JP Morgan Multi-Asset Choice (NY) review

It depends on why you are using an annuity at all. If you want tax-deferred growth, full liquidity, and a low fee, and you already work with an advisor who can place this product, then yes — it does that job cleanly. If you are looking for guaranteed lifetime income, principal protection, or an enhanced death benefit, then no, because this contract deliberately strips all of that out to keep the cost down.

The rational reason to buy this is tax deferral with low friction. A high earner who has already maxed out a 401(k) and IRA, has taxable investments throwing off interest and dividends every year, and wants another bucket where growth compounds without an annual tax drag could use this as that bucket. Because there is no surrender period, you are not locking the money up to get the tax benefit, and because the base fee is 0.35%, the wrapper is cheap enough that deferral can plausibly outrun the cost over a long horizon.

This is best for an affluent, accumulation-focused investor — typically someone in a higher tax bracket, with at least the $50,000 minimum and usually far more — who already has a fee-based advisor and wants tax-deferred investing without the rider fees and surrender schedules of a traditional commission-based variable annuity. It works for non-qualified money specifically, where the tax deferral actually matters. It is a poor fit for anyone who wants income guarantees, for smaller savers who would be better served by a Roth or a simple index fund, and for anyone outside New York, since this version is approved nowhere else.

Strip away the branding and this is a tax-deferral wrapper around a fund platform. You are not buying market protection, you are not buying guaranteed income, and you are not buying a death benefit that does anything beyond returning your account value. Your money goes into variable subaccounts that rise and fall with the markets exactly as mutual funds would. What the insurance contract adds is tax deferral on the growth and the ability to switch between subaccounts without triggering a taxable event. That is the whole product. The "JP Morgan Multi-Asset Choice" name reflects the distribution arrangement and the multi-asset fund options, not a managed portfolio guarantee.

The core feature is the variable subaccount lineup. There are 115 subaccounts available, spanning the usual range of equity, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies, with net expense ratios running from 0.03% on the cheapest index options up to 2.13% on the most actively managed ones (as of the 4/24/2026 data in the source materials). You allocate your premium across these subaccounts and your account value moves with their performance. There is no indexed account, no structured buffer or floor, and no fixed account here — this is a pure variable contract, so 100% of your money carries market risk. The thing to watch is your own fund selection: because the underlying expense ratios vary so widely, the difference between building a low-cost index-style allocation and a high-cost active one can dwarf the 0.35% contract fee.

The secondary feature is the absence of a surrender charge. Most variable annuities lock your money behind a multi-year surrender schedule, where pulling out early costs you a declining penalty. This I-share contract has none — you can move money out at any time without a surrender penalty (ordinary income tax and, before age 59½, a 10% IRS penalty on gains still apply, as with any annuity). That liquidity is what makes the product usable inside an advisory relationship, where the advisor is paid through a separate fee rather than a commission baked into a surrender schedule. It also means the contract does not punish you for changing your mind.

There is no surrender schedule and no market value adjustment. Your account value is fully accessible at any time without an insurance-company penalty. The real liquidity constraints are tax constraints, not contract constraints: withdrawals of gains are taxed as ordinary income, and withdrawals before age 59½ generally carry an additional 10% IRS penalty on the taxable portion. The source materials list a penalty-free withdrawal amount as not applicable, which is consistent with there being no surrender charge to be penalty-free from in the first place. For required minimum distributions, the contract itself imposes no obstacle since there is no surrender charge to waive — but the spec does not specifically address RMD mechanics, so confirm the details with the carrier if this is qualified money.

The fee structure is the strongest part of this contract. The base contract charge is 0.35% annually, which breaks down as a 0.30% mortality and expense (M&E) charge assessed daily plus a 0.05% administration charge — and that administration charge is waived once the account value reaches $1,000,000 on a quarterly anniversary, dropping the effective contract fee to 0.30%. On top of that you pay the net subaccount expenses, anywhere from 0.03% to 2.13% depending on what you choose. There is no rider fee, because there is no rider. The honest trade here is that you are paying a small insurance fee purely for tax deferral and liquidity — there is no income guarantee or enhanced death benefit on the other side of that fee. Whether the deferral is worth even 0.35% depends entirely on your tax bracket, your time horizon, and what the money would otherwise be doing in a taxable account.

Legal Entity: Nationwide Life Insurance Company

Parent: Nationwide Financial

AM Best Rating: A+