Performance SPDA 5 review

Yes, for a specific kind of buyer. If you want a guaranteed, no-load fixed rate for five years from a carrier that clears the A- financial-strength bar, and you're comfortable with the fact that the free-withdrawal provision is more limited than it looks at first glance, this is a competitive contract right now. It's less of a good fit if you expect to need meaningful cash access before the term is up, or if you'd rather not think about electing (and paying for) a withdrawal enhancement on day one.

The main reason to buy Performance SPDA 5 is simple: it's currently United Life's best-priced contract, full stop, and it delivers that rate with no annual fees eating into it. The secondary reason is term efficiency — right now you aren't paying anything in rate to keep your surrender exposure to five years instead of seven, since the 7-year sibling credits the exact same 4.60%/4.80%. In practical terms, this is the annuity someone buys when they've decided United Life is the carrier they want and they'd rather not tie money up any longer than they have to for the same return.

I think this is best for a saver who has at least $25,000 in money they genuinely don't need for five years, wants a guaranteed rate rather than index-linked uncertainty, and is fine with an A- rated carrier rather than insisting on A or better. It's a particularly good fit for someone who was already looking at United Life's 7-year product, since the 5-year gets you the same crediting rate with less time locked up. It's a weaker fit for someone who wants routine access to 10% of their money without having to think about it — that access exists here, but it's an opt-in rider with a rate cost, not the default. It's also not the pick for someone chasing the single highest rate in the broader MYGA market, since this is a strong offer within United Life's own shelf rather than a market-topping one.

You're not buying market exposure or an income stream — Performance SPDA 5 doesn't offer an income rider at all. You're buying a straightforward promise from United Life: put in at least $25,000, and the company will credit either 4.60% or 4.80% (depending on which side of the $100,000 line your premium falls on) every year for five years, guaranteed, with no annual fee shaving it down. What you're really paying for beyond that guarantee is patience — the money is expected to stay put, and the contract's structure (interest-only free withdrawal by default, an MVA on excess withdrawals) reinforces that this is meant to be a five-year hold, not a flexible savings account with an annuity wrapper.

Performance SPDA 5 is a single-strategy fixed-rate MYGA — there's no indexed, structured, or variable component to evaluate, just one declared rate locked in at issue for the full five-year term. As of the current 3/1/2026 rate snapshot, that rate is banded by premium size: put in less than $100,000 and you're credited 4.60%; put in $100,000 or more and you're credited 4.80%. Either way, the rate doesn't move for five years regardless of what happens with interest rates elsewhere.

Worth noting: United Life's 7-year Performance SPDA 7 is currently priced at the exact same 4.60%/4.80%. Normally a longer surrender commitment buys you a higher rate — that's the standard MYGA tradeoff. Here, at this snapshot, it doesn't. That's a point in the 5-year's favor if you're choosing between the two, since you'd be taking on two more years of surrender exposure and MVA risk for zero additional yield.

The feature that deserves more attention than it usually gets is the free-withdrawal structure. Plenty of MYGA shoppers assume "10% free withdrawal per year" is just how these contracts work — it's common enough in the category that it's easy to assume it here too. On Performance SPDA 5, it isn't the default. The base contract's free-withdrawal provision is limited to the prior year's accumulated interest, available immediately each contract year, plus free RMD withdrawals if you need those.

If you want the more familiar 10%-of-account-value allowance, United Life lets you add it — but only if you elect it at policy issue, and it costs 0.15% off your credited rate for as long as you hold the contract. I think that's a reasonable trade for most buyers: 15 basis points is a small price to convert a fairly thin liquidity provision into a much more usable one, and it's the kind of decision that's easy to get wrong simply by not knowing to ask about it. Whoever is helping you apply should walk through this explicitly, because the two versions of this contract behave quite differently if you ever need money out early.

This is a five-year commitment, and the surrender schedule reflects that: 8% in year one, stepping down to 7%, 6%, 5%, and 4% by year five, at which point the contract is free of charges. Layered on top of that schedule is a Market Value Adjustment — any withdrawal above the free amount during the surrender period can trigger both the surrender charge and the MVA, which can cut either way depending on where interest rates have moved since you bought the contract.

Free access to your money, absent the optional rider, is limited to the prior year's accumulated interest plus RMDs. Add the optional 10%-of-account-value rider at issue (for -0.15% off the rate) and you get the greater of that interest amount or 10% of account value, available immediately each year. There's also a Nursing Home Confinement & Terminal Illness Waiver of Surrender Charges built in at no extra cost, which waives charges up to $50,000 per year or $200,000 over the contract's life if the annuitant is confined to a nursing home or diagnosed with a terminal illness — though this waiver isn't available in California. None of this makes the contract a source of emergency cash; it's built for someone who expects to leave the money alone for the full five years.

There's no annual contract fee, mortality and expense charge, product fee, or administration charge on Performance SPDA 5 — it's a no-load product, and the credited rate is the credited rate with nothing skimmed off the top. The one explicit cost to know about is the optional 10%-of-account-value free-withdrawal enhancement, which runs -0.15% off your credited rate every year you keep it elected. That's cheap as insurance goes, but it is a real cost, and it only applies if you choose it at issue — there's no way to add it later.

The less obvious tradeoff isn't a fee at all — it's the MVA. Because United Life applies a Market Value Adjustment to excess withdrawals during the surrender period, a large unplanned withdrawal could cost you more than the stated surrender charge if rates have moved against you, or less if they've moved in your favor. Combined with the $25,000 minimum premium and the five-year hold, this is a product built for money you're confident you won't need to touch.

Legal Entity: United Life Insurance Company

Parent: Kuvare US Holdings, Inc.

A.M. Best Rating: A-