Best 4 Year Annuity Rate

The best 4-year annuity rate occupies a structurally unusual position in the MYGA marketplace — one that surprises many buyers who expect the rate-versus-quality trade-off to worsen as commitment lengthens. At the 3-year tier, the competitive rate band is normally dominated by B-range carriers, with investment-grade companies falling well behind on declared rate. At the 4-year tier, that pattern loosens: A-rated and A- rated carriers typically appear in the competitive table in numbers, clustered within a narrow band of one another. That abundance of investment-grade options is the defining characteristic of the 4-year tier and the primary reason it deserves serious evaluation from buyers who prioritize financial strength alongside competitive yield. The tier is nonetheless usually led by a lower-rated carrier, and at this term that carrier tends to hold a wider margin over the top A-rated option than lower-rated carriers hold at 2-year or 3-year terms. Price that margin directly rather than assuming it: subtract the best A-rated rate in the table from the leader’s rate, multiply by your premium, and multiply by four. That figure is the explicit cost of A-rated carrier quality across the full term, and it is normally larger here than at shorter terms. Buyers evaluating the 4-year term are therefore navigating a genuinely bifurcated market — a lower-rated carrier offering the highest yield, and a cluster of A-rated and A- rated carriers offering less yield with stronger financial strength profiles and, notably, more generous penalty-free withdrawal terms in most cases. The highest guaranteed annuity rates page provides the full market context across all terms.

The second characteristic worth checking before committing is how flat the yield curve is between three years and four. In this part of the curve the gap between adjacent terms is frequently very thin — sometimes only a few hundredths of a percentage point — and when that is the case the rate argument for extending the commitment collapses almost entirely. Compare the two declared rates before assuming otherwise. If the difference is negligible, the 4-year versus 3-year decision becomes almost exclusively a planning horizon question rather than a rate optimization question. If the buyer’s actual holding horizon is 48 months, the 4-year MYGA is the correct structural choice at essentially the same rate. If the buyer’s horizon is 36 months, the 3-year provides comparable yield with one fewer year of commitment. The comparison above the 4-year is usually more substantive: the 5-year annuity rate typically leads the 4-year by a meaningfully wider margin than the 4-year leads the 3-year. Run the same subtraction against your own deposit to size it. For buyers whose horizon genuinely extends to 60 months, the 5-year normally offers a stronger rate case. For buyers bounded at 48 months, the 4-year is the terminal point of the rate optimization journey for their specific horizon.

The 4-year tier’s A-rated carrier richness has a practical planning implication beyond carrier quality preference, because the withdrawal provisions at this term vary as widely as the rates do. Some carriers permit a double-digit percentage of the accumulation value annually but only from year two, leaving the first twelve months with no penalty-free access at all. Some permit interest-only withdrawal in year one and the full percentage thereafter, which gives a buyer something in the first year but less than the later allowance. Some permit a lower percentage across all years. And where a provision does run from contract inception in every year, that is the most flexible structure available at this term and worth identifying explicitly, because it is not the norm. Read the withdrawal column carrier by carrier rather than assuming any pattern is standard. For buyers who need systematic annual access to a portion of their conservative allocation during the 4-year term — retired income seekers, IRA RMD accommodators, disciplined interest harvesters — the A-rated field at this term generally provides meaningfully more flexibility than the rate leader does, and that combination of stronger balance sheet and better liquidity frequently makes the A-rated tier the better structural choice even at a real rate sacrifice. Work backward from your need: establish the annual dollar amount and the contract year it begins, express it as a percentage of your deposit, then eliminate every carrier whose provision cannot accommodate it. Our resource on the annuities overview and whether annuities are worth it provide the foundational evaluation framework for buyers beginning this analysis.

What Is a 4-Year Fixed Annuity — And Why the 48-Month Term Has Specific Planning Value

A 4-year fixed annuity (MYGA) declares a guaranteed interest rate at issuance and applies it to the full accumulation value for exactly 48 months. Principal is protected from market loss — the balance cannot decline due to any market condition during the 4-year term. Interest compounds tax-deferred inside the contract without generating an annual 1099 for non-qualified (after-tax) money. At the end of month 48, a penalty-free maturity window opens — typically 30 days — during which the buyer can withdraw the full accumulated value, renew into a new contract at then-current rates, or reposition into a different annuity structure. The 4-year MYGA’s planning value comes from two specific attributes not found in adjacent terms: the rate gap against the 3-year is often thin enough that the extra twelve months costs little in yield, and the A-rated carrier field at this term is unusually competitive, which makes it a strong choice for buyers who require investment-grade financial strength without a punishing rate sacrifice. Buyers who value a 48-month holding horizon — for specific income planning, retirement date alignment, or ladder architecture — generally find the 4-year term provides more A-rated carrier options than any other medium-term MYGA tier.

💰 Best 4-Year Annuity Rates (as of August 2026)

The table below shows the best available 4-year MYGA options with AM Best ratings and penalty-free withdrawal provisions. What tends to be distinctive about this term is the presence of multiple A-rated and A- rated carriers with rates clustering fairly close together, while the outright rate leader is generally a lower-rated carrier carrying the most restrictive liquidity terms. Read the rate column and the withdrawal column together rather than sorting on rate alone — at this term the two frequently point at different carriers. Confirm live quotes for your state and premium before purchasing.

Rates subject to change and may vary by state, age, and deposit size. The notation “X% / Y%” refers to the penalty-free withdrawal percentage (year 2+ / year 1). “Interest Only” means only the interest portion—not principal—may be withdrawn penalty-free in year one. Guarantees backed by the carrier’s claims-paying ability.

Why the 4-Year Tier Has More A-Rated Options Than the 3-Year

The pattern — more A-rated carriers competing at 4-year terms than at 3-year terms — reflects a specific dynamic in how insurance carriers price MYGA rates at different durations. At the 3-year term, B-range carriers tend to dominate the competitive rate landscape because a 36-month investment horizon limits the premium they can earn on higher-yield holdings relative to their operating costs and reserve requirements. A-rated carriers, constrained to investment portfolios concentrated in higher-grade credit, generally cannot generate enough additional yield at three years to price competitively against them. At four years, A-rated carriers gain one additional year of investment runway — 48 months instead of 36 — which allows their portfolios to generate meaningfully more income and narrows the gap at the headline rate level. That is why investment-grade carriers typically appear in the 4-year table at rates that are genuinely competitive for A-rated fixed annuities, while at three years those same companies would sit further behind the leaders. The practical benefit for 4-year buyers is significant: buyers who require A-rated carrier quality can usually find competitive rates at this term rather than accepting the larger quality-versus-rate sacrifice the 3-year tier demands. Confirm it against the table rather than assuming, since the composition shifts as carriers reprice.

The Penalty-Free Withdrawal Comparison — Four Different Provision Structures at 4-Year

Four distinct withdrawal structures recur in the 4-year table, and they illustrate why this dimension of the contract is as important as the headline rate. The most restrictive is a low single-digit percentage available in some contract years and nothing in others, which limits penalty-free access sharply and eliminates it entirely in the restricted year or years. Next is a double-digit percentage available from year two forward with no access whatsoever in year one — the pattern that most often catches buyers who assumed the allowance applied from the start. Third is an interest-only allowance in year one followed by the full percentage from year two, which gives a buyer something in the first twelve months but meaningfully less than the later allowance, since the accessible amount is capped at what the contract has actually credited rather than a share of the full accumulation value. Fourth, and most flexible, is a percentage available from contract inception in every year including the first.

Translate whichever provision applies into dollars against your own deposit before comparing carriers, because the same stated percentage produces very different access on different premium amounts, and a provision that excludes year one is worth nothing to a buyer whose need starts immediately. For buyers who need reliable annual access throughout the 4-year commitment — retired income seekers using systematic withdrawals to supplement Social Security, IRA holders with required distribution obligations that penalty-free access may accommodate, or buyers who simply want optionality during the term — a from-inception provision is the only structure that delivers it in all four years, and it is not always present in the table. Where it is absent, the practical consequence is that year one has to be funded from somewhere else. Our resource on annuity surrender charges explained covers the mechanics of what happens when withdrawals exceed the penalty-free allowance.

The 4-Year vs. 3-Year — When the Rate Gap Is Thin, the Planning Horizon Decides

The gap between the best 3-year MYGA and the best 4-year MYGA is frequently the flattest adjacent-term comparison anywhere on the MYGA yield curve. Check it directly before treating the choice as a rate decision: compare the two declared rates, and if the difference is a few hundredths of a point, the rate case for committing the additional twelve months is effectively negligible. Under those conditions the correct decision is determined almost entirely by the buyer’s actual planning horizon. Buyers with a genuine 48-month holding horizon should choose the 4-year. Buyers whose realistic horizon is 36 months should choose the 3-year MYGA at essentially the same rate — there is no rate optimization logic that favors the longer commitment for someone whose planning reality is shorter.

There is one argument that does favor the 4-year in a flat-curve environment, and it is about protection rather than yield. A buyer who commits for 48 months at a rate nearly identical to the 3-year has bought twelve additional months of rate certainty at almost no cost. If rates decline during the term, the 4-year holder remains protected while the 3-year holder faces reinvestment at whatever the market offers at maturity — a rate that is unknowable at the outset. For buyers who believe rates are more likely to fall than rise, that extra year of insulation is the strongest case for the longer term when the yield difference is negligible.

The 4-Year vs. 5-Year — Where the Rate Case Strengthens

The comparison between the 4-year and the 5-year is normally more substantive than the 3-to-4-year comparison, because the step up to five years typically delivers a genuinely wider margin. Size it on your own deposit: subtract the 4-year rate from the 5-year rate, multiply by your premium, and multiply by four to compare across the overlapping holding period. In most rate environments that figure is several times larger than what the 3-to-4-year step produces, which is why the 5-year deserves an explicit look from anyone whose horizon might reach 60 months. For buyers whose horizon genuinely extends that far, the 5-year provides meaningful additional yield in exchange for twelve more months of surrender commitment.

For buyers whose realistic horizon is firmly bounded at 48 months, the 4-year remains the correct choice regardless of what the 5-year pays. The additional yield is not worth accepting a 60-month commitment when the actual planning horizon is 48 — the liquidity friction of the extra year exceeds the rate benefit for horizon-constrained buyers, and a surrender charge on an early exit will erase the difference several times over. Match the term to the date you expect to need the money, then optimize rate within that constraint rather than the reverse. Our resources on the best 7-year annuity rate and the best 10-year annuity rate provide the full rate spectrum for buyers evaluating longer terms with wider rate advantages than the 4-year-to-5-year comparison.

Tax Deferral Advantage Over 48 Months

The tax-deferral advantage of a 4-year MYGA compounds more meaningfully than at 1-year or 2-year terms because four full years of credited interest accumulate without a single annual tax event for non-qualified money. Each year’s interest stays inside the contract and earns interest the following year on the full pre-tax balance, while a comparable CD holder pays tax annually and compounds thereafter on a smaller base. Over four consecutive years that difference stacks rather than staying flat.

To size it against your own situation, multiply your deposit by the declared rate to get one year of interest, multiply that by your marginal tax rate to find what a CD holder would owe annually, then total that across four years. The result is what stays inside the contract compounding instead of leaving as tax payments, and it is the reason a MYGA’s effective after-tax yield exceeds its stated declared rate for buyers in meaningful brackets. It is also why a single 4-year term is substantially more effective for non-qualified money than four sequential 1-year contracts, which create a taxable event at each renewal if the buyer takes the interest out. Our resources on fixed annuities vs. CDs, tax-deferred annuity strategies, and non-qualified annuities provide the full tax mechanics for buyers evaluating the 4-year’s after-tax yield advantage across different bracket scenarios.

Using a 4-Year Annuity in a Ladder Strategy

The 4-year MYGA functions as the medium-term anchor rung in the most common fixed annuity ladder configurations — providing a maturity window at the four-year mark in a staggered structure that creates decision points across the 1-to-7-year planning horizon. A practical ladder for a conservative buyer with $400,000 might allocate $100,000 each to a 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 5-year contract. The maturity windows fall at twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight, and sixty months respectively — creating four independent evaluation points at which the buyer can renew, reposition, or convert at then-current rates. The 4-year rung’s specific contribution is the third maturity window: a decision point at the four-year mark at which the buyer evaluates the rate environment and decides whether to continue the ladder structure or shift to a different strategy. In a declining rate environment, the 4-year rung provides two additional years of rate protection beyond the 2-year’s maturity window while remaining a shorter commitment than the 6-year or longer terms. The 4-year’s placement between the 3-year and 5-year rungs also tends to represent the smallest rate gap per rung in the ladder — reinforcing that its value in the structure is primarily its timing contribution rather than a rate step-up. For buyers evaluating the full short-term MYGA spectrum across 1-to-4-year terms, our resource on best short-term MYGA annuities covers that landscape in detail.

Who Specifically Benefits From a 4-Year MYGA

The 4-year MYGA buyer has a 48-month planning horizon and one or more of three additional attributes that make this term specifically appropriate. Buyers who prioritize A-rated carrier financial strength at competitive yields find the 4-year tier uniquely attractive, because it is generally the term where investment-grade carriers offer their most competitive fixed rates — better than what they offer at 1-year or 2-year terms and comparable to what they offer further out on the curve. Buyers who need systematic annual access to a portion of their conservative allocation usually find the 4-year tier’s A-rated options far more accommodating than the 3-year tier’s restricted provisions, particularly where a from-inception allowance is available. Buyers using a 2-3-4-5 or 2-4-6 ladder configuration who need the 4-year as a specific maturity-window rung choose it for its architecture role rather than its rate leadership. And buyers who recently completed a retirement account rollover — from a 401(k), IRA, or other qualified plan — and want a 48-month conservative holding period while finalizing a longer-term income strategy benefit from the combination of competitive A-rated yields and a manageable commitment horizon. Our resources on what to do with an IRA after retiring and the annuity rescue plan provide context for buyers evaluating the 4-year as part of a broader post-retirement repositioning decision. For buyers who eventually plan to transition to guaranteed income after the 4-year term, our resource on best fixed indexed annuities with lifetime income riders covers the income-generating structures most commonly evaluated at 4-year MYGA maturity.

Understanding Market Value Adjustments at the 4-Year Term

Understanding what a market value adjustment is and how it applies to 4-year contracts is important before committing to any carrier in this tier. An MVA adjusts the surrender value received on excess withdrawals — those above the penalty-free allowance — during the 4-year term, based on interest rate movements since contract issuance. If market rates have risen, the adjustment is negative and reduces the value received on an early exit. If rates have declined, the adjustment is positive. MVAs apply only to early exits above the penalty-free allowance; buyers who hold through the full 48-month term and access funds only during the penalty-free maturity window are entirely unaffected. For buyers with any uncertainty about holding through month 48 without exceeding penalty-free access amounts, confirming whether a specific 4-year MYGA includes an MVA — and how it would affect realistic withdrawal scenarios — is a required pre-purchase step. The carriers in the 4-year table have different MVA provisions; some include them and some do not, and this distinction should be confirmed for the specific product rather than assumed from the term length. Products with no MVA at a comparable rate level, where they exist, remove the variable from the analysis for buyers who prioritize early-exit simplicity.

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