Why it earned this rating
Our assessment
Summit Laddered 5-Year earns a good rating because the laddered crediting structure — offering annual, biennial, three-year, and four-year term options across multiple indices — gives accumulation-focused buyers more flexibility than a typical single-strategy FIA in the same surrender band. The product is kept from a higher rating by the absence of any income rider option and by the fact that participation rates reset at the end of each term, which introduces meaningful renewal-rate risk that buyers need to understand going in.
The short version
This is a 5-year principal-protected FIA from Midland National built around one design idea: let buyers spread their index allocation across multiple term lengths rather than committing everything to an annual reset. The Laddered Allocation Strategy is the main draw, and it makes this contract more interesting than a plain one-term FIA for accumulation-focused buyers who can tolerate the shorter surrender schedule. There is no income rider, no premium bonus, and no base contract fee — just a structured way to participate in market-linked interest over a 5-year window.
Key facts
The full review
Is Midland National Summit Laddered 5-Year a Good Annuity?
It depends on the buyer's goal. For someone focused on accumulation with principal protection and comfortable with the 5-year commitment, this is a solid contract. The multi-term crediting approach adds real differentiation. It is not a good fit for someone shopping for guaranteed lifetime income — there is no rider to purchase here. It is also not ideal for someone who may need more than 10% of their premium back before the contract matures.
Why Someone Would Buy This Annuity
The rational case for this annuity is the crediting architecture. Most FIAs offer one-year resets on an annual point-to-point strategy. Summit Laddered lets buyers mix annual, biennial, three-year, and four-year term endpoints — which means some portion of the premium is always in a mid-cycle term and potentially benefiting from index movement over a longer window. For buyers who want to position for index growth without concentrating everything in a single annual measurement, that design has genuine appeal. The no-fee structure is also a practical advantage — there is no rider charge eroding the account value.
Who This Annuity Is Best For
I think this contract is best suited for retirement savers who want market-linked growth potential with downside protection, are comfortable with a 5-year lock-up, and do not need guaranteed lifetime income from this particular account. The broad issue-age window (0-85) means it can work for a range of buyers, but in practice the design is most sensible for someone in pre-retirement or early retirement years who wants to let a portion of savings grow without direct market exposure. It is not the right contract for someone who will need income in five years — the annuitization path exists but is separate from any guaranteed payout rider.
What You're Really Buying Here
You are buying principal protection plus the opportunity to earn interest based on how one of three indices performs over your chosen crediting term. There is no direct stock market participation. If the index goes negative, your account value does not fall — but you also earn nothing for that term. What the Laddered Allocation Strategy does is give you the ability to stagger those term endpoints across the contract life, so your full premium is not all resetting in the same year. That can smooth out the effect of a bad year for index performance. The underlying guarantee is the minimum guaranteed surrender value — 87.5% of premiums growing at 0.1–3%, which sets a floor on what you will receive if you surrender at the worst possible time.
How the Core Feature Works
The Laddered Allocation Strategy is the headline design. Rather than requiring you to put all premium into a single annual point-to-point strategy, the contract lets you allocate across four different term lengths: one, two, three, and four years. Each term endpoint is tracked separately, and you can use different indices — the S&P 500, the S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA Index, or the Nasdaq-100 Volatility Control 12% Index — for different sleeves.
The term lengths matter because index interest is only credited at the end of the chosen term. A four-year allocation earns nothing until year four; if you take a surrender in year two of that sleeve, you receive no interest for it. That is a real structural consideration. The benefit is that different term lengths can produce meaningfully different amounts of interest depending on how markets behave over time, and spreading allocations can reduce the chance that all of your crediting periods end in a bad year. Participation rates noted in the spec range from 50% to 130% depending on strategy and term — longer terms and lower-volatility indices tend to carry higher participation rates. Rates are guaranteed only for the initial crediting term and reset on renewal.
Why the Secondary Feature Matters
The most practically important secondary feature is the nursing home confinement waiver. After the first contract year, if you are confined to a qualified nursing care facility, you can withdraw up to 100% of the accumulation value without surrender charges. That is meaningful for buyers in the 60-80 age range who might worry about needing long-term care access to savings. This waiver is included in the base contract — there is no separate rider fee for it — though it is not available in all states. It does not convert this product into a long-term care solution, but it does provide a real liquidity escape valve for a specific and common retirement risk.
Liquidity and Surrender Schedule
Summit Laddered 5-Year has a moderate surrender schedule that starts at 8% in year one and steps down to 4% in year five. After the fifth contract anniversary the surrender charges drop to zero. The free withdrawal provision allows 10% of the previous Account Anniversary Value per year after year one, and RMDs attributable to the contract are available in year one without penalty.
An MVA — Market Value Adjustment — also applies to withdrawals subject to surrender charges. This means your actual surrender cost can be higher or lower than the stated charge percentage depending on interest rate movements since purchase. Rising rates reduce the MVA adjustment; falling rates make it worse. That adds another layer of uncertainty for buyers considering early withdrawals. The nursing home waiver (after year one) covers full withdrawal if confinement to a qualifying facility occurs, which partially offsets the liquidity constraint for that scenario. Overall, this is a contract where the liquidity structure matches a 5-year commitment frame — it works cleanly for buyers who genuinely do not need the money during the surrender period.
Fees and Tradeoffs
There is no explicit base contract fee on Summit Laddered 5-Year, and there is no income rider fee because no rider is available. The real cost is structural: upside is limited by participation rates that reset at the end of each crediting term. A buyer who experiences a strong market environment after their initial participation rates are set may find the renewal rates less attractive. That renewal risk is the main ongoing tradeoff.
The multi-term design also creates a timing consideration. If you surrender early, any allocation that has not yet reached its term endpoint earns nothing — even if the index performed well during the partial term. That is not a hidden fee, but it is a real economic cost that buyers should model before choosing longer term sleeves.
Product snapshot
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Product Type | Fixed Indexed Annuity |
| Surrender Period | 5 years |
| Issue Ages | 0-85 |
| Minimum Premium | $20,000 |
| Indices | S&P 500 Index, S&P 500 Dynamic Intraday TCA Index, Nasdaq-100 Volatility Control 12% Index |
| Crediting Methods | Annual Point-to-Point, Biennial Term End Point, Three-Year Term End Point, Four-Year Term End Point |
| Free Withdrawal | 10% of previous Account Anniversary Value after year one; RMD in year 1 if applicable |
| MGSV | 87.5% of premiums at 0.1-3% |
| Death Benefit | Greater of account value plus appreciation-to-date or minimum guaranteed surrender value; never less than minimum surrender value set by state |
| Income Rider | Not available |
| Premium Bonus | None |
| Availability | Not for use in Oregon; variations approved in Florida; not approved in California, New York, or Oregon |
Carrier snapshot
Legal Entity: Midland National Life Insurance Company
Parent: Sammons Financial Group
A.M. Best Rating: A+
Midland National is a well-established midwestern insurer with an A+ A.M. Best rating, which is among the strongest ratings in the industry. Sammons Financial Group, its parent, is a privately held company with a conservative financial profile. The carrier strength here is a genuine positive for a product where principal protection depends on the insurer's ability to honor the contract.
Final take
Summit Laddered 5-Year is a good fit for an accumulation-focused buyer who wants a 5-year FIA, values the flexibility of multi-term crediting, and does not need an income rider. The clean fee structure, A+ carrier, and nursing home waiver make it a practical choice in its peer group.
It is not the right product for someone who wants guaranteed lifetime income — there is no rider to add here. It is also worth understanding that participation rates on the multi-year term strategies only hold for the initial term, so renewal-rate risk is a real factor for someone thinking about long-term positioning inside this contract. For the buyer who matches the target profile, this is a well-structured 5-year accumulation vehicle from a carrier with strong financial backing.