Nationwide New Heights Select 8 review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for someone who wants accumulation potential with principal protection on an 8-year timeline and values the ability to bolt on either an income rider or an enhanced death benefit rider. It is less appealing for someone who needs full 10% annual liquidity during the surrender period or lives in California or New York.

The main reason to buy New Heights Select 8 is accumulation with downside protection and a deep crediting menu at a low entry point. The $10,000 minimum is notably below the $25,000 threshold required by the longer-duration versions in the same product line, which makes this accessible to a broader range of buyers. The secondary reason is rider flexibility. Unlike many FIAs that force a choice between a product built for income and a product built for growth, this one lets the buyer decide at purchase whether to add an income rider, a death benefit rider, or neither. In real life, this is the type of annuity someone buys when they want more upside potential than a traditional fixed annuity, want principal protection, and want the option to layer on income or legacy features without switching to a different product.

New Heights Select 8 is best for someone who wants a mid-duration accumulation FIA with a low minimum premium and appreciates having multiple index strategies to choose from. It is also a reasonable fit for someone who is not sure yet whether income or legacy planning will be the priority and wants the flexibility to add a rider that matches whichever direction they go. It is less attractive for someone who expects to take withdrawals above 7% annually during the surrender period, wants the longest possible crediting terms, or needs availability in California or New York.

You are not buying direct stock market participation. You are buying a principal-protected insurance contract that credits interest based in part on the performance of selected indices while protecting principal from market downturns. The real value here is the combination of protection, a broad index menu with Balanced Allocation Strategies, the Daily Accumulation Value for transparency, and the flexibility to customize the contract with an optional rider. This is a structured product that trades unlimited upside for downside certainty.

New Heights Select 8 lets you allocate among several interest-crediting strategies tied to seven indices: Goldman Sachs New Horizons, J.P. Morgan Mozaic II, Loomis Sayles Discovery, Nasdaq-100 Volatility Control 10% PR, NYSE Zebra Edge II, S&P 500, and SG Macro Compass. Strategy terms are available in 1-year and 2-year durations. The Balanced Allocation Strategy options blend an index component, a declared rate component, and a strategy spread, which gives the carrier more flexibility in how it structures the crediting and can result in more consistent returns across different market environments.

The Daily Accumulation Value is a feature worth understanding. Instead of only seeing your credited interest at the end of each strategy term, the DAV tracks potential earnings on a daily basis. That gives you a running view of how your contract is performing. The lock-in feature lets you lock the index value once per strategy term, which means you can capture gains mid-term if you believe the index has peaked. These two features together give buyers more visibility and control than most competing FIAs provide.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the optional rider menu. Buyers can choose one rider from four options. The High Point 365 Select Lifetime Income rider (0.95% annual fee) provides guaranteed lifetime withdrawals after a 5-year deferral period, with 1% annual growth on the Minimum Income Benefit Value for 10 years. The High Point 365 Select with Bonus rider (1.10% annual fee) offers a 30% MIBV bonus and 9.5% compound growth for 12 years after just a 1-year deferral. On the legacy side, the High Point Select Enhanced Death Benefit rider (0.50% annual fee) grows the minimum EDB at 4% compound to a 200% cap. The High Point Select EDB with Purchase Payment Bonus version (0.80% annual fee) adds a 3% purchase payment bonus that vests over the 8-year surrender period.

This rider flexibility matters because it lets the contract adapt to the buyer's actual planning needs rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach. Someone focused purely on accumulation can skip the rider entirely and avoid the fee drag. Someone who wants income protection or legacy enhancement can add the appropriate rider at purchase. That kind of optionality is genuinely useful.

This annuity allows no free withdrawals in year 0. Starting in year 1, free withdrawals of up to 7% of contract value are available annually through year 7. After year 8, the free withdrawal amount increases to 10%. Amounts above the free withdrawal limit are subject to the surrender schedule of **9% / 8% / 7% / 6% / 5% / 4% / 3% / 2% / 0%**. RMD withdrawals are free of surrender charges and MVA.

The 7% free withdrawal limit is the main liquidity concern here. Most competing FIAs offer 10% from year 1, so buyers who expect to take regular distributions during the surrender period will find this restrictive. The death benefit pays the greater of the DAV or surrender value, and full earnings-to-date are credited on free withdrawals. LTC and terminal illness waivers are available after year 1, which provides a meaningful safety net for health-related liquidity needs.

There is no base contract fee. Fees only apply if the buyer elects an optional rider. The income riders charge 0.95% or 1.10% annually depending on the version chosen. The enhanced death benefit riders charge 0.50% or 0.80% annually. These fees are deducted from the contract value and will reduce the accumulation over time.

The less obvious tradeoffs are structural. Upside is limited by the crediting terms of each strategy. The Balanced Allocation Strategy blends components in a way that can smooth returns but also cap the highest possible outcomes. Some of the volatility-controlled indices have embedded index costs that affect how much interest is ultimately credited. The 7% free withdrawal cap is below the industry norm. And the product is unavailable in two of the largest annuity markets in the country.

New Heights Select 8 is issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, based in Columbus, Ohio. Nationwide is a Fortune 100 mutual company founded in 1926 with $322.3 billion in total assets. The company carries ratings of A+ from S&P, A+ from AM Best, and A1 from Moody's. Nationwide is one of the largest and most diversified insurance and financial services companies in the United States, and the New Heights Select line reflects a modern, accumulation-focused FIA design with meaningful rider optionality.