Why we don't just recommend the highest rate
The carrier rating floor we use, when we go higher, and the yield haircut that buys you a stronger name on the paper.
Our floor — and when we go higher
The rate table you see on the site is already filtered. We don't surface carriers below A− from AM Best, even when their advertised rate is the highest in the category. A− is the bottom of "Excellent" — the rating at which AM Best still considers the carrier to have a good ability to meet ongoing obligations. Below that, the category shifts to "Good" and "Fair," which sound fine in everyday English but signal a meaningfully higher risk of financial stress in the insurance world.
When it's a meaningful chunk of someone's life savings — the kind of deposit that would change how the next decade looks if anything went wrong — we go higher still. A+ and A++ carriers only. That's a tighter filter than the baseline, and it costs you a little yield against where you could have maxed out. We think the trade is right.
What the haircut actually costs
The yield gap between the very top of the feed and what we'd recommend is real, but smaller than people expect. On a representative 5-year fixed annuity, the difference between the highest-advertised rate and the strongest A+ / A++ carrier in the same term is typically 25 to 50 basis points — a quarter to a half a percent of yield.
| What you're looking at | Carrier strength | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Top rate available in the market | Below A− (Good / Fair) | Maxed out |
| Our baseline filter | A− or better | Roughly 10–25 bps below the top |
| Life-savings recommendation | A+ / A++ only | Roughly 25–50 bps below the top |
On a $100,000 deposit, that 25–50 bps is $250 to $500 of yield per year. Real money — but it's the price of moving from a carrier whose financial position might surprise you to a name with the balance sheet to make that question uninteresting.
Is it worth it in your numbers?
Put in the two rates you're weighing and the calculator answers the only question that matters: is the safety worth what it costs? Nothing is saved or sent — change anything and the answer updates instantly.
Nothing here is saved or sent. Change anything and the answer above updates instantly.
Think of it like insurance. You pay a small, predictable amount so you're not exposed to a rare but serious loss: a weaker company failing on the money above your state's protection limit.
Over the full 5 years that's about $2,174 total — less than the difference one bad year in the market could make.
What's a "protection limit"? ▾
If an insurance company fails, your state's guaranty association covers your annuity — but only up to a limit (often $250,000 per person, like FDIC for banks). Money above that limit at a weak company is the real risk this small premium protects against. See your state's limit →
Talk to a GetSure advisor. No cost, no obligation — and we don't earn more on either rate.
✓ No cost ✓ No obligation ✓ We don't sell you the lower rate
Or see top-rated rates for your term →The 2031 claim
A fixed annuity is a contract that pays out years after you sign it. A 5-year term you fund today is paying its claim out in 2031. A 7-year term lands in 2033. A lifetime income contract is making payments that started today and don't stop for decades.
The strength of the name on the paper matters more than it looks the day you sign. The advertised rate is what the carrier is promising to pay under the assumption it's still around and solvent when the term ends. That assumption is doing more work than the brochure makes it look like.
Insurer insolvencies are rare — rare enough that the historical record for fixed annuity holders is genuinely reassuring. But "rare" isn't "never," and the consequences of a rare event landing on a meaningful chunk of someone's retirement are not symmetric with the consequences of giving up a quarter of a percent of yield. We pick the side of that trade that lets people sleep.
Even after the haircut, the spread is wide
The thing that makes the haircut easy to live with is that the safe-money spread today — the gap between what cash earns and what a strong fixed annuity pays — is unusually wide by historical standards. Even after filtering down to A+ / A++ carriers, the recommended rate sits well above what you'd earn in a high-yield savings account or a short Treasury.
And the gain compounds tax-deferred for the length of the term. The carrier doesn't issue a 1099 each year for the interest accruing inside the contract; the tax event lands when you withdraw. Over a 5- or 7-year term, that deferral meaningfully widens the after-tax gap between cash and a fixed annuity — often by more than the 25–50 bps yield haircut you took to move up the rating ladder.
So the net picture, after the haircut: a yield comfortably above cash, in a contract that's compounding without a yearly tax drag, from a carrier whose financial strength is unlikely to be the surprising part of your retirement.
How to check this for yourself
- Open the rate table. The Savings Marketplace is the live, filtered feed — A− and above only.
- Note the rating column. Every product shows the carrier's AM Best rating next to the rate. Sort or filter to A+ / A++ to see what we'd recommend for life-savings-sized deposits.
- Verify on AM Best directly. Use the carrier's full legal name on ambest.com. Check the rating, the outlook (Stable / Positive / Negative), and the affirmation date.
- Cross-check the Comdex. A composite of 90+ across AM Best, Moody's, S&P, and Fitch is a useful second signal — covered in our AM Best Rating Guide.