Reliance Standard Reliance Guarantee 5 – Guaranteed Growth and Flexible Liquidity for Retirement

Reliance Standard’s AM Best A++ (Superior) rating is the highest possible financial strength designation AM Best assigns — a distinction held by only a small group of the most financially stable insurers in the country. For annuity buyers, this matters because every guarantee in the contract — the declared interest rate, the minimum guaranteed floor, the 10% free withdrawal, the 25% nursing home waiver, the death benefit — is backed exclusively by Reliance Standard’s ability to pay claims. A++ means AM Best has assessed Reliance Standard’s balance sheet strength, operating performance, and business profile as the strongest possible designation, placing it in the same tier as Transamerica and New York Life. Practically: if you hold a Reliance Guarantee 5 for the full 5-year term and then continue the annual renewal period, the carrier’s financial strength is the foundation that makes every one of those guarantees meaningful. Buyers who consider anything below A- insufficient for carrier financial strength appropriately include Reliance Standard in their evaluation set — it exceeds that standard by three rating tiers (A-, A, A+, A++). The counterpoint is rate: Reliance Standard’s A++ rating comes with rates that may sit below what A-rated or B++-rated carriers currently offer at the same term. The tradeoff between maximum carrier strength and maximum yield is the central MYGA carrier decision, and Reliance Standard sits at the maximum-strength end of that spectrum. Comparing the Reliance Guarantee 5’s accumulated value against competing 5-year MYGA rates from A-rated carriers — like Midland National (A+) or Nationwide (A+) — and B++-rated carriers like Nassau Life provides the full competitive picture at your specific premium.

The Reliance Guarantee 5’s nursing home and hospitalization waiver allows up to 25% of the annuity value to be withdrawn penalty-free each year that the annuitant remains confined to a qualifying nursing home or hospital — after 90 consecutive days of qualifying confinement beginning after the contract issue date. This 25% annual access is meaningfully above the 10% standard that most competing MYGAs provide through their nursing home waivers. The practical difference: on a $100,000 Reliance Guarantee 5, the nursing home waiver provides access to $25,000 per year of penalty-free withdrawals during confinement. A standard 10% waiver on a competing MYGA provides only $10,000 per year. Over a two-year nursing home stay, the Reliance Guarantee 5 provides $50,000 in penalty-free access versus $20,000 at a competing 10% waiver carrier — a $30,000 difference. For buyers who weight care-cost access as a significant factor in MYGA selection, the 25% waiver is a genuine structural differentiator. The qualification requirements to note: the confinement must begin after the contract issue date, must last at least 90 consecutive days, and — critically — the annuitant must be age 74 or younger on the contract issue date. Buyers who are 75 or older at purchase do not qualify for either the nursing home or terminal illness waiver. The terminal illness waiver provides full annuity value access after the first contract year upon qualifying diagnosis, also requiring annuitant age 74 or younger at issue. Reviewing annuities with nursing home care riders compares the Reliance Guarantee 5’s 25% provision against the full landscape of health event waivers available across the MYGA and FIA market.

The Reliance Guarantee 5 is a traditional fixed annuity with a 5-year initial guarantee period — an important structural distinction from a strict multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA). The difference: in a strict MYGA, when the initial guarantee period ends, the contract either terminates or renews for another multi-year guaranteed block at the then-current rate. In the Reliance Guarantee 5, when the 5-year guarantee period ends, the rate transitions to an annually declared structure — Reliance Standard declares a new rate each year, guaranteed never to fall below the Minimum Guaranteed Interest Rate (MGIR) established at contract issue. This annual declaration continues for the life of the contract unless the owner elects one of the exit options. For buyers who are comfortable holding the contract indefinitely at annually declared rates after Year 5, this structure is appropriate — the MGIR provides a contractual floor. For buyers who want another multi-year rate lock at the end of Year 5, the correct approach is to either 1035-exchange into a new Reliance Guarantee contract or a competing MYGA during the 30-day penalty-free window, or to compare Reliance Standard’s renewal offer against the best available 5-year rates at that time. At the end of Year 5, the 30-day penalty-free window opens and the full accumulation value is accessible without surrender charges or MVA — renew, surrender, exchange, or annuitize. If no action is taken, the contract continues with annually declared rates without a new surrender period reset.

The Reliance Guarantee series is available in 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year initial guarantee periods — all with the same A++ carrier, same 10% annual free withdrawal, same 25% nursing home waiver structure, and same minimum premium. The selection among them follows standard MYGA term logic: the 7-year and 10-year typically offer higher declared rates than the 5-year — the rate premium compensates for the longer commitment and the longer surrender schedule. The 5-year is appropriate when the planning horizon for this capital is genuinely 5 years — a buyer who is 65 targeting a 5-year accumulation window before income begins at 70. The 7-year or 10-year captures more rate for buyers with confirmed longer accumulation horizons. Reviewing the rate differential between all three terms at application — and comparing each against the best MYGA rates from competing A-rated and A+-rated carriers at the same terms — provides the full competitive picture. The fixed annuity ladder strategy works naturally across the Reliance Guarantee series: funding a 5-year and a 7-year Reliance Guarantee simultaneously creates staggered maturity windows with two penalty-free access points while keeping all capital within the same A++ carrier. This is a common approach for buyers who want Reliance Standard’s financial strength across their full safe-money allocation without being entirely locked for the same term.

The Reliance Guarantee 5’s Market Value Adjustment applies to withdrawals that exceed the 10% annual free provision during the surrender period. Reliance Standard’s MVA has a specific threshold mechanic: if current market rates for the same guarantee period are more than 0.50% LOWER than the base interest rate of your contract, the MVA is positive — it adds to your withdrawal value, benefiting the owner. If current market rates are less than 0.50% lower or are higher than your contract’s base rate, the MVA is negative — it reduces your withdrawal value. The 0.50% threshold creates a buffer zone: modest interest rate increases (up to 0.50% above your contract rate) don’t trigger an adverse MVA. The MVA reflects the economic reality that if you locked in a 4.80% rate and rates have since risen to 5.50%, Reliance Standard’s underlying assets backing your contract are worth less in that environment — the MVA compensates for that by reducing what you receive on early surrender. Conversely, if rates fall significantly, you receive a positive MVA benefit. The key planning point: for buyers who hold through the full 5-year guarantee period, the MVA is irrelevant — it reaches zero at maturity and neither helps nor hurts a buyer who completes the full term. The MVA only matters for excess withdrawals or surrenders during the surrender period. The Minimum Value floor provides protection: regardless of MVA, your withdrawal value will never be less than the premium paid less withdrawals accumulated at the minimum guaranteed interest rate, less surrender charges. Reviewing how surrender charges and MVAs interact provides the full context for modeling early-exit scenarios.