Passport 5 review

Depends on what it's being compared against. As a standalone MYGA-style product, yes — it's a competitively priced, fee-free, A+-rated fixed annuity with a strong principal guarantee. Compared to its own sibling, the Passport 7, it's a weaker choice for most buyers: the 7-year election pays only 0.15 points less while removing the entire renewal-cliff risk. Passport 5 makes the most sense for someone who has a specific reason to want their guarantee period shorter than their surrender period — for example, planning to annuitize or take a penalty-eligible exit around year five.

Someone would choose Passport 5 over a shorter Passport election because it locks in more years at the same declared rate as the 4-year version — 3.65% either way, per the 4/1/2026 snapshot — so there's no rate cost to picking the longer guarantee. Someone would choose it over the 7-year election if they specifically want their rate-guarantee period to end before their surrender charges do, giving them a defined point at which the carrier must declare a fresh rate rather than being locked at the outset for the full term. It also appeals to buyers who simply want a mid-length, no-fee, fixed-rate annuity from a highly rated carrier without shopping an indexed or rider-based product.

This fits savers in roughly the pre-retirement to early-retirement range who want a five-year time horizon on their guaranteed rate, don't need an income rider, and have non-qualified or qualified premium in at least the $5,000 minimum. It's a reasonable fit for RMD-age buyers, since the product doesn't penalize required distributions. It's a weaker fit for anyone who wants either full-term rate certainty (the 7-year election is the better tool for that) or true short-term liquidity (the 1- or 2-year elections, or a non-annuity account, would serve that need better).

Passport isn't really six different products — it's one fixed-annuity contract with one 7-year surrender schedule (7%, 7%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%), and the numeral in the name only tells you how many of those years come with a guaranteed rate before the account switches to annual renewal. Picking "Passport 5" means Columbus Life guarantees your rate for five years and then starts declaring a new rate each year at its own discretion for the remaining two years of the surrender schedule. You're not buying five years of commitment — you're buying seven years of commitment with only five years of rate certainty. That distinction matters more than the product name suggests.

The declared rate as of the 4/1/2026 snapshot is 3.65%, guaranteed for the full five-year election period. Columbus Life adds a first-year-only 2% rate enhancement on top of the declared rate, so the effective credited rate in contract year one is 5.65%, dropping back to the 3.65% base rate for years two through five. Wink is explicit that this is an interest-rate enhancement, not a premium bonus — it isn't added to the account value as extra principal, it just boosts the crediting rate in year one only.

After year five, the rate is no longer guaranteed. Columbus Life declares a new renewal rate annually, and while state law requires that rate to stay at or above a floor set in the contract (between 1% and 3%), there's nothing stopping the carrier from renewing right at that floor. Neither the client guide nor the quick reference materials disclose a bailout provision — a contractual right to surrender penalty-free if the renewal rate drops below some threshold. The only penalty-free exits during years six and seven are the standard ones (10% free withdrawal, RMDs, terminal illness, qualifying long-term care confinement, or death), none of which are triggered by a disappointing renewal rate.

The automatic 100%-of-premium return-of-premium (ROP) guarantee is the feature that makes the renewal-cliff risk tolerable rather than alarming. Regardless of how low the post-guarantee renewal rate goes, Columbus Life guarantees the cash surrender value will never fall below 100% of premium paid, adjusted for any withdrawals, and it credits a minimum guaranteed annual rate of at least 1% along the way. That's a meaningfully stronger floor than many fixed annuities offer, which typically guarantee something closer to 87.5% of premium. It doesn't eliminate the opportunity cost of a low renewal rate, but it does mean the downside case is "your money grows slowly," not "your money shrinks."

The full surrender schedule runs seven years regardless of which Passport election is chosen: 7%, 7%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%. For the 5-year election, that means two years (six and seven) sit past the rate guarantee, so a buyer who wants out early because the renewal rate disappoints them is still facing a 4% or 3% charge, not a clean exit. There is no market value adjustment on this product, which is a genuine plus — the surrender charge is the only cost, it doesn't move with interest rates.

Inside that schedule, 10% of account value can be withdrawn free of surrender charge every contract year starting immediately, non-cumulative, with a $250 minimum withdrawal. A systematic withdrawal plan is available monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually with a $100 minimum ($50 via EFT), drawing from either the 10% free amount or interest-only earnings. Surrender charges are also waived for RMDs and 72(t) substantially equal periodic distributions, for annuitization starting at least two years after issue and lasting at least five years, and for qualifying terminal illness or 30-plus-day long-term care confinement. That's a solid set of standard waivers, but none of them functions as a rate-triggered bailout.

There are no fees on this contract at all — no policy fee, no administrative charge, no M&E charge, no rider fee, since there's no optional rider to attach one to. The only cost exposure anywhere in the product is the surrender charge on withdrawals above the 10% free amount. That's a genuinely clean cost structure and one of the product's clearer strengths.

The real tradeoff isn't a fee — it's structural. Choosing the 5-year guarantee over the 7-year guarantee doesn't save any money or buy any extra rate in the near term (both elections credit 3.65% as of this snapshot for as long as they're each guaranteed), it just moves two years of the same surrender commitment onto a rate the carrier sets later rather than one it commits to now. Compared to the 4-year election, though, the 5-year is a straightforward upgrade — same 3.65% rate, one additional guaranteed year, no downside.

Legal Entity: Columbus Life Insurance Company

Parent: Western & Southern Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A+