The Nationwide Peak 10 is a single-premium fixed indexed annuity with a 10-year surrender period and a $25,000 minimum. It protects your principal from index losses and offers two guaranteed income options. The 25% bonus and 8% roll-up apply to your income benefit base, not your withdrawable cash value.
If you’ve seen a Nationwide Peak 10 illustration, one number probably jumped off the page: a 25% bonus credited on day one. Then an 8% guaranteed roll-up on top of it. That combination sounds almost too generous for a product that also promises you can’t lose money to a market drop.
So let’s find out what’s real. We’ve been placing annuities since 1995, and over 30 years we’ve learned that the honest answer to “is this a good annuity” always comes down to the mechanics, not the headline. Here’s exactly how the Peak 10 works, what those bonus numbers actually buy you, and the kind of retiree it fits.
What Is the Nationwide Peak 10 Annuity?
The Nationwide Peak 10 is a single-purchase-payment deferred fixed indexed annuity issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company out of Columbus, Ohio. Nationwide has been in business since 1926, which puts it among the older names in the industry.
“Single purchase payment” matters more than it sounds. You fund the contract once and that’s it. Subsequent payments aren’t allowed, so this isn’t a place to add money over time as you sell other assets.
Here are the basics:
- Minimum purchase – $25,000, qualified or nonqualified
- Maximum issue age – 85 for the annuitant, and the owner can be any age
- Plan types – Nonqualified, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, charitable remainder trust, and 401(a)
- Surrender period – 10 years
- Annual contract or administrative fees – None
- Not available in – Delaware, New York, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands
That last point catches people. If you live in New York, this contract isn’t an option, and we’d need to look at a different carrier. You can review the carrier’s own product details on the Nationwide Peak 10 product page.
Nationwide’s financial strength ratings hold up well against any carrier in this space. AM Best rates it A+, the second highest of 13 ratings, affirmed November 2025. Standard & Poor’s also rates it A+, fifth highest of 21, affirmed April 2025. Moody’s rates it A1, likewise fifth highest of 21, affirmed October 2025.
Those marks measure the claims-paying ability of Nationwide Life Insurance Company and Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company. That’s worth understanding, because every guarantee in this contract rests on that ability. An annuity isn’t FDIC insured, and the insurance company’s balance sheet is what stands behind your income.
How Nationwide Peak 10 Credits Your Interest
Every fixed indexed annuity works the same basic way. Your money isn’t in the market. The insurance company tracks an index and credits you interest based on how that index moved, using a formula that caps your upside in exchange for protecting your downside.
The Peak 10’s protection comes from a 0% floor. If the index you picked has a negative year, your credited interest for that term is zero. You don’t lose principal or previously credited earnings to index performance.
Read that carefully. The floor protects you from index losses. It doesn’t protect you from surrender charges, market value adjustments, or rider fees. Those can still reduce what you walk away with.
You can spread your money across as many as five account options at once, and you can reallocate during the 30-day window before each term ends.
1-Year Term With an Index Cap
The cap is a ceiling on your credited interest. If your cap is 6% and the index gains 9%, you get 6%. If the index gains 4%, you get 4%. If it drops, you get zero.
Interest is credited at the end of each one-year term, and the cap resets for the next term.
2-Year Term With a Participation Rate and Spread
The two-year option works differently. Instead of a ceiling, you get a percentage of the index gain, then a spread is subtracted. The math looks like this: index change multiplied by the participation rate, minus the spread rate times two years.
The spread can’t push your credit below zero. But it does mean a modest index gain can end up crediting you very little once the spread comes out.
The Five Index Options
Peak 10 offers the S&P 500 Price Index, the S&P 500 Daily Risk Control Index, the AB Growth and Value Balanced Index, the BNP Paribas Global H-Factor Index, and the J.P. Morgan Cycle Index.
Here’s something most agents skip over. Three of those, the AB, BNP Paribas, and J.P. Morgan indexes, are excess return indexes. Nationwide discloses this plainly in its own materials: an excess return version of an index performs worse than a total return version of the same index would, and the gap widens when interest rates are high. Some also deduct a notional charge inside the index calculation itself.
That doesn’t make them bad choices. Their participation rates are usually much higher than what you’ll see on the S&P 500 option, which is the tradeoff. Just know the higher participation rate isn’t free.
Current caps, participation rates, and spreads change and aren’t published in the product brochures. Give us a call and we’ll pull the current rate sheet for you.
The Two Income Options: Guaranteed Income Solution vs. Bonus Income+ Rider
This is where the Peak 10 gets interesting, and where the marketing gets slippery. You pick one of two guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. You can’t have both. If the whole category is new to you, it’s worth understanding how guaranteed lifetime withdrawal riders work before comparing these two.
Guaranteed Income Solution
This one comes with the contract at no additional charge. The owner needs to be at least 50.
It credits a 4% simple interest roll-up to your original income benefit base each year for 10 years, or until your first withdrawal, whichever comes first. On a $100,000 contract, that’s $4,000 a year, so the income benefit base reaches $140,000 after a decade.
Each anniversary, the income benefit base resets to the higher of your contract value or the roll-up value. So strong index years can push it above the guaranteed track.
Bonus Income+ Rider
This one costs 1.00% for single life or 1.30% with the Joint Option. It has to be elected when the contract is issued, and owner issue ages run 45 to 85.
You get a 25% bonus credited to your income benefit base at issue, with no vesting schedule. Then an 8% simple interest roll-up runs for 10 years or until your first lifetime withdrawal.
On $100,000, that means the income benefit base starts at $125,000. The 8% roll-up is calculated on that bonused figure, so it adds $10,000 a year. After 10 years the income benefit base hits $225,000.
There’s also a nonlifetime withdrawal feature. You can take one withdrawal, available only after the first rider year and only before your first lifetime withdrawal, without stopping the roll-up or locking in your withdrawal percentage. You get one shot at it.
What the Roll-Up Actually Does to Your Money
Here’s the part that needs saying plainly.
The income benefit base is not a cash value. It’s a number the insurance company uses to calculate your annual income check. You can’t withdraw it, you can’t leave it to your kids, and it won’t show up on your surrender value.
So on a $100,000 contract with a $225,000 income benefit base, you don’t have $225,000. You have whatever your contract value grew to, and a formula that pays you 7.35% of $225,000 for life.
The rider fee makes this sharper. That 1.00% charge is calculated on the income benefit base and deducted from your contract value. As the benefit base grows, the fee grows with it, and it comes out of your real money. Nationwide states directly that in years with low or no index earnings, the rider cost can reduce your contract value.
None of this makes the rider a bad deal. Guaranteed income you can’t outlive has real value, and if your contract value ever drops to zero, the payments keep coming. But you’re buying an income stream, not a bigger pile of cash.
| Feature | Guaranteed Income Solution | Bonus Income+ Rider |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | None | 1.00% single life, 1.30% joint |
| Owner issue ages | 50 to 85 | 45 to 85 |
| Bonus to income benefit base | None | 25% of premium |
| Roll-up rate | 4% simple for 10 years | 8% simple for 10 years |
| Joint income option | Not available | Available at additional cost |
| Nonlifetime withdrawal | Not available | One allowed after first rider year |
| Income benefit base after 10 years on $100,000 | $140,000 | $225,000 |
The withdrawal percentage you lock in depends on your age when you take your first lifetime withdrawal.
| Age at first withdrawal | Guaranteed Income Solution | Bonus Income+ single life | Bonus Income+ joint life |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 to 49 | Not eligible | 4.05% | 3.75% |
| 50 to 59 | 3.50% | 4.05% | 3.75% |
| 60 to 64 | 4.00% | 5.35% | 5.05% |
| 65 to 69 | 4.00% | 6.25% | 5.95% |
| 70 to 71 | 4.00% | 6.85% | 6.55% |
| 72 to 74 | 4.50% | 6.85% | 6.55% |
| 75 to 80 | 4.50% | 7.35% | 7.05% |
| 81 and up | 4.50% | 7.65% | 7.35% |
For joint contracts, the percentage is based on the younger spouse’s age.
There’s no waiting period on either option, so you can turn income on right away. Waiting gets you a higher percentage and a higher benefit base, which is why the age band matters so much.
Getting Your Money Out
You can withdraw up to 10% of your contract value each year without a surrender charge or market value adjustment. That 10% is measured at the beginning of the term and it doesn’t carry over, so skipping a year doesn’t give you 20% the next year.
One catch worth knowing: money pulled from an index account before the term ends forfeits the earnings that would have been credited on that amount. Timing matters.
| Completed contract years | Surrender charge |
|---|---|
| 0 | 10% |
| 1 | 10% |
| 2 | 9% |
| 3 | 8% |
| 4 | 7% |
| 5 | 6% |
| 6 | 5% |
| 7 | 4% |
| 8 | 3% |
| 9 | 2% |
| 10 and after | 0% |
Surrender charges vary by state, and a handful of states use a lower schedule. We’ll confirm yours before you sign anything.
A market value adjustment can also apply during the surrender period, but only on amounts above your free withdrawal. The MVA can work either direction. If rates have risen since you bought the contract, it subtracts. If rates have fallen, it adds. Either way, an MVA can reduce credited earnings but it can’t reduce your principal. MVAs also don’t apply in every state.
Three situations let you access money without surrender charges or an MVA:
- Required minimum distributions – Available even when they exceed the 10% free amount
- Nursing home confinement – For a continuous 90-day period, available after the first contract year, with a maximum issue age of 80 for the waiver
- Terminal illness or injury – Diagnosed after issue, also after the first contract year, same age limit
Withdrawals before age 59½ may trigger a 10% federal tax penalty on top of ordinary income taxes.
The Death Benefit and the Joint Option
The standard death benefit equals your contract value, paid to your named beneficiaries.
The Joint Option lets you name your spouse as co-annuitant. The death benefit is then payable when either spouse dies, no matter which one goes first or who owns the contract. This works even on an IRA, which is unusual and genuinely useful.
Your surviving spouse can take the lump sum or continue the contract at the death benefit value. If they continue it, any remaining surrender charge and MVA drop away.
Where Nationwide Peak 10 Falls Short
We’d rather tell you the weak spots up front.
- You fund it once – No additional deposits, ever. If you’re planning to move money over in stages, this contract fights you.
- The rider fee comes out of real money – In a flat or negative index year, the 1.00% charge still gets deducted, so your contract value goes down while your income benefit base goes up.
- The bonus isn’t spendable – A 25% credit to a number you can’t withdraw is a marketing advantage as much as a client advantage. It’s valuable only if you actually turn on lifetime income.
- Three of the five indexes carry embedded drag – The excess return structure isn’t hidden, but it isn’t emphasized either.
- Ten years is a long lockup – With a 10% first-year surrender charge, this is money you need to be genuinely comfortable leaving alone.
Who the Nationwide Peak 10 Annuity Is Best For
This contract fits a specific person well.
You’re somewhere between 55 and 75. You have a lump sum, maybe from a 401(k) rollover or a maturing CD, that you don’t need for a decade. You want to know today roughly what your income will be later, and you’d rather have a floor under your money than chase the last percentage point of return.
If you’ll definitely turn on lifetime income, the Bonus Income+ Rider usually earns its 1.00%. If you’re not sure you’ll ever need the income, the free Guaranteed Income Solution keeps your options open without the fee dragging on your contract value.
It’s a poor fit if you need liquidity, want to add money over time, or you’re primarily trying to maximize accumulation. Other products do those jobs better, and we’ll say so. If a shorter surrender period or a different bonus structure sounds closer to what you want, North American’s Secure Horizon Accelerator is worth a look alongside this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Nationwide Peak 10 annuity a good investment?
It’s not an investment, and that distinction matters. It’s an insurance contract that trades market upside for principal protection and guaranteed income. For a retiree who wants predictable income and can lock money up for 10 years, it’s a solid product from a financially strong carrier. For someone who needs growth or access, it isn’t the right tool.
What is the Nationwide Peak 10 surrender charge?
The standard schedule starts at 10% and declines to zero after 10 completed contract years. Some states use a lower schedule. You can always withdraw 10% of your contract value annually without a charge.
Does the 25% bonus mean I get 25% more money?
No. The bonus applies to your income benefit base, which is the figure used to calculate your lifetime income payments. It doesn’t increase your contract value, your surrender value, or your death benefit. On a $100,000 purchase, your income benefit base starts at $125,000 but your contract value is still $100,000.
Can I lose money in the Nationwide Peak 10?
Not from a negative index return. The 0% floor prevents that. You can lose money by surrendering early and paying a surrender charge, by taking a withdrawal when the market value adjustment works against you, or through rider fees deducted in years with no index earnings.
What’s the minimum to open a Nationwide Peak 10 annuity?
$25,000, and it must be a single payment. Additional purchase payments aren’t allowed after the contract is issued.
Key Takeaways
- The Peak 10 protects principal, not liquidity – The 0% floor stops index losses, but surrender charges, MVAs, and rider fees can still reduce what you take home.
- The 25% bonus and 8% roll-up build your income benefit base, not your cash value – They pay off only if you turn on lifetime income.
- Two income riders, one choice – The Guaranteed Income Solution is free with a 4% roll-up. The Bonus Income+ Rider costs 1.00% and roughly doubles the annual income from age 65 on.
- Three of the five index options are excess return indexes – Each carries embedded costs that reduce credited interest.
- This is a 10-year commitment funded once – That makes it a poor fit for anyone who needs flexibility.
Ready to see whether the Peak 10 fits your retirement income plan? We’ll pull the current rate sheet, run the numbers against your actual situation, and tell you honestly if a different contract serves you better.
