RetireMax Secure 3 (MVA) review

Yes, for a narrow but real audience. RetireMax Secure 3 (MVA) is a competent, no-frills MYGA from a financially strong carrier — A+ from A.M. Best — and the MVA structure's rate premium over its own sibling product is real and verifiable, not a marketing gimmick. Where it falls short of a stronger rating is liquidity: most three-year MYGAs give some free-withdrawal access starting in year one, and this one withholds that entirely until year two, paired with a flat rather than declining surrender charge.

The rational case for RetireMax Secure 3 (MVA) is straightforward: a three-year window is short enough that most buyers can commit to it without much life-planning risk, the rate is meaningfully higher than the non-MVA version of the same contract, and the carrier's A+ rating means the guarantee is backed by a financially strong company. For someone parking money they're confident they won't need for three years — a maturing CD, a bond-ladder rung, or a known-timeline fund — this is a reasonable, low-complexity vehicle for that purpose.

This fits a saver who isn't income-focused, doesn't need liquidity in the first 12 months, and is comfortable with the idea that the surrender value could be adjusted up or down by an MVA if they cash out early. It works in both qualified and non-qualified accounts. It's a poor match for anyone who might need emergency access to a meaningful chunk of the money in year one — since there's no free withdrawal at all until year two — or for anyone uncomfortable with the concept of an MVA, who should look at the non-MVA sibling instead even though it pays a lower rate.

You're not buying market exposure of any kind — this is a fixed-rate, principal-protected contract, not an indexed or variable annuity. What you're actually buying is a three-year interest-rate guarantee from an insurance company, wrapped in a tax-deferred annuity chassis, with an MVA feature that ties your early-surrender value to the direction interest rates have moved since you bought the contract. If rates rise after you buy, the MVA can reduce what you'd get back on an early surrender beyond the free-withdrawal amount; if rates fall, it can work in your favor. Held to term, the MVA is irrelevant — you get the full accumulation value.

The core mechanic is simple: National Life Group declares a fixed rate at issue — 4.30% for premiums under $100,000, 4.60% at $100,000 or more — and that rate compounds annually and is guaranteed for the full three-year term. There's no index, no cap, no participation rate, and no spread to track. What makes this the MVA version specifically is that early surrenders above the free-withdrawal amount are adjusted by a market value adjustment, a formula tied to prevailing interest rates rather than a flat penalty. In exchange for accepting that adjustment risk on early exits, the MVA version pays a meaningfully higher rate than National Life Group's non-MVA RetireMax Secure 3, which locks in 3.90%/4.20% instead. After the initial three-year guarantee period, the rate resets annually. The source materials disagree on the floor for that renewal rate — the agent guide says it won't go below 0.25%, the consumer brochure footnote says 1% — and that discrepancy isn't resolved in the available documents, so treat the post-guarantee renewal rate as an open question rather than a known floor.

The more meaningful secondary feature here isn't a rider in the income sense — there isn't one — it's the pair of included waivers: a Nursing Care Benefit Rider and a Terminal Illness Rider, both bundled in at no separate charge. These let you access the contract's value without triggering the surrender charge or MVA if you're confined to a qualifying nursing facility or diagnosed with a terminal illness, available starting in policy year 2 alongside the standard free-withdrawal window. It's not a reason to buy the contract on its own, but it's a real backstop that a lot of basic MYGAs skip, and it costs nothing extra.

This is where RetireMax Secure 3 (MVA) is more restrictive than a typical three-year MYGA. There is no free withdrawal at all in policy year one — any withdrawal in that first year triggers both the surrender charge and the MVA. Starting in year two, you can take up to 10% of accumulation value annually without a surrender charge or MVA, as long as you leave at least $5,000 in the contract and any partial withdrawal is at least $500. Above that 10%, or during year one, both the surrender charge and MVA apply.

The surrender schedule itself is flat — 7%, 7%, 7% across all three years — rather than stepping down the way many short-duration MYGAs do, so there's no built-in incentive to wait it out partway through the term the way there would be with a declining schedule.

Required minimum distributions aren't explicitly addressed as an exception in the available materials, which is worth flagging — many MYGAs carve RMD-related withdrawals out of surrender charges, and it isn't confirmed here.

There are no base contract fees — no M&E charge, no product fee, no administration charge, no annual contract fee — and the two included waivers (nursing care and terminal illness) carry no separate rider fee. That's a genuine positive for a product this simple. The real cost isn't a line-item fee; it's the liquidity tradeoff described above, plus the interest-rate risk embedded in the MVA if you need to exit early during a period when rates have risen since issue.

Legal Entity: Life Insurance Company of the Southwest

A.M. Best Rating: A+