SecureOption Choice 3-Year review

It depends on your deposit size and your patience for shopping around. For someone depositing $500,000 or more, the 4.75% rate (as of 5/1/2026) is a competitive, uncomplicated way to park money for three years. For someone depositing $25,000-$99,999, the 4.50% bottom-band rate is decent but not exceptional, and it's worth checking whether a smaller, non-banded MYGA from another A-rated carrier beats it. Either way, the product itself — a single fixed account, no strategy choices, no embedded fees — is exactly what it says it is.

The rational buyer here wants a guaranteed rate locked for a short, known period without taking on market risk or annuity complexity. Three years is short enough to feel like a CD substitute rather than a long-term retirement commitment, which appeals to people parking money between other decisions — a maturing CD ladder, a pending real estate sale, or funds earmarked for a near-term but not immediate need. The A+ A.M. Best rating from Minnesota Life adds a layer of comfort that a smaller or less-rated carrier can't match.

I think this product is best for retirement-age or near-retirement savers with $25,000 or more in non-immediate-need money who want a short, simple rate lock and value carrier strength over chasing the single highest rate on the market. It's a reasonable fit inside an IRA as well as non-qualified money, since RMDs are treated as available free withdrawals regardless of contract year. It's a weaker fit for anyone who might need more than 10% of their money back in the first year, or who's depositing under $100,000 and is rate-sensitive enough that a half-point of yield matters.

Strip away the brochure language and this is an insurance contract that pays a fixed, band-dependent interest rate for three years, guarantees you won't lose principal to market movement, and defers taxes on the interest until withdrawal. There's no index, no participation rate, no cap — just one number, determined at issue by how much you deposit, that stays fixed for the full three-year term. What you're paying for beyond the rate itself is the insurer's guarantee and the tax deferral; what you're giving up is liquidity during the surrender period and the M in "MYGA" only ever means "fixed," not "flexible."

Securian credits interest using a single fixed-rate account with three published bands: under $100,000 earns 4.50%, $100,000 to $499,999 earns 4.65%, and $500,000 or more earns 4.75%, each locked at issue and guaranteed for the entire 3-year initial period (rates as of the Wink product profile dated 5/1/2026 — a snapshot, not a permanent feature of the product). After the initial guarantee period, the contract renews at a minimum guaranteed rate between 1% and 3%, also set at issue and fixed for the life of the contract, which functions as a floor if you don't surrender or annuitize at term end. There are no indexed or structured crediting strategies to choose between — this is about as simple as a fixed annuity gets.

The Guaranteed Minimum Surrender Value (MGSV) matters more than it might look at first glance: 87.5% of premium accumulated at 1%-3%, adjusted for withdrawals. That's the floor under the floor — even in a worst-case surrender scenario, Securian guarantees you don't walk away with less than that accumulated 87.5% baseline. Combined with the surrender-charge and MVA waivers for 90+ day hospital or nursing home confinement, terminal illness with a life expectancy of 12 months or less, annuitization, and death, this product has more built-in exit ramps for genuine hardship than a bare-bones MYGA typically offers, even though it carries no named "chronic illness rider" and charges no separate fee for any of it.

Three years is a short commitment as MYGAs go, but the schedule is front-loaded: 9% in year 1, 8% in year 2, 7% in year 3. Standard free withdrawals — 10% of the prior contract anniversary value — are not available at all in the first contract year, which is a stricter opening than some peers offer. From year 2 on, that 10% becomes available, and RMD amounts are available as free withdrawals in every year regardless of the 10% cap, which makes this workable inside an IRA distribution schedule. A market value adjustment (MVA) applies on top of the surrender charge for any withdrawal beyond the free amount, meaning your penalty can move against you if rates have risen since issue — treat the full three years as money you don't expect to touch beyond the scheduled free withdrawals.

There's no base contract fee, no M&E charge, no administration charge, and no rider fee — the entire cost structure lives inside the crediting rate itself, which is standard for a MYGA and keeps the math simple. The real tradeoff isn't a fee, it's the banding: someone depositing $99,000 earns a full quarter-point less than someone depositing $100,000, and a full quarter-point less again versus a $500,000 deposit. That's worth doing the arithmetic on if your deposit sits near a band boundary — a small top-up to cross into the next band can be worth more than the rate difference between competing carriers.

Legal Entity: Minnesota Life Insurance Company

Parent: Securian Financial Group, Inc.

A.M. Best Rating: A+