Personal Choice Annuity 3 review

It depends on what you're optimizing for. If the goal is the highest possible guaranteed rate on a 3-year commitment and you're comfortable treating the money as fully locked away, this is a genuinely competitive contract — 6.00% for three years is a strong headline number. If you want any built-in flexibility, though — free withdrawals, an automatic RMD accommodation, a death benefit that pays more than surrender value — you won't find it in the base contract, and buying it back via a rider means giving up some of that rate advantage.

The rational reason to buy this is the rate-to-duration ratio. Three-year MYGAs typically pay less than longer commitments, so a 6.00% guarantee on a 3-year term is unusually strong for the duration. Someone with a short time horizon — a maturing CD, a rollover they want parked for a defined stretch, or dollars earmarked for a near-term goal — can lock that rate with a relatively short surrender schedule (9%, 8%, 7%) rather than committing for 5, 7, or 10 years to get a comparable yield elsewhere.

I think this contract is best for retirees or pre-retirees who have a specific 3-year window in mind, don't anticipate needing access to the money before maturity, and are comfortable with a B-rated carrier in exchange for the rate. It works for both qualified and non-qualified money, though qualified accounts subject to required minimum distributions should note that RMD-friendly access isn't automatic here — it requires an optional rider. It is a poor fit for anyone who wants a safety net of penalty-free withdrawals built in from day one, or who is unwilling to hold a B-rated carrier even for a short 3-year stretch.

Strip away the brand name and this is a straightforward interest-rate contract: you deposit a lump sum, Sentinel Security credits a flat 6.00% each year for three years, and at the end of the term you can renew, move the money, or walk away without penalty. There's no market exposure, no index crediting to interpret, and no strategy menu. What makes this product distinctive isn't the crediting method — it's how minimal the base contract is. Every feature that other MYGAs frequently bundle in for free (some free withdrawal room, an RMD accommodation, a richer death benefit) is unbundled here and sold as an a la carte rate reduction.

The core feature is the fixed-rate guarantee itself: 6.00%, credited on the full account value, guaranteed for the entire 3-year surrender term, with no banding by premium size — a $2,500 minimum deposit earns the same rate as a much larger one. That's a meaningfully investor-friendly structure since it means a smaller saver isn't penalized relative to a larger one. The rate is current as of the March 2026 Wink filing and, like any fixed annuity rate, will reset for new contracts issued after Sentinel Security's next rate change — it is not a rate that follows you into a renewal term.

The second most important thing to understand about this contract is its rider menu, because it explains where the flexibility went. Sentinel Security offers six optional riders — a Preferred 10% Free Withdrawal rider, a Required Minimum Distribution rider, a Terminal Illness/Nursing Home Care rider, an Accumulated Interest Withdrawal rider, a 72(t) Free Withdrawal rider, and a Full Account Value Death Benefit rider — and each one reduces your credited rate by a stated percentage rather than charging a dollar fee. That's a defensible pricing model (you only pay for what you actually use), but it also means the advertised 6.00% headline rate assumes you decline every one of those features. Anyone who wants even one of them — most commonly the free-withdrawal or death-benefit rider — is buying a lower effective rate than the number that gets advertised.

There is no free withdrawal provision in the base contract at all — a real outlier versus most MYGAs, which typically build in at least some annual free-withdrawal room. Access here comes only from the optional Preferred 10% Free Withdrawal rider (-0.08% off the credited rate), which permits withdrawal of the greater of 10% of account value or the RMD amount starting in contract year 2 — and taking more than that, or making more than one withdrawal in a year, can retroactively trigger surrender charges and the market value adjustment (MVA) on the whole withdrawal. The surrender schedule itself (9%, 8%, 7% across the 3-year term) is front-loaded but short by design, which is the natural tradeoff of a shorter MYGA — you give up less time to the penalty period, but the penalty percentages start higher. The MVA compounds that risk: if you surrender early and interest rates have risen since your rate was locked, the MVA can reduce what you get back beyond the stated surrender charge. Bottom line: treat this as money you will not touch for three years unless you've specifically paid for the withdrawal rider.

There is no product fee, M&E charge, administration charge, or annual contract fee on the base contract — a genuine positive. Instead, every optional feature is priced as a rate haircut: Required Minimum Distribution access costs -0.16%, the Preferred 10% Free Withdrawal rider costs -0.08%, the Terminal Illness/Nursing Home Care waiver costs -0.15%, the Accumulated Interest Withdrawal rider costs -0.08%, the 72(t) Free Withdrawal rider costs -0.05%, and the Full Account Value Death Benefit upgrade costs -0.35%. That last one is the steepest of the bunch, and it's worth naming the trade directly: paying 0.35% off your rate converts the death benefit from cash surrender value (which can be less than premium in the early years, after surrender charges and MVA) to the full contract value with surrender charges and MVA waived at death. For issue ages 86-90, Sentinel Security requires that upgrade — it isn't optional at that age band. Stack more than one rider and the reductions compound, so a buyer who wants free withdrawal access, RMD accommodation, and the enhanced death benefit together is giving up roughly 0.59 percentage points of the 6.00% headline rate.

Legal Entity: Sentinel Security Life Insurance Company

Parent: A-CAP

A.M. Best Rating: B