ChoiceFour review

Depends on how much weight the buyer puts on rate certainty. As a one-year CD-like commitment with a decent current rate, it's fine. As a 9-year surrender commitment, it's a harder sell, because only the first year of that commitment has a known rate — the other 8 years are governed by a wide 1%-3% floor-and-ceiling range that EquiTrust controls. I think this product works for a specific kind of buyer, but it is not a broadly strong recommendation the way a comparably-priced MYGA with a matched guarantee period would be.

The rational case here is the fee structure and the current rate: no sales charge, no annual contract fee, and a 5.00% starting rate that's competitive for a traditional fixed annuity. The built-in Nursing Home Waiver adds real value at no incremental cost for buyers who might need penalty-free access later in life due to confinement. For a buyer who is disciplined about tracking the account and willing to accept whatever renewal rate EquiTrust posts each year, the product functions as a low-cost, no-frills accumulation vehicle.

This fits a buyer who wants a straightforward fixed annuity, isn't chasing a locked multi-year rate the way a MYGA shopper would, and has non-qualified or qualified accumulation money they don't expect to need beyond the interest earned each year. It's a better fit for someone who actively monitors renewal rates and would surrender if the rate becomes uncompetitive than for someone who wants to set it and forget it for nearly a decade. It's a weaker fit for anyone counting on predictable income or a rate guarantee that matches the length of the surrender commitment.

Strip away the "9-Year" framing and what you're actually buying is a fixed annuity with a one-year rate guarantee wrapped in a 9-year surrender-charge schedule. After year one, EquiTrust resets the credited rate annually, never below 1% and never above 3% by contract minimum, but with no obligation to keep pace with current market rates in between. There is no MVA on the Base Contract, which is one genuine advantage over the sibling MVA variant, but there is also no premium bonus and no mechanism described in the available materials that lets you exit penalty-free if a future renewal rate disappoints you — only the prior 12 months' interest is available without a surrender charge.

The core mechanic is a fixed rate with an annual reset. EquiTrust credits an initial rate for the first contract year, then resets the rate each anniversary for the life of the contract, subject to a contractual floor of 1% and ceiling of 3% on the minimum guaranteed side. Current fixed account rate is 5.00% as of the brochure's 3/10/2026 data point — well above the guaranteed floor, but that gap is exactly the risk: nothing requires EquiTrust to keep crediting anywhere near 5.00% once the first-year guarantee expires, only that it stay within the 1%-3% contractual range on the guaranteed minimum.

The Nursing Home Waiver Rider, included at no extra cost, is the product's most useful secondary feature. After the first contract year, if the owner is confined to a nursing home or hospital for 90 or more days, the accumulation value becomes available without surrender charges or MVA during that confinement. It's available at issue through age 80 and is not offered in Massachusetts. Wink also lists a Terminal Illness surrender-charge waiver. Neither is a true chronic-illness income rider — both are confinement/health-triggered access waivers — but they meaningfully soften the otherwise strict liquidity picture for buyers who end up needing care.

The surrender schedule runs 9 years, starting at 12% in year one and stepping down to 2% by year nine, shown below. Outside of the nursing home and terminal illness waivers, free withdrawal access on the Base Contract is limited to interest earned in the prior 12 months — not a percentage of account value, which is more restrictive than many comparable fixed annuities that offer a flat 10% annual free-withdrawal allowance. Combined with the fact that the rate guarantee expires after year one, this is a contract that asks for real patience: you're committing to 9 years of surrender exposure in exchange for one year of rate certainty and a fairly thin annual liquidity valve.

There is no explicit sales charge, annual contract fee, or rider fee on the Base Contract — the available materials show no line-item cost. The real tradeoff isn't a stated fee, it's the renewal-rate structure: EquiTrust doesn't charge you directly, but it retains full discretion over the rate you earn from year two through year nine, inside only a wide 1%-3% guaranteed band. That's the cost of the product, just expressed as rate risk rather than a fee line.

Legal Entity: EquiTrust Life Insurance Company

A.M. Best Rating: B++