Symetra Select Pro 3 review

There is no index in this contract and no participation in market returns, so the declared rate is the whole story on the growth side. The rest of this page is about what that costs in flexibility.

A multi-year guaranteed annuity works the way a bank CD works, with an insurance company in place of the bank. You hand over a single premium, the carrier credits a declared rate, and the interest compounds inside the contract without being taxed until it comes out. The guarantee is a contractual obligation of Symetra Life Insurance Company, backed by the company's own reserves — not by the FDIC, and not by any bank.

The rate is locked for the guarantee period. Once the 3 years of surrender charges are behind you, the contract typically offers a window to take the money, renew into a new guarantee period at whatever rate is then being offered, or annuitize it into an income stream. What that window looks like is contract-specific — check the carrier's disclosure before you count on it.

The declared rate is guaranteed for 3 years, the same period the surrender charge runs, so the guarantee and the commitment end together.

The minimum premium is $10,000.

The contract allows 15% out each year without a surrender charge. Beyond that allowance, a withdrawal during the surrender period is reduced by the charge for that contract year.

The surrender charge starts at 8% in year 1 and steps down to 7% in year 3; the full schedule is in the table below. Those percentages come off the amount you withdraw, which is why an early exit from a fixed annuity can return less than you put in even though the account value itself never fell.

Our rate data carries no fee figure and no rider for this contract. That is a gap in the data, not proof that neither exists — waiver-type riders such as a nursing-home or terminal-illness benefit sit entirely outside what it reports, so check the carrier's brochure or ask the carrier directly before treating the contract as costless. What is certain is that the carrier is compensated either way: its margin is built into the declared rate, which is why comparing the rate against other contracts of the same length matters more than hunting for a fee schedule.

The real tradeoffs on a contract like this are tax and timing, not fees. Gains come out as ordinary income rather than capital gains, and a withdrawal before age 59½ generally carries a 10% IRS penalty on top of the tax. Neither is a reason to avoid the product; both are reasons it suits money you have already decided not to touch.

The buyer this suits is the one who has already decided the money is not going to be touched, and wants to know exactly what it will be worth at the end of 3 years. Certainty is the product; there is nothing else being sold here.

It is the wrong contract for anyone who might need the principal early, for a buyer who wants market participation or inflation protection, and for money that is already an emergency reserve. Under age 59½, the 10% IRS penalty on early withdrawals is an additional reason to look at this as long-term money.

Every guarantee in this contract is only as good as Symetra Life Insurance Company, which currently holds an A.M. Best financial strength rating of A. An annuity is not FDIC insured; the backstop is the carrier's own balance sheet, with state guaranty association coverage behind it at limits that vary by state.

The contract is filed in 50 states, not including New York — New York files its own annuity products, so a New York resident is shopping a different and much smaller shelf.