Nationwide Peak 10 Fixed Indexed Annuity

A Strong Foundation for Income and Growth. At Diversified Insurance Brokers, we specialize in helping individuals secure guaranteed lifetime income, tax-deferred growth, and protection from market downturns through carefully structured annuity strategies. The Nationwide Peak 10 Fixed Indexed Annuity, issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, is designed for retirees and pre-retirees who want dependable income potential combined with principal protection and long-term flexibility. In today’s retirement environment, where volatility, inflation, healthcare costs, and longevity risk create uncertainty, having a reliable income floor is essential. The Peak 10 annuity helps address these challenges by combining a powerful income rider with downside protection and controlled market participation — allowing you to grow your income base while eliminating exposure to direct market losses.

The defining feature of the Nationwide Peak 10 is its optional Bonus Income+ Rider, which applies a 25% bonus credit to your Income Benefit Base on day one. This bonus enhances the base used to calculate your future guaranteed lifetime income — it does not directly increase your accumulation value, which is an important distinction. On top of the bonus, the Income Benefit Base grows at a guaranteed 8% simple interest annually for up to 10 years, or until income begins. This predictable roll-up allows you to delay income while increasing your future withdrawal percentage, which can significantly raise lifetime income payments. If you are comparing how roll-ups differ from payout percentages, reviewing Roll-Up vs. Payout Rate can clarify how these components interact within an income rider.

Nationwide Peak 10: Key Product Features at a Glance

Beyond income guarantees, the Peak 10 offers multiple indexing strategies designed to provide market-linked growth without market risk to principal. Interest may be credited based on strategies tied to indices such as the S&P 500, BNP Paribas H-Factor, and AllianceBernstein indices, subject to caps, spreads, or participation rates. These crediting methods allow you to benefit from positive market performance while ensuring that downturns do not reduce your contract value due to negative index returns. For individuals new to this structure, reviewing How Does a Fixed Indexed Annuity Work? can provide additional clarity. Many conservative investors ask, Can You Lose Money in an Annuity? With a properly structured fixed indexed annuity like Peak 10, your principal is shielded from direct market losses — though the Bonus Income+ Rider fee of 1.00% or 1.30% annually is deducted from the contract value on a quarterly basis, which means in years where no index credits are earned, the contract value may decline modestly due to the rider charge.

The Bonus Income+ Rider — Understanding the Mechanics

The Bonus Income+ Rider is the optional feature that defines the Nationwide Peak 10’s position in the income annuity market, and understanding exactly how it works is essential before making any decision. The rider applies a 25% bonus credit to the Income Benefit Base — not to the accumulation value — on day one of the contract. This distinction is fundamental. The Income Benefit Base is a calculation value used exclusively to determine the size of your guaranteed lifetime income payments. It is not a cash value, cannot be surrendered for its dollar amount, and is not paid to beneficiaries as a death benefit. A $100,000 premium creates a $125,000 Income Benefit Base immediately, and that $125,000 base then grows at 8% simple interest per year during the deferral period — adding $10,000 per year to the base as long as no lifetime withdrawals have begun, up to a maximum of 10 years. After 10 full years of deferral, the Income Benefit Base from a $100,000 premium would reach $225,000.

When you begin lifetime withdrawals, Nationwide multiplies the Income Benefit Base by your lifetime withdrawal percentage — a rate that varies based on your age (or the younger spouse’s age under the Joint Income Option) at the time of your first lifetime withdrawal. The older you are when you begin income, the higher the withdrawal percentage applied to your base. This creates a powerful planning incentive: delaying the start of income increases both the base itself (through continued 8% roll-up) and the withdrawal percentage applied to that larger base, compounding the income benefit from both directions simultaneously. A client who begins income at age 65 receives a lower withdrawal percentage applied to a smaller base than a client who defers to age 70 or 75 — the difference in annual guaranteed income between these scenarios can be meaningful over a retirement that spans 25 years or more.

The rider fee of 1.00% annually for single life (1.30% for joint) is calculated on the Income Benefit Base and deducted quarterly from the contract value — not from the Income Benefit Base itself. This means the rider fee is deducted from the money you actually own, while the Income Benefit Base that determines your future income continues to grow at 8% regardless of what the contract value does. In years where indexed crediting produces no gain — the annual reset credits zero in down-market years — the rider fee represents a net reduction in contract value. Clients evaluating the Bonus Income+ Rider should understand this dynamic clearly and factor it into the long-term income comparison against competing income-focused annuities. Our resource on Roll-Up vs. Payout Rate provides the analytical framework for evaluating how these two components interact to determine actual income outcomes.

Built-In vs. Optional Income — Two Paths for Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals

The Nationwide Peak 10 is one of the few fixed indexed annuities in the market that provides two distinct paths to guaranteed lifetime income — a built-in option at no additional cost, and an enhanced optional rider for clients who want a more powerful income guarantee in exchange for an annual fee. Understanding which path better aligns with your retirement timeline and income objectives is a critical part of the product evaluation.

The Guaranteed Income Solution is the built-in feature included with every Peak 10 contract at no additional charge. It provides a 4% simple interest roll-up on the Income Benefit Base for up to 10 years or until the first withdrawal, and it guarantees lifetime withdrawal amounts that will never decrease even if the contract value depletes to zero. For clients who want a basic income floor without paying an additional rider fee, the Guaranteed Income Solution provides that assurance at no cost. The key limitation to understand is that it is not RMD-friendly — excess withdrawals above the permitted lifetime withdrawal amount reduce the benefit base proportionally, which can affect clients in qualified accounts who are required to take distributions that exceed the rider’s permitted amount. However, MVA does not apply to RMD withdrawals under this option.

The Bonus Income+ Rider provides a materially more powerful income guarantee at the cost of the annual rider fee. The 25% immediate bonus — creating a $125,000 Income Benefit Base from a $100,000 premium — and the 8% annual simple roll-up represent one of the most competitive income base growth structures available in the standard FIA market. The Bonus Income+ Rider is also RMD-friendly: excess RMD withdrawals above the rider’s permitted annual amount do not reduce the benefit base proportionally, which is a meaningful structural advantage for clients funding the contract with qualified (IRA) assets who anticipate being subject to RMD requirements during the contract period. The one non-lifetime withdrawal permitted after year 1 without triggering income or locking in the withdrawal percentage provides additional flexibility for clients who may have an unexpected early liquidity need without wanting to commit to income mode before they are ready.

Index Strategies and Accumulation Potential

While the Nationwide Peak 10 is primarily marketed as an income-focused product, the accumulation potential of the contract value matters for two reasons: the contract value is the actual money the client owns, receives as a death benefit, and can access through free withdrawals; and higher contract value growth reduces the net cost of the rider fee over time. The Peak 10 offers a range of indexed strategies spanning traditional domestic equity benchmarks and more sophisticated volatility-controlled approaches.

The S&P 500 strategy provides exposure to the most widely recognized domestic equity benchmark, subject to a cap rate or spread that limits upside in exchange for the 0% annual floor protection. The BNP Paribas Global H-Factor index is a volatility-controlled strategy designed to provide more consistent participation across different market environments by managing portfolio volatility rather than tracking a single market index directly. Sources indicate the BNP Paribas H-Factor offers a particularly high participation rate within the Peak 10 structure. The AllianceBernstein Growth and Value Balanced Index and AllianceBernstein GaVL Index are designed to generate returns while maintaining managed volatility targeting. The J.P. Morgan Cycle Index allocates between domestic equities and bonds based on business cycle analysis. For a full explanation of how cap rates, participation rates, and spreads function differently across FIA index strategies, our guide on index annuity crediting methods covers each approach in plain language.

The annual reset feature locks in any interest credited at the end of each crediting term as new protected principal. In positive market years, this ratchet mechanism builds the contract value progressively. In negative market years, the 0% floor prevents any reduction in contract value due to index performance — though the Bonus Income+ Rider fee continues to be deducted quarterly regardless of market performance.

Liquidity, Joint Planning, and Estate Considerations

Liquidity is another important consideration. After the first contract year, the Peak 10 allows penalty-free withdrawals of up to 10% annually without surrender charges or MVA. This provides flexibility for healthcare costs, emergencies, or supplemental income needs without fully surrendering the contract. Required minimum distributions from qualified accounts are also available penalty-free, even if they exceed the 10% free withdrawal amount. Understanding Annuity Free Withdrawal Rules is essential when comparing long-term products. One important caveat: money withdrawn from an indexed account during an active crediting term will forfeit the index credits that would have been applied at the end of that term, which means timing of free withdrawals matters for clients actively participating in indexed strategies.

The Joint Income Option — available with the Bonus Income+ Rider at 1.30% annually — allows couples to structure lifetime income payments that continue for the surviving spouse after the first spouse’s death. The lifetime withdrawal percentage is based on the younger spouse’s age at the time of the first lifetime withdrawal, which typically results in a slightly lower initial payout percentage than a single-life election on the same contract. The tradeoff is that the income continues for two lifetimes rather than one, which for long-married couples represents a meaningful protection against the survivor income gap that often occurs when one spouse’s benefits end. This feature can be a powerful planning tool for married retirees who want to protect household income for both lifetimes. If you are coordinating retirement income with broader spousal planning considerations, you may also review Long-Term Care Insurance with Shared Spousal Benefits for complementary retirement protection strategies.

For retirees repositioning IRA or 401(k) assets, the Peak 10 can be structured inside qualified accounts to convert accumulated savings into guaranteed lifetime withdrawals. If you are evaluating how annuities function inside retirement accounts, see What Is an IRA Annuity? Many clients also compare current marketplace offerings before committing to a specific carrier. Reviewing Today’s Best Annuity Rates and Highest Guaranteed Annuity Rates can help ensure competitiveness. For individuals weighing broader retirement questions, you may also explore Are Annuities Worth It? and Are Annuities a Good Investment in Retirement? to determine suitability within your overall strategy.

Why Choose Diversified Insurance Brokers? The Nationwide Peak 10 Fixed Indexed Annuity is well-suited for individuals seeking strong income guarantees, structured growth potential, and joint lifetime planning flexibility. At Diversified Insurance Brokers, we work with more than 75 top-rated carriers to provide side-by-side comparisons and detailed income illustrations. Our goal is to help you determine whether the Peak 10 aligns with your retirement income timeline, risk tolerance, and legacy objectives. Retirement income planning is not about chasing returns — it is about creating dependable cash flow that lasts as long as you do. Let’s secure your retirement with the right annuity — together.