Secure Savings Elite 5-Year review

It depends. For a buyer who wants modular liquidity and is comfortable with a B-rated carrier, it can be a reasonable MYGA. The structure is clean, the surrender schedule is standard, and the base free-withdrawal terms in years two through five are adequate for most people. For a buyer who prioritizes carrier strength above all else — which is a defensible position when buying a fixed annuity, since you are trusting the company to pay a guaranteed rate over five years — there are better-rated alternatives worth comparing first.

The primary reason is the modular access design. Most MYGAs give you a fixed liquidity structure whether you want it or not. Secure Savings Elite 5-Year lets you opt into broader penalty-free withdrawal access, RMD-specific liquidity, or accumulated-interest access as separate riders, each at a disclosed rate cost. A buyer who does not need those features can skip them and keep the full base rate. A buyer who specifically needs one of them — say, someone who wants guaranteed RMD access from day one without relying on the base contract's RMD provision — can add just that feature. That is a more honest structure than bundling everything and pricing it into the rate upfront.

I think Secure Savings Elite 5-Year is most appropriate for buyers who have a specific liquidity need that the base contract does not fully address, understand what a B-rated carrier means in practice, and are comparing rates across multiple issuers. The $10,000 minimum makes it accessible to buyers who cannot meet the $25,000 or $50,000 minimums that some competing MYGAs require. The broad issue-age window of 18 to 85 also makes it one of the more flexible MYGAs on intake age. It is less well suited to buyers who put carrier financial strength at the top of their checklist, or who want a rate-maximizing MYGA with no rider considerations at all.

You are buying a five-year guarantee from a modestly rated carrier, with an optional add-on menu for liquidity. The core promise is simple: SILAC guarantees a fixed interest rate for five years, and your principal is protected during that period. At the end of the guarantee period you have a 30-day window to renew or surrender without penalty. The optional riders are a separate layer on top of that structure — they do not change the core mechanics, they just adjust the access terms and cost you a defined amount of base rate to do so.

Secure Savings Elite 5-Year credits a fixed rate guaranteed for the full five-year term. The spec notes a 4.75% guaranteed rate for five years, though rates are always subject to change and buyers should confirm current terms directly. There are no index strategies, participation rates, or caps — this is a straightforward fixed-rate contract. At contract maturity, SILAC provides a 30-day window during which you can renew into a new guarantee period or surrender without penalty. Outside of that window, surrender charges and a market value adjustment apply.

The minimum guaranteed contract value is 1.00% annually — the MGSV floor that regulates the minimum the contract can ever be worth regardless of any adjustments.

The secondary feature here is the optional rider menu. Three riders are available at issue, each reducing the guaranteed rate by a disclosed amount:

Accumulated Interest Rider: reduces the rate by 0.06%. Allows access to accumulated interest beyond the standard free-withdrawal provision.

5% Penalty-Free Withdrawal Rider (Year 2+): reduces the rate by 0.06%. This adds penalty-free withdrawal access starting in year two. Note that the base contract already provides 5% free withdrawals from year two onward — so this rider's value may be limited depending on your specific access needs.

Required Minimum Distribution Rider: reduces the rate by 0.10%. Allows RMD withdrawals at issue or at any time, rather than relying on the base contract's RMD provision.

Stacking all three riders would reduce the rate by 0.22 percentage points. On a fixed-rate contract where every basis point matters, that is not trivial. The right answer is to add only the riders you actually need. The RMD rider is the most useful for buyers holding this in an IRA who are in or near distribution age.

The surrender schedule runs from 9% in year one down to 5% in year five. That is a moderately steep starting charge and a reasonable endpoint — most 5-year MYGAs see charges in this range, though the 9% first-year charge is toward the upper end of what competitors use.

A market value adjustment also applies, meaning your effective surrender cost can fluctuate with interest rates. If rates rise after you buy, the MVA will add to your net surrender cost. If rates fall, the MVA may actually reduce it. The MVA cuts both ways, but in a rising-rate environment it is an additional risk on top of the scheduled charge.

Year one free withdrawals are limited to the greater of credited interest or RMD amounts — there is no percentage-based free withdrawal in year one. From year two onward, the base contract allows the greater of 5% of account value, credited interest, or RMD. That is a reasonable liquidity structure for a MYGA, but buyers who want broader year-one access will need the optional riders.

There is no explicit contract fee. The cost structure is embedded in the rate-reduction system for optional riders. The base contract is fee-free in the traditional sense — but if you add riders, the rate reductions are the de facto cost.

The more significant tradeoff is carrier quality. A.M. Best B is below the "B+" threshold that many financial planners treat as a minimum for annuity purchases. SILAC is a smaller, regional carrier, and the B rating reflects that the company has less capital depth than larger competitors. For a product category where the carrier's creditworthiness is the entire basis of the guarantee, that matters. Buyers should factor this in alongside the rate when comparing options.

Legal Entity: SILAC Insurance Company

A.M. Best Rating: B

SILAC Insurance Company is a smaller regional carrier. The A.M. Best B rating is below investment grade on the carrier strength scale — it is not a distress rating, but it does reflect meaningfully less capital cushion than carriers rated B+ or higher. Buyers holding this product in an IRA or other qualified account should confirm it falls within their state's guaranty association limits, which typically cover fixed annuities up to $250,000 per carrier.