Annuity type

Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity (MYGA)

Also called: Fixed-rate deferred annuity, CD-type annuity

The CD of the annuity world: a guaranteed interest rate for a set term, tax-deferred, with surrender charges for leaving early.

Principal: Yes — account value, principal intact
Liquidity: Limited — surrender charges during the term
Backed by: State guaranty association, within limits

The decoder

What the quoted number means

A true interest rate — the honest quote of the family

A MYGA's quoted rate is what it appears to be: compound interest credited on your premium for the guarantee period. This is the one annuity quote directly comparable to a CD or bond yield. The catches live elsewhere — surrender schedules, renewal rates after the term, and the fact that the insurer's rate sits close to what its own bond portfolio earns.

You deposit a premium for a set term — commonly three, five, or seven years — at a guaranteed rate, tax-deferred. Exit before the term ends and surrender charges (and possibly a market-value adjustment) apply; at the end you renew, exchange, or withdraw.

Because insurers fund MYGA rates from investment-grade bond portfolios, quoted rates cluster near those yields minus the insurer's margin. MYGAs are simple, honest instruments; they are also structurally capped by that math.

Who it tends to fit: cd-style savers who want tax deferral.

The honest comparison

MYGA vs. a payment stream

The cleanest comparison in the family: both quote a real rate on a fixed obligation. The MYGA keeps principal accessible (with penalties) and guaranty-association cover; the payment stream typically quotes a meaningfully higher effective yield, locked for the life of the schedule, without the account value or the guaranty net. It is a genuine risk-for-yield trade, and it should be made knowingly.

What the secondary market pays right now is on our current estimated yields page; for rate context on this product family, see current myga rate context.

View Available Income Options All Annuity Types

MYGA questions

Why do secondary-market yields run above MYGA rates?

A MYGA rate is manufactured from an insurer's bond portfolio, so it cannot stray far from investment-grade yields. A payment stream's yield comes from buying an existing obligation at a negotiated discount — a price, not a manufactured rate — which is why estimated yields on current inventory typically run above MYGA quotes from comparably rated carriers. The trade-offs are liquidity and guaranty coverage.

What these assets are, and what they are not

Guaranteed and life-contingent structured settlement payment rights, and lottery payment rights, represent the right to receive factored payments that Pacific Structured Assets purchases and assigns to investors through a court-approved process. They are purchased at a discount to their total scheduled payments.

These payment rights are NOT annuities, NOT insurance products, and NOT securities registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They are not bank deposits, are not FDIC-insured, and are not protected by any state insurance guaranty association. The industry term “secondary market annuity” refers to these payment rights and does not mean you are purchasing an insurance annuity contract.

You acquire the right to receive the payments, not the underlying annuity. The annuity itself does not change hands. Unlike the original structured settlement annuity, which may be shielded from creditors under applicable law, the assigned payment rights you purchase generally do not carry that creditor or bankruptcy protection.

Assigned annuities, offered as a separate product line, are existing insurance annuity contracts reassigned to a new owner through a change of ownership or an irrevocable change of payee.

These are long-term holdings with limited liquidity, and may not be suitable for every investor. There is no public trading market and no daily price. Resale or reassignment of a payment stream to another buyer may be possible, and Pacific Structured Assets can assist, but a resale is not guaranteed and the price it would bring is not guaranteed. Because the payments are fixed, that resale value moves with prevailing interest rates: an investor could realize a gain if rates have fallen since purchase, or a loss if rates have risen. These holdings are best suited to capital an investor can commit for the long term. Nothing on this website is tax, legal, financial, or investment advice. Consult your own advisors before investing.

Other types: SPIA · DIA · QLAC · Fixed deferred · Fixed indexed · RILA · Variable

Pacific Structured Assets

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