Destination Navigator 2.0 B-Share (NY) review

It depends, and more than usual. This is a reasonable annuity for a New York investor who specifically wants tax-deferred growth plus a guarantee — either a lifetime income floor or a protected death benefit — and who understands the layered cost. It is not a good fit for someone who just wants market exposure at a low cost, who could take the same risk in an index fund, or who wants principal protection. Variable annuities are the only annuity type where your account value can actually fall with the market, so the guarantees are the whole reason to consider one.

The rational reason to buy this is to combine investment growth with an insurance guarantee inside one tax-deferred contract. If you want equity-like upside but also want a guaranteed lifetime income stream you can turn on later, the optional Lifetime Income Rider Plus gives you that. If your priority is leaving money to heirs, the optional enhanced death benefits can lock in a high-water mark even if the market later falls. For a New York resident — where many out-of-state annuities aren't sold — this is one of the available ways to get those features.

I think this is best for a New York investor, generally in their 50s or 60s, who is comfortable with market risk, wants tax deferral beyond what a 401(k) or IRA already provides, and intends to actually use one of the optional riders rather than just hold the bare contract. It works for both qualified and non-qualified money, though buying a tax-deferred annuity inside an already-tax-deferred IRA only makes sense if you specifically want the income or death-benefit guarantee. It is not for conservative savers who want principal protection, nor for cost-sensitive investors who would be better served by low-fee funds.

Strip away the brochure and this is a brokerage-style investment account wrapped in an insurance contract. Your money goes into subaccounts — essentially mutual funds — that rise and fall with the market. There is no cap, no floor, and no participation rate, because nothing here is index-linked the way a fixed indexed annuity is. You own the actual market performance, minus fees. The insurance company isn't protecting your principal; it's offering tax deferral and the option to buy guarantees on top. The base charge of 1.30% is the price of the wrapper itself, and the subaccount expenses (0.40% to 2.37%) are the price of the underlying funds.

The core of the contract is the subaccount menu: roughly 118 investment options plus a one-year fixed account currently crediting 1.60% (rate as of the brochure date, 2/23/2026, and subject to change). You allocate your premium across these subaccounts, and your contract value tracks their performance directly. A 3.00% twelve-month dollar-cost-averaging option is available if you'd rather phase money in gradually. The defining feature versus a fixed or indexed annuity is that there's no insurance company smoothing or limiting your return — you get the full upside and the full downside of whatever you choose, which is exactly why the optional living-benefit rider exists.

The optional Lifetime Income Rider Plus Empire New York II is what turns this from a pure investment account into a retirement-income tool. For 1.45% annually (up to a 1.60% maximum, or 1.60% rising to 1.90% for joint life), the rider applies a 6.00% simple-interest roll-up to a separate Benefit Base for up to ten years or until you start income. That Benefit Base is not money you can withdraw as a lump sum — it's the figure used to calculate your guaranteed lifetime withdrawal. The point is that even if your subaccounts lose money, the income you can draw for life is calculated off the rolled-up Benefit Base, not the depleted account value. Whether the 1.45% is worth it depends entirely on whether you actually turn income on; if you never activate it, you've paid the fee for nothing.

Treat this as long-term money. You can withdraw up to 10% of total purchase payments each year without penalty, and the contract is friendly about required minimum distributions, age-based systematic withdrawals, and the no-cost long-term-care and terminal-illness waivers. Withdrawals above the free amount during the first seven years trigger the surrender charge in the table below, which starts at 7% and grades to zero after year seven. There is no market value adjustment, which is a genuine plus — your surrender penalty is the stated percentage and doesn't fluctuate with interest rates. An optional Liquidity Rider (0.50% per year) shortens the charge period to four years, which is worth considering if you expect to need access sooner.

This is the part to read twice. The base contract costs 1.30% per year (1.10% mortality-and-expense plus 0.20% administrative). On top of that, each subaccount carries its own expense, ranging from 0.40% to 2.37%. Add the optional income rider at 1.45%-1.60%, and a fully loaded contract can run well over 3% annually — a serious drag on a market-based account. The optional death-benefit riders add 0.20% to 0.65%, and the Liquidity Rider adds 0.50%. There's also a flat $30 annual contract fee, waived once your contract value reaches $50,000. None of these are hidden, but they stack, and the trade is blunt: you're paying for tax deferral and optional guarantees, and you only come out ahead if you value those enough to offset the cost versus a low-fee taxable portfolio.

Legal Entity: Nationwide Life Insurance Company

Parent: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

AM Best Rating: A+