Nationwide At a Glance: Rates, Products and Reviews

Today’s Best Nationwide Annuity Rates

Term	Product	AM Best Rating	Rate
5 Years	Secure Growth	A+	4.45 %
7 Years	Secure Growth	A+	4.50 %
7 Years	Secure Growth	A+	4.25 %

Compare Nationwide Annuity Rates

Additional Products Offered by Nationwide

Nationwide sells a wide range of annuities. Among the types of annuities that Nationwide offers are fixed, variable, indexed, registered index-linked and immediate annuities.

Nationwide’s Fixed Annuities

The two fixed annuities Nationwide offers are Secure Growth^®  and Platinum Edge^®.

• Secure Growth^® can be purchased with a single payment of at least $10,000. This annuity comes with guarantee periods of one year, three years, five years or seven years, as well as surrender charge waivers for terminal illness or long-term care. Customers can add an optional return of purchase payment rider for an additional cost.
• Platinum Edge^® is a market value adjusted (MVA) or modified guarantee annuity, which “offers the flexibility of various guarantee terms combined with the potential for higher interest rates,” according to Nationwide’s website. This product has flexible premium options and guarantee periods between three and 10 years.

Nationwide’s Variable Annuities

Variable annuities make up the largest category of Nationwide’s annuity offerings. All of these products allow customers to make additional payments after their initial premium, which may be ideal for those who want to save at their own pace.

• The Destination^® B 2.0 has a minimum initial premium of $10,000 and comes with no-cost features like return of premium, spousal protection death benefit enhancements and an enhanced surrender value for terminal illness. Customers can also choose from three enhanced death benefit options and three living benefit options at an additional cost. This product’s charges and fees include a 1.10% mortality & expense (M&E) ratio, a 0.20% admin charge and a $30 annual maintenance charge.
• The Destination^® All-American Gold 2.0 can be purchased for an initial premium as low as $3,000. All-American Gold 2.0 has all the same no-fee features, death benefit options and living benefit options as the Destination^® B 2.0 and comes with a liquidity option. This product’s fees include a 0.95% M&E ratio, a 0.20% admin charge and a $30 annual maintenance charge.
• The Destination^® Navigator 2.0 offers the liquidity option of All-American Gold 2.0 and the other no-cost benefit enhancements found on the B 2.0. The Navigator 2.0’s fee schedule more closely resembles the B 2.0’s, with a 1.10% M&E ratio, 0.20% admin charge and a $30 annual maintenance charge.
• The Destination^® Future is Nationwide’s low-cost variable annuity option. The product has a higher minimum premium at $15,000, but its fees are much lower, only 0.85% for the M&E ratio plus a 0.10% administrative fee. Destination^® Future charges for the spousal protection death benefit that its counterparts include for free, and only offers two enhanced death benefit riders and one living benefit option.
• The Destination^® Architect 2.0 is another low-fee variable annuity option from Nationwide, with just 0.40% in total fees. The annuity requires an initial investment of at least $25,000 and has no surrender charge schedule. 
• The Destination^® Freedom+ is a variable annuity with a five-year surrender charge schedule. Destination^® Freedom+ has a minimum initial premium of $10,000 and two death benefit riders available at an additional cost: return of premium or highest anniversary value. This annuity’s fees include a $50 annual maintenance charge that is waived if the contract’s balance exceeds $50,000, a 0.85% M&E ratio and a 0.15% administrative fee.
• The Soloist^® is intended for customers up to age 78. This annuity has a minimum initial premium of just $300 and fees totaling 1.30%. The return of premium enhanced death benefit is included at no extra charge.
• The Best of America^® IV also has a maximum issue age of 78. The product is designed to be purchased with a qualified retirement plan like a 401(k) and has no minimum investment for those qualified contracts ($1,500 minimum investment for non-qualified contracts). Like the Soloist^®, Best of America^® IV has a return of premium death benefit enhancement at no charge and fees totaling 1.30%.

Nationwide’s Indexed Annuities

Nationwide’s indexed annuity offerings are divided into three series: Peak^®, New Heights^® and Summit^®. All of these products have no annual contract or administrative fees.

• The Peak^® series encompasses three single premium indexed annuities with a $25,000 minimum premium. Peak^® annuities come with surrender charge waivers for terminal illness or long-term care at no additional cost.
• The four annuities of Nationwide’s New Heights^® series offer surrender charge schedules between eight and 12 years. Most have a minimum premium of $25,000, except for New Heights^® 8 which has a $10,000 minimum. These products come with a free return of premium guarantee and have two enhanced death benefit options and two living benefit options available at an additional cost.
• Nationwide’s Summit^® indexed annuity has a $25,000 minimum premium, a seven-year surrender charge schedule and surrender charge waivers for terminal illness or long-term care at no additional cost.

Nationwide’s Registered Index-Linked Annuities

The registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) that Nationwide sells represent two different RILA models; the buffer model and the floor model. Both RILAs must be purchased with a single premium of at least $25,000.

• The Defender^SM annuity is a buffer RILA; the contract is protected from losses up to a 10% or 20% buffer. Owners can choose from five indexes to link their contract to and can lock in the index’s performance once per strategy term. The Defender^SM charges a product fee of 1.10% annually.
• The Defined Protection^® annuity is a floor RILA, offering protection against index losses once they reach the floor level. Nationwide allows owners to choose from three protection levels (90%, 95% or 100%), seven indexes and one-year or three-year strategy terms. This annuity has no annual contract or administrative fees.

Nationwide’s Immediate Annuity

The INCOME Promise Select^® is a single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) with a $10,000 minimum premium. This SPIA comes with a variety of income payout options, including single life, joint life and term certain.The INCOME Promise Select^®‘s available features include a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), liquidity feature and Medicaid eligibility.

About Nationwide

Originally founded in 1925 as Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Nationwide began as a small mutual auto insurance provider. “Nationwide has been around a long time, and is probably one of the most known companies because they have a very large footprint in the insurance industry,” Ryan Cicchelli, founder of The Safe Investing Expert, told Annuity.org.

Gradually, the corporation expanded to offer more than just auto insurance. “One big thing about Nationwide is they’re not just in the annuity game or the life insurance game,” Cicchelli said. “They’re doing home policies, auto policies and they have retirement options. To some degree, they are definitely a one-stop shop for insurance for their customers.”

Today, Nationwide operates in 47 states and the District of Columbia as one of the nation’s largest insurance providers, grossing over $4 billion in individual annuity premiums in 2022. According to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Nationwide owns a 1.41% share of the U.S. annuity market.

Credit Ratings

Credit ratings for annuity providers can help determine a company’s financial strength and stability — an indication that it will be around to guarantee payments to you in the future. Different rating companies use different scales.

Nationwide’s Credit Ratings

Rating Company	Credit Rating
AM Best	A+
Fitch	Not Rated
S&P	A+

What Customers Are Saying About Nationwide

Overall, Nationwide has a positive reputation for customer satisfaction. The provider placed third behind Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company and MassMutual in J.D. Power’s 2023 Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking, which measures the overall customer satisfaction of annuity providers. In 2024, their ranking went down to tenth overall.

They’re doing home policies, auto policies and they have retirement options. To some degree, they are definitely a one-stop shop for insurance for their customers.

Ryan CicchelliFounder of The Safe Investing Expert

For such a large company, Nationwide has received relatively few consumer complaints. According to data gathered by the NAIC, Nationwide had only five complaints from annuity customers who reported to state insurance commissions in 2022. 

The NAIC tracks consumer complaints each state’s insurance commission receives each year. These are used to compile a company’s Complaint IndexNAIC Complaint IndexDetermined by dividing the company’s share of complaints in the U.S. market by the company’s share of premiums in the U.S. market. The National Complaint Index is always 1.00, so a score of 2.00, for example, is twice as high as expected in the market..

NAIC Complaint Index for Nationwide

All Policy Types	0.04
Individual Annuities Only	0.77

Nationwide Pros & Cons

Nationwide is one of the biggest insurance providers in the country, selling annuities to thousands of Americans who want a tax-deferred way to save for retirement. But like any annuity provider, Nationwide has advantages and disadvantages. Be sure to weigh the pros and cons before purchasing an annuity.

Pros

• Wide variety of products: Nationwide sells five major types of annuities and offers a diverse range of products within those types.
• Low-cost variable annuity options: A few of Nationwide’s variable annuities have competitively low fees, such as the Destination^® Future and the Destination^® Architect 2.0.
• No fees for indexed annuities: Nationwide’s indexed annuities have no annual contract or administrative fees.
• High customer satisfaction: The provider ranks high on multiple measures of customer satisfaction, like the J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking and the NAIC Complaint Index.
• Strong financial strength rating: Nationwide holds strong ratings from top credit rating agencies, signaling its financial stability.

Cons

Not as good at generating income as its competitors: One of our rating panel experts and a federal retirement advisor, Ken Orenstein, reported that he doesn’t often recommend Nationwide to clients who want an annuity to generate lots of income. “If I’m looking for income, there’s always going to be top-rated carriers that are doing a better job of producing income,” Orenstein said.

Provider Rating Methodology

Annuity.org created a fact-based methodology to analyze the strength, security and reach of different annuity providers. We assessed companies based on their availability, the number of direct premiums sold, their AM Best Financial Strength Rating and their NAIC Complaint Index score.

Providers received a rating on a five-star scale for each of these categories, with the complaint index and financial strength ratings weighed as the heaviest variables. Then, using a weighted average, each company was assigned an overall star rating.

Top-Ranked Annuity Providers

Provider	Annuity.org Star Rating
Mass Mutual
New York Life
Pacific Life
Midland National
North American
Western & Southern

Our Rating Panel

The Annuity.org editorial team spoke with several different annuity experts to learn more about what is important to customers when searching for a provider and what factors make a company reliable. While Annuity.org designed the methodology, these experts provided feedback during the process and consulted on what factors we should leverage to best help prospective buyers compare providers.