Milestone Max MYGA 6-Year review

Yes, for the right buyer. It's a good fit for someone who wants a plain six-year fixed-rate contract with more built-in liquidity relief than average and doesn't mind an MVA in exchange for national availability. It's a weaker fit for a California resident, who can access the same insurer's MVA-free "Milestone MYGA" instead, and it's not built for anyone who wants a shorter commitment, an income rider, or index-linked growth potential.

The main reason to buy Milestone Max is the combination of a guaranteed rate, no fees, and unusually broad no-cost liquidity waivers. Someone locking away retirement savings who's concerned about a nursing-home stay or terminal diagnosis before the six years are up gets penalty-free access to the full account value in either scenario — a real, quantifiable benefit most MYGAs don't include standard. Add in day-one RMD access for qualified money and a 30-day penalty-free window at each renewal, and this product covers more "what if I need this money" scenarios than a typical locked-rate annuity.

I think Milestone Max is best for someone in their late 50s to 70s with $25,000 or more in savings — qualified or non-qualified — who doesn't expect to need it for six years, wants a bank-CD-like guarantee with tax deferral, lives outside California, and values the built-in health-related waivers as a hedge against needing care. It's a weaker fit for California residents, who get the base Milestone product instead; for buyers who want to keep the door open for any-reason withdrawals above 10% without an MVA question mark hanging over them; or for anyone who can't meet the $25,000 minimum.

You're not buying a bank CD, even though the mechanics feel similar. You're buying a single-premium deferred annuity from an insurance company, not a bank, so there's no FDIC insurance — your protection comes from Sagicor's claims-paying ability (A- from A.M. Best) and state guaranty association backstops, which work differently than federal deposit insurance. In exchange, Sagicor locks in the declared rate for the full 6-year term — no annual reset, no cap, no participation rate to track — and interest grows tax-deferred until you withdraw it. What you're really buying is rate certainty plus a set of built-in liquidity carve-outs, not investment upside; there's no index-linked or market-participation feature anywhere in this contract.

Milestone Max credits a single declared rate for the entire 6-year surrender period, banded by premium size: 5.05% at the $25,000-$74,999 tier and 5.25% at $75,000 and above, per the rate snapshot dated November 4, 2025. That's a genuine "what you see is what you get" guarantee — the rate doesn't reset annually and doesn't depend on any index's performance. Like any MYGA, this rate is a snapshot, not a permanent published figure — Sagicor can and does change what it declares for newly issued contracts as market interest rates move, so the number that actually matters is whatever's declared the day you apply.

The differentiator here isn't the rate — it's the pair of no-cost liquidity waivers most MYGAs at this premium level don't build in standard. The contract allows full penalty-free access (no surrender charge, no MVA) to up to 100% of accumulation value if the owner is confined to a nursing home or care facility, or is diagnosed with a terminal illness, in either case regardless of what contract year it happens in. Qualified (RMD-subject) contracts also get penalty-free access to the calculated RMD amount starting in contract year one — most MYGAs make you wait until year two, same as the standard 10% free-withdrawal allowance. None of this shows up in headline marketing, but it matters more than an extra tenth of a point of rate if you're the person who actually needs one of these waivers triggered.

The core liquidity structure is standard MYGA design: 10% of the prior anniversary's accumulation value can be withdrawn penalty-free each year starting in contract year two (minimum $500), and a 30-day fully penalty-free window opens both at the end of the initial 6-year term and at the start of each subsequent renewal period, in case you decide to walk away entirely. Anything pulled above the free 10% during the surrender period is hit with both the surrender charge — starting at 9% in year one and stepping down to 4% by year six — and a market value adjustment. The MVA is the real wrinkle: it can work in your favor if rates have fallen since issue, but it can also deepen the penalty if rates have risen, so a large withdrawal in year two or three carries real uncertainty beyond the stated surrender percentage alone. Treat this as six years of committed money, with the health-related waivers as the actual safety valve — not the free-withdrawal provision.

There's no base contract fee and no rider fee — the waivers are built in at no cost — so the real cost of this product is opportunity cost: what you give up by locking this rate versus what a shorter-duration MYGA, a bank CD, or a different carrier's 6-year rate might pay instead. The Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value (87.5% of premium, accumulated at a 1-3% non-forfeiture rate) sets the worst-case outcome if you surrender outside the free provisions — and it's worth noting that's a lower floor than the 90.80% of premium that Sagicor's own California-only Milestone MYGA guarantees. That's really the core tradeoff of the "Max" version: broader state availability and the added chronic-illness/terminal-illness waivers, financed in part by giving up some of the downside guarantee the California-exclusive version carries, plus taking on MVA exposure the CA version doesn't have.

Legal Entity: Sagicor Life Insurance Company

Parent: Sagicor Financial Company, Ltd.

A.M. Best Rating: A-