their 50s to early 80s who want to park a specific allocation for five years at a guaranteed rate, do not need regular access to principal, and want to avoid market risk entirely. It fits qualified money well because the RMD accommodation removes a common friction point. It is less suitable for someone who is uncertain about their five-year liquidity needs, wants accumulation potential tied to market performance, or is primarily shopping for lifetime income.

You are buying a contractual promise from Athene Annuity and Life Company: they will credit a fixed rate on your premium for five years, and your principal is not exposed to market loss. That is the entire proposition. There are no indices, no participation rates, no caps to track, and no rider decisions to make at issue. The guaranteed minimum contract value — 87.5% of premiums accumulating at 1-3% — provides a floor on what Athene owes you even in a worst-case scenario. What you are giving up is liquidity and any chance of earning more than the locked rate if the broader rate environment moves higher after you commit.

MaxRate 5 uses two crediting strategies. The Multi-Year Fixed Strategy applies to your initial premium and locks in the contracted rate for the full five-year term — the rate does not change at annual reset points the way some shorter-duration products do. The 1-Year Fixed Strategy applies to any additional premiums and resets annually at a declared rate, with a floor at the product's guaranteed minimum. Rate banding splits the credited rate by premium size: contracts below $100,000 earn 4.95%, and contracts of $100,000 or more earn 5.20%, based on rates as of April 16, 2026. Those rates can and will change for new contracts, but once you issue, the Multi-Year Fixed Strategy rate for your initial premium is locked.

The most practically useful secondary feature is the RMD accommodation. Most buyers putting IRA money into a MYGA worry about whether required minimum distributions will trigger surrender charges or MVA adjustments in years when their RMD exceeds the standard free-withdrawal allowance. MaxRate 5 handles this cleanly: RMDs attributable to the contract are treated as part of the free-withdrawal amount, and the greater of the standard free withdrawal or the full RMD is available without charge. For buyers in their 70s and beyond who hold this in a traditional IRA or 401(k) rollover, that provision removes a real administrative headache.

You are trading five years of meaningful liquidity for a locked rate. The free-withdrawal provision lets you take interest earnings out of the contract each year without penalty, which is useful if you want to receive the crediting as income-like distributions without annuitizing. But access to principal before the surrender period ends costs you — the charge is a flat 10% in every contract year, which is notably less forgiving than products that step down from 8% or 9% and reach 0% by the end of the term. A market value adjustment — or MVA — also applies on top of the surrender charge for withdrawals above the free amount. The MVA can increase or decrease the surrender value depending on whether current interest rates are higher or lower than they were when you issued. That means your actual exit cost in year two or three is not fully predictable.

The confinement and terminal illness waivers provide some protection in hardship scenarios: if you are confined to a qualifying care facility or diagnosed with a terminal illness, the surrender charges may be waived. These provisions are not available in all states — the confinement waiver does not apply in California or Massachusetts, and the terminal illness waiver does not apply in California.

There is no base contract fee and no income rider fee on MaxRate 5. The product earns Athene margin through the spread between what they credit you and what they earn on their general account portfolio — that is standard for a MYGA and not a negative, just the structural reality of how fixed annuities work.

The honest tradeoffs are: the flat 10% surrender charge is steep compared to step-down designs; the MVA adds unpredictability to early-exit costs; and once the five-year term ends, renewal is at a declared rate that could be materially lower than what you locked in originally. If you plan to reinvest at the end of the term, you are accepting some rate risk at renewal.

Legal Entity: Athene Annuity and Life Company

Parent: Athene Holding Ltd.

A.M. Best Rating: A+