Milestone Max MYGA 4-Year review

It depends on your premium size. If you have $25,000 or more to commit and were already looking at Sagicor's Milestone MYGA lineup, Max is the better version of the same idea — it pays a meaningfully higher rate at every premium band it shares with the base product. If you have less than $25,000, this product simply isn't available to you, and the base Milestone MYGA at $15,000 minimum becomes the relevant comparison instead. Judged purely as a 4-year MYGA, it's competitive and clean, but not the top rate you'll find shopping the broader market.

The core appeal is a fixed, guaranteed rate for a known four-year term with no market risk. Someone shopping the base Milestone MYGA who has $25,000 or more would reasonably prefer Max, since it pays more for the same commitment. It also suits someone who wants a shorter lock-in than a 5- or 7-year MYGA but still wants a rate materially above the low-band rates smaller-premium contracts get stuck with.

I think this is best for someone in or near retirement with $25,000 to $200,000+ of non-immediate-need money — qualified or non-qualified — who wants a predictable four-year return and is comfortable locking it up. It's a poor fit for anyone who might need more than 10% of the account value before the term ends, and it's simply unavailable to buyers with less than $25,000 or who live in one of the seven excluded states.

Strip away the "Max" branding and this is a single-premium fixed annuity that credits one guaranteed rate for four years, banded by how much you put in. Below $75,000, the rate is 4.55%; at $75,000 or more, it's 4.80%. Compare that to the base Milestone MYGA, which pays 3.95% below $50,000, 4.50% between $50,000 and $99,999, and 4.75% only at $100,000-plus. Max pays more at every matching tier, and it reaches its top rate at a $25,000-lower premium threshold ($75,000 versus $100,000) than the base product does. That's the actual product here — not a bonus, not a rider, just a better-paying rate tier gated by a higher minimum.

The rate is set at issue and locked for the full four-year term — no annual resets, no index participation, no cap or spread to track. As of the 11/4/2025 rate snapshot, premiums under $75,000 earn 4.55%, and premiums of $75,000 or more earn 4.80%. At the end of the four years, a 30-day penalty-free window opens where you can withdraw, surrender, or roll into a new guarantee period at the then-current rate; that window repeats once more at year eight in most states (Florida contracts only get the one window, at year four, since the subsequent surrender period doesn't repeat there). If you take no action during a window, the contract auto-renews at the new rate under a fresh surrender schedule and MVA.

Milestone Max includes a nursing home confinement and terminal illness penalty-free withdrawal waiver, letting you access up to 100% of the accumulation value with no surrender charge or MVA if you're confined to a nursing home or confined-care facility for 90+ consecutive days, or diagnosed with a terminal illness (12-month prognosis) after the first contract year. This is worth flagging because it works differently than the base Milestone MYGA's chronic-illness feature, which is structured as a built-in accelerated death benefit — an early payout of a death-benefit-style amount. Max's version is a liquidity waiver, not an accelerated benefit payout. In practice both get you penalty-free access to your money under similar triggering events, but they aren't the same contractual mechanism, and Max doesn't carry the "accelerated death benefit" language the base product does.

Treat this as locked money for four years. The surrender schedule starts at 9% in year one and steps down to 6% by year four, and a market value adjustment (MVA) applies on top of that during the surrender period — meaning your penalty can move with interest rates, for better or worse, if you withdraw more than the free amount. The 10% annual free withdrawal (available starting year two) covers modest cash needs, and RMD withdrawals are penalty-free from year one for qualified contracts, though they eat into that same 10% allowance rather than stacking on top of it. Anyone who might need more than 10% of the account before year four is up should look elsewhere.

There's no base contract fee and no rider fee — this is a simple, fee-free MYGA structure. The real tradeoff isn't a fee, it's the entry price: a $25,000 minimum is $10,000 higher than the base Milestone MYGA requires, which is a meaningful barrier for smaller savers who'd otherwise be shopping the same carrier. The MVA is the other cost to weigh — it's not a fee in the traditional sense, but it can increase your effective surrender penalty if rates have risen since you bought the contract and you need out early.

Legal Entity: Sagicor Life Insurance Company

Parent: Sagicor Financial Company, Ltd.

A.M. Best Rating: A-