MultiRate 4-Year review

It depends on how you weigh the structural tradeoff. For the four-year guarantee period, it is a straightforward, well-structured fixed annuity from a highly rated carrier with no fees and immediate liquidity provisions. Beyond year four, you're in renewal territory while still inside the surrender period — and that is a real limitation. If you want rate certainty for the full term of your commitment, you would need to match the guarantee period to the surrender period, which this product does not do.

The main reasons are carrier quality and simplicity. Western-Southern Life Assurance Company carries an A+ A.M. Best rating, which matters for buyers who prioritize financial strength. The product has no annual fees, no MVA, and 10% free withdrawals from contract year one. It also comes with a waiver for chronic illness confinement and a terminal illness waiver — both added as riders, both without an explicit fee listed in the brochure. For a buyer who wants guaranteed accumulation from a strong carrier without complex product features, that is a meaningful package.

I think MultiRate 4-Year works best for buyers in their late 50s through mid-70s who have true long-term money, want to stay simple, and place significant weight on carrier financial strength. It is also a reasonable fit for someone who owns multiple fixed annuities and specifically wants a Western & Southern contract to diversify carrier exposure. It is a less natural fit for someone who wants their surrender period and rate guarantee to align — or for someone who is primarily shopping on yield rather than structure.

You are buying a guaranteed interest rate from a highly rated insurance company, with the understanding that the rate guarantee covers the first four years and the surrender schedule covers seven. After year four, Western & Southern will offer a renewal rate for the remainder of the contract term. If rates have moved down by then, you can surrender during the contract year following the guarantee period and pay only the then-current charge (4% in year five), or you can accept the new rate. That is not an unusual structure for fixed annuities, but it is worth internalizing before you commit.

MultiRate 4-Year credits interest at a fixed rate for a defined guarantee period. The 4-year period is the key one: the base rate (3.80% as of the April 2026 rate sheet) applies for years two through four, and a first-year interest rate enhancement of 2.00% is layered on top in year one, bringing the effective first-year rate to 5.80%. The enhancement applies to the single premium and is credited only in year one — it does not recur and is not a premium or account-value bonus. After year four, the rate is subject to renewal.

The "MultiRate" name refers to the product's flexibility to divide the premium across multiple guarantee periods of 1 through 7 years, with a minimum of $1,000 per period. So a buyer with $50,000 could put $30,000 in the 4-year period and $20,000 in a 2-year period, for example. Each allocation is subject to its own guarantee period and its own portion of the surrender schedule.

The chronic illness and terminal illness waivers are meaningful for a conservative buyer who might worry about needing access during the surrender period. The Additional Waiver of Surrender Charges Rider waives charges on withdrawals when the owner has been confined to a licensed long-term care facility or hospital for at least 30 consecutive days. The terminal illness waiver applies when life expectancy is 12 months or less. Both are exceptions to the general surrender schedule that give buyers a real exit path in hardship situations — without the cost of a separate chronic illness rider. The death benefit is equally clean: the full contract value is paid with no surrender charge deducted.

The surrender schedule runs 7-7-7-6-5-4-3-0, meaning the highest penalties are in the first three years. There is no market value adjustment — a genuine positive compared with many fixed annuities where the effective surrender cost can be larger or smaller than the listed charge depending on interest rates at the time. The 10% free withdrawal begins immediately in contract year one, not after a waiting year. RMD-friendly treatment means required minimum distributions attributable to this contract are generally available without surrender charges. The combination of no MVA, immediate free access, and hardship waivers gives this product better practical liquidity than the 7-year schedule might suggest.

The base contract carries no annual fee. The Additional Waiver of Surrender Charges Rider does not list an explicit fee in the available brochure materials. There is no income rider fee because no income rider is offered. The spread between what the carrier earns and what it credits is baked into the rate itself, as it is with all fixed annuities, but there are no disclosed explicit deductions from account value.

The real tradeoffs are structural. The first-year rate enhancement creates a blended yield that looks more attractive than the base rate alone — buyers should focus on the 3.80% base rate in years two through four, not the 5.80% first-year figure, when comparing to alternatives. The 7-year surrender period outlasts the 4-year guarantee, which introduces renewal risk. And the product is not available in New York, Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, or Rhode Island.

Legal Entity: Western-Southern Life Assurance Company

Parent: Western & Southern Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A+

Western & Southern Financial Group is a Cincinnati-based mutual holding company with a long track record in insurance and financial services. The A+ A.M. Best rating reflects superior financial strength — that is in the top tier of ratings available and meaningfully better than many annuity carriers in the marketplace.