MYGA 5-Year review

Yes, with a real caveat. The rate is strong enough that it deserves a look from anyone shopping the 5-year MYGA market on yield. But this isn't a product to buy on rate alone — the B++ carrier rating and the absence of hardship waivers mean you're taking on more carrier and liquidity risk than you would with a top-rated MYGA paying a lower rate. Whether that trade is worth it depends on how much weight you put on carrier strength versus current yield.

The main draw is simple: 5.25% guaranteed for five years is a competitive number, and the flat-rate structure means you don't need to hit a premium threshold to get it — $25,000 earns the same rate as $250,000. There's no rider fee eating into that yield, no index math to evaluate, and no premium bonus dangling a headline number that masks a lower real rate. For someone comparing straight fixed-rate options and prioritizing yield over carrier pedigree, the math is easy to follow, which is itself worth something.

I think this product is best for a rate-focused buyer — someone who has already decided they want a 5-year MYGA, has compared several options, and is willing to accept a B++ carrier in exchange for a meaningfully higher rate than the A-rated alternatives are paying. It also works reasonably well for someone laddering smaller positions across multiple carriers, where concentration risk with any single B++ company is limited by design. It is a poor fit for someone who treats carrier rating as a hard cutoff, who may need emergency access to the full account value during a health event (there's no confinement or terminal-illness waiver here), or who wants the comfort of an A-rated household name for a five-year commitment.

You're buying Ceres Life's promise to credit 5.25% every year for five years and return your full account value at the end of the term, backed by a company A.M. Best rates B++ rather than by one of the industry's top-tier balance sheets. The 5.25% is a current declared rate, not a contractual guarantee — the actual contractual floor is the Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value (MGSV), which runs far lower. In exchange for that rate, you accept a front-loaded surrender schedule, a market value adjustment on withdrawals above the free amount, and no built-in waiver if you need the money out early for a nursing-home stay or terminal diagnosis. There's no index crediting and no rider complexity — it's a straightforward locked-rate contract, just one issued by a smaller, lower-rated company than most of its direct competitors.

The core feature is the flat 5.25% fixed rate, guaranteed for the entire 5-year Guarantee Period with no premium banding — the Wink product profile confirms there's only one rate tier on this product, so a $25,000 deposit and a $500,000 deposit earn the identical rate. That's a genuine point of simplicity; many MYGAs pay a materially better rate above $100,000, and there's no such threshold to clear here.

This rate sits inside a same-date ladder from Ceres Life: 5.05% on the 3-year version, 5.25% on this 5-year, and 5.30% on the 7-year, all snapshotted on the same date. That's useful context if you're deciding on duration. Going from 3 to 5 years picks up 0.20% in yield — most of the term premium the carrier is willing to pay. Stretching another two years to the 7-year version only adds another 0.05%. In other words, the 5-year is where most of the extra compensation for locking up your money actually lives; the 7-year mostly just adds two more years of commitment for very little extra rate. Keep in mind this is a snapshot as of 4/3/2026 — declared rates on new MYGA business move with the interest-rate environment and are not locked until you apply.

The secondary feature worth understanding is what happens at the end of the 5-year Guarantee Period. You get a 30-day window to choose: renew into a new multi-year Guarantee Period (which resets the surrender schedule and MVA), roll into a non-surrender-charge declared rate that can then change annually, annuitize the contract, or surrender the full account value with no penalty. That last option matters — it means the "lock-up" isn't indefinite. If Ceres Life's rates aren't competitive when your term ends, you have a genuine no-penalty exit window rather than being pushed into a renewal or a fresh surrender clock by default.

The surrender schedule starts at 9% in year one and steps down to 5% by year five — steeper on the front end than some 5-year peers that start closer to 7%, though it lands in a similar place by the last year. A market value adjustment also applies on withdrawals above the free amount, so your effective surrender cost can move with interest rates rather than being fixed to the disclosed schedule alone.

On the positive side, once you're past the first contract year, you can take 10% of account value annually free of surrender charge and MVA, plus withdraw credited interest only, also free of charge, at any point after year one. Required minimum distributions on qualified contracts are permitted every year without triggering a surrender charge or MVA — useful if this ends up inside an IRA. The gap I'd flag clearly: there is no confinement or terminal-illness waiver on this product. If you need full, penalty-free access because of a nursing-home admission or a terminal diagnosis during the surrender period, that door isn't open here the way it is on many competing MYGAs. That's a real consideration for anyone buying this with money that might need to move quickly for a health reason.

There are no fees to account for — no M&E charge, no product fee, no administration charge, and no annual contract fee are disclosed on this product. The entire economics come down to the spread between the credited rate and what Ceres Life earns on its own investments; there's nothing skimming the top of your return along the way.

The tradeoffs live outside the fee line. The declared 5.25% rate is current, not contractual — the actual guaranteed floor, the MGSV, runs at 87.5% of premium accumulated at 0.15%–3% depending on issue state, which is a meaningfully lower number than the headline rate and only matters if the contract is surrendered early or the carrier's future declared rates disappoint. And the carrier itself is the biggest structural tradeoff: B++ from A.M. Best, unrated by S&P, versus the A-rated carriers that typically anchor this category. That's the price of the higher rate, and it's worth weighing deliberately rather than glossing over.

Legal Entity: Ceres Life Insurance Company

Parent: Salem Group Holdings

A.M. Best Rating: B++