Destination Architect 2.0 review

It depends on how it is used. For a fee-based advisory client who wants tax-deferred market growth, full liquidity, and the flexibility to add income or death-benefit guarantees, this is a reasonable, low-friction wrapper. It is a poor fit for someone who wants principal protection or guaranteed growth, because the underlying subaccounts carry full market risk and there is no fixed account or buffer here.

The main reason to buy Destination Architect 2.0 is tax-deferred accumulation inside a low-cost variable annuity that an advisor can hold in a fee-based account. The 0.40% base charge and absence of surrender penalties make it cheaper and more liquid than a traditional commission-based variable annuity. The secondary reason is optionality: you can leave it as a pure accumulation vehicle, or you can later attach a lifetime income rider or an enhanced death benefit if your plan shifts toward income or legacy goals.

I think this is best for someone working with a fee-based advisor who has already used up other tax-advantaged space, wants additional tax-deferred growth, and is comfortable with full market exposure inside the contract. It tends to fit non-qualified money in particular, where the tax deferral on gains is the clearest benefit. It is less attractive for someone who wants downside protection, a guaranteed minimum rate, or the simplest possible product — and for qualified money already growing tax-deferred in an IRA, the deferral benefit largely disappears, so the rider features have to carry the entire case.

Strip away the annuity label and this is a tax-deferred fund account with insurance options attached. Your premium goes into variable subaccounts — essentially mutual-fund-like portfolios — and the value moves with those investments, up or down, with no floor. What the annuity wrapper adds is tax deferral on gains, a standard death benefit, and the ability to elect guarantees you'd never get in a brokerage account: a lifetime income rider or an enhanced death benefit. So you're buying access to those guarantees and the deferral, not market upside itself, which you could get more cheaply in a taxable account.

The core of the contract is the variable subaccount menu. The spec lists 116 subaccounts across managers including BlackRock, Fidelity, PIMCO, American Funds, Janus Henderson, and T. Rowe Price, with net subaccount fees running from 0.38% to 2.38%. You allocate premium across these funds and the contract value tracks their performance directly — there is no cap, participation rate, or buffer here, and per the materials no fixed account option. On top of the fund-level expenses sits a 0.40% base contract charge (0.20% mortality and expense plus 0.20% administrative), assessed daily. Because this is an I-share design built for advisory accounts, there are no surrender charges and no market value adjustment.

The optional living benefits are what separate this from a plain fund account. Nationwide offers two income riders here: the Nationwide Lifetime Income Rider (L.inc), with a 7% simple-interest roll-up over a 10-year accumulation period and a current fee of 1.20% single / 1.50% joint, and the lower-cost Nationwide Lifetime Income Track at 0.80% single / 0.95% joint. The roll-up grows a separate income-benefit base, not your actual account value, and only matters if you eventually turn income on. Note one catch flagged in the materials: electing an income rider can limit subsequent premiums to $50,000 a year (Income Track) or block them entirely (L.inc), so the income election narrows your ability to keep funding the contract. There is also an optional One-Year Enhanced Death Benefit (highest anniversary value, locked annually to age 86) for 0.20%, and a Spousal Protection Death Benefit feature at no extra cost.

Liquidity is the strong point. There are no surrender charges and no market value adjustment, so you can withdraw any amount at any time without a contract penalty. That flexibility is exactly what you'd want in a fee-based account where the advisor may rebalance or exit positions. The usual tax rules still apply: withdrawals before age 59½ can trigger the 10% federal early-withdrawal penalty, and earnings come out as ordinary income at any age. There is also an Enhanced Surrender Value for Terminal Illness at no additional cost. The spec did not specify RMD-friendliness, but with no surrender charges, required distributions are not a penalty concern in the way they would be on a contract with a surrender schedule.

The base contract is genuinely cheap for a variable annuity at 0.40% all-in for the M&E and administrative charge. There is a $50 annual contract fee, waived once contract value reaches $50,000. The real cost lives in two places. First, the subaccounts themselves run 0.38% to 2.38% net, so your actual drag depends heavily on which funds you pick — a high-cost active sleeve can more than triple your total expense. Second, the optional riders stack on top: 0.80%-1.20% for income (current, single life) and 0.20% for the enhanced death benefit. The honest framing is that the income rider fee buys you a guaranteed income base, not better investment returns, so it only pays off if you actually activate lifetime income — otherwise it is pure drag on an account you could have held more cheaply elsewhere.

Legal Entity: Nationwide Life Insurance Company

Parent: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

AM Best Rating: A+