Performance SPDA 3 review

It's a reasonable annuity for a specific kind of buyer, not a broadly great one. If you want a short-duration, guaranteed-rate parking spot for money you're confident you won't need for three years, backed by a solid A- carrier, with no annual fees eating into your return, Performance SPDA 3 does that job cleanly. Where it falls short of "great" is liquidity: the surrender schedule is steeper than a three-year product typically needs to be, an MVA applies on top of it, and the standard withdrawal allowance is thinner than most MYGA buyers expect. If flexibility matters to you as much as rate, this isn't the strongest option in United Life's own lineup, let alone the wider MYGA market.

The main reason someone buys Performance SPDA 3 is a known, guaranteed return over a short window without any of the cost drag that comes with riders, mortality and expense charges, or administration fees. It's a fit for someone who has a specific three-year time horizon — a bridge to retirement, a known future expense, or simply a preference to not commit to a longer MYGA while rates are in flux — and wants principal protection with a predictable number attached to it. The $25,000 minimum and 0-100 issue-age range make it accessible to most retail annuity buyers, including those funding it with qualified (IRA) money who want RMD-friendly free withdrawals built in.

I think Performance SPDA 3 is best for someone who has already decided they want a short MYGA specifically, is comfortable locking money away for three full years, and isn't planning to touch more than the prior year's interest during that stretch. It's a good fit for conservative, qualified-money buyers doing a short bridge strategy or laddering maturities. It's a poor fit for anyone who thinks they might need meaningful access to principal before year three, or who assumes — as many shoppers do — that a MYGA automatically comes with a 10%-of-value withdrawal allowance. Here, that has to be purchased separately at issue, at a cost to the credited rate.

You're buying a single-premium deferred annuity with a fixed, guaranteed interest rate for a three-year term — no indexed strategies, no participation rates, no caps, and no market exposure of any kind. The insurance company takes on the investment risk; you get a contractually guaranteed rate in return. What you are not buying is flexibility. There's no income rider, no premium bonus, and the free-withdrawal provision is deliberately conservative by MYGA standards unless you pay to expand it at issue. Think of this less as a "savings account with a better rate" and more as a three-year CD alternative with an early-withdrawal penalty that can move against you if market interest rates have risen since you bought it.

The core feature is the fixed-rate crediting itself. United Life bands the rate by premium size: single premiums under $100,000 credit 3.40%, and premiums of $100,000 or more credit 3.60%, both guaranteed for the entire three-year term per Wink's 9/27/2024 snapshot. There's no annual reset risk and no index math to track — the rate you're quoted at issue is the rate you earn every year of the term, full stop. Because there's no mortality and expense charge, no product fee, and no administration charge on the base contract, the quoted rate is also the net rate you actually earn; nothing is being skimmed off before it reaches your account value. The tradeoff for that simplicity and cost-efficiency is the surrender side of the contract: get in wrong and the 8% / 7% / 6% schedule plus a market value adjustment can take a real bite out of an early exit.

The secondary feature that matters most here is one most shoppers won't notice unless they read the contract closely: the free-withdrawal provision is not automatically 10% of account value. The base entitlement on Performance SPDA 3 is limited to the prior year's accumulated interest, available immediately each contract year. If you want the more familiar "greater of 10% of account value or accumulated interest" structure, that's an optional rider you have to elect at policy issue — and electing it costs you 0.15% off your credited rate for the life of the contract.

This matters because most MYGA marketing (and a lot of shopper assumptions) treats 10%-of-value free withdrawals as standard. On Performance SPDA 3, it's an add-on with a real, ongoing cost. United Life's own sibling Access SPDA line (SPDA 4 and SPDA 6) includes the 10%-or-interest provision standard, with no rate reduction and no MVA at all — but Access also has a lower minimum premium ($5,000 vs. $25,000) and, at the same 9/27/2024 snapshot, credited noticeably lower rates (2.75%/3.25% on Access 4, 2.95%/3.45% on Access 6) than Performance SPDA 3's 3.40%/3.60%. In other words, Performance is United Life's rate-for-commitment line, and Access is its liquidity-for-lower-rate line — they're built for different buyers, not competing head-to-head.

Liquidity is the weakest part of this contract relative to its short duration. Standard free withdrawals are limited to the prior year's accumulated interest — not a percentage of account value — available immediately each contract year, plus free withdrawals for RMDs if the contract is funding a qualified account. Anything beyond that free amount during the three-year surrender period triggers both a surrender charge and a market value adjustment, which can work for or against the contract owner depending on where interest rates have moved since issue.

The surrender schedule itself — 8% in year one, 7% in year two, 6% in year three — is notably steep for a product with only a three-year term; it's the identical opening tier United Life applies to its 5- and 7-year Performance contracts, so a three-year buyer is paying the same early-exit penalty as someone who committed to twice as long. A Nursing Home & Terminal Illness Waiver of Surrender Charges is available (not in California), letting the owner access up to $50,000 per year or $200,000 lifetime surrender-free if the annuitant is confined to a nursing home or diagnosed with a terminal illness — a meaningful backstop, but not a substitute for everyday liquidity.

There are no explicit fees on the base contract — no mortality and expense charge, no product fee, no administration charge, and no annual contract fee. The one line-item cost in this product is the optional 10% free-withdrawal rider, which reduces the credited rate by 0.15% per year if elected at issue. That's a real, quantifiable price for liquidity, and it's worth running the math on: for a $100,000+ premium, giving up 0.15% to unlock 10%-of-value access converts a 3.60% rate into a 3.45% rate.

The less obvious tradeoffs are structural rather than fee-based. The MVA means an early surrender's payout isn't fixed — it moves with the interest-rate environment, and it can reduce what you get back if rates have risen since issue. The surrender schedule's steepness relative to the short term is itself a cost, even though it's not labeled as a "fee." And because the quoted rates are from a September 2024 snapshot, anyone seriously considering this product needs a current rate quote before comparing it against what else is available in today's market.

Legal Entity: United Life Insurance Company

Parent: Kuvare US Holdings, Inc.

A.M. Best Rating: A-