ChoiceFour (Liquidity Rider) review

Yes, with a caveat. This variant does what it says: it shortens the commitment from nine years to six, waives the surrender charge on up to 10% of account value every year after the first, and does all of that without a market value adjustment or a separately stated rider fee. The caveat is that none of this is free — it comes at the cost of roughly half a point of current rate versus the Base Contract, and the rate itself resets annually after year one. Whether this is "good" depends on how much you value that liquidity relative to the extra yield you're giving up for it.

The main reason to buy this version over the Base Contract is access. Someone who likes the safety of a fixed annuity but is uneasy about locking money away for nine years — or who wants the ability to take real, meaningful withdrawals without penalty — gets that here. The secondary reason is the shorter surrender period itself: six years is a smaller commitment than the Base Contract's nine, which matters for buyers who want their money working but don't want a decade-long lockup, or who are simply closer to needing it.

I think this variant is best for a conservative saver, likely 55 and up, who wants a fixed-rate annuity but also wants a real liquidity valve — enough to cover an unplanned expense or start drawing down gradually without triggering surrender charges. It's a reasonable fit in a non-qualified account where flexibility matters, or as one piece of a larger retirement-income plan rather than a locked, buy-and-forget allocation. It's a weaker fit for someone chasing the highest possible guaranteed rate, since the Base Contract pays more for accepting a longer commitment, or for someone with money they genuinely won't touch for years, since the enhanced withdrawal feature does nothing for that buyer but still costs yield.

You're not buying a multi-year rate guarantee. This is a traditional fixed annuity: the credited rate is locked for the first contract year only, then resets annually — subject to a floor of 1% and a ceiling of 3% — for the remaining five years of the surrender period. What you're actually buying is principal protection (your account value doesn't move backward the way a market-linked product's could) plus a contractual promise of enhanced access: 10% of account value, penalty-free, every year starting in year two. That access is the entire reason this variant exists — EquiTrust built it by shortening the surrender schedule and trimming the rate, not by layering on a separate rider charge.

The core feature is the free-withdrawal enhancement itself. In the first contract year, you can withdraw the interest you've earned without triggering a surrender charge or MVA. Starting in year two, that expands to 10% of the account value as measured on the prior contract anniversary — you can take it as a single withdrawal or spread it out systematically, and the 10% allowance resets each year. Anything withdrawn above that ceiling in a given year is still subject to the surrender charge schedule, so this isn't unlimited access, but it's a meaningful step up from the Base Contract's interest-only provision, which effectively caps free withdrawals at whatever the current credited rate happens to be.

The secondary feature worth noting is what this variant doesn't have: an MVA. The MVA share class of ChoiceFour pairs a 1.50% premium bonus with market value adjustment exposure on early withdrawals — meaning the surrender penalty can move against the owner if interest rates have risen since issue. The Liquidity Rider variant carries no MVA at all, so the surrender schedule is the whole story: what you see is what you pay, full stop. That predictability is worth something to a buyer who specifically dislikes rate-sensitive penalties, even though it means giving up the MVA variant's premium bonus.

There's no separately stated rider fee for the Liquidity Rider, and no base contract fee, front-end load, or annual maintenance charge disclosed — 100% of premium is allocated to the contract at issue. The cost of the added liquidity and shorter surrender period shows up entirely in the crediting rate: 4.50% currently, versus 5.00% on the Base Contract as of the same snapshot date. That's a real cost over time for a buyer who never ends up using the enhanced withdrawal feature. There's also the standard renewal-rate risk of a one-year-reset fixed annuity to weigh — after the first contract year, EquiTrust can reset the credited rate anywhere between the 1% floor and 3% ceiling, so the current 4.50% is not locked in for the life of the contract. The Nursing Home Waiver Rider is included at no additional charge, which adds a modest cushion but shouldn't be the deciding factor in choosing this product.

Legal Entity: EquiTrust Life Insurance Company

A.M. Best Rating: B++