1933 Act File No. 333-_____

United States Securities and Exchange Commission

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form S-1

Registration Statement

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

Nationwide Life Insurance Company

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

OHIO	6311	31-4156830
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, Ohio 43215

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code,
of registrant's principal executive offices)

Denise L. Skingle
Senior Vice President and Secretary
One Nationwide Plaza
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Telephone: (614) 249-7111

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: May 1, 2024

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.☒

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.

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If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.

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If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.☐

Large accelerated filer

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Accelerated filer

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Non-accelerated filer (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

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Smaller reporting company

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Emerging growth company

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Persons who are to respond to the collection of information contained in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

Select Retirement

INDIVIDUAL SUPPLEMENTAL IMMEDIATE FIXED INCOME
ANNUITY CONTRACT

Issued by

NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

The date of this prospectus is May 1, 2024.

This prospectus describes Select Retirement, individual supplemental immediate fixed income annuity contracts (referred to as "Contracts") issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company ("Nationwide"), which are offered to investors with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates, or any successors (collectively, "MSSB"). The Contract provides for guaranteed income for the life of a designated person based on the Contract Owner's account at MSSB, provided all conditions specified in this prospectus are met, regardless of the actual performance or value of the investments in Your Account.

The Contract has no cash surrender value and does not provide a death benefit.

Please read this prospectus carefully and keep it for future reference. The Contract described in this prospectus is no longer available for purchase.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The Contracts described in this prospectus may not be available in all state jurisdictions and, accordingly, representations made in this prospectus do not constitute an offering in such jurisdictions.

The Contract:

•

Is not a bank deposit

•

Is not FDIC insured

•

Is not insured or endorsed by a bank or any government agency

•

Is not available in every state

A purchase of this Contract is subject to certain risks (see Risk Factors on page 16). The Contract is novel and innovative. To date, the tax consequences of the Contract have not been addressed in binding published legal authorities; however, we understand that the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") may be considering tax issues associated with products similar to the Contracts, and there is no certainty as to what the IRS will conclude is the proper tax treatment for the Contracts. Consequently, you should consult a tax advisor before purchasing a Contract.

For information on how to contact Nationwide, see Contacting the Service Center.

Table of Contents

	Page
Summary of the Contracts	1
Preliminary note regarding terms used in this prospectus:	1
What is the Contract?	1
How does the Contract generally work?	2
How much will the Contract cost?	3
What are the requirements to purchase the Contract?	4
Is this Contract right for you?	4
Who is Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC?	5
What are the Eligible Portfolios and how are they managed?	5
Can a Contract be purchased by an Individual Retirement Account?	15
Can the Contract Owner cancel the Contract?	15
Does the Contract contain any type of spousal benefit?	15
Does the Contract contain any kind of Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base increases?	16
Risk Factors	16
Your Account may perform well enough that you may not receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments from Nationwide under the Contract.	16
Your investment choices are limited by the Contract.	16
You must remain invested in Your Account at MSSB to maintain your Contract.	16
You may die before receiving payments from us.	16
Early Withdrawals or Excess Withdrawals will reduce or eliminate the Guarantee provided by your Contract.	16
The Contract Fee will reduce the growth of Your Account.	17
Actions of your creditors may reduce or eliminate the Guarantee provided by your Contract.	17
Your Guarantee may terminate if MSSB no longer manages the Eligible Portfolios.	17
Nationwide determines that an Eligible Portfolio is no longer eligible as an investment option under the Contract.	17
Additional deposits that exceed $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits could suspend or terminate your Contract.	17
Nationwide's claims paying ability.	17
Business Continuity Risk.	18
Cyber Security Risk.	18
Tax Consequences.	18
Your Relationship with MSSB and Nationwide	19
The Contract.	19
Management of Your Account.	19
The Accumulation Phase	20
What is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and how is it calculated?	20
Can the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base change during the Accumulation Phase?	20
What if the Account Value falls to the Minimum Account Value before the Withdrawal Start Date but your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base is above zero?	21
The Withdrawal Phase	22
What events trigger the Withdrawal Phase?	22
What is the Withdrawal Start Date and what does it mean?	22
What is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount and how is it calculated?	22
Can the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base change during the Withdrawal Phase?	23
Do Early Withdrawals and Excess Withdrawals affect the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base differently?	25
What if the Account Value and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base decline to zero due to Excess Withdrawals during the Withdrawal Phase?	25
Triggering the Income Phase	25
What events will trigger the Income Phase?	25
How is the Contract transitioned into the Income Phase?	25
The Income Phase	26
How much will each Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payment be?	26
Will the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payment ever increase or decrease?	26
How often are the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments paid?	26
How long will the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments be paid?	26
Terms and Conditions of the Contract	26
What does it mean to have a change in "terms and conditions" of the Contract?	26
How will a change to the terms and conditions of the Contract affect an existing Contract?	26

Table of Contents (continued)

	Page
Spousal Continuation Option	27
What is the Spousal Continuation Option?	27
Election of the Spousal Continuation Option.	27
How much does the Spousal Continuation Option cost?	28
Is it possible to pay for the Spousal Continuation Option but not receive a benefit from it?	28
The Contract Fee	28
How much is the Contract Fee?	28
When and how is the Contract Fee assessed?	28
Will the Contract Fee be the same amount from quarter to quarter?	29
Will advisory and other fees impact the Account Value and the Guarantee under the Contract?	29
Managing Withdrawals from Your Account	29
Death Provisions	30
Marriage Termination Provisions	31
Marriage termination in the Accumulation or Withdrawal Phases.	31
Marriage termination in the Income Phase.	32
Suspension and Termination Provisions	32
What does it mean to have a suspended Contract?	32
What will cause a Contract to be suspended?	32
What can be done to take the Contract out of suspension?	32
Specific suspension events and their cures.	33
What will cause a Contract to be terminated?	35
Federal Income Tax Considerations	35
Taxation of Distributions from the Contract.	36
Taxation of Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios that are not held by an Individual Retirement Account.	37
Additional Medicare Tax.	37
Same-Sex Marriages, Domestic Partnership and Other Similar Relationships.	38
Section 1035 Exchanges.	38
Income Tax Withholding.	38
State and Local Tax Considerations.	39
Payment of Advisory or Service Fees.	39
Seek Tax Advice.	39
Miscellaneous Provisions	40
Ownership of the Contract.	40
Periodic communications to Contract Owners.	40
Amendments to the Contract.	40
Assignment.	40
Misstatements.	40
Legal Opinion	40
About Nationwide	41
Contacting the Service Center	41
Experts	41
Disclosure of Commission Position on Indemnification	42
Legal Proceedings	42
Nationwide Life Insurance Company	42
Definitions	43
APPENDIX A	A -1

Available Information

The SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains the prospectus and other information.

iii

Summary of the Contracts

Preliminary note regarding terms used in this prospectus:

Certain terms used in this prospectus have specific and important meanings. Some are explained below. Others are explained as they appear in the prospectus. Additionally, in the back of this prospectus, there is a Definitions provision containing definitions of all of the terms used in the prospectus.

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"We," "us," "our," "Nationwide" or the "Company" means Nationwide Life Insurance Company.

•

"You" or "yours," "Owner" or "Contract Owner" means the owner of the Contract. If more than one Owner is named, each Owner may also be referred to as a "joint owner." Joint owners are permitted only when they are spouses as recognized by applicable Federal law.

•

"Your Account" means the unified managed account you own. As described further below, "Select UMA" is a unified managed account investment advisory program offered by MSSB. MSSB offers Your Account through registered representatives and investment advisor representatives ("Financial Advisors") of MSSB. You must purchase a Contract with the assistance of these Financial Advisors. Financial Advisors assist clients in analyzing whether the investment options are appropriate for the client. If your Financial Advisor recommends a MSSB account to you, upon your request, MSSB will open Your Account. MSSB acts as introducing broker to Citigroup Global Markets Inc. ("CGMI"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., which acts as clearing broker for Your Account. The assets in Your Account are custodied at CGMI.

The following is a summary of the Contract. Unless otherwise noted, this prospectus assumes that you are the sole Contract Owner. You should read the entire prospectus in addition to this summary.

What is the Contract?

The Contract is an Individual Supplemental Immediate Fixed Income Annuity Contract that is available for you to purchase if you open and own Your Account. If you own Your Account, then you and your Financial Advisor have determined that one or more MSSB investment options available in the Select UMA investment advisory program is appropriate for you. The Contract is an optional feature available on Your Account for those investors who intend to use the assets in their account to provide income payments for retirement or other long-term purposes.

Specifically, the Contract provides for annuity payments ("Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments") to be paid to you under circumstances outlined below as long as you meet the conditions of the Contract as described in this prospectus. If, or when, you are eligible and elect to take withdrawals ("Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals") from Your Account, and if, or when, the value of the assets in Your Account ("Your Account Value") falls below a certain amount or you live to a certain age, you will receive Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments from us for the rest of your life (the "Guarantee"). The amount of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals will be based on a percentage of the value of Your Account when you first purchase the Contract (with adjustments for additions and withdrawals, the "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base") and will vary based on Your Account Value and other actions you take with regard to Your Account, as described in this prospectus.

The Contract also offers a Spousal Continuation Option available at the time of application and a potential 5% increase (the 5% roll-up) in the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base during the Accumulation Phase:

•

The Spousal Continuation Option allows, upon your death, your surviving spouse to continue the Contract and receive all the rights and benefits associated with the Contract (see Spousal Continuation Option).

•

The Contract's potential 5% roll-up is calculated based on your original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and may increase the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. This feature is only available during the Accumulation Phase (see Can the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base change during the Accumulation Phase?).

Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments under your Contract are triggered if the withdrawals (within the permitted limits of the Contract) and/or poor market performance reduce Your Account Value to $10,000 or less. Note: If a triggering event does not occur, you will not receive any payments under this Contract and your Guarantee will have no value.

The Contract Guarantee is based on the age and life of the Annuitant. For Non-Qualified Contracts, the Annuitant is you, the Contract Owner and the Owner of Your Account. If this Contract is issued to a trustee of a trust or a custodian of an Individual Retirement Account ("IRA"), you must be the Annuitant, and if you elect the Spousal Continuation Option (discussed later in this prospectus), you and your spouse must be Co-Annuitants and your spouse must be listed as the beneficiary of Your Account.

It is important to note that the Contract itself has no cash surrender value because there are no assets attributable directly to it. All obligations under the Contract to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to you are tied to Your Account. If you surrender your interest in or otherwise terminate Your Account, this Contract also terminates and you will not receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments under this Contract.

The Contract may terminate and you may not receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments under this Contract if you terminate your Select UMA Account or if for any reason MSSB no longer manages any Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios (as defined below) in the Select UMA program.

Payments under the Contract are backed only by the claims paying ability of Nationwide and are not guaranteed by MSSB or any of its affiliates.

How does the Contract generally work?

The life of the Contract can generally be described as having three phases: an "Accumulation Phase," a "Withdrawal Phase," and an "Income Phase." Your Contract will begin in the Accumulation Phase, and you must affirmatively elect to enter the Withdrawal Phase. After a triggering event (described below) occurs, you can elect to enter the Income Phase.

Accumulation Phase

During the Accumulation Phase, Your Account is just like any other advisory account at MSSB, except that Your Account must be 100% invested in an "Eligible Portfolio" or "Former Eligible Portfolio." Eligible Portfolios are those Select UMA program investment models that contain certain permissible investments under the Contract. A Former Eligible Portfolio is a previously permissible investment model that is no longer available to new Contract Owners. Please see "What are the Eligible Portfolios and how are they managed?," later in this prospectus for more information on the Select UMA program and the Eligible Portfolios currently available for the Guarantee.

The Contract provides an increase in your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base each Contract Anniversary (the anniversary of the date we issue your Contract) equal to the greatest of:

(a)

The current Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, adjusted for transactions in the previous Contract Year that affected the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base;

(b)

Your Account Value as of that Contract Anniversary; or

(c)

The original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base with a 5% roll-up. This is equal to the original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base plus 5% of the original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base for each Contract Anniversary that has been reached. An adjustment will be made to the calculations for transactions that increase or decrease the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.

The greatest of these three amounts will become your new Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base at your next Contract Anniversary. The review of these three amounts is referred to as the "Annual Benefit Base Review" (see Can the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base change during the Accumulation Phase?).

You may make Additional Deposits (payments applied to Your Account after the Contract is issued), which will increase your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. Any withdrawals taken during the Accumulation Phase will reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.

Withdrawal Phase

Anytime after you (and your spouse, if you elected the Spousal Continuation Option), reach the age of 55, you may elect to begin the Withdrawal Phase. You must submit a Withdrawal Phase election form to us to enter the Withdrawal Phase. The day Nationwide receives your Withdrawal Phase election form indicating that you are eligible and affirmatively elect to begin taking annual withdrawals of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount is considered the "Withdrawal Start Date." Once the Contract is in the Withdrawal Phase, you can take annual withdrawals up to a certain amount, the "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount," from Your Account without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and any potential Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments.

Once you elect to begin taking Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals, you may withdraw up to 4%, the "Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage," of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base from Your Account without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and any potential Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments. When you (and your

spouse, if you elected the Spousal Continuation Option) reach age 65, your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage increases to 5%. At that time, you may withdraw up to 5% of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base from Your Account without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and any potential Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments.

Income Phase

If and when any of the following triggering events occur, the Contract will be eligible to begin the Income Phase:

•

Your Account Value, after the Withdrawal Start Date, falls below the greater of $10,000 or the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount (the "Minimum Account Value"); or

•

Your Account Value is invested in the Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio, as discussed in the "Suspension and Termination Provisions" section later in this prospectus, and you reach the age of 55; or

•

You, after the Withdrawal Start Date, affirmatively elect to begin the Income Phase by submitting the appropriate administrative forms.

At that time, you will instruct MSSB to transfer the remaining value in Your Account to us, and we will begin making annual guaranteed fixed annuity payments to you for as long as you (or your spouse, if the Spousal Continuation Option, described herein, is elected) live. After this transition into the Income Phase, Your Account is closed and you no longer own interests in the Eligible Portfolio or Former Eligible Portfolio. Rather, your ownership interest lies in the guaranteed stream of annuity payments - the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments - which Nationwide is obligated to provide. Note: It is possible that you may never receive Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments if none of the triggering events occur. If you (and your spouse, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected) die before any of the triggering events occur, no benefit is payable under this Contract.

How much will the Contract cost?

Accumulation Phase and Withdrawal Phase

During both the Accumulation Phase and Withdrawal Phase, you will pay a fee for the Contract (the "Contract Fee" or "Fee"), which will be deducted from Your Account Value on a quarterly basis. The Fee is calculated as a percentage (the "Contract Fee Percentage") of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base (not Your Account Value) as of the end of the calendar quarter (see The Contract Fee).

The Fee compensates us for the risk we assume in providing you Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments. We intend to invest the fees as we invest our General Account assets. We take into account the amount of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments and anticipated cash-flow requirements when making investments. Nationwide is not obligated to invest in accordance with any particular investment objective, but will generally adhere to our overall investing philosophy.

The Fee is calculated as follows:

Contract Fee Percentage x (# of days in the quarter/365) x Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base as of quarter end

We reserve the right to increase the Contract Fee Percentage (up to a maximum of 1.45% of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base or 1.75% of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base with the Spousal Continuation Option elected) and will provide written notice to you. We provide a two-year Contract Fee Percentage guarantee, during which time we will not increase the Contract Fee Percentage (if at all) before your second Contract Anniversary (see Terms and Conditions of the Contract).

Note: The Contract Fee is in addition to any charges that are imposed in connection with Your Account including advisory and other charges imposed by your Financial Advisor, MSSB, or any of the investments that comprise Your Account. Any fees you pay that are deducted from Your Account Value, including the Contract Fee, will negatively affect the growth of Your Account Value.

Maximum Recurring Contract Fees
(assessed on the first day of each calendar quarter against the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base as of the last day of the previous calendar quarter)
Contract Fee	1.45%1
Spousal Continuation Option Fee	0.30%2
Total Contract Fee (including the Spousal Continuation Option)	1.75%3

The current Contract Fee is 1.00%.

The current Spousal Continuation Option Fee is 0.20%.

The current Total Contract Fee is 1.20%.

Income Phase

During the Income Phase, no Contract Fee is assessed.

Neither MSSB nor your Financial Advisor receives any compensation from Nationwide directly associated with the sale of the Contracts or for administrative services associated with the Contract. In order to maintain your Contract, you must keep Your Account invested in an Eligible Portfolio or Former Eligible Portfolio. MSSB and their Financial Advisors will receive annual advisory fees and other compensation relevant to services provided in connection with the Select UMA program as outlined in your client agreement (the "Client Agreement") and as disclosed in the MSSB ADV (as defined below) during the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases of the Contract.

What are the requirements to purchase the Contract?

The Contract is only available for purchase by investors who elect and continue to invest, with the help of their Financial Advisor, in the Eligible Portfolios approved by Nationwide and offered by MSSB in the Select UMA program. Upon such election, MSSB will open Your Account.

You, as the Owner of Your Account at MSSB, may purchase a Contract from MSSB, which is also a broker-dealer, when you open Your Account. To purchase the Contract without the Spousal Continuation Option, the Annuitant must be between 45 and 75 at the time of application. To purchase the Contract with the Spousal Continuation Option, the younger Annuitant must be between 45 and 80 and the older Annuitant must be 84 or younger at the time of application.

To purchase a Contract, the value of Your Account on the date of application must equal $50,000 or more. We reserve the right to refuse to accept Additional Deposits made into Your Account for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, including your initial deposit ("Total Gross Deposits") that exceed $2,000,000. Withdrawals do not impact the limit of $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits.

See Risk Factors and Suspension and Termination Provisions later in this prospectus.

Additionally, on the date of application (and continuously thereafter), Your Account must be allocated to one of the Eligible Portfolios as discussed herein. Once you select an Eligible Portfolio, you may switch to another Eligible Portfolio, but Your Account Value must always remain invested in an Eligible Portfolio in order to maintain the benefits and the Guarantee associated with the Contract. If Nationwide determines that an Eligible Portfolio is no longer eligible as an investment option, you may remain in the Former Eligible Portfolio as indicated in the Terms and Conditions of the Contract section.

Note: IF AT ANY TIME 100% OF YOUR ACCOUNT IS NOT INVESTED IN AN ELIGIBLE PORTFOLIO OR FORMER ELIGIBLE PORTFOLIO, YOUR CONTRACT WILL BE SUSPENDED AND MAY TERMINATE (see Suspension and Termination Provisions). Ensuring that you continue to maintain Your Account and that it remains invested according to the terms of the Contract is your responsibility.

Is this Contract right for you?

This Contract is meant to protect your assets in the event market fluctuations bring Your Account Value below the Minimum Account Value or in the event you outlive your assets. This Contract does not protect the actual investments in Your Account. For example, if you initially invest $600,000 in Your Account and the value of Your Account within that year falls to $400,000, we are not required to add $200,000 to Your Account. Instead, we guarantee that you will be able to withdraw, after reaching the age of 55, Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amounts equal to 4% of $600,000 (instead of 4% of $400,000). We guarantee this even if such withdrawals bring Your Account Value to $0.

It is also important to understand, that even after you have reached age 55 and start taking Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals from Your Account, those withdrawals are made from Your Account. We are required to start using our own money to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments only when, and if, Your Account Value reaches the Minimum Account Value because of withdrawals within the limits of this Contract and/or poor investment performance. We limit our risk of having to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments by limiting the amount you may withdraw each year from Your Account without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. If the investment return on Your Account over time is sufficient to generate gains that can sustain systematic or periodic withdrawals equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount, then Your Account Value will never be reduced to the Minimum Account Value and we will never have to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to you.

There are many variables, however, other than average annual return on Your Account, that will determine whether the investments in Your Account, without the Contract, would have generated enough gain over time to sustain systematic or periodic withdrawals equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals you would have received if you had purchased the Contract. Your Account Value may have declined over time before beginning the Income Phase, which means that your investments would have to produce an even greater return after the Income Phase to make up for the investment losses before that date. Moreover, studies have shown that individual years of negative annual average investment returns can have a disproportionate impact on the ability of your retirement investments to sustain systematic withdrawals over an extended period, depending on the timing of the poor investment returns.

Who is Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC?

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC ("MSSB LLC") is a financial services firm. MSSB LLC's principal activities include retail and institutional private client services, including but not limited to providing advice with respect to financial markets, securities and commodities, and executing securities and commodities transactions as broker or dealer; securities underwriting and investment banking; investment management (including fiduciary and administrative services); and trading and holding securities and commodities for its own account.

MSSB LLC is registered as a securities broker-dealer, investment advisor, and futures commission merchant. Affiliates of MSSB LLC are registered as commodity pool operators and/or commodity trading advisors.

For purposes of this prospectus, "MSSB" refers to MSSB LLC and its affiliates, or any successors. Nationwide is not affiliated with MSSB and does not manage Your Account.

What are the Eligible Portfolios and how are they managed?

Eligible Portfolios are those Select UMA asset allocation investment models ("Models") established by MSSB and approved by Nationwide, which contain certain permissible investments under the Contract. Each of the Models available as an Eligible Portfolio corresponds to a specific investment risk profile. The Models are comprised of asset classes and asset class percentages established by MSSB. You and your Financial Advisor select the actual investments within each asset class from a list of investment products ("Investment Products") created by MSSB and approved by Nationwide. These Investment Products can take the form of Mutual Funds, Exchange Traded Funds and/or Separately Managed Accounts. You and your Financial Advisor may elect any combination of the permitted Investment Products to fulfill each asset class percentage:

Mutual Funds - A mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment that pools money from many investors and invests it in stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities. The mutual fund will have a fund manager that trades the pooled money on a regular basis, and is an open end investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs - An ETF is an investment vehicle traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks. An ETF holds assets such as stocks or bonds and trades at approximately the same price as the net asset value of its underlying assets over the course of the trading day. Many ETFs track an index, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500.

Separately Managed Accounts or SMAs - A SMA is comprised of individual securities which an Overlay Manager will invest in for the client, based on an investment model provided by one or more separately registered investment managers ("sub-managers"), which invests for the client based on their own investment decision. This differs from a mutual fund because the investor directly owns the securities instead of owning a share in a pool of securities. Please see Your Relationship with MSSB and Nationwide, for more information about the Overlay Manager.

MSSB selects the list of Investment Products available to you and your Financial Advisor from among those that MSSB can recommend based on MSSB's due diligence research. MSSB bases its research on factors such as consistency with investment strategy and historical performance. The list of Investment Products that MSSB recommends will change when MSSB identifies additional Investment Products that satisfy MSSB's research, or when MSSB determines that existing Investment Products no longer satisfy MSSB's research. Nationwide also reviews the list of available Investment Products to ensure that it is comfortable with the risk that each Investment Product could generate. MSSB provides the list of available Investment Products to your Financial Advisor.

As the provider of the Guarantee under the Contracts, we maintain sole discretion as to which investment options will be permitted under the Contracts as Eligible Portfolios. We only make available those Eligible Portfolios that we determine carry an acceptable amount of risk for Nationwide to manage the Guarantee. We monitor the risk that investments in Your

Account will not generate sufficient income for you to sustain your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals during your lifetime. If, after making an Eligible Portfolio available, we subsequently determine that such Eligible Portfolio carries too much risk (the risk that we will have to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments), we will adjust the list of Eligible Portfolios, re-characterizing those portfolios that we determine to be too risky to continue offering as "Former Eligible Portfolios." We will notify Contract Owners that originally selected a now Former Eligible Portfolio of their contractual options, which are described in the Terms and Conditions of the Contract section later in this prospectus.

Four Step Investment Process

At or before the time of this Contract application, you and your Financial Advisor will follow the process below to select your Eligible Portfolio:

Step 1: Set Investment Objectives

Your Financial Advisor helps you establish your investment objectives for Your Account.

Step 2: Select Investment Model/Eligible Portfolio

Based on your investment objectives, your Financial Advisor recommends one Model for Your Account from the Models permitted as Eligible Portfolios. The Select UMA program offers Models that are Eligible Portfolios and those that are not Eligible Portfolios. If you wish to receive the benefit of this Contract, you must select an Eligible Portfolio.

Step 3: Select Investment Products

Your Financial Advisor then works with you to select the specific Investment Products that will meet the requirement for each asset class and asset class percentage within the Eligible Portfolio you selected.

Once you have (with the assistance of your Financial Advisor) selected the Investment Products for each asset class in the Model you have chosen, the Overlay Manager will purchase the investments in a manner consistent with the Model and the Investment Products selected.

Step 4: Ongoing Review Process

Your Financial Advisor will contact you to determine whether short-term or long-term changes are needed in the Eligible Portfolio you selected. You may change to a different Model from among the Models permitted as Eligible Portfolios, and you and your Financial Advisor may also change to other Investment Products from the Investment Products that are permitted for Eligible Portfolios.

Additionally, you may remain in a Former Eligible Portfolio as indicated in the Terms and Conditions of the Contract section. If you move Your Account assets to a non-Eligible Portfolio (any Select UMA Model that is not an Eligible Portfolio) at any time, your Contract will be suspended (see Suspension and Termination Provisions). Note: Reallocating Your Account out of the Eligible Portfolio elected at the time of application may have negative tax consequences. Please consult a qualified tax advisor for more information.

Eligible Portfolios Summary

The following tables reflect a summary of each Eligible Portfolio that is currently available for election under the Contract. The Eligible Portfolios are listed from most conservative to least conservative. The target allocations may be changed by MSSB from time to time as provided in the Client Agreement and the MSSB ADV. MSSB monitors each Eligible Portfolio's holdings and will periodically rebalance Your Account as provided in the Client Agreement to realign it with the current asset allocations for your Eligible Portfolio.

The value of your Eligible Portfolio will fluctuate over time. This means it will rise and fall in response to market events. Although past performance is not a guarantee of future results, historically, investments that have had higher fluctuations have provided higher long term returns, along with higher risks of loss. The Return chart below shows that as you move up the risk ladder from conservative investments to aggressive investments, you have the potential to receive higher long term returns but may also experience higher fluctuations in value.

Capital Preservation oriented. Total return

oriented, but may have higher current

income. Suitable for short time horizon (3

to 5 years).

Capital appreciation oriented. Minimal

income needs. Increasing equity exposure.

Longer time horizon – at least a market

cycle (5 years or more).

Aggressive growth oriented. No current

income consideration. Greater volatility

than broad stock market. Longest time

horizon (10+ years).

The target allocation categories listed below reflect investment asset categories only, and not specific Investment Products. You and your Financial Advisor select the Investment Products to satisfy each Target Allocation. More explanation of each category follows the tables. The percentage ranges shown are target ranges only, and may change if deemed appropriate by MSSB. Additionally, the index percentages used to establish the benchmark as determined by MSSB are provided for each Eligible Portfolio. The indices and percentages provided by MSSB are established by MSSB based on the asset allocation of the selected Model. MSSB has determined that the benchmarks are appropriate for use as a gauge of performance of the associated Eligible Portfolios. The indices work together to provide a blended performance percentage of how your Eligible Portfolio should perform. Your Financial Advisor will discuss how your Eligible Portfolio performed as compared to the benchmark. Not every asset class is represented by a corresponding index. A summary of the referenced asset classes and indices follows the Eligible Portfolio tables.

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 1 w/o Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 1 w/o Municipal Bonds	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Core Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
100% Fixed	0%	0%	40 - 60%	0 - 20%	5 - 25%	20 - 40%
Investment Strategy: Fixed Income- An all fixed income model for a most conservative investor that seeks conservative risk investments with minimal market volatility. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 1 to 3 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital preservation. This Model is classified to have low volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with minimal fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 1 has 100% of the assets in fixed income or cash. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides the most conservative investment risk.
Benchmark: 70% BC Aggregate Bond (Fixed Income)/30% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 2 w/o Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 2 w/o Municipal Bonds	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Core Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
25% Equity 75% Fixed	0 - 20%	0 - 10%	30 - 50%	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	5 - 25%
Investment Strategy: Global Balanced- A global balanced model with a higher emphasis on income for a conservative investor that seeks long term growth through achieving a balance between income and capital growth globally. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 3 to 5 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on income with some capital growth. This Model is classified to have low volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with minimal fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 2 has 75% of the assets in fixed income or cash and 25% in equities. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides a more aggressive investment risk than Model 1 and less aggressive than Models 3 and 4.
Benchmark: 18% Russell 1000 (U.S Equity)/7% MSCI EAFE (International Equity)/60% BC Aggregate Bond (U.S. Fixed Income)/15% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 3 w/o Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 3 w/o Municipal Bonds	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Core Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
40% Equity 60% Fixed	0 - 20%	0 - 10%	25 - 45%	0 - 15%	0 - 20%	0 - 20%
Investment Strategy: Global Balanced- A global balanced model utilizing equities, fixed income, and cash seeking some growth and moderate level of income for a moderate investor that seeks long term growth through achieving a balance between income and capital growth globally. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 3 to 5 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital growth and income. This Model is classified to have medium volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 3 has 60% of the assets in fixed income or cash and 40% in equities. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides a more aggressive investment risk than Models 1 and 2 and less aggressive than Model 4.
Benchmark: 28% Russell 3000 (U.S Equity)/12% MSCI EAFE (International Equity)/50% BC Aggregate Bond (Fixed Income)/10% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 4 w/o Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 4 w/o Municipal Bonds	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Core Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
50% Equity 50% Fixed	0 - 20%	0 - 15%	25 - 45%	0 - 15%	0 - 20%	0 - 15%
Investment Strategy: Global Balanced- A global balanced model utilizing equities, fixed income, and cash seeking a moderate level of growth and income for a moderate investor that seeks long term growth through achieving a balance between income and capital growth globally. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 5 to 7 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital growth with some focus on income. This Model is classified to have medium volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 4 has 50% of the assets in fixed income or cash and 50% in equities. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides the most aggressive investment risk.
Benchmark: 35% Russell 3000 (U.S. Equity)/15% MSCI AC World x U.S. (International Equity)/50% BC Aggregate Bond (U.S. Fixed Income)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 1 w/ Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 1 w/ Municipal Bonds	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Municipal Bond Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
100% Fixed	0%	0%	40 - 60%	0 - 20%	5 - 25%	20 - 40%
Investment Strategy: Fixed Income- An all fixed income model for a most conservative investor that seeks conservative risk investments, with minimal market volatility. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 1 to 3 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital preservation. This Model is classified to have low volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with minimal fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time. One of the primary reasons municipal bonds are considered separately from other types of bonds is their special ability to provide tax-exempt income. Interest paid by the issuer (i.e., the municipality, state or local government) to bond holders is often exempt from all federal taxes, as well as state or local taxes depending on the state in which the issuer is located, subject to certain restrictions. Therefore, for taxable accounts, it can be a tax advantage to invest in municipal bonds in lieu of core fixed income investments.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 1 has 100% of the assets in fixed income or cash. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides the most conservative investment risk.
Benchmark: 70% BC Municipal Bond (U.S. Fixed Income)/30% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 2 w/ Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 2 w/ Municipal Bonds	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Municipal Bond Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
25% Equity 75% Fixed	0 - 20%	0 - 10%	30 - 50%	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	5 - 25%
Investment Strategy: Global Balanced- A global balanced model with a higher emphasis on income for a conservative investor that seeks long term growth through achieving a balance between income and capital growth globally. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 3 to 5 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on income with some capital growth. This Model is classified to have low volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with minimal fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time. One of the primary reasons municipal bonds are considered separately from other types of bonds is their special ability to provide tax-exempt income. Interest paid by the issuer (i.e., the municipality, state or local government) to bond holders is often exempt from all federal taxes, as well as state or local taxes depending on the state in which the issuer is located, subject to certain restrictions. Therefore, for taxable accounts, it can be a tax advantage to invest in municipal bonds in lieu of core fixed income investments.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 2 has 75% of the assets in fixed income or cash and 25% in equities. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides a slightly more aggressive investment risk than Model 1.
Benchmark: 18% Russell 1000 (U.S. Equity)/7% MSCI EAFE (International Equity)/ 60% BC Municipal Bond (U.S. Fixed Income)/15% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 3 w/ Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 3 w/ Municipal Bonds	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%	0 - 10%	0 - 10%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Municipal Bond Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Term Bond
40% Equity 60% Fixed	0 - 20%	0 - 10%	25 - 45%	0 - 15%	0 - 20%	0 - 20%
Investment Strategy: Global Balanced- A global balanced model utilizing equities, fixed income, and cash seeking some growth and moderate level of income for a moderate investor that seeks long term growth through achieving a balance between income and capital growth globally. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 3 to 5 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital growth and income. This Model is classified to have medium volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time. One of the primary reasons municipal bonds are considered separately from other types of bonds is their special ability to provide tax-exempt income. Interest paid by the issuer (i.e., the municipality, state or local government) to bond holders is often exempt from all federal taxes, as well as state or local taxes depending on the state in which the issuer is located, subject to certain restrictions. Therefore, for taxable accounts, it can be a tax advantage to invest in municipal bonds in lieu of core fixed income investments.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 3 has 60% of the assets in fixed income or cash and 40% in equities. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides a more aggressive investment risk than Models 1 and 2 and less aggressive than Model 4.
Benchmark: 28% Russell 3000 (U.S. Equity)/12% MSCI EAFE (International Equity)/50% BC Municipal Bond (U.S. Fixed Income)/10% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Equity
Select UMA Model 4 w/ Municipal Bonds	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
Select UMA Model 4 w/ Municipal Bonds	0 - 20%	0 - 20%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%	0 - 15%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
Composition	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Municipal Bond Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Term Bond
50% Equity 50% Fixed	0 - 20%	0 - 15%	25 - 45%	0 - 15%	0 - 20%	0 - 15%
Investment Strategy: Global Balanced- A global balanced model utilizing equities, fixed income, and cash seeking a moderate level of growth and income for a moderate investor that seeks long term growth through achieving a balance between income and capital growth globally. This investment strategy is most appropriate for investors with an investment time horizon of 5 to 7 years.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital growth with some focus on income. This Model is classified to have medium volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time. One of the primary reasons municipal bonds are considered separately from other types of bonds is their special ability to provide tax-exempt income. Interest paid by the issuer (i.e., the municipality, state or local government) to bond holders is often exempt from all federal taxes, as well as state or local taxes depending on the state in which the issuer is located, subject to certain restrictions. Therefore, for taxable accounts, it can be a tax advantage to invest in municipal bonds in lieu of core fixed income investments.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. Model 4 has 50% of the assets in fixed income or cash and 50% in equities. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides the most aggressive investment risk.
Benchmark: 35% Russell 3000 (U.S. Equity)/15% MSCI AC World x U.S. (International Equity)/ 50% BC Municipal Bond (U.S. Fixed Income).

The Eligible Portfolios are made up of the following asset classes. Investment Products are then chosen to represent the appropriate asset classes within each Eligible Portfolio. The available Investment Products are mutual funds, exchange traded funds and separately managed accounts.

Asset Classes (listed in order of lowest historical risk to highest historical risk):

U.S. Short Duration Bond – This asset class is generally comprised of securities made up of United States dollar-denominated Treasuries, government-related securities, and investment grade United States corporate securities. The duration of these bonds is typically between less than one year and five years.

U.S. Municipal Bond Fixed Income – This asset class is generally comprised of investment grade municipal bonds.

U.S. Core Fixed Income – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities made up of United States dollar-denominated Treasuries, government-related securities, and investment grade United States corporate securities.

U.S. High Yield Fixed Income – An asset class that is generally comprised of fixed income securities that have below investment grade credit ratings and carry higher risks (e.g., "junk bonds"), but generally offer higher yields than investment-grade bonds.

International Fixed Income – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities made up of non-U.S. dollar denominated Treasuries, international government-related securities, and investment grade international corporate securities.

U.S. Large Cap Value Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities issued by U.S. companies with large market capitalizations (typically $10 billion or more). These securities have the potential for long-term capital appreciation and are generally considered to be undervalued relative to a major unmanaged stock index based on price-to-current earnings, book value, asset value, or other factors. In aggregate, the securities within this asset class will generally have below-average price-to-earnings ratios, price-to-book ratios, and three-year earnings growth figures compared to the average of the U.S. diversified large-cap asset class.

U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities issued by U.S. companies with large market capitalizations (typically $10 billion or more). These securities have the potential for long-term capital appreciation and are generally defined as companies with expected long-term earnings growth rates significantly higher than the earnings growth rates of the stocks represented in a major unmanaged stock index. In aggregate, the securities within this asset class will generally have above-average price-to-earnings ratios, price-to-book ratios, and three-year earnings growth figures compared to the average of the U.S. diversified large-cap asset class.

U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities issued by U.S. companies with market capitalizations typically in the $2 - $10 billion range. These securities have the potential for long-term capital appreciation and are generally considered to be undervalued relative to a major unmanaged stock index based on price-to-current earnings, book value, asset value, or other factors. In aggregate, the securities within this asset class will generally have below-average price-to-earnings ratios, price-to-book ratios, and three-year earnings growth figures compared to the average of the U.S. diversified mid-cap asset class.

U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities issued by U.S. companies with market capitalizations typically in the $2 - $10 billion range. These securities have the potential for long-term capital appreciation and are generally defined as companies with expected long-term earnings growth rates significantly higher than the earnings growth rates of the stocks represented in a major unmanaged stock index. In aggregate, the securities within this asset class will generally have above-average price-to-earnings ratios, price-to-book ratios, and three-year earnings growth figures compared to the average of the U.S. diversified mid-cap asset class.

U.S. Small Cap Value Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities issued by U.S. companies with market capitalizations typically below $2 - $3 billion. These securities have the potential for long-term capital appreciation and are generally considered to be undervalued relative to a major unmanaged stock index based on price-to-current earnings, book value, asset value, or other factors. In aggregate, the securities within this asset class will generally have below-average price-to-earnings ratios, price-to-book ratios, and three-year earnings growth figures compared to the average of the U.S. diversified small-cap asset class.

U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities issued by U.S. companies with market capitalizations typically below $2 - $3 billion. These securities have the potential for long-term capital appreciation and are generally defined as companies with expected long-term earnings growth rates significantly higher than the earnings growth rates of the stocks represented in a major unmanaged stock index. In aggregate, the securities within this asset class will generally have above-average price-to-earnings ratios, price-to-book ratios, and three-year earnings growth figures compared to the average of the U.S. diversified small-cap asset class.

Developed International Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities with primary trading markets outside of the United States in developed international markets.

Emerging Markets Equity – An asset class that is generally comprised of securities with primary trading markets in developing countries outside of the U. S. that have low standards of democratic governments, free market economies, industrialization, social programs, and human rights guarantees for its citizens.

The following indices are listed from the lowest historical risk to the highest historical risk. Risk is defined as the long term historical standard deviation of each asset class, which measures the degree of volatility.

Benchmark Indices (listed in order of lowest risk to highest risk), which represent various asset classes:

90-Day T- Bills – Index that measures returns of three-month Treasury Bills. (Applicable to: Cash)

BC Municipal Bond – This index is representative of the tax-exempt bond market and is made up of investment grade municipal bonds issued after December 31, 1990, having a remaining maturity of at least one year. (Applicable to: U.S. Fixed Income)

BC Aggregate Bond – This market value-weighted index measures fixed-rate, publicly placed, dollar-denominated, and non-convertible investment grade debt issues. (Applicable to: U.S. Fixed Income)

Russell 1000 – Index that measures the performance of the large-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. It is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index and includes approximately 1000 of the largest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The Russell 1000 represents approximately 92% of the U.S. market. The Russell 1000 Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive and unbiased barometer for the large-cap segment and is completely reconstituted annually to ensure new and growing equities are reflected. (Applicable to: U.S. Equity)

Russell 3000 – This index measures the performance of the largest 3000 U.S. companies representing 98% of the investable U.S. equity market. (Applicable to: U.S. Equity)

MSCI All Country World – A free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets. As of June 2007 it consisted of the following 23 developed market country indices: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (Applicable to: International Equity)

MSCI EAFE – The Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index is a market-weighted index composed of companies representative of the market structure of 20 developed market countries in Europe, Australasia and the Far East. (Applicable to: International Equity)

The Eligible Portfolios offered by MSSB are subject to the same risks faced by similar investment options available in the market, including, without limitation, market risk (the risk of an overall down market), interest rate risk (the risk that rising or declining interest rates will hurt your investment returns), idiosyncratic risk (the risk that an individual asset will hurt your returns), and concentration risk (the risk that due to concentrations in a certain segment of the market which performs poorly, your returns are lower than the overall market). The Eligible Portfolios may not achieve their respective investment objectives regardless of whether or not you purchase the Contract.

Can a Contract be purchased by an Individual Retirement Account?

You may purchase a Contract for your IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA or Simple IRA (collectively, an "IRA"). You must designate yourself as the Annuitant of the IRA if your custodian will be listed as the owner. The Contract is held within the IRA for your benefit. If you elect the Spousal Continuation Option (discussed herein), you and your spouse must be Co-Annuitants, and your spouse must be listed as the sole beneficiary of Your Account.

For Contracts within an IRA, Nationwide makes Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to the IRA unless otherwise directed by the trustee. Any IRA payments made to you are considered an IRA distribution and will be taxed as such. Distributions that you receive from your IRA with respect to the Contract will generally be treated as ordinary taxable income. You should refer to your IRA disclosure documents and/or Internal Revenue Service Publication 590 for the rules applicable to IRAs and their distributions.

Can the Contract Owner cancel the Contract?

After you purchase and receive the Contract, you have up to 30 days to cancel your Contract. We call this the "Examination Period." In order to cancel your Contract, you must provide us with the approved cancellation form (which can be obtained from the Service Center) at the Service Center within 30 days after receiving the Contract (or such longer period that your state may require). We will then terminate your Contract and refund to Your Account the full amount of any Fee we have already assessed.

After the Examination Period has expired, you can cancel your Contract by:

•

advising us and MSSB that you want to terminate the Contract; or

•

liquidating all of the investments in Your Account; or

•

terminating Your Account.

If you cancel your Contract, before or after the examination period, a 30-day waiting period may be imposed before you can purchase another Contract for Your Account.

There are other actions or inactions that can cause the Contract to terminate as well (see Suspension and Termination Provisions).

Does the Contract contain any type of spousal benefit?

Yes. At the time of application, you may elect to add the Spousal Continuation Option to your Contract. The Spousal Continuation Option allows a surviving spouse to continue to take withdrawals during the Withdrawal Phase and receive payments during the Income Phase, for the duration of his or her lifetime, provided that the conditions outlined in this prospectus are satisfied. In order to elect the Spousal Continuation Option for Non-Qualified Contracts, you must be the owner of Your Account and list your spouse as Co-Annuitant of the Contract. If Your Account is held by an IRA, the sole

beneficiary to the IRA must be your spouse. There is a maximum Spousal Continuation Option Fee Percentage equal to a rate of 0.30% of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base associated with the Spousal Continuation Option. Currently, the Spousal Continuation Option Fee Percentage is equal to a rate of 0.20% of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.

Does the Contract contain any kind of Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base increases?

Yes. During both the Accumulation Phase and the Withdrawal Phase, the Contract contains an anniversary step-up feature, the "Annual Benefit Base Review" where if, on any Contract Anniversary, Your Account Value exceeds the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, we will automatically increase your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base to equal that Your Account Value (see What is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and how is it calculated?).

Risk Factors

Your Account may perform well enough that you may not receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments from Nationwide under the Contract.

The assets in Your Account must be invested in accordance with one of the designated Eligible Portfolios. The Eligible Portfolios, together with the limits on the amount you may withdraw annually without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, are intended to minimize the risk to us that we will be required to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to you. Accordingly, the risk against which the Contract protects, i.e., that Your Account Value will be reduced below the Minimum Account Value by withdrawals and/or poor investment performance, or that you will live beyond the age when Your Account Value is reduced below the Minimum Account Value, is likely to be small. In this case, you will have paid us fees for the life of your Contract and received no payments in return.

Your investment choices are limited by the Contract.

The Guarantee associated with the Contract is contingent on your investments being allocated to one of the Eligible Portfolios or a Former Eligible Portfolio. The Eligible Portfolios may be managed in a more conservative fashion than other investments available to you. If you do not purchase the Contract, it is possible that you may invest in other types of investments that experience higher growth or lower losses, depending on the market, than the Eligible Portfolios experience.

You must remain invested in Your Account at MSSB to maintain your Contract.

In order to receive any benefits under the Contract, you must maintain Your Account at MSSB and pay the annual advisory fees and other compensation associated with the Select UMA program. If you terminate Your Account with MSSB or transfer Your Account to another firm, the Contract will automatically terminate and you will not receive any payments or other benefits under the Contract.

You may die before receiving payments from us.

Despite general societal increases in longevity, you may still die prematurely, and thus never receive any payments under the Contract. This Contract is designed to provide protection, in many cases, to clients who live beyond life expectancy. However, you do not have to live beyond life expectancy to receive payments under the Contract, and conversely, living beyond your life expectancy does not guarantee payments from us under the Contract.

Early Withdrawals or Excess Withdrawals will reduce or eliminate the Guarantee provided by your Contract.

Withdrawals can cause you to lose the right to any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments under the Contract. If you take withdrawals before the Withdrawal Start Date (an "Early Withdrawal") or if you withdraw more than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount in a given year after the Withdrawal Start Date (an "Excess Withdrawal"), you will reduce the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and consequently, the amount of any Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals. Multiple Early Withdrawals and/or multiple Excess Withdrawals can reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and Your Account Value to zero. If this occurs, any Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals could be substantially reduced or eliminated.

Note: The Contract does not require us or MSSB to warn you or provide you with notice regarding potentially adverse consequences that may be associated with any withdrawals or other types of transactions involving Your Account.

The Contract Fee will reduce the growth of Your Account.

The deduction of the Contract Fee each quarter will negatively affect the growth of Your Account. Depending on how long you live and how your investments perform, you may be financially better off without purchasing the Contract.

Actions of your creditors may reduce or eliminate the Guarantee provided by your Contract.

You own Your Account and the assets held in it. We have no ownership or control over Your Account or the assets held in it. The assets in Your Account are not subject to our creditors. However, assets in Your Account may be subject to attachment by your creditors. Moreover, because you may liquidate Your Account at any time, you are also entitled to pledge the assets in Your Account as collateral for a loan. There is a risk that if you pledge the assets in Your Account as collateral for a loan and the value of the assets in Your Account decreases, your creditors may liquidate assets in Your Account to pay the loan. This liquidation will be treated as a withdrawal from Your Account. If it is an Early Withdrawal or an Excess Withdrawal, it could cause you to lose the right to receive Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments under the Contract. Therefore, using the assets in Your Account as collateral for a loan may cause you to lose the Guarantee available under the Contract.

Your Guarantee may terminate if MSSB no longer manages the Eligible Portfolios.

We will only pay the Guarantee under this Contract if MSSB manages the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios. If, for any reason, MSSB no longer manages the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios, we reserve the right to suspend the Contract. If you choose to continue your Contract and the Guarantee, you must transfer Your Account Value to a third party account approved by us or to an annuity contract that we, or one of our affiliates, offer. If you choose not to transfer Your Account Value, this Contract and the Guarantee will terminate.

Nationwide determines that an Eligible Portfolio is no longer eligible as an investment option under the Contract.

As the provider of the Guarantee, we maintain sole discretion as to which investment options will be offered under the Contracts as Eligible Portfolios. We only make available those Eligible Portfolios that we determine carry an acceptable amount of risk for Nationwide to manage the Guarantee. If, after making an Eligible Portfolio available, we subsequently determine that such Eligible Portfolio carries too much risk for Nationwide to manage the Guarantee, we will re-characterize the Eligible Portfolio as a Former Eligible Portfolio. Re-characterizing an Eligible Portfolio as a Former Eligible Portfolio triggers a term and condition change for those Contract Owners invested in the affected Former Eligible Portfolio. Upon any such re-characterization, we will notify affected Contract Owners and explain their contractual options. Please see the "Terms and Conditions of the Contract," for more information about terms and conditions changes.

Additional deposits that exceed $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits could suspend or terminate your Contract.

Nationwide does not control the assets in Your Account so it cannot set limits on the amount of Additional Deposits you can add to Your Account. Nationwide does, however, control how the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base is calculated which directly impacts Nationwide's obligation to make Guaranteed Payments under the Contract. In order to manage Nationwide's risk of making Guaranteed Payments, Nationwide reserves the right to refuse to accept for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base any Additional Deposit in excess of $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits if certain requirements are not met. If such an Additional Deposit is made and the requirements are not met, your Contract may be suspended which could lead to Contract termination. Please see "Suspension and Termination Provisions," for more information.

Nationwide's claims paying ability.

The Contract is not a separate account product. This means that the assets supporting the Contract are not held in a separate account of Nationwide for the exclusive benefit of Contract Owners and are not insulated from the claims of our creditors. Your Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments will be paid from our General Account and, therefore, are subject to our claims paying ability. Payments under the Contract are not guaranteed by MSSB.

Business Continuity Risk.

Nationwide is exposed to risks related to natural and man-made disasters, such as storms, fires, earthquakes, public health crises, geopolitical disputes, military actions, and terrorist acts, which could adversely affect Nationwide’s ability to administer the contracts. Nationwide has adopted business continuity policies and procedures that may be implemented in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, but such business continuity plans may not operate as intended or fully mitigate the operational risks associated with such disasters.

Nationwide outsources certain critical business functions to third parties and, in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, relies upon the successful implementation and execution of the business continuity planning of such entities. While Nationwide closely monitors the business continuity activities of these third parties, successful implementation and execution of their business continuity strategies are largely beyond Nationwide’s control. If one or more of the third parties to whom Nationwide outsources such critical business functions experience operational failures, Nationwide’s ability to administer the contract could be impaired.

Cyber Security Risk.

Nationwide’s businesses are highly dependent upon its computer systems and those of its business partners and service providers. This makes Nationwide susceptible to operational and information security risks resulting from a cybersecurity incident. These risks include direct risks, such as theft, misuse, corruption and destruction of data maintained by Nationwide, and indirect risks, such as denial of service, attacks on systems or websites and other operational disruptions that could severely impede Nationwide’s ability to conduct its businesses and administer the contract (e.g., calculate Contract Values or process transactions).

Financial services companies and their third-party service providers are increasingly the targets of cyber-attacks involving the encryption and/or threat to disclose personal or confidential information (e.g., ransomware) or disruptions of communications (e.g., denial of service) to extort money or for other malicious purposes. The techniques used to attack systems and networks change frequently, are becoming more sophisticated, and can originate from a wide variety of sources. The use of remote or flexible work arrangements, remote access tools, and mobile technology have expanded potential targets for cyber-attack.

Cyber-attacks affecting Nationwide, Index providers, intermediaries, and service providers may adversely affect Nationwide and Contract Values. As a result of a cybersecurity incident, Nationwide may be subject to regulatory fines, private claims, and financial losses and/or reputational damage. There may be an increased risk of cyber-attacks during periods of geopolitical or military conflict. Although Nationwide undertakes substantial efforts to protect its computer systems from cyber-attacks, including internal processes and technological defenses that are preventative or detective, and other controls designed to provide multiple layers of security assurance, there can be no guarantee that Nationwide or its service providers will avoid cybersecurity incidents affecting Contract Owners in the future. It is possible that a cybersecurity incident could persist for an extended period of time without detection.

In the event that Contract administration or Contract Values are adversely affected as a result of a failure of Nationwide’s cybersecurity controls, Nationwide will take reasonable steps to take corrective action and restore Contract Values to the levels that they would have been had the cybersecurity incident not occurred. Nationwide will not, however, be responsible for any adverse impact to Contracts or Contract Values that result from the Contract Owner or its designee’s negligent acts or failure to use reasonably appropriate safeguards to protect against cyber-attacks or to protect personal information.

Tax Consequences.

The Contract is novel and innovative. To date, the tax consequences of the Contract have not been addressed in binding published legal authorities. We intend to treat your Contract as an annuity contract in reporting taxable income attributable to the Contract to you and to the Internal Revenue Service. Assuming the Contract is correctly treated as an annuity contract for tax purposes, Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments you receive in the Income Phase will be ordinary income to you that is taxable to the extent provided under the tax rules for annuities. We believe that, in general, the tax treatment of transactions involving investments in Your Account more likely than not will be the same as it would be in the absence of the Contract. We can provide no assurances, however, that a court would agree with the foregoing interpretations of the law if the Internal Revenue Service were to challenge the foregoing treatment. You should consult a tax advisor before purchasing a Contract (see Federal Income Tax Considerations).

Your Relationship with MSSB and Nationwide

The Contract.

The Contract is an individual supplemental immediate fixed income annuity contract. That means that the Contract you are purchasing entitles you to an immediate fixed income annuity contract if, and only if, one of the triggering events discussed earlier in this prospectus occurs. The Contract is designed for investors in Select UMA Models approved as Eligible Portfolios who intend to use the assets in their Account as the basis for periodic withdrawals to provide income for retirement or for other purposes.

Nationwide is not your investment advisor. Rather, MSSB provides Overlay Manager services for the Eligible Portfolios that your Financial Advisor may recommend. Additionally, MSSB provides the Select UMA services even if you do not purchase a Nationwide Contract or decide to terminate your Nationwide Contract. You and your Financial Advisor determine whether to invest in an Eligible Portfolio. If you decide to invest in an Eligible Portfolio, as a requirement to open Your Account, you will sign the Client Agreement.

The Select UMA program is governed by the Client Agreement that you sign with MSSB. You sign the Client Agreement with MSSB at or before the time MSSB opens Your Account (a requirement for issuance of the Contract). In the Client Agreement, you authorize MSSB to provide investment advisory services to you, including the selection of your Eligible Portfolio. MSSB will act through your Financial Advisor, an employee of MSSB, who serves as an advisor to you. The Overlay Manager is a division of MSSB. The Overlay Manager constructs and maintains your Eligible Portfolio by implementing your choice of Model and Investment Product by arranging for the execution of trades in Your Account, placing orders for the purchase, sale, or redemption of shares of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in accordance with the Model you have selected, and rebalancing Your Account. Please read the Client Agreement carefully. More information regarding the Select UMA program is provided in the relevant MSSB Form ADV, Schedule H (the "MSSB ADV"), which you may obtain from your MSSB Financial Advisor.

You may apply to purchase a Contract by completing an application. When your application is approved, we provide the Contract's Guarantee to you on the assumption and condition that Your Account remains invested in one of the Eligible Portfolios or a Former Eligible Portfolio. We require MSSB to provide data to us to monitor the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolio and to alert us of any changes to the allocations within them.

Your Financial Advisor is a representative of and is affiliated with MSSB, the broker-dealer that is authorized to offer Your Account with these Contracts. Nationwide has an agreement with MSSB to offer the Contracts. MSSB works with your Financial Advisor to assist you in purchasing a Contract.

While the Contract is in the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases, MSSB is responsible for administering Your Account, including processing additional payments and withdrawals, deducting and remitting to us the Contract Fee, assessing advisory and any other fees associated with Your Account, and providing you with statements, confirmations and other correspondence. During the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases, Nationwide is responsible for maintaining your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal information, including your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount and your overall Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.

If and when one of the triggering events occurs, you will be contacted to elect to enter the Income Phase. You will close Your Account and transfer any remaining assets to us. We will then issue you an immediate fixed income annuity contract that will result in Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments from us for the remainder of your (and your spouse's, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected) lifetime. Once the Income Phase begins, your relationship with MSSB, with respect to Your Account, terminates. All administrative responsibilities undertaken by MSSB during the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases will be performed by Nationwide, the issuer of the Contract and the entity obligated to pay you Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments for the rest of your (or your spouse's, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected) lifetime.

Management of Your Account.

Management of Your Account is governed by the Client Agreement. The Contract requires that you remain invested in one of the Eligible Portfolios or a Former Eligible Portfolio in order to maintain the Guarantee associated with the Contract. Neither Nationwide nor MSSB is responsible for ensuring that the assets in Your Account remain invested according to the terms of the Contract.

The Accumulation Phase

Once Your Account is opened and you purchase the Contract, you will begin the first phase of the Contract – the Accumulation Phase. During this phase, you will establish your original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, which is equal to Your Account Value when the Contract is issued.

What is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and how is it calculated?

The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base is the amount we use to calculate the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals. On the date we issue the Contract, your original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base equals Your Account Value. The anniversary of the date we issue your Contract is known as the "Contract Anniversary" and each one-year period between subsequent Contract Anniversaries is referred to as a "Contract Year."

Can the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base change during the Accumulation Phase?

Yes. There are several ways that your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base can increase or decrease during the Accumulation Phase:

(1)

The Annual Benefit Base Review. On each Contract Anniversary during the Accumulation Phase, we do an Annual Benefit Base Review to see if you are eligible for an increase to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. We will examine the following three items and Your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be set equal to the greatest of:

(a)

the current Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, adjusted for transactions in the previous Contract Year that affected the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base;

(b)

Your Account Value as of the Contract Anniversary; or

(c)

the original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base with a 5% roll-up. This is equal to the original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base plus 5% of the original Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base for each Contract Anniversary that has been reached. An adjustment will be made to the calculations for transactions that increase or decrease the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.

Any increase to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be automatic if there are no terms and conditions changes. Otherwise, we require an election to increase the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base (see Terms and Conditions of the Contract for an explanation of the impact upon the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base if there is a terms and conditions change).

Note: Since the Contract Fee is calculated based on the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, increases to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will result in higher Contract Fees. Under the automatic Annual Benefit Base Review feature, you agree to pay the larger Fee.

You can cancel the automatic Annual Benefit Base Review by notifying us.

(2)

Additional Deposits to Your Account in the Accumulation Phase. The Contract permits you to make Additional Deposits to Your Account during the Accumulation Phase. Additional Deposits will result in an immediate increase to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base equal to the dollar amount of the Additional Deposit.

Note: We reserve the right to refuse to accept an Additional Deposit made into Your Account for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base that brings your Total Gross Deposits above $2,000,000 (see Suspension and Termination Provisions). Your Account Value may increase above $2,000,000 due to market performance without suspension.

(3)

Early Withdrawals from Your Account. An Early Withdrawal is any withdrawal you take from Your Account prior to your elected Withdrawal Start Date (discussed later in this provision). Early Withdrawals will result in a decrease to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. The amount of that decrease will be the greater of (a) or (b), where:

(a)	=	the dollar amount of the Early Withdrawal; and
(b)	=	a "proportional amount" derived from the following calculation: (A ÷ B) × C, where:
		A	=	the dollar amount of the Early Withdrawal;
		B	=	Your Account Value on the date of the Early Withdrawal; and
		C	=	your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base on the date of the Early Withdrawal.

Note: When an Early Withdrawal occurs at a time when the market is doing well enough that Your Account Value exceeds the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, an Early Withdrawal will result in a dollar for dollar reduction in the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. When an Early Withdrawal occurs at a time when the market has declined so that Your Account Value is less than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, an Early Withdrawal will result in a proportional reduction to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. Furthermore, the more the market has declined (i.e., the greater the difference between Your Account Value and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base), the greater impact the proportional reduction will have on the remaining Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base resulting in a larger decrease to the overall Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals.

Example Early Withdrawal Calculations
In this example, the Account Value is greater than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.			In this example, the Account Value is less than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base:
At the time of the Early Withdrawal:			At the time of the Early Withdrawal:
Account Value	=	$500,000	Account Value	=	$400,000
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base	=	$450,000	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base	=	$450,000
Withdrawal Amount	=	$15,000	Withdrawal Amount	=	$15,000
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base reduction calculations:			Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base reduction calculations:
Dollar amount	=	$15,000	Dollar amount	=	$15,000
Proportional amount ($15,000 ÷ $500,000) x $450,000	=	$13,500	Proportional amount ($15,000 ÷ $400,000) x $450,000	=	$16,875
After the Early Withdrawal:			After the Early Withdrawal:
Account Value ($500,000 - $15,000)	=	$485,000	Account Value ($400,000 - $15,000)	=	$385,000
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base ($450,000 - $15,000)	=	$435,000	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base ($450,000 - $16,875)	=	$433,125

In the case of an Early Withdrawal that causes any reduction to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, we will provide you with the opportunity to restore your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base to the amount that was in effect prior to the Early Withdrawal. To do so, within 45 days of the withdrawal, you must make Additional Deposits to Your Account equal to or greater than the Early Withdrawal amount, and submit a request to us in writing to restore your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base as of the date of the Early Withdrawal. In the event you restore your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base after an Early Withdrawal, we reserve the right to limit this restoration of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base to one time per Contract Year, not to exceed three times during the life of the Contract. We will confirm with you that your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base is restored, and will notify you if you reach the limit of withdrawal restorations.

What if the Account Value falls to the Minimum Account Value before the Withdrawal Start Date but your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base is above zero?

If Your Account Value falls below the Minimum Account Value before your Withdrawal Start Date, your Contract will be suspended (see Suspension and Termination Provisions).

The Withdrawal Phase

What events trigger the Withdrawal Phase?

Your Account and the Contract will continue in the Accumulation Phase until you (or in the case of Co-Annuitants, the younger Co-Annuitant) reach the age of 55 and affirmatively elect to enter the second phase of the Contract – the Withdrawal Phase. To elect to enter the Withdrawal Phase, you and your Financial Advisor must complete a Withdrawal Phase election form and send the form to the Service Center.

What is the Withdrawal Start Date and what does it mean?

Your Withdrawal Start Date is the date that we receive a completed Withdrawal Phase election form indicating your choice, once you are eligible under the Contract to enter the Withdrawal Phase. The Withdrawal Phase entitles you to begin taking annual withdrawals up to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount (discussed later in this provision) without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. To be eligible to enter the Withdrawal Phase, you must reach age 55 or older. In the case of Co-Annuitants, your eligibility to elect to enter the Withdrawal Phase is based on the date the younger Co-Annuitant reaches the age of 55. However, for Contracts owned by an IRA, distributions in an amount necessary to satisfy your minimum required distributions as provided in the Internal Revenue Code will not reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, regardless of the age of your spouse. This means that if you must meet required minimum distributions, you may enter the Withdrawal Phase.

If you are eligible, and you wish to enter the Withdrawal Phase, you must complete a Withdrawal Phase election form. You may request the form through your Financial Advisor or from the Service Center. Your Withdrawal Start Date will be the date we receive your completed Withdrawal Phase election form at the Service Center, even if you do not take an actual withdrawal at that time. We will notify you that we received your completed Withdrawal Phase election form. If you take a withdrawal after the age of 55 and have not completed the Withdrawal Phase election form, you and your Financial Advisor will be notified. Upon notification, if you do not complete a Withdrawal Phase election form within 30 days, your withdrawal will be considered an Early Withdrawal and your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be reduced as stated in the Early Withdrawals from Your Account section. Note: If your Withdrawal Start Date is in the initial Contract Year or in the year you turn 55, the amount of your initial withdrawals may be prorated based upon the number of days remaining in that calendar year.

If you do not affirmatively elect to enter the Withdrawal Phase, every withdrawal you take will be considered an Early Withdrawal. As described in the Early Withdrawals from Your Account section, Early Withdrawals will reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. If you do not enter the Withdrawal Phase, you will continue to pay for the Guarantee but will not receive the benefit of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals.

Once you enter the Withdrawal Phase, the Early Withdrawal provisions of this prospectus are inapplicable to your Contract and your potential 5% roll-up to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base that was available in the Accumulation Phase will no longer be available.

What is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount and how is it calculated?

The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount is the maximum amount you may withdraw each calendar year after your Withdrawal Start Date without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount is calculated by multiplying your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base by your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage.

Your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage depends on your age (or in the case of Co-Annuitants, the younger Co-Annuitant's age) at the time of the withdrawal. Your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage will automatically increase on the calendar year after you (or in the case of Co-Annuitants, the younger Co-Annuitant) turns 65.

Your Age (or in the case of a Co-Annuitant, the age of the younger Co-Annuitant) at the time of the withdrawal	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage
55 – 64	4%
65 or older	5%

In other words:

Guaranteed Lifetime

Withdrawal Amount

Guaranteed Lifetime

Withdrawal Base

Guaranteed Lifetime

Withdrawal Percentage

Note: Although withdrawals taken that do not exceed the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount do not reduce the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, they do reduce Your Account Value.

Note: Your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount should be considered when you determine your periodic withdrawal strategy for retirement income or other purposes. Amounts withdrawn in excess of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount will negatively impact your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments that may be payable to you under this Contract in the future.

The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount is not cumulative. In other words, taking less than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount in one calendar year does not entitle you to withdraw more than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount in a subsequent calendar year.

Can the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base change during the Withdrawal Phase?

Yes. There are several ways that your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base can increase or decrease during the Withdrawal Phase:

(1)

The Annual Benefit Base Review. On each Contract Anniversary during the Withdrawal Phase, we do an Annual Benefit Base Review to see if you are eligible for an increase to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. We will examine the following two items and your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be set equal to the greater of:

(a)

the current Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, adjusted for transactions in the previous Contract Year that affected the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base; or

(b)

Your Account Value as of the Contract Anniversary.

Any increase to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be automatic if there are no terms and conditions changes. Otherwise, we require an election to increase the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. See Terms and Conditions of the Contract for an explanation of the impact upon the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base if there is a terms and conditions change.

You can cancel the automatic Annual Benefit Base Review by notifying us.

(2)

Additional Deposits to Your Account in the Withdrawal Phase. Just as in the Accumulation Phase, the Contract permits you to make Additional Deposits to Your Account during the Withdrawal Phase, which will result in an immediate increase to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base equal to the dollar amount of the Additional Deposit.

(3)

Excess Withdrawals from Your Account. Excess Withdrawals are any withdrawals taken after your Withdrawal Start Date that, during any calendar year, exceed the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount. Excess Withdrawals will result in a decrease to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. The amount of that decrease will be the greater of (a) or (b), where:

(a)	=	the dollar amount of the Excess Withdrawal (the amount withdrawn during any calendar year in excess of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount); and
(b)	=	a "proportional amount" derived from the following calculation: (A ÷ B) × C, where:
		A	=	the dollar amount of the Excess Withdrawal;
		B	=	Your Account Value (which will be reduced by any Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount taken) on the date of the Excess Withdrawal; and
		C	=	your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base on the date of the Excess Withdrawal

Note: When an Excess Withdrawal occurs at a time when the market is doing well enough that Your Account Value exceeds the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, an Excess Withdrawal will result in a dollar for dollar reduction in the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. When an Excess Withdrawal occurs at a time when the market has declined so that Your Account Value is less than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, an Excess Withdrawal will result in a proportional reduction to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. Furthermore, the more the market has declined (i.e., the greater the difference between Your Account Value and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base), the greater impact the proportional reduction will have on the remaining Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, resulting in a larger decrease to overall Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals.

Example Excess Withdrawal Calculations
In this example, the Account Value is greater than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base:			In this example, the Account Value is less than the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base:
At the time of the Excess Withdrawal:			At the time of the Excess Withdrawal:
Account Value	=	$500,000	Account Value	=	$400,000
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base	=	$450,000	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base	=	$450,000
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount	=	$22,500	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount	=	$22,500
Withdrawal Amount	=	$30,000	Withdrawal Amount	=	$30,000
Excess Withdrawal Amount ($30,000 - $22,500)	=	$7,500	Excess Withdrawal Amount ($30,000 - $22,500)	=	$7,500
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base reduction calculations:			Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base reduction calculations:
Dollar amount	=	$7,500	Dollar amount	=	$7,500
Proportional amount ($7,500 ÷ $477,500) x $450,000	=	$7,068	Proportional amount ($7,500 ÷ $377,500) x $450,000	=	$8,940
After the Excess Withdrawal:			After the Excess Withdrawal:
Account Value ($500,000 - $30,000)	=	$470,000	Account Value ($400,000 - $30,000)	=	$370,000
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base ($450,000 - $7,500)	=	$442,500	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base ($450,000 - $8,940)	=	$441,060

If your Contract is issued as an asset in an IRA, and the only withdrawals you take from the assets in Your Account are those taken to meet required minimum distributions for that account under the Internal Revenue Code, those withdrawals will not be considered Excess Withdrawals, even if the withdrawal exceeds the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount.

In the case of an Excess Withdrawal that causes any reduction to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, we will provide you with the opportunity to restore your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base to the amount that was in effect prior to the Excess Withdrawal. To do so, within 45 days of the withdrawal, you must make Additional Deposits to Your Account equal to or greater than the Excess Withdrawal amount, and submit a request to us in writing to restore your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base as of the date of the Excess Withdrawal. In the event you restore your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base after an Excess Withdrawal, we reserve the right to limit this restoration of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base to one time per Contract Year, not to exceed three times during the life of the Contract. We will confirm with you that your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base is restored, and will notify you if you reach the limit of withdrawal restorations.

Note: The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will never decrease due to market performance, even if Your Account Value goes down.

Do Early Withdrawals and Excess Withdrawals affect the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base differently?

Yes. Early Withdrawals are considered "early" because they are taken before your Withdrawal Start Date, when your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount has not yet been established. If you take Early Withdrawals, your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be reduced by the greater of the dollar amount of the Early Withdrawal or the proportional amount calculation. The proportional amount calculation for Early Withdrawals (as described above) uses Your Account Value at the time of the Early Withdrawal.

Excess Withdrawals are in "excess" of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount, an amount established after your Withdrawal Start Date. If you take withdrawals in excess of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount, your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be reduced by the greater of the dollar amount of the Excess Withdrawal or the proportional amount calculation. The proportional amount calculation for Excess Withdrawals (as described above) will apply to Your Account Value on the date of the Excess Withdrawal (minus any Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount taken on that day). Thus, Your Account Value is reduced by the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount and any Excess Withdrawal Amount.

What if the Account Value and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base decline to zero due to Excess Withdrawals during the Withdrawal Phase?

If both Your Account Value and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base decline to zero, the Contract will automatically terminate without value.

Triggering the Income Phase

What events will trigger the Income Phase?

Your Account will continue in the Withdrawal Phase until any of the following events, referred to as "triggering events," occurs:

•

Your Account Value, after your Withdrawal Start Date, falls below the greater of $10,000 or the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount (the "Minimum Account Value");

•

Your Account Value is invested in the Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio, as discussed in the Suspension and Termination Provisions section, and you reach your Withdrawal Start Date; or

•

You, after your Withdrawal Start Date, affirmatively elect to begin the Income Phase by submitting the appropriate administrative forms.

For Contracts owned by an IRA, the Co-Annuitant for whom the IRA was established shall not be precluded from entering the Income Phase if a triggering event occurs, regardless of the age of their spouse.

Note: It is possible that you may never begin the Income Phase. If you (and your spouse, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected) die before any of the triggering events occurs, no benefit is payable under this Contract.

How is the Contract transitioned into the Income Phase?

If, and when, a triggering event occurs, we will send you a written notice informing you that you have met all of the conditions in order for your Contract to transition from the Withdrawal Phase to the Income Phase. The notice will contain an Income Phase election form.

If you decide to transition your Contract into the Income Phase, you must return the executed Income Phase election form to the Service Center and instruct MSSB to liquidate Your Account and transfer any remaining balance to us. Any unpaid Contract Fee will be charged against Your Account on a pro-rated basis, but will not affect your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. We will accept those assets as a premium payment for your immediate fixed income annuity contract ("Annuity"). Shortly thereafter, we will issue your Annuity, and we will begin making Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to you. The date the Annuity is issued is referred to as the "Annuity Commencement Date." The Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments will continue for as long as you (or your spouse, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected) live.

If you decide not to transition your Contract into the Income Phase by indicating your choice on the Income Phase election form and returning the form to the Service Center, your Contract will terminate and we will make no payments to you.

If we do not receive an Income Phase election form within 90 days of sending it from the Service Center, we will assume you do not intend to transition your Contract into the Income Phase and you wish to terminate your Contract. The Contract Fees that you have paid us, including the fees that you paid during this 90 day period, will not be refunded. You will not receive any benefits of the Guarantee and will not receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments from us.

The Income Phase

How much will each Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payment be?

Each Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payment will be the same amount as your most recent Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount. However, your first Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payment will be prorated based on the amount previously withdrawn during the calendar year prior to beginning the Income Phase. No Additional Deposits and no Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals are permitted.

Will the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payment ever increase or decrease?

No. The Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments will always be the same amount.

How often are the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments paid?

The Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments will be paid to you at the frequency you request on your Income Phase election form.

Note: Although you elect the frequency of payment, we reserve the right to decrease the frequency so that each scheduled payment is at least $100.

How long will the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments be paid?

Once the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments begin, they will continue until the death of the Annuitant (or the Co-Annuitant if the Spousal Continuation Option was elected).

Terms and Conditions of the Contract

What does it mean to have a change in "terms and conditions" of the Contract?

Nationwide can change certain terms and conditions of the Contract after you have purchased the Contract. These terms and conditions are: determination of which Select UMA Models are Eligible Portfolios and changes to the Contract Fee Percentages associated with the Eligible Portfolios.

How will a change to the terms and conditions of the Contract affect an existing Contract?

If Nationwide changes one or more terms and conditions of the Contract after it is issued, the change will not apply to your Contract unless you agree to such change. Your acceptance or rejection of any such change will impact the Annual Benefit Base Review which, as of the effective date of the change of terms and conditions, will no longer be automatic. Rather, in order to take advantage of any Annual Benefit Base Review, you will have to consent to have the Annual Benefit Base Review applied to your Contract. In other words, in order to receive the benefit associated with the Annual Benefit Base Review, you must also accept the new terms and conditions associated with the Contract. At the time of the terms and conditions change, we will provide you with the information necessary to make this determination. Specifically, we will provide: Your Account Value; the current Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base; the current terms and conditions associated with the Contract; and instructions on how to communicate your election to Nationwide.

If you accept the new terms and conditions associated with the Contract, we will continue with the Annual Benefit Base Review at the time of your next Contract Anniversary.

If you refuse to accept the terms and conditions, or we do not receive your election to accept the terms and conditions change within 60 days after the day we send notification to you (in which case we will assume you do not intend to invoke the Annual Benefit Base Review), the new terms and conditions of the Contract will not apply to your Contract. Your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will stay at the same value as of the most recent Contract Anniversary and you will no longer have an Annual Benefit Base Review. However, if you submit Additional Deposits to Your Account, you will

receive a dollar for dollar increase to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. Once you decline a terms and conditions change, you will no longer be permitted to accept any other terms and conditions change or reinstate your Annual Benefit Base Review.

If we re-characterize an Eligible Portfolio to a Former Eligible Portfolio, you will be notified of this term and condition change as stated in this section. If you choose to switch to another Eligible Portfolio, you may continue your Annual Benefit Base Review. If you choose to remain in the Former Eligible Portfolio, you will no longer be permitted to accept any other terms and conditions change or reinstate your Annual Benefit Base Review, and the cost of the Former Eligible Portfolio will remain the same. If MSSB no longer offers a Former Eligible Portfolio, the terms of the Suspension and Termination Provisions section will apply.

During the first two years of the Contract, we guarantee that the Contract Fee Percentage will not increase from the price that was in effect at the time you purchased the Contract. Other terms and conditions may change upon notice to you as stated above. After your second Contract Anniversary, Contract Fee Percentage changes are considered a term and condition change. Any Contract Fee Percentage increase will not rise above the maximum Contract Fee Percentage provided in the How much will the Contract cost? and The Contract Fee sections of this prospectus, and you will be notified of any terms and conditions change according to this Terms and Conditions of the Contract section.

Spousal Continuation Option

What is the Spousal Continuation Option?

The Spousal Continuation Option allows, upon your death, your surviving spouse to continue the Contract and receive all the rights and benefits associated with the Contract, including Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals and, possibly, Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments.

Election of the Spousal Continuation Option.

The following conditions apply to Contracts electing the Spousal Continuation Option:

(1)

The Spousal Continuation Option must be elected at the time of application, and the younger spouse must be between 45 and 80 and the older spouse must be 84 or younger.

(2)

Both spouses (or a revocable trust of which either or both of the spouses is/are grantor(s)) must be named as owners of Your Account and the Annuitant(s) of Your Contract. For Contracts issued to IRAs and Roth IRAs, you and your spouse must be Co-Annuitants, and the person for whom the IRA or Roth IRA was established must name their spouse the sole beneficiary of Your Account.

(3)

If, prior to the Withdrawal Start Date, your marriage terminates due to divorce, dissolution, or annulment, or a Co-Annuitant dies, we will remove the Spousal Continuation Option from your Contract after you submit to the Service Center a written request and evidence of the marriage termination or death that is satisfactory to Nationwide. After removal of the Spousal Continuation Option, we will not charge you the Spousal Continuation Option Fee Percentage. Once the Spousal Continuation Option is removed from the Contract, the option may not be re-elected or added to cover a subsequent spouse.

(4)

If, on or after the Withdrawal Start Date, your marriage terminates due to divorce, dissolution, or annulment, or a Co-Annuitant dies, you may not remove the Spousal Continuation Option from the Contract. The remaining Owner of the Contract will continue to be charged the Spousal Continuation Option Fee Percentage, and after the remaining Owner of the contract submits to the Service Center a written request in a form acceptable to Nationwide, the remaining Owner of the Contract's former spouse will no longer be eligible to receive withdrawals.

(5)

For Contracts with non-natural owners (other than IRAs), one spouse must be the Annuitant and the other spouse must be the Co-Annuitant.

(6)

Upon either Co-Annuitant's death, the surviving spouse must keep Your Account open and comply with all of the requirements of this Contract.

(7)

If you enter the Income Phase of the Contract, both you and your spouse must be named primary beneficiaries of the Contract at that time to ensure the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments will continue for both lives.

How much does the Spousal Continuation Option cost?

The maximum Spousal Continuation Option Fee Percentage is 0.30% of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. Currently, the Spousal Continuation Option Fee Percentage is 0.20% of your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and is assessed in the same manner and at the same time as the Contract Fee. The Spousal Continuation Fee is in addition to the Contract Fee, resulting in a maximum total of 1.75% and a current total of 1.20%.

Is it possible to pay for the Spousal Continuation Option but not receive a benefit from it?

There are situations where you would not receive the benefit of the Spousal Continuation Option. For example, if on or after the Withdrawal Start Date your spouse dies before you, the benefits associated with the option will not be realized. Also, if withdrawals are taken after the Withdrawal Start Date and your marriage terminates due to death, divorce, dissolution, or annulment, you may not remove the Spousal Continuation Option from the Contract and you must continue to pay the Spousal Continuation Option Fee.

The Contract Fee

How much is the Contract Fee?

The maximum Contract Fee Percentage for the Contract is a rate of 1.45% of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. The current Contract Fee Percentage is 1.00% of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. If you choose to elect the Spousal Continuation Option, there is an additional fee (see How much does the Spousal Continuation Option cost?). Once your Contract is issued, the Contract Fee associated with your Contract will not increase, except possibly, if you affirmatively elect the change of any terms and conditions, or if you have to go to the Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio and the Contract Fee Percentage is higher (see Terms and Conditions of the Contract).

The Contract Fee is in addition to charges that are imposed in connection with advisory, custodial, platform and other services, or charges imposed by Investment Products comprising Your Account at MSSB.

We provide a price guarantee during the first two years that you own the Contract. During this time, your Contract Fee Percentage will not increase above the Contract Fee Percentage that was in place at the date of issuance of the Contract. After your second Contract Anniversary, a change in the Contract Fee Percentage will be considered a terms and conditions change (see Terms and Conditions of the Contract).

Some states and other governmental entities (e.g., municipalities) charge premium taxes or similar taxes to Nationwide. Nationwide will not pass these taxes through to the Contract owner.

When and how is the Contract Fee assessed?

The Contract Fee is only assessed during the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases of the Contract. It is deducted from Your Account on a calendar quarter basis at the beginning of each quarter in the same manner as MSSB's advisory fees for Your Account. The Fee is paid in advance based on the value of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base as of the last day of the previous calendar quarter. If you make an Additional Deposit or take an Early or Excess Withdrawal during the pre-paid quarter, your Fee will not be impacted for that quarter since the Fee was paid in advance. The Fee for the following quarter will be impacted because the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will reflect any increase from an Additional Deposit or a decrease from an Early or Excess Withdrawal.

The Contract Fee Percentage is assessed at the beginning of the quarter because it corresponds with MSSB's billing, and the quarterly billing will have no other impact other than to reduce Your Account Value. The Contract Fee will be deducted by MSSB and remitted to us. To facilitate this, you must sign the Client Agreement allowing MSSB to deduct the Fee from Your Account. The sale or transfer of investments in Your Account to pay the Contract Fee will not reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, but will reduce Your Account Value.

For example:

Contract Fee Percentage:	1.00 %
Number of days in calendar quarter:	90
Number of days in the calendar year:	365
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base (as of the end of the previous quarter):	$500,000
Contract Fee Calculation: $500,000 x [1.00% x (90 ÷ 365)] =	$1,232.87

If your Contract is issued in the middle of a quarter, we will prorate your Contract Fee for that quarter. Thereafter, the Fee for the next calendar quarter will be calculated based on the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base as of the end of the prior calendar quarter. If you terminate your Contract in the middle of a quarter, we will prorate that quarter's Fee and will return the remainder to you.

We will allow you the flexibility to pay the Fees in ways other than through a deduction from Your Account consistent with your Client Agreement.

Will the Contract Fee be the same amount from quarter to quarter?

Since the Fee is based on your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base at the end of the previous quarter, any time the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base increases (via Additional Deposits or the Annual Benefit Base Review) so does the amount of the Fee for the next quarter. Likewise, any time the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base decreases (via Early Withdrawals or Excess Withdrawals), so does the amount of the Fee for the next quarter. Additionally, if you elect an Annual Benefit Base Review when a higher or lower Contract Fee Percentage is in effect, the dollar amount of your Contract Fee will increase or decrease accordingly. Thus, the only way the dollar amount of your Contract Fee will remain the same is if your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and the Contract Fee Percentage associated with your Contract stays the same.

Will advisory and other fees impact the Account Value and the Guarantee under the Contract?

They might. The provisions of your Contract currently allow for a "Withdrawal Exception" whereby withdrawals up to a certain amount can be deducted from Your Account each calendar quarter to pay for MSSB's advisory and other service fees associated with Your Account without being considered Early Withdrawals/Excess Withdrawals, as applicable. Currently, the maximum amount of the Withdrawal Exception is a total of 3.00% of Your Account Value each calendar year.

If MSSB's actual fees for advice and other services exceed 3.00% of Your Account Value, and you withdraw the entire fee amount from Your Account, the amount withdrawn above the 3.00% limit will be considered an Early Withdrawal/Excess Withdrawal, as applicable, and will reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. This means that if you have not yet reached your Withdrawal Start Date and you exceed the Withdrawal Exception, you will have an Early Withdrawal. If you have reached your Withdrawal Start Date and you exceed the Withdrawal Exception, you will have an Excess Withdrawal if you also take the full Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount for that year. Both Early Withdrawals and Excess Withdrawals reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base.

Managing Withdrawals from Your Account

There are many factors that will influence your decision of when to take withdrawals from Your Account and in what amount. No two investors' situations will be exactly the same. You should carefully weigh your decision to take withdrawals from Your Account, the timing of the withdrawals, and the amounts. You should consult with your Financial Advisor and a tax advisor. In addition to the advice you may receive from your advisor, here are a few things to consider:

First:	Early Withdrawals and Excess Withdrawals will reduce your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. The reduction may be substantial, especially if Your Account Value is significantly lower than it was when the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base was last computed or adjusted.
Second:	Once you are ready to begin taking withdrawals of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount from Your Account, consider setting up a quarterly, monthly or other systematic withdrawal program. Doing so may help limit the risk that you will make an Excess Withdrawal.

Third:

Consider the timing of your withdrawals. Because your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base can

increase on your Contract Anniversary via the automatic Annual Benefit Base Review, the higher

Your Account Value is on your Contract Anniversary, the more likely you will be to receive an

increase in your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. You might have a higher Guaranteed

Lifetime Withdrawal Base if you defer withdrawals until after your Contract Anniversary.

Fourth:

Consider that the longer you wait to begin taking withdrawals of the Guaranteed Lifetime

Withdrawal Amount, the less likely it is that you will receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income

Payments. Taking withdrawals reduces Your Account Value. If you wait to begin taking withdrawals,

you are likely to reach the Minimum Account Value later in your life, and at the same time, your

remaining life expectancy will be shorter.

Death Provisions

The treatment of the Contract upon the death of an Annuitant depends on a number of factors. Those include whether the Contract Owner is a natural or non-natural person, whether there is a Co-Annuitant, and whether the Contract is in the Accumulation or Withdrawal Phase or the Income Phase.

		Annuitant's Death in Accumulation or Withdrawal Phase	Annuitant's Death in Income Phase
Sole Contract Owner	Sole Annuitant (no Spousal Continuation Option)	The Contract terminates and we will make no payments under the Contract. We will return that portion of the current quarter's Contract Fee attributable to the time period between your death and the end of the current calendar quarter.	We will calculate the remaining amount of transferred Account Value that has not yet been paid to you in the form of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments. We will make payments to your beneficiary in the same frequency as the Withdrawal Phase in the amount equal to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals until that amount has been paid. If all remaining transferred Account Value has already been paid to you at the time of your death in the form of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments, we will make no further payments.
Sole Contract Owner	Co-Annuitants (spouses with the Spousal Continuation Option)	If the Contract Owner/Co-Annuitant of the Contract dies, the Contract will continue with the surviving Co-Annuitant as the sole Contract Owner and sole Annuitant.	• If the Contract Owner/Co-Annuitant of the Contract dies, we will continue to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to the surviving Contract Owner/Co-Annuitant for the duration of his or her lifetime. • Upon the surviving Contract Owner/Co- Annuitant's death, we will calculate the remaining amount of transferred Account Value that has not yet been paid in the form of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments. We will make payments to your beneficiary in the same frequency as the Withdrawal Phase in the amount equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals until that amount has been paid.

		Annuitant's Death in Accumulation or Withdrawal Phase	Annuitant's Death in Income Phase
Joint Contract Owners (spouses)	Sole Annuitant (no Spousal Continuation Option)	If a Joint Owner who is the Annuitant dies, the Contract terminates and we will make no payments under the Contract. We will return that portion of the current quarter's Contract Fee attributable to the time period between your death and the end of the current calendar quarter.	If a Joint Owner who is the Annuitant dies, we will calculate the remaining amount of transferred Account Value that has not yet been paid to you in the form of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments. We will make payments to your beneficiary in the same frequency as the Withdrawal Phase in the amount equal to your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals until that amount has been paid. If all remaining transferred Account Value has already been paid to you at the time of your death in the form of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments, we will make no further payments.
	Sole Annuitant (no Spousal Continuation Option)	If a Joint Owner who is not the Annuitant dies, the Contract will continue with the surviving Joint Owner/Annuitant as the sole Contract Owner.	If a Joint Owner who is not the Annuitant dies, the Contract will continue with the surviving Joint Owner/Annuitant as the sole Contract Owner receiving Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments.
	Co-Annuitants (spouses with the Spousal Continuation Option)	If a Joint Owner/Co-Annuitant dies, the Contract will continue with the surviving Joint Owner/Co-Annuitant as the sole Contract Owner and sole Annuitant.	• If a Joint Owner/Co-Annuitant dies, we will continue to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to the surviving Joint Owner/Co-Annuitant for the duration of his or her lifetime. • Upon the surviving Joint Owner/Co- Annuitant's death, we will calculate the remaining amount of transferred Account Value that has not yet been paid in the form of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments. We will make payments to your beneficiary in the same frequency as the Withdrawal Phase in the amount equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals until that amount has been paid.

Marriage Termination Provisions

In the event of a divorce, dissolution or annulment whose decree or other agreement affects a Contract, we will require written notice in a manner acceptable to us.

Marriage termination in the Accumulation or Withdrawal Phases.

If the marriage terminates during the Accumulation or Withdrawal Phase and you did not elect the Spousal Continuation Option:

•

If you remain the sole owner of Your Account, there will be no change to the Contract.

•

If your former spouse becomes the sole owner of Your Account, the Contract will be issued as a new Contract, with a new Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base (calculated as of the date the new Contract is issued) with your former spouse as Contract Owner and Annuitant, and the Contract will terminate upon the death of the Annuitant. Alternately, the former spouse may elect to terminate the Contract.

•

If Your Account is divided between you and your former spouse, the Contract will be reissued as two Contracts (one to each of the former spouses). The Guarantee will not carry over and a new Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be established based on the value of each new account as of the date the new Contracts are issued. Each former spouse will be the named Contract Owner and Annuitant of their respective reissued Contract, and each Contract will terminate upon the death of the respective Annuitant. Alternately, each former spouse may elect to terminate their respective Contract.

If the marriage terminates during the Accumulation or Withdrawal Phases and you elected the Spousal Continuation Option:

•

If Your Account is taken over solely by one of the Joint Owners (the "Receiving Joint Owner"), the Receiving Joint Owner may elect whether to have the Contract reissued with him/her as the sole Contract Owner and Annuitant, or continue the Contract with both former spouses remaining as Joint Owners and the Receiving Joint Owner as the annuitant. In either situation, the Contract will terminate upon the death of the Annuitant. Alternately, the Receiving Joint Owner may elect to terminate the Contract.

•

If Your Account is divided between the Joint Owners (the former spouses), the Contract will be reissued as two Contracts (one to each of the former spouses), with the contractual Guarantee divided in proportion to the division of the assets in Your Account and a new Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be established for each Contract based on the value of each account as of the date the new Contracts are issued. The Joint Owners may remain as Joint Owners on each reissued Contract, with one former spouse named as Annuitant on each of the Contracts, or each may become the sole Contract Owner and Annuitant on their respective reissued Contract. In either situation, the Contract will terminate upon the death of the Annuitant. Alternately, each former spouse may elect to terminate their respective Contract.

Marriage termination in the Income Phase.

If, during the Income Phase, the marriage terminates, the Contract will not be reissued. We will make Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to one or more payees as set forth in the relevant decree, order, or judgment.

Contract Owners should consult with their own advisors to assess the tax consequences associated with these marriage termination provisions.

Suspension and Termination Provisions

Suspension and termination provisions only apply during the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases of the Contract.

What does it mean to have a suspended Contract?

Contract suspension will not otherwise change or suspend the calculation of the benefits or charges under your Contract.

If you do not cure the suspension of your Contract, we will terminate your Contract, which will eliminate the Guarantee. You will not receive any benefits of the Guarantee and will not receive any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments from us.

What will cause a Contract to be suspended?

There are several events that can cause a Contract to be suspended. Some of them are within your control; some are not. We reserve the right to suspend the Contract if any of the following events occur:

•

You do not comply with any provision of this prospectus, including, but not limited to, the requirement that you maintain Your Account at MSSB and invest the assets as required by an Eligible Portfolio or a Former Eligible Portfolio, and the requirement that you execute an agreement that provides for the deduction and remittance of the Contract Fee;

•

Your Account Value falls below the Minimum Account Value;

•

MSSB no longer manages any Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios; or

•

You make an Additional Deposit to Your Account when Your Account already exceeds $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits, or you make an Additional Deposit to Your Account that causes Your Account to exceed $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits.

If one of the suspension events occurs, we will provide you with a suspension notice indicating what exactly is triggering the suspension and when the termination will occur. The purpose of this notice is to give you the opportunity to cure the issue that has triggered the suspension. You will have 45 days to correct the suspension event. If you correct the issue within 45 days in a manner acceptable to us, the termination will not take effect.

What can be done to take the Contract out of suspension?

The notice will indicate that there is a specific suspension period, during which you will have the ability to preserve the Guarantee associated with your Contract. The notice will contain a description of one or more actions you can take to take the Contract out of suspension and avoid termination.

If you do not or cannot cure the issue causing the suspension by the end of the suspension period, your Contract will terminate on the date indicated in the notice.

Specific suspension events and their cures.

Your Account Value falls to the Minimum Account Value before the Withdrawal Start Date.

If Your Account Value falls below the Minimum Account Value before your Withdrawal Start Date, your Contract will be suspended. The suspension notification will indicate that you must elect one of three options for the Contract:

(1)

Make Additional Deposits to Your Account to bring Your Account Value above the Minimum Account Value;

(2)

Transfer Your Account Value to the Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio. The Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio is only available to Contract Owners whose Account Value falls below the Minimum Account Value before the Withdrawal Start Date; or

(3)

Terminate the Contract.

If you choose to invest in the Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio under these circumstances, Your Account Value must remain allocated to the Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio until your Withdrawal Start Date, at which time Your Account will transition to the Income Phase, as discussed in the Triggering the Income Phase section.

The Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio currently available with a Contract Fee Percentage of 1.00% is:

Eligible Portfolio	Target Allocations
	U.S. Equity
Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio	U.S. Large Cap Value Equity	U.S. Large Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Value Equity	U.S. Mid Cap Growth Equity	U.S. Small Cap Value Equity	U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity
	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Composition	International Equity		U.S. Fixed Income		International Fixed Income	Cash
	Developed International Equity	Emerging Markets Equity	U.S. Core Fixed Income	U.S. High Yield Fixed Income	International Fixed Income	Cash/U.S. Short Duration Bond
100% Fixed	0%	0%	40 - 60%	0 - 20%	5 - 25%	20 - 40%
Investment Strategy: Fixed Income- An all fixed income model for a most conservative investor that seeks conservative risk investments with minimal market volatility. In order to accommodate a lower account value, the portfolio is only comprised of exchange traded funds (ETFs) which have lower minimum investment requirements.
Investment Objective: The investment objective for this Model has a primary emphasis on capital preservation. This Model is classified to have low volatility. It is most suitable for an investor that is comfortable with minimal fluctuations in their portfolio, and the possibility of larger declines in value, in order to grow their portfolio over time.
Investment Risk: Fixed income is historically considered less risky than equities. The Minimum Account Value Eligible Portfolio has 100% of the assets in fixed income or cash. Therefore, of all of the Eligible Portfolios, this portfolio provides the most conservative investment risk.
Benchmark: 70% BC Aggregate Bond (U.S. Fixed Income)/30% 90-Day T-Bills (Cash)
For a summary of the asset categories and benchmark indices, please refer to the Eligible Portfolios summary earlier in the prospectus.
If you do not notify us of your election by the end of the suspension period, we will assume that you intend to terminate the Contract.

MSSB no longer manages any Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios.

If MSSB no longer manages any Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios, and Nationwide no longer partners with MSSB, we reserve the right to suspend the Contract. The only way to cure this suspension (to preserve your Guarantee under the Contract) is to transfer Your Account Value to a third party account approved by us or to an annuity contract that we, or one of our affiliates, offer.

•

If you decide to transfer to a third party account approved by us, please keep in mind the following:

❍

The charges for those products may be higher than the Contract Fee Percentage assessed in connection with your Contract;

❍

You will not be charged any transfer fees by us other than the termination fees imposed by your custodian consistent with your custodial agreement; and

❍

The value transferred for the Guarantee will be equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base on the Valuation Day of the transfer (a Valuation Day is any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for trading).

•

If you decide to transfer Your Account Value to an annuity contract that we, or one of our affiliates, offer, the amount transferred to the new annuity contract will be equal to the value of Your Account on the Valuation Day of the transfer, and the basis for your Guarantee will be equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base on the Valuation Day of the transfer.

•

If you choose not to transfer Your Account Value, or fail to transfer Your Account Value before the end of the suspension period, the Contract and the Guarantee will terminate.

Additional Deposits that exceed $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits

We must manage the risk that your Guaranteed Lifetime Payments may become too large for us to guarantee. While we do not manage Your Account, we maintain sole discretion as to how high your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base may increase. Therefore, we reserve the right to refuse to accept an Additional Deposit made into Your Account for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base that brings your Total Gross Deposits above $2,000,000. Our decision to accept your Additional Deposit for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base will be based on one or more factors, including but not limited to: age, spouse age (if applicable), Annuitant age, state of issue, total Account Value, election of the Spousal Continuation Option, current market conditions, and current hedging costs. All such decisions will be based on internally established actuarial guidelines and will be applied in a nondiscriminatory manner. Note: If you have more than one MSSB account with this Guarantee, the $2,000,000 limit in Total Gross Deposits applies to the aggregate account value of Your Accounts.

Since you will not independently be able to make the determination as to whether an Additional Deposit will be accepted for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, you and your Financial Advisor should contact the Service Center prior to making any Additional Deposit that you suspect may exceed $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits. We will assist you in determining whether your Additional Deposit will be accepted for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base calculation. This pre-deposit inquiry prevents an inadvertent suspension of your Contract, because submitting Additional Deposits that exceed the $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits limit without Nationwide's prior approval will suspend your Contact, which could lead to Contract termination.

More specifically, the following scenarios apply to the Contract:

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Pre-Deposit Inquiry. If you contact us before you submit an Additional Deposit that you know or suspect will exceed the $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits limit, we will perform an analysis and make a determination as to whether we will accept the Additional Deposit for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. We will notify you of our determination within a reasonable time.

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If we permit the application of all or a portion of an Additional Deposit to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base calculation, that amount will be reflected in your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base at the time you deposit the Additional Deposit to Your Account, provided such deposit is made within 5 days of our notification of approval and provided that such deposit does not exceed the amount evaluated in the pre-deposit inquiry. If you make such Additional Deposit after the expiration of the permitted time period, or it is for an amount greater than that submitted in the pre-deposit inquiry, we will treat the Additional Deposit as if no pre-deposit inquiry was made (see "No Pre-Deposit Inquiry" below) and will immediately suspend your Contract.

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If we exercise our right to refuse to accept all or a portion of an Additional Deposit for the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base (and you have not made the Additional Deposit), we will not suspend your Contract. If however, you proceed to make the Additional Deposit after our notification of our refusal to accept the Additional Deposit for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, we will treat the Additional Deposit as if no pre-deposit inquiry was made (see "No Pre-Deposit Inquiry" below) and will immediately suspend your Contract.

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No Pre-Deposit Inquiry. If you do not contact us before you submit an Additional Deposit that causes Your Account to exceed the $2,000,000 in Total Gross Deposits limit, we will immediately suspend your Contract. We will notify you of the suspension and the reason for the suspension. Then, we will perform an analysis and make a determination as to whether we will accept the Additional Deposit for your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. We will notify you of our determination within a reasonable time during the suspension period. Note: In the

event of multiple Additional Deposits that cause Total Gross Deposits to exceed $2,000,000, each deposit will have its own suspension period and review determination. Multiple Additional Deposits will be evaluated in the order they are deposited.

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If we exercise our right to refuse to accept all or a portion of an Additional Deposit for the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, your Contract will continue to be suspended (as of the date of the Additional Deposit). We will notify you and your Financial Advisor immediately of the Contract's suspended status and will request that you remove the Additional Deposit(s) from Your Account. The notification will indicate that the Contract will remain suspended until you remove the Additional Deposit(s) that caused your Total Gross Deposits to exceed $2,000,000 from Your Account, and that if you do not withdraw the necessary amount from Your Account before the end of the suspension period, the Contract will terminate and you will not be eligible for any of the benefits associated with the Contract. During the suspension period, any withdrawal will not constitute an Early Withdrawal or an Excess Withdrawal.

What will cause a Contract to be terminated?

If you fail to cure the cause of a Contract suspension within 45 days, your Contract will terminate. We will provide you with a pre-termination notice indicating what exactly has triggered the termination and when the termination will be effective. The purpose of this pre-termination notice is to give you the opportunity to either cure the issue that has triggered the termination, or to preserve your Guarantee under the Contract by transferring Your Account Value to a third party account approved by us or to an annuity contract we, or one of our affiliates, offer. If you cure the issue before the termination date in a manner acceptable to us, the termination will not take effect.

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If you decide to transfer to a third party account approved by us, please keep in mind the following:

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The charges for those products may be higher than the Contract Fee Percentage assessed in connection with your Contract;

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You will not be charged any transfer fees by us other than the termination fees imposed by your custodian consistent with your custodial agreement;

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The value transferred for the Guarantee will be equal to the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base on the Valuation Day of the transfer.

•

If you do not cure the issue within the termination cure period, or if you fail to transfer Your Account Value before the end of the termination cure period, the Contract and the Guarantee will terminate. If the Contract does terminate, we will provide you with written notification of the Contract's termination.

Federal Income Tax Considerations

The following discussion is based on our understanding of current United States federal income tax laws. It is a general discussion and does not address all possible circumstances that may be relevant to the tax treatment of a particular Contract Owner. This discussion does not address the tax treatment of transactions involving the investment assets held in Your Account, except to the extent that they may be affected by ownership of the Contract. This discussion does not address matters relating to federal estate and gift tax consequences, or state and local income, estate, inheritance, or other tax consequences of ownership of a Contract.

This Contract is a new and innovative product. The IRS has not yet addressed the tax consequences of ownership of, or distributions from, the Contract (or products similar to the Contract) in any formal ruling or other type of guidance that may be used or cited as precedent. It is possible that the IRS could attempt to apply rules different than the ones described below to the taxation of the distributions from the Contract and/or for transactions taking place within Your Account.

The Contract is in form an annuity contract, and we intend to treat the Contract as an annuity for federal income tax purposes. The Contract will be paid for by periodic payments to Nationwide in exchange for a promise to make periodic payments upon the occurrence of certain events, which payments will cease upon death, with the express purpose of

providing long-term income security. Consequently, we intend to report taxable income under the Contract to you consistent with the rules applicable to annuity contracts, and the payments will be treated as being annuity payments made after the annuity starting date. We can give no assurances that the IRS will agree with our interpretation regarding the proper tax treatment of the Contract, or the tax implications to the investments in Your Account that may arise by reason of the Contract, or that a Court would agree with our interpretation if the IRS were to challenge such tax treatments.

Except as provided in the Death Provisions section, we will make no Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments to your beneficiary. We will not return any fees except for the portion of the current quarter's Fees paid in advance.

Because this is a new and innovative product, there are no binding authorities directly addressing the taxation of distributions from the Contract, or how ownership of the Contract may affect the taxation of transactions within Your Account. Any relevant authorities are susceptible to numerous interpretations, some of which may cause the IRS to disagree with our interpretations. If the IRS were to successfully challenge the tax treatment described herein, it could have a material and adverse effect on the tax consequences of the acquisition, owning, and disposition of investments in Your Account. In addition, it is possible that, due to changes in your circumstances in future years, the tax consequences under the qualified dividend and straddle rule could change. For example, losses may be realized when it has become likely that the value of Your Account has been reduced to the greater of $10,000 or your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount. You should consult with your own tax advisors regarding the potential tax implications of purchasing and/or owning a Contract, based on your individual circumstances.

Tax consequences with respect to Your Account and/or your Contract may also be adversely affected by future changes in the tax law.

The IRS addressed arrangements that are similar to the Contract in Private Letter Rulings 200939018, 200949007, 200949036, 201001016, and 201105004. Pursuant to §6110(k)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, private letter rulings may not be used or cited as precedent, and therefore cannot be relied upon as authoritative rulings by the IRS. With respect to the arrangements described in those private letter rulings, the IRS concluded that: (a) the annuity contract would be treated as an annuity within the meaning of §72 of the Internal Revenue Code; (b) the annuity would not create a right of reimbursement for losses realized on account assets for purposes of §165 and therefore would not prevent a current deduction for such losses; (c) the annuity would not be treated as diminishing the account owner's risk of loss on account assets for purposes of applying the holding period requirements of §1(h)(11); and (d) the annuity contract and the account assets would not, either at the time of the issuance of the contract or subsequently, be viewed as components of a straddle within the meaning of §1092.

THE FOLLOWING GENERAL DISCUSSION IS BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE CONTRACT WILL BE TREATED AS AN ANNUITY FOR INCOME TAX PURPOSES.

Taxation of Distributions from the Contract.

If and when you begin the Income Phase, any Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments made from the Contract are expected to be substantially equal periodic payments, paid no less frequently than annually, and are to be paid while the Annuitant is living (or, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected, while either Co-Annuitant is living), and will terminate upon the death of the Annuitant (or, if the Spousal Continuation Option is elected, upon the death of the surviving Co-Annuitant). For federal income tax purposes, Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments should be treated as amounts received as an annuity, and should be taxed in accordance with the rules applicable to annuity payments. As amounts received as an annuity, the portion of these payments that is allocable to income should be taxable to you as ordinary income, and the portion of the payments that is allocable to your after tax payments of premiums for the Contract, or basis, should be treated as the nontaxable return of basis. The amount excludable from each Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal in the Income Phase will be determined by the following calculation:

Excludable Amount	=	Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal	X	Contract Owner's investment in the Contract
				the expected total amount of Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments over the life of the Contract*

The "expected total amount of the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments over the life of the Contract" is equal to the amount of one Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal payment multiplied by a factor that is determined by your life expectancy. The life expectancy factor tables appear in Treasury Regulation 1.72-9.

The maximum amount excludable from income is the investment in the Contract; once the entire after-tax investment in the Contract is recovered, all Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments would be fully includable in income. If payments cease by reason of the death of an Annuitant before the after-tax basis has been fully recovered through Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments, such unrecovered amounts should be allowable as an income tax deduction in the Contract Owner's last taxable year.

We anticipate that the investment in the Contract will be equal to all amounts paid to us from Your Account. However, it is possible that the IRS could take the position that a portion or all of such payments are nondeductible expenses that are not includible in your investment in the Contract.

Taxation of Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios that are not held by an Individual Retirement Account.

We believe that in both form and substance the Contract is an annuity for income tax purposes and should be taxed in accordance with the rules applicable to annuities. Similarly, we believe that transactions (such as sales, redemptions, exchanges, distributions, etc.) involving the investments in the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios should receive the same income tax treatment as would be accorded them in the absence of the Contract. The taxation of such transactions is outside the scope of this prospectus, and you should consult with your advisors regarding any matters relating to transactions within Your Account.

The sale of any assets in Your Account in order to pay the Contract Fee for your Contract will be a taxable event, in the same manner as if the assets were sold for any other purpose. Payments of the Contract Fee for your Contract are not on a tax-free basis and are not deductible.

Although the question is not completely free of doubt, we believe that the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios will not be subject to the "straddle" rules by reason of owning the Contract. The IRS defines straddle as offsetting positions in actively traded personal property. Positions are considered "offsetting" if holding one position substantially diminishes the risk of loss on another position held by a taxpayer. If the straddle rules were to apply to the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios, the holding period for determining whether the sale of an asset qualifies for long-term capital gain treatment would be suspended, and recognition of losses from the sale of investments could be deferred. To date, there have been no binding published authorities on this matter, and the IRS may seek to impose the straddle tax rules to your Eligible Portfolio or Former Eligible Portfolio, which could result in adverse tax consequences (such as the deferral of the income tax deduction for losses incurred in Your Account) to you.

Additional Medicare Tax.

Section 1411 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes a surtax of 3.8% on certain net investment income received by individuals and certain trusts and estates. The surtax is imposed on the lesser of (a) net investment income or (b) the excess of the modified adjusted gross income over a threshold amount. For individuals, the threshold amount is $250,000 (married filing jointly); $125,000 (married filing separately); or $200,000 (single, or head of household with qualifying person, or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child). The threshold for an estate or trust that is subject to the surtax is $7,500.

Modified adjusted gross income is equal to gross income with several modifications. Consult with a qualified tax advisor regarding how to determine modified adjusted gross income for purposes of determining the applicability of the surtax.

Net investment income includes, but is not limited to, interest, dividends, capital gains, rent and royalty income, and income from nonqualified annuities. Net investment income does not include, among other things, distributions from certain qualified plans (such as IRAs, Roth IRAs, and plans described in Internal Revenue Code Sections 401(a), 401(k), 403(a), 403(b) or 457(b)); however, such distributions, to the extent that they are includible in income for federal income tax purposes, are includible in modified adjusted gross income.

The foregoing discussion concerns the surtax’s potential impact to the Contract which we believe is an annuity for income tax purposes and should be taxed in accordance with rules applicable to annuities. This discussion is not intended to address the surtax’s impact on the investments in the Eligible Portfolios or Former Eligible Portfolios. You should consult with your advisors regarding the impact of the tax on the assets in Your Account.

Same-Sex Marriages, Domestic Partnership and Other Similar Relationships.

The Treasury issued final regulations that address what relationships are considered a marriage for federal tax purposes. The final regulations definition of marriage reflects the United States Supreme Court holdings in Windsor and Obergefell, as well as Rev. Proc. 2017-13.

The final regulations define the terms "spouse", "husband", "wife", and "husband and wife" to be gender neutral so that such terms can apply equally to same sex couples and opposite sex couples. The regulations adopt the "place of celebration" rule to determine marital status for federal tax purposes. A marriage of two individuals is recognized for federal tax purposes if the marriage is recognized by a state, possession, or territory of the US in which the marriage was entered into, regardless of the couples place of domicile.

Consistent with Rev. Proc. 2013-17, the final regulations provide that relationships entered into as civil unions, or registered domestic partnerships that is not denominated as marriages under state law are not marriages for federal tax purposes. Therefore, the favorable income-tax deferral options afforded by federal tax law to a married spouse under Code Sections 72 and 401(a)(9) are not available to individuals who have entered into these formal relationships.

Section 1035 Exchanges.

Although Section 1035 of the Internal Revenue Code provides rules that permit the tax-free exchange of annuity contracts under certain conditions, the Contract does not permit any such exchanges, either from or into another annuity, except as stated in the "Suspension and Termination Provisions" and "Marriage Termination Provisions" of this prospectus.

Qualified Retirement Plans: Individual Retirement Accounts.

The Contract is not offered as an Individual Retirement Annuity described in Section 408(b) of the Internal Revenue Code; however, it may be issued to the trustee or custodian of an IRA described in Section 408(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Contract is not issued to employer sponsored qualified retirement plans described in section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code, or as a tax sheltered annuity described in Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code.

If the Contract is purchased inside an IRA, then the beneficial owner of the IRA must be an Annuitant under the Contract. Payments from the Contract will be made to the IRA. Income received by an IRA is generally received by it tax free, whereas distributions from the IRA are generally treated as ordinary income (or, in the case of certain distributions from Roth IRAs, as nontaxable income). For questions regarding tax matters related to your IRA, including matters relating to the taxation of distributions and required minimum distributions, please refer to the information provided to you by the custodian or trustee of the IRA.

We have made no determination as to whether this Contract complies with the terms, conditions and requirements of, or applicable law governing, an IRA. It is your responsibility to determine such compliance matters.

We are not responsible for administering any legal or tax requirements applicable to your IRA, including but not limited to determining the timing and amount of any distributions that may be required, designation of beneficiaries, etc. You or your service provider are responsible for all such matters.

The value of your Contract may be required to be considered in determining the amount of the required distributions from your IRA. We will provide a value of the Contract to your custodian or trustee upon request, but will not determine the total required minimum distribution amount that your IRA will be required to make.

You should consult your plan description and with your custodian or trustee to determine the income tax consequences with respect to contributions to, ownership of, and distributions from, your IRA.

Income Tax Withholding.

Distributions of income from the Contract are subject to federal income tax. We will withhold the tax from the distributions unless you request otherwise. However, under some circumstances, the Internal Revenue Code will not permit you to waive withholding. Such circumstances include:

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if you do not provide us with a taxpayer identification number; or

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if we receive notice from the Internal Revenue Service that the taxpayer identification number furnished by you is incorrect.

If you are prohibited from waiving withholding, as described above, the distribution will be subject to withholding rates established by Section 3405 of the Internal Revenue Code and is applied against the amount of income that is distributed.

State and Local Tax Considerations.

The tax rules across all states and localities are not uniform and therefore will not be discussed in this prospectus. Tax rules that may apply to contracts issued in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam are also not discussed. Prospective purchasers of the Contract should consult a financial consultant, tax advisor or legal counsel to discuss any state or local taxation questions.

Non-Resident Aliens.

Generally, income that is payable to a non-resident alien is subject to federal income tax at a rate of 30%. We are required to withhold this amount and send it to the Internal Revenue Service. Some distributions to non-resident aliens may be subject to a lower (or no) tax if a treaty applies. In order to obtain the benefits of such a treaty, the non-resident alien must:

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Provide us with a properly completed withholding contract claiming the treaty benefit of a lower tax rate or exemption from tax; and

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Provide us with an individual taxpayer identification number.

If the non-resident alien does not meet the above conditions, we will withhold 30% of income from the distribution.

Exemption from the 30% withholding is also potentially available for a non-resident alien if the following is provided:

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sufficient evidence that the distribution is connected to the non-resident alien's conduct of business in the United States;

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sufficient evidence that the distribution is includable in the non-resident alien's gross income for United States federal income tax purposes; and

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a properly completed withholding contract claiming the exemption.

Note that for the preceding exemption, the distributions would be subject to the same withholding rules that are applicable to payments to United States persons.

FATCA

Under Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Internal Revenue Code (commonly referred to as FATCA), distributions from a Contract to a foreign financial institution or to a nonfinancial foreign entity, each as described by FATCA, may be subject to United States tax withholding at a flat rate equal to 30% of the taxable amount of the distribution, irrespective of the status of any beneficial owner of the Contract or of the distribution. Nationwide may require you to provide certain information or documentation (e.g., Form W-9 or Form W-8BEN) to determine its withholding requirements under FATCA.

Payment of Advisory or Service Fees.

Payment of Advisory or Service Fees in excess of 3.00% of Your Account Value will reduce the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base and Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals under the Contract. The Withdrawal Exception differs from your Maximum Contract Fee Percentage because the 3% Withdrawal Exception is based on Account Value, while your Maximum Contract Fee Percentage is based on your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. If you pay advisory or service fees for a Contract issued to your IRA from other assets in your IRA, that payment will not be a "distribution" from your IRA under the Internal Revenue Code. If you pay advisory or service fees for a Contract issued to your IRA from other assets held outside your IRA, these fees would generally be treated as an additional contribution to your IRA, would be subject to all of the restrictions and limitations that any other contribution to an IRA would be subject to and, depending on your individual circumstances, may not be a permissible contribution. Such payment may also have other tax consequences to you, and you should consult a tax advisor for further information.

Seek Tax Advice.

The above description of federal income tax consequences of the different types of IRAs which may hold a Contract offered by this prospectus is only a brief summary meant to alert you to the issues and is not intended as tax advice. Anything less than full compliance with the applicable rules, all of which are subject to change, may have adverse tax consequences. Any person considering the purchase of a Contract in connection with an IRA should first consult a qualified tax advisor with regard to the suitability of a Contract for the IRA.

We can provide no assurances, in the event the Internal Revenue Service was to challenge the foregoing treatment that a court would agree with the foregoing interpretations of the law. You should consult with your independent tax and legal advisors before purchasing the Contract.

Miscellaneous Provisions

Ownership of the Contract.

If you and any joint Contract Owner are individuals, each Owner is required to be named as a Contract Owner. If the Owner is a trust or other non-natural person, an individual must be named as Annuitant.

Periodic communications to Contract Owners.

Statements regarding Your Account will be provided to you periodically by your Financial Advisor, or a designated third party.

During the Accumulation and Withdrawal Phases, we will send you and your Financial Advisor an annual statement. You and your Financial Advisor will receive automatic confirmation statements containing information about any change in your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base, and you may receive these confirmation statements more frequently than annually at no additional charge. For more information, please contact the Service Center.

Amendments to the Contract.

Changes in the Contract may need to be approved by the state insurance departments. The consent of the Contract Owner to an amendment will be obtained to the extent required by law.

Assignment.

You may not assign your interest in the Contract during the Accumulation or Withdrawal Phase. You may not assign your interest in the Contract during the Income Phase without Nationwide’s prior approval.

Misstatements.

If the age of the Annuitant or any Co-Annuitant is misstated, any Contract benefits will be re-determined using the correct age(s). If any overpayments have been made, future payments will be adjusted. Any underpayments will be paid in full.

Distribution (Marketing) of the Contract

Nationwide Investment Services Corporation ("NISC") acts as the national distributor of the Contracts sold through this prospectus. NISC is registered as a broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("1934 Act") and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). NISC's address is One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, Ohio 43215. In Michigan only, NISC refers to Nationwide Investment Svcs. Corporation. NISC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nationwide. We do not pay commissions to NISC or to unaffiliated broker-dealers for the promotion and sale of the Contracts.

NISC does not sell Contracts directly to purchasers. Contracts sold through this prospectus can be purchased through registered representatives, appointed by Nationwide, of FINRA broker-dealer member firms. NISC has entered into a selling agreement with MSSB to sell the Contracts through their registered representatives. Their registered representatives are licensed as insurance agents by applicable state insurance authorities and appointed as agents of Nationwide in order to sell the Contracts. Nationwide offers these Contracts on a continuous basis; however no broker- dealer is obligated to sell any particular amount of Contracts. For limited periods of time, Nationwide may pay additional compensation to broker-dealers as part of special sales promotions. Regardless of any amount paid or received by Nationwide, the amount of expenses you pay under the Contract will not vary because of such payments to or from such selling firms. Nationwide will not pass sales expenses through to the Contract Owner.

Legal Opinion

Legal matters in connection with federal laws and regulations affecting the issue and sale of the Contracts described in this prospectus and the organization of Nationwide, its authority to issue the Contracts under Ohio law, and the validity of the Contracts under Ohio law have been passed on by Nationwide's Office of General Counsel.

About Nationwide

Nationwide is a stock life insurance company organized under Ohio law in March 1929, with its Home Office at One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Nationwide is a provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement products. It is admitted to do business in all states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Nationwide is a member of the Nationwide group of companies. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company (the "Companies") are the ultimate controlling persons of the Nationwide group of companies. The Companies were organized under Ohio law in December 1925 and 1933 respectively. The Companies engage in a general insurance and reinsurance business, except life insurance.

Nationwide is relying on the exemption provided by Rule 12h-7 under the 1934 Act. In reliance on that exemption, Nationwide does not file periodic reports that would be otherwise required under the 1934 Act.

You can request additional information about Nationwide by contacting the Service Center.

Contacting the Service Center

All inquiries, paperwork, information requests, service requests, and transaction requests should be made to the Service Center:

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by telephone at 1-800-848-6331 (TDD 1-800-238-3035)

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by mail to P.O. Box 182021, Columbus, Ohio 43218-2021.

Nationwide may be required to provide information about your contract to government regulators. If mandated under applicable law, Nationwide may be required to reject a purchase payment and to refuse to process transaction requests for transfers, withdrawals, loans, and/or death benefits until instructed otherwise by the appropriate regulator.

Nationwide will use reasonable procedures to confirm that instructions are genuine and will not be liable for following instructions that it reasonably determined to be genuine. Nationwide may record telephone requests. Telephone and computer systems may not always be available. Any telephone system or computer, whether yours or Nationwide's, can experience outages or slowdowns for a variety of reasons. The outages or slowdowns could prevent or delay processing. Although Nationwide has taken precautions to support heavy use, it is still possible to incur an outage or delay. To avoid technical difficulties, submit transaction requests by mail.

Experts

The statutory financial statements and financial statement schedules of Nationwide Life Insurance Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2023, have been included herein in reliance upon the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, appearing elsewhere herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

The KPMG LLP report dated March 20, 2024 of Nationwide Life Insurance Company includes explanatory language that states that the financial statements are prepared by Nationwide Life Insurance Company using statutory accounting practices prescribed or permitted by the Ohio Department of Insurance, which is a basis of accounting other than U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, the KPMG LLP audit report states that the financial statements are not presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and further states that those financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with statutory accounting practices prescribed or permitted by the Ohio Department of Insurance.

The KPMG LLP report dated March 20, 2024 of Nationwide Life Insurance Company also contains an emphasis of matter paragraph that states that Nationwide Life Insurance Company’s subsidiary received permission from the Ohio Department of Insurance in 2023 to account for an excess of loss reinsurance recoverable as an admitted asset. Under prescribed statutory accounting practices, the excess of loss reinsurance recoverable would not be an admitted asset. As of December 31, 2023, that permitted accounting practice increased statutory surplus over what it would have been had that prescribed accounting practice been followed. KPMG LLP’s opinions are not modified with respect to this matter.

Disclosure of Commission Position on Indemnification

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of Nationwide, Nationwide has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the 1933 Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, Nationwide will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the 1933 Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

Legal Proceedings

Nationwide Life Insurance Company

Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. (NFS, or collectively with its subsidiaries, the "Company") was formed in November 1996. NFS is the holding company for Nationwide Life Insurance Company (NLIC), Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company (NLAIC) and other companies that comprise the life insurance and retirement savings operations of the Nationwide group of companies (Nationwide). This group includes Nationwide Financial Network (NFN), an affiliated distribution network that markets directly to its customer base. NFS is incorporated in Delaware and maintains its principal executive offices in Columbus, Ohio.

The Company is subject to legal and regulatory proceedings in the ordinary course of its business. These include proceedings specific to the Company and proceedings generally applicable to business practices in the industries in which the Company operates. The outcomes of these proceedings cannot be predicted due to their complexity, scope, and many uncertainties. The Company believes, however, that based on currently known information, the ultimate outcome of all pending legal and regulatory proceedings is not likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition.

The various businesses conducted by the Company are subject to oversight by numerous federal and state regulatory entities, including but not limited to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and state insurance authorities. Such regulatory entities may, in the normal course of business, be engaged in general or targeted inquiries, examinations and investigations of the Company and/or its affiliates. With respect to all such scrutiny directed at the

Company or its affiliates, the Company is cooperating with regulators.

Definitions

Accumulation Phase – The phase of the Contract from the time the Contract is issued until the Withdrawal Phase.

Account Value – The value of the assets in Your Account, as determined as of the close of business on a Valuation

Day.

Additional Deposit(s) – Payments applied to Your Account after the Contract is issued.

Annuitant – The person whose life span is used to measure the Guarantee during the Accumulation, Withdrawal and

Income Phases under the Contract.

Annuity – The supplemental immediate fixed income annuity contract issued to you when you begin the Income

Phase of the Contract.

Annuity Commencement Date – The date the Annuity is issued.

Client Agreement – The agreement you sign that authorizes MSSB and the Overlay Manager to provide the specified

services to you regarding Your Account.

Co-Annuitant – If the Contract is jointly owned and you elect the Spousal Continuation Option, you must name a

spouse as Co-Annuitant, which is the second person whose life span is used to measure the Guarantee during the

Accumulation, Withdrawal and Income Phases under the Contract.

Contract – The Guarantee and supplemental immediate fixed income annuity issued by Nationwide, including any

endorsements or riders.

Contract Anniversary – The anniversary of the date we issue your Contract.

Contract Fee or Fee – The fee that is assessed quarterly from Your Account during the Accumulation Phase and

Withdrawal Phase and remitted to us by MSSB.

Contract Fee Percentage – The percentage that is multiplied by your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base to

determine your Contract Fee.

Contract Owner or you – The person, entity and/or Joint Owner that maintains all rights under the Contract, including

the right to direct who receives Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments.

Contract Year – The one-year period starting on the date we issue the Contract and each Contract Anniversary

thereafter.

Early Withdrawal – Any withdrawal you take from Your Account prior to the Withdrawal Start Date.

Excess Withdrawal – The portion of a withdrawal taken after the Withdrawal Start Date that is in excess of the

Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount.

General Account – An account that includes Nationwide's assets, which are available to our creditors.

Guarantee – Our obligation to pay you Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments for the rest of your life, provided that

you comply with the terms of the Contract.

Guaranteed Lifetime Income Payments – Payments you receive during the Income Phase from Nationwide.

Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals – Withdrawals you make after the Withdrawal Start Date during the Withdrawal

Phase. The amount of each Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal will be equal to your most recent Guaranteed Lifetime

Withdrawal Amount.

Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount – The amount that you can withdraw from Your Account each calendar

year during the Withdrawal Phase without reducing your Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base. This amount is non-

cumulative, meaning that withdrawals not taken cannot be carried over from one year to the next.

Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base – The amount multiplied by the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage

to determine the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount. The Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Base may increase

or decrease, as described in this prospectus.

Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Percentage – The percentage multiplied by the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal

Base to determine the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount, and varies based on age and the time of the

withdrawal.

Income Phase – The phase of the Contract during which we are obligated to make Guaranteed Lifetime Income

Payments to the Annuitant.

Individual Retirement Account or IRA – An account that qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 408(a) of

the Internal Revenue Code, but does not include Roth IRAs.

Joint Owner – One of two Contract Owners, each of which owns an undivided interest in the Contract. Joint Owners

must be spouses as recognized under applicable federal law.

MSSB – Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, its affiliates, or any successors.

Nationwide, we or us – Nationwide Life Insurance Company.

Non-Qualified Contract – A Contract that does not qualify for favorable tax treatment under the Internal Revenue

Code as an IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, or Simple IRA.

Roth IRA – An account that qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 408A of the Internal Revenue Code.

SEC or Commission – Securities and Exchange Commission.

SEP IRA – An account that qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 408(k) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Service Center – The department of Nationwide responsible for receiving all service and transaction requests relating

to the contract. For service and transaction requests submitted other than by telephone (including fax requests), the

Service Center is Nationwide's mail and document processing facility. For service and transaction requests

communicated by telephone, the Service Center is Nationwide's operations processing facility. Information on how to

contact the Service Center is in the "Contacting the Service Center" provision.

Simple IRA – An account that qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 408(p) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Total Gross Deposits – The total of all deposits, including your initial deposit and excluding any withdrawals, made

into Your Account.

Valuation Date or Day – Each day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business. The value of Your Account is

determined at the end of each Valuation Date, which is generally at 4:00 pm EST, but may be earlier on certain days

when the New York Stock Exchange is closed early.

Withdrawal Phase – The phase of the Contract during which you take Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals from Your

Account.

Withdrawal Start Date – The date we receive at the Service Center your completed Withdrawal Phase election form

indicating your eligibility (and the Co-Annuitant's eligibility, if applicable) and desire to enter the Withdrawal Phase

and begin taking annual withdrawals of the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Amount from Your Account.

You – In this prospectus, "you" means the Contract Owner and/or Joint Owners.

Your Account – The Select UMA account you own.

APPENDIX A

NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

(A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Nationwide Financial Services, Inc.)

2023 Form S-1 MD&A, Statutory Financial Statements and Supplemental Schedules

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BUSINESS

Overview

Nationwide Life Insurance Company ("NLIC" or "the Company") is an Ohio domiciled stock life insurance company. The Company is a member of the Nationwide group of companies ("Nationwide"), which is comprised of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company ("NMIC") and all of its affiliates and subsidiaries.

All of the outstanding shares of NLIC’s common stock are owned by Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. ("NFS"), a holding company formed by Nationwide Corporation ("Nationwide Corp."), a majority-owned subsidiary of NMIC.

The Company is a leading provider of long-term savings and retirement products in the United States of America ("U.S."). The Company develops and sells a wide range of products and services, which include life insurance, fixed and variable individual annuities, private and public sector group retirement plans, investment advisory services, pension risk transfer ("PRT") contracts and other investment products. The Company is licensed to conduct business in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Wholly-owned subsidiaries of NLIC as of December 31, 2023 include Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company ("NLAIC") and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Olentangy Reinsurance, LLC ("Olentangy") and Nationwide SBL, LLC ("NWSBL"), Jefferson National Life Insurance Company ("JNL") and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jefferson National Life Insurance Company of New York ("JNLNY"), Eagle Captive Reinsurance, LLC ("Eagle"), Nationwide Investment Services Corporation ("NISC") and Nationwide Investment Advisors, LLC ("NIA"). NLAIC primarily offers individual annuity contracts including fixed annuity contracts, group annuity contracts including PRT contracts, universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance, term life insurance and corporate-owned life insurance on a non-participating basis. Olentangy is a dormant Vermont domiciled special purpose financial insurance company and nonadmitted subsidiary. NWSBL is an Ohio limited liability company and offers a securities-based lending product and is a nonadmitted subsidiary. JNL and JNLNY primarily offer individual deferred fixed and variable annuity products. Eagle is an Ohio domiciled special purpose financial captive insurance company. NISC is a registered broker-dealer. NIA is a registered investment advisor and nonadmitted subsidiary.

Business Segments

Management views the Company’s business primarily based on its underlying products and uses this basis to define its four reportable segments: Life Insurance, Annuities, Retirement Solutions and Corporate Solutions and Other.

"Pre-tax operating earnings (losses)" used below is defined as income before federal income tax expense and net realized capital gains and losses on investments.

Life Insurance

The Life Insurance segment consists of life insurance products, including individual variable universal life insurance products, traditional life insurance products, fixed universal life insurance products and indexed universal life insurance products. Life insurance products provide a death benefit and, for certain products, allow the customer to build cash value on a tax-advantaged basis.

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Life Insurance segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	2021
Total revenues	$888	$876	$877
Pre-tax operating earnings (losses)	$68	$110	$(24 )

Annuities

The Annuities segment consists of individual deferred annuity products and immediate annuities. Individual deferred annuity contracts consist of deferred variable annuity contracts, deferred fixed annuity contracts, deferred registered index-linked annuity contracts and deferred fixed indexed annuity contracts. Deferred annuity contracts provide the customer with tax-deferred accumulation of savings and flexible payout options including lump sum, systematic withdrawal or a stream of payments for life. In addition, deferred variable annuity contracts provide the customer with access to a wide range of investment options and asset protection features. Deferred fixed annuity contracts offered by the Company generate a return for the customer at a specified interest rate fixed for prescribed periods. Deferred registered index-linked annuity contracts and deferred fixed indexed annuity contracts are linked to the performance of an external index and subject to other factors that determine the performance of the contract. Immediate annuities differ from deferred annuities

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in that the initial premium is exchanged for a stream of income for a certain period and/or for the owner’s lifetime without future access to the original investment. The selected financial data for the Company’s Annuities segment for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, reflect transfers for retirement plan guarantee products to the Retirement Solutions segment beginning in 2023.

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Annuities segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	2021
Total revenues	$9,549	$7,733	$8,513
Pre-tax operating earnings	$171	$194	$603

Retirement Solutions

The Retirement Solutions segment is composed of the private and public sector retirement plans businesses. The private sector business primarily includes Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") Section 401-qualified plans funded through fixed and variable group annuity contracts. The public sector business primarily includes IRC Section 457(b) and Section 401(a) governmental plans, both in the form of full-service arrangements that provide plan administration along with fixed and variable group annuities, as well as in the form of administration-only business. The Retirement Solutions segment also includes stable value wrap products and solutions. The selected financial data for the Company’s Retirement Solutions segment for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, reflect transfers for retirement plan guarantee products from the Annuities segment beginning in 2023.

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Retirement Solutions segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	2021
Total revenues	$5,172	$6,148	$5,648
Pre-tax operating earnings	$139	$170	$169

Corporate Solutions and Other

The Corporate Solutions and Other segment consists of corporate-owned life insurance ("COLI") and bank-owned life insurance ("BOLI") products, PRT, small business group life insurance, spread income on Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati ("FHLB") funding agreements and net investment income on invested assets not assigned to other reportable segments. Certain COLI and BOLI products include stable value wrap products and solutions.

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Corporate Solutions and Other segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	2021
Total revenues	$4,586	$4,143	$2,312
Pre-tax operating earnings	$1,081	$360	$737

Marketing and Distribution

The Company sells its products through a diverse distribution network. Unaffiliated entities that sell, recommend or direct the purchase of the Company’s products to their own customer bases include independent broker-dealers, financial institutions, wirehouses and regional firms, pension plan administrators, life insurance agencies, life insurance specialists and registered investment advisors. Affiliates that market products directly to a customer base include Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Inc. ("NRS"), Nationwide Securities, LLC ("NSLLC") and Nationwide Financial General Agency, Inc. ("NFGA"). The Company believes its broad range of competitive products, strong distributor relationships and diverse distribution network position it to compete effectively under various economic conditions.

Unaffiliated Distribution

Independent Broker-Dealers, Registered Investment Advisors, Regional Firms and Life Insurance Agencies. The Company sells individual annuities, mutual funds, group retirement plans, PRT and life insurance products through, or at the recommendation or direction of, independent broker-dealers, registered investment advisors and agencies (including brokerage general agencies in the Life Insurance and Annuities segments) and regional firms in each state and the District

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of Columbia. The Company also provides information and education to registered investment advisors who may recommend these products to their customers. The Company believes that it has developed strong relationships based on its diverse product mix, large selection of fund options and administrative technology. In addition to such relationships, the Company believes its financial strength and the Nationwide brand name are competitive advantages in these distribution channels. The Company regularly seeks to expand this distribution network.

Financial Institutions and Wirehouses. The Company markets individual annuities, mutual funds, private sector retirement plans and life insurance products through financial institutions and wirehouses, consisting primarily of banks and their subsidiaries. The Company markets individual annuities and life insurance products under its brand name and on a private-label basis. The Company believes that it has competitive advantages in this distribution channel, including its expertise in training financial institution personnel to sell annuities, life insurance and pension products, its breadth of product offerings, its financial strength, the Nationwide brand name and the ability to offer private-label products.

Pension Plan Administrators. The Company markets group retirement plans organized pursuant to IRC Section 401 and sponsored by employers as part of employee retirement programs through regional pension plan administrators. The Company also has linked pension plan administrators to the financial planning community to sell group pension products. The Company targets employers with 25 to 2,000 employees because it believes that these plan sponsors tend to require extensive record-keeping services from pension plan administrators, and therefore are more likely to become long-term customers.

Life Insurance Specialists. The Company markets COLI and BOLI through life insurance specialists, which are firms that specialize in the design, implementation and administration of executive benefit plans.

Affiliated Distribution

NRS. NRS markets various products and services to the public sector, primarily on a retail basis, through several sales organizations. NRS markets group variable annuities and fixed annuities, as well as administration and record-keeping services to state and local governments for use in their IRC Section 457 and Section 401(a) retirement programs. NRS maintains endorsement arrangements with state and local government entities, including the National Association of Counties and the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Affiliated Producers. The Company has affiliated producers that are authorized to distribute life insurance, annuity and mutual fund products, as well as individual securities and investment advisory services. Producers licensed and appointed through NFGA sell fixed life insurance and fixed annuities to individual consumers. Producers licensed and registered with NSLLC, a registered broker-dealer and federally registered investment advisor, offer variable life insurance and variable annuities, as well as various other securities and investment advisory services.

Reinsurance

The Company follows the industry practice of reinsuring with other companies a portion of its life insurance, annuity and accident and health risks in order to reduce the net liability on individual risks, to provide protection against large losses, achieve greater diversification of risks and obtain statutory capital relief. The maximum net amount at risk of individual ordinary life insurance retained by the Company on any one life is $10 million. The Company cedes insurance on both an automatic basis, whereby risks are ceded to a reinsurer on specific blocks of business where the underlying risks meet certain predetermined criteria, and on a facultative basis, whereby the reinsurer’s prior approval is required for each risk reinsured.

The Company has entered into reinsurance contracts with certain unaffiliated reinsurers to cede a portion of its general account life, annuity and accident and health business. Total amounts recoverable under these unaffiliated reinsurance contracts totaled $58 million and $9 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Under the terms of certain contracts, specified assets are generally placed in trusts as collateral for the recoveries. The trust assets are invested in investment-grade securities, the fair value of which must at all times be greater than or equal to 100% or 102% of the reinsured reserves, as outlined in each of the underlying contracts. Certain portions of the Company’s variable annuity guaranteed benefit risks are also reinsured. These treaties reduce the Company’s exposure to death benefit and income benefit guarantee risk in the Life Insurance and Annuities segments. The Company has no other material reinsurance arrangements with unaffiliated reinsurers.

The Company’s material reinsurance agreements with affiliates are the modified coinsurance agreement, pursuant to which NLIC cedes to NMIC nearly all of its accident and health insurance business not ceded to unaffiliated reinsurers, the 100% coinsurance agreement with funds withheld with Eagle to cede specified guaranteed minimum death benefits ("GMDB") and guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits ("GLWB") obligations provided under substantially all of the variable

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annuity contracts and certain fixed indexed annuity contracts issued and to be issued by NLIC, the modified coinsurance agreement with NLAIC, pursuant to which NLIC assumes certain inforce and subsequently issued fixed individual deferred annuity contracts, the modified coinsurance agreement with NLAIC, pursuant to which NLIC assumes certain variable universal life insurance, whole life insurance and universal life insurance policies, and the 100% coinsurance agreement with NLAIC, pursuant to which NLIC assumes a certain life insurance contract, as described in Note 11 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report.

Ratings

Ratings with respect to claims-paying ability and financial strength are one factor in establishing the competitive position of insurance companies. These ratings represent each agency’s opinion of an insurance company’s financial strength, operating performance, strategic position and ability to meet its obligations to policyholders. Such factors are important to policyholders, agents and intermediaries. They are not evaluations directed toward the protection of investors and are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Rating agencies utilize quantitative and qualitative analysis, including the use of key performance indicators, financial and operating ratios and proprietary capital models to establish ratings for the Company and certain subsidiaries. Ratings are continually evaluated relative to performance, as measured using these metrics and the impact that changes in the underlying business in which it is engaged can have on such measures. In an effort to minimize the adverse impact of this risk, the Company maintains regular communications with the rating agencies, performs evaluations utilizing its own calculations of these key metrics and considers such evaluation in the way it conducts its business.

Ratings are important to maintaining public confidence in the Company and its ability to market annuity and life insurance products. Rating agencies continually review the financial performance and condition of insurers, including the Company. Any lowering of the Company’s ratings could have an adverse effect on the Company’s ability to market its products and could increase the rate of surrender of the Company’s products. Both of these consequences could have an adverse effect on the Company’s liquidity and, under certain circumstances, net income. As of December 31, 2023, NLIC has a financial strength rating of "A+" (Superior) from A.M. Best Company, Inc. ("A.M. Best") and its claims-paying ability/financial strength is rated "A1" (Good) by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody’s") and "A+" (Strong) by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services ("S&P").

Competition

The Company competes with many other insurers, as well as non-insurance financial services companies, some of which offer alternative products and, with respect to other insurers, have higher ratings than the Company. While no single company dominates the marketplace, many of the Company’s competitors have greater financial resources and larger market share than the Company. Competition in the Company’s lines of business is primarily based on price, product features, commission structure, perceived financial strength, claims-paying ability, customer and producer service and name recognition.

See also "Risk Factors – The Company operates in a highly competitive industry, which can significantly impact operating results."

Regulation

Regulation at State Level

NLIC and NLAIC are each domiciled and licensed in the State of Ohio as life insurers. The Ohio Department of Insurance ("the Department") serves as their domiciliary regulator. NLIC is licensed and regulated as a life insurer in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. NLAIC is licensed and regulated as a life insurer in 49 states (excluding New York) and the District of Columbia. JNL is domiciled in the State of Texas, with the Texas Department of Insurance serving as its domiciliary regulator. JNL is licensed as a life insurer in 49 states (excluding New York) and the District of Columbia. JNLNY is domiciled and licensed as a life insurer in the state of New York with the New York State Department of Financial Services ("NY DFS") serving as its domiciliary regulator. Eagle is domiciled in Ohio and is licensed in Ohio as a special purpose financial captive insurance company regulated by the Department. Olentangy is domiciled in Vermont and is licensed in Vermont as a dormant special purpose financial insurance company regulated by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.

State insurance authorities have broad administrative powers with respect to various aspects of the insurance business. Among other areas, these authorities regulate advertising and marketing; privacy; acquisitions; payment of dividends; the form and content of insurance policies (including pricing); operating and agent licenses; regulation of premium rates; premium tax increases; rating and underwriting restrictions and limitations; asset and reserve valuation requirements;

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enterprise risk management; surplus requirements; accounting standards; Risk Based Capital ("RBC") requirements; statutory reserve and capital requirements; assessments by guaranty associations; affiliate transactions; unfair trade and claims practices; admittance of assets to statutory surplus; maximum interest rates on life insurance policy loans and minimum accumulation or surrender values; the type, amounts and valuations of investments permitted; reinsurance transactions, including the role of captive reinsurers; environmental, social and governance ("ESG") rules and standards including management and disclosure of climate risks; and other matters.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") is the U.S. standard setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulatory authorities of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. A primary mandate of the NAIC is to benefit state insurance regulatory authorities and consumers by promulgating model insurance laws and regulations for adoption by the states. The NAIC also provides standardized insurance industry accounting and reporting guidance through the NAIC Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual ("the Accounting Manual"). However, model insurance laws and regulations are only effective when adopted by the states, and statutory accounting and reporting principles continue to be established by individual state laws, regulations and permitted practices. Changes to the Accounting Manual or modifications by the various state insurance departments may affect the statutory capital and surplus of NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, JNLNY, Olentangy and Eagle.

Insurance Holding Company Regulation

NLIC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NFS, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nationwide Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NMIC. NMIC is the ultimate controlling entity of the Nationwide group of companies. As such, Nationwide is subject to certain insurance laws of each of the states of domicile of its insurance subsidiaries and affiliates. All states have enacted legislation that requires each insurance holding company and each insurance company in an insurance holding company system to register with the insurance regulatory authority of the insurance company’s state of domicile and to furnish annually financial and other information concerning the operations of companies within the holding company system that materially affect the operations, management or financial condition of the insurers within such system (generally referred to as "insurance holding company acts"). Generally, under such laws, among other requirements, transactions within the insurance holding company system to which the Company’s operating insurance companies are a party must be fair and reasonable, and, if material or of a specified category, they require prior notice and approval or non-disapproval by the state of domicile and, in some cases, the state of commercial domicile of each insurance company that is party to the transaction. In addition, under such laws, a state insurance authority usually must approve in advance the direct or indirect acquisition of 10% or more of the voting securities of an insurance company domiciled in its state.

Group-Wide Supervision

The NAIC has promulgated model laws for adoption in the U.S. that would provide for "group-wide" supervision of certain insurance holding companies in addition to the current regulation of insurance subsidiaries. While the timing of their adoption and content will vary by jurisdiction, the following generally represent the areas of focus in these model laws: (1) uniform standards for insurer corporate governance; (2) group-wide supervision of insurance holding companies; (3) adjustments to risk-based capital calculations to account for group-wide risks; and (4) additional regulatory and disclosure requirements for insurance holding companies.

Some laws which facilitate group-wide supervision have already been enacted in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates, such as Own Risk and Solvency Assessment ("ORSA") reporting, which requires larger insurers to assess the adequacy of its and its group’s risk management and current and future solvency position, and Corporate Governance Annual Disclosure reporting, which requires insurance groups to report on their governance structure, policies and practices. The NAIC utilizes a U.S. group capital calculation ("GCC") using an RBC aggregation methodology. The GCC is intended to be a financial tool to assist regulators in identifying risks that may emanate from a holding company system and to holistically understand the financial condition of non-insurance entities and how capital is distributed across an entire group. It is a quantitative measure used to complement the view of group-specific risks provided in the ORSA. In addition, the GCC is intended to comply with the requirements under the Covered Agreements with the European Union ("EU") and the United Kingdom ("UK"). The GCC met the requirement that the States have a "worldwide group capital calculation" in place by November 7, 2022 in order to avoid the EU or UK from imposing a group capital assessment or requirement at the level of the worldwide parent. The NAIC encouraged states with groups impacted by the Covered Agreements to adopt the revisions to the NAIC Insurance Holding Company System Model Act (#440) and Insurance Holding Company System Model Regulation (#450) which implements the GCC effective November 7, 2022. In April 2022, Ohio adopted the revisions to the NAIC Insurance Holding Company System Model Act (#440) and Insurance Holding Company System Model Regulation (#450) to implement the GCC. As such, Nationwide filed its first GCC with the Department, the Company’s lead state regulator in May 2023.

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Principle-Based Reserving

In June 2016, the NAIC adopted a recommendation that activated a principle-based reserving approach for life insurance products. Principle-based reserving replaced the previous formulaic basis for reserves which did not fully reflect the risks or costs of the liability or obligations of the insurer. The principle-based reserving approach had a three-year phase in period. At the Company’s discretion, it could be applied to new individual life business beginning as early as January 1, 2017 and was required to be applied for all new individual life business issued January 1, 2020 and later. The Company started the application of the principle-based reserving approach on all new individual life business on January 1, 2020. The principle-based reserving approach did not affect reserves for policies in force prior to January 1, 2020 and had no material impact on the Company’s statutory financial statements.

In 2019, the NAIC adopted revisions to the Valuation Manual Requirements for Principle-Based Reserves for Variable Annuities ("VM-21"), which provided comprehensive updates to the Commissioners Annuity Reserve Valuation Method of reserving for variable annuities. VM-21 provided the choice of (1) full adoption beginning January 1, 2020, (2) an election to grade in over 3 years, or (3) an election to grade in over 7 years, subject to commissioner discretion. The Company elected to fully adopt the change in reserving valuation basis as of January 1, 2020.

Captive Reinsurance Regulation

The NAIC Model Regulation entitled "Valuation of Life Insurance Policies," commonly known as "Regulation XXX," establishes statutory reserve requirements for term life insurance policies and universal life insurance policies with secondary guarantees, such as those issued by NLAIC and reinsured by Eagle. Actuarial Guideline 38 ("AG 38") clarifies the application of Regulation XXX with respect to certain universal life insurance products with secondary guarantees. As the result of an NAIC study on the use of captives and special purpose vehicles to transfer insurance risk-related products subject to Regulation XXX and AG 38, Actuarial Guideline 48 ("AG 48") was created. The purpose and intent of AG 48 is to establish uniform, national standards governing Regulation XXX and AG 38 reserve financing arrangements. The provisions of AG 48 apply to new policies that were issued on or after January 1, 2015. The NAIC adopted a revised Credit for Reinsurance Model Law in January 2016 and the Term and Universal Life Insurance Reserve Financing Model Regulation (the "Reserve Financing Model Regulation") in December 2016 to replace AG 48. The Reserve Financing Model Regulation is consistent with AG 48 and will replace AG 48 in a state upon the state’s adoption of the model law and regulation. The Reserve Financing Model Regulation became an NAIC accreditation standard on September 1, 2022, although states can use AG 48 to satisfy the accreditation requirement.

In 2018, the NAIC adopted a framework for proposed revisions to the current Actuarial Guideline No. 43 ("AG 43") and RBC "C-3 Phase II" system applicable to variable annuity reserves and capital requirements. Changes included: (i) aligning economically-focused hedge assets with liability valuations; (ii) reforming standard scenarios for AG 43 and C-3 Phase II; (iii) revising asset admissibility for derivatives and deferred tax assets; and (iv) standardizing capital market assumptions and aligning total asset requirements and reserves. The revised framework was effective January 1, 2020 and includes an optional three-year phase in. The impact to the Company was minimal due to its continued utilization of a captive which was not impacted by AG 43 and resulted in a reduction of AG 43-related reserves that were not ceded to the captive. See also "Risk Factors - The Company may be unable to mitigate the impact of Regulation XXX and Actuarial Guideline 38, potentially resulting in a negative impact to NLAIC’s capital position and/or a reduction in sales of NLAIC’s term and universal life insurance products".

Macro-Prudential Supervision

The NAIC has been focused on a Macro-Prudential Initiative ("MPI") to improve state macro-prudential supervisory tools. The MPI focuses on four areas for potential enhancement: (1) liquidity, (2) recovery and resolution, (3) capital stress testing and (4) identifying exposure concentrations. The NAIC explained that the key objectives of the MPI are to better monitor and respond to the impact of external financial and economic risk to supervised firms; better monitor and respond to risks emanating from or amplified by the supervised firms that might be transmitted externally and which may result in significant market impacts or financial, reputational, litigation or regulatory risks for the firm; and increase public awareness of NAIC/state monitoring capabilities regarding macro-prudential trends within the U.S. insurance sector and their implications. The NAIC adopted amendments to the Model Holding Company Act and Regulation that also implemented a filing requirement for a liquidity stress-testing ("LST") framework. The LST requires the ultimate controlling person of certain large U.S. life insurers and insurance groups meeting certain scope criteria based on the amounts of business written or material exposure to certain investment transactions, to file the results of the LST annually with a group’s lead state regulator. Nationwide filed its first LST with the Department on June 30, 2023.

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Regulation of Dividends and Other Distributions

See Note 14 to the audited statutory financial statements in the F pages of this report for a discussion of dividend restrictions.

Annual and Quarterly Reports and Statutory Examinations

Insurance companies are required to file detailed annual and quarterly statutory financial statements with state insurance regulators in each of the states in which they do business, in accordance with accounting practices and procedures prescribed or permitted by state insurance regulatory authorities, and their business and accounts are subject to examination by such regulators at any time.

In addition, insurance regulators periodically examine an insurer’s financial condition, adherence to statutory accounting practices, and compliance with insurance department rules and regulations. NLIC, NLAIC, JNL and Eagle each file reports with state insurance departments regarding management’s assessment of internal controls over financial reporting in compliance with the Annual Financial Reporting Model Regulation, as adopted in the states in which they do business.

As part of their routine regulatory oversight process, state insurance regulatory authorities periodically conduct detailed examinations, generally once every three to five years, of the books, records and accounts of insurance companies domiciled in their states. Such examinations generally are conducted in coordination with the insurance departments of other domestic states under guidelines promulgated by the NAIC. The Department’s most recently completed financial examination of NLIC, NLAIC and Eagle concluded in 2023 and was for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021.

The most recently completed financial examination of JNL and JNLNY by the Texas Department of Insurance and NY DFS, respectively, was as of December 31, 2021 and concluded in 2023. Vermont, in coordination with the timing of the Department exams above, completed an examination of Olentangy in 2023 for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021.

The examinations for NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, JNLNY, Eagle and Olentangy completed in 2023 did not result in any significant issues or adjustments. The examination reports are available to the public.

Market Conduct

State insurance regulatory authorities regularly make inquiries, hold investigations and administer market conduct examinations with respect to insurers’ compliance with applicable insurance laws and regulations, including among other things, the form and content of disclosure to consumers, advertising, sales practices and complaint handling. State regulators have imposed significant fines on various insurers for improper market conduct. NLIC, NLAIC, JNL and JNLNY continually monitor sales, marketing and advertising practices and related activities of agents and personnel and provide continuing education and training in an effort to ensure compliance with applicable insurance laws and regulations. There can be no guarantee that any non-compliance with such applicable laws and regulations would not have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Guaranty Associations and Similar Arrangements

Each of the 50 states of the U.S. and the District of Columbia have laws requiring insurance companies doing business within its jurisdiction to participate in various types of guaranty associations or other similar arrangements. These arrangements provide certain levels of protection to policy owners from losses arising from insurance policies or annuity contracts issued by insurance companies that become impaired or insolvent. Typically, assessments are levied (up to prescribed limits) on member insurers on a basis which is related to the member insurer’s proportionate share of the business written by all member insurers, in the lines of business in which the impaired or insolvent member insurer was writing. Some jurisdictions permit member insurers to recover assessments paid through full or partial premium tax offsets, usually over a period of years.

Assessments levied against the Company and subsidiaries during the past three years have not been material. The amount and timing of any future assessment on or refund to NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, or JNLNY under these laws are beyond the control of NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, and JNLNY. A portion of the assessments paid by NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, or JNLNY pursuant to these laws may be used as credits for a portion of NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, or JNLNY’s premium taxes. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, credits received by the Company have not been material.

Statutory Surplus

As licensed insurers, NLIC, NLAIC, JNL and JNLNY are subject to the supervision of the regulators of each state, and each state has the discretionary authority, in connection with the ongoing licensing of such entity, to limit or prohibit writing new business within its jurisdiction when, in the state’s judgment, such entity is not maintaining adequate statutory surplus

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or capital or is operating in a hazardous financial condition. The Company does not currently anticipate that any regulator would limit the amount of new business that NLIC, NLAIC, JNL and JNLNY may write due to an inability to meet the levels of statutory surplus required by the regulators. Olentangy is subject to the specific requirements and restrictions of its Licensing Order, as issued by the State of Vermont, and Eagle is subject to the specific requirements and restrictions of its Licensing Order, as issued by the State of Ohio.

Risk-Based Capital

As of December 31, 2023, NLIC, NLAIC, JNL, JNLNY and Eagle are subject to RBC requirements for life insurance companies. All states have adopted the NAIC RBC model law or a substantially similar law. The RBC calculation, which regulators use to assess the sufficiency of an insurer’s statutory surplus, measures the risk characteristics of a company’s assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items. In general, RBC is calculated by applying factors to various asset, premium, claim, expense and reserve items. The requirements result in insurers maintaining, for the protection of policyholders, capital in excess of statutory surplus requirements. Insurers having less statutory surplus than required by the RBC model formula will be subject to varying degrees of regulatory action depending on the level of capital inadequacy. See Note 14 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for additional discussion of RBC requirements. Eagle is subject to the separate requirements and restrictions of its Licensing Order, as issued by the State of Ohio.

The NAIC often considers reforms to the RBC framework which can increase the Company’s capital requirements. For instance, in 2021, the NAIC adopted a new longevity risk charge and changes to risk charges for bonds and real estate. The NAIC also approved an RBC update for mortality risk that took effect at year-end 2022. The NAIC has undertaken a principle-based bond project, effective January 1, 2025, which includes consideration of factors to determine whether an investment in an asset-backed security qualifies for reporting on an insurer’s statutory financial statement as a bond on Schedule D, Part 1 (long-term bonds) as opposed to Schedule BA, Part 1 (other long-term invested assets), the latter of which has a higher risk charge. The NAIC is also reviewing the RBC treatment of collateralized loan obligations ("CLOs") on an interim and long-term basis, and on August 16, 2023, the NAIC increased the RBC factor for structured security residual tranches from 30% to 45%, which will be effective for year-end 2024 RBC filings.

On August 13, 2023, the NAIC adopted a short-term solution related to the accounting treatment of an insurer’s negative Interest Maintenance Reserve ("IMR") balance, which may occur when a rising interest rate environment causes an insurer’s IMR balance to become negative as a result of bond sales executed at a capital loss. If this occurs, previous statutory accounting guidance required the non-admittance of negative IMR, which can impact how accurately an insurer’s surplus and financial strength are reflected in its financial statements and result in lower reported surplus and RBC ratios. The NAIC’s new interim statutory accounting guidance, which is effective through December 31, 2025, allows an insurer with an authorized control level RBC greater than 300% to admit negative IMR up to 10% of its general account capital and surplus, subject to certain restrictions and reporting obligations. The NAIC intends to develop a long-term solution for the accounting treatment of negative IMR.

Annuity Sales Practices

The Company’s annuity sales practices are subject to strict regulation. State insurance and certain federal regulators are becoming more active in adopting and enforcing suitability standards and other enhanced conduct standards that create additional responsibilities with respect to sales of annuities, both fixed and variable. Such regulations and responsibilities could increase the Company’s operational costs or compliance costs or burdens or expose the Company to increased liability for any violation of such regulations and responsibilities.

The NAIC adopted revisions to the Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation to incorporate a best interest standard of care for sales of annuity products. Several states have adopted the amendments, including Ohio. Additionally, some state insurance and securities regulators are actively engaged in the development and adoption of rulemaking in this space independent from the NAIC.

Regulation of Investments

The Company is subject to state laws and regulations that require diversification of its investment portfolios and limit the amount of investments in certain investment categories such as below-investment grade fixed income securities, real estate-related equity, foreign investments and common stocks. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may cause investments exceeding regulatory limitations to be treated as non-admitted assets for purposes of measuring statutory surplus, and, in some instances, could require divestiture of such non-qualifying investments. The Company believes that its investments comply, in all material respects, with such laws and regulations as of December 31, 2023.

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In recent years, the NAIC has been evaluating the risks associated with insurers’ investments in leveraged loans and CLOs. In March 2023, the NAIC adopted an amendment to the Purposes and Procedures Manual to assign risk weights to CLOs based on its own modeling as opposed to credit ratings. Under the amendment, the NAIC Structured Securities Group will model CLO investments and evaluate tranche level losses across all debt and equity tranches under a series of calibrated and weighted collateral stress scenarios to assign NAIC designations that reduce RBC arbitrage. The NAIC’s goal is to ensure that the aggregate RBC factor for owning all tranches of a CLO is the same as that required for owning all of the underlying loan collateral, in order to avoid RBC arbitrage. The amendment became effective on January 1, 2024, with insurers first reporting the financially modeled NAIC designations for CLOs with their year-end 2024 financial statement filings.

Federal Initiatives

Although the U.S. federal government generally does not directly regulate the insurance business, federal legislation and administrative policies, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 ("the Dodd-Frank Act") expand the federal presence in insurance oversight.

The Dodd-Frank Act established the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel ("FSOC"), which has authority to designate non-bank financial companies as systemically important financial institutions ("non-bank SIFIs"), thereby subjecting them to enhanced prudential standards and supervision by the Federal Reserve. The prudential standards for non-bank SIFIs include enhanced RBC requirements, leverage limits, liquidity requirements, single counterparty exposure limits, governance requirements for risk management, stress test requirements, special debt-to-equity limits for certain companies, early remediation procedures and recovery and resolution planning. It is possible, although not likely, that the Company could be designated as a non-bank SIFI by the FSOC. Being so designated would subject the Company to enhanced oversight and prudential standards by the Federal Reserve, beyond those applicable to our competitors not so designated.

On December 4, 2019, the FSOC approved a proposal that significantly altered its process for making such non-bank SIFI designations. Among other things, the guidance: (i) required the FSOC to focus on regulating activities that pose systemic risk, allowing for the involvement of primary regulators, rather than designations of individual firms (also known as an "activities-based approach"); (ii) shortened the designation process; (iii) invited participation from firms under consideration for designation earlier in the designation process to provide greater transparency; (iv) required a cost-benefit analysis prior to making a designation, which must include a determination of the likelihood of the potential systemic impact actually occurring; and (v) clarified the "off ramp" process for firms that have been designated as SIFIs.

In April 2023, the FSOC issued a proposal on further revised guidance and analytical framework on the designation of non-bank SIFI’s that would replace the 2019 guidance and alter the designation process by: (i) eliminating the requirement that FSOC use an activities-based approach before considering the designation of a non-bank financial company in order to clarify that FSOC may use any of its statutory tools to address risks and threats to U.S. financial stability; and (ii) no longer requiring FSOC to conduct a cost-benefit analysis or assessment of the likelihood of a non-bank financial company’s material financial distress prior to making a determination. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has stated that the proposed guidance would remove certain elements of the 2019 guidance that have made it difficult for FSOC to use its designation authority. The final interpretive guidance was issued on November 17, 2023, and revised guidance became effective January 16, 2024.

In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act established the Federal Insurance Office ("FIO") within the U.S. Department of the Treasury ("Treasury"), which has the authority to participate on behalf of the U.S. in the negotiations of international insurance agreements with foreign regulators, as well as to collect information about the insurance industry and recommend prudential standards, and, along with the U.S. Trade Representative, to enter into covered agreements with one or more foreign governments which have the ability to preempt inconsistent state insurance measures. While not having general supervisory or regulatory authority over the business of insurance, the director of the FIO will perform various functions with respect to insurance (other than health insurance), including serving as a non-voting member of FSOC and making recommendations to FSOC regarding insurers to be designated for more stringent regulation.

Further, Dodd-Frank Act established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") as an independent agency within the Federal Reserve to supervise and regulate institutions that provide certain financial products and services to consumers. Although consumer financial products and services generally exclude the business of insurance, the CFPB does have authority to regulate non-insurance consumer financial products and services.

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Securities Laws

Certain of NLIC and its subsidiaries’ products, policies and contracts are subject to regulation under the federal securities laws administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and under certain state securities laws. Certain separate accounts of NLIC, NLAIC, JNL and JNLNY are registered as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Separate account interests under certain variable annuity contracts and variable insurance policies issued by NLIC, NLAIC, JNL and JNLNY are also registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). NISC, a subsidiary of the Company, is registered as a broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and is a member of, and subject to regulation by, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and is also subject to the SEC’s net capital rules.

NIA, a subsidiary of the Company, is an investment advisor registered under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, as amended, and under the Securities Act.

All aspects of investment advisory activities are subject to applicable federal and state laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which they conduct business. These laws and regulations are primarily intended to benefit investment advisory clients and investment company shareholders and generally grant supervisory agencies broad administrative powers, including the power to limit or restrict the transaction of business for failure to comply with such laws and regulations. In such events, the possible sanctions which may be imposed include the suspension of individual employees, limitations on the activities in which the investment advisor may engage, suspension or revocation of the investment advisor’s registration as an advisor, censure and fines.

The SEC adopted a package of rulemaking and interpretive guidance regarding the standards of conducts for broker-dealers and investment advisors. Of particular note was the adoption of a new "best interest" standard for broker-dealers when making recommendations to retail customers of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities. Also adopted as part of the package was a new "relationship summary" disclosure requirement for broker-dealers and investment advisors that must be provided to "retail investors."

Derivatives Regulation

The Company’s derivatives use is subject to statutory and regulatory requirements in the states of Ohio, the Company’s domiciliary state, and New York, where the Company is licensed to sell certain products. Each state requires the Company to follow a board-approved derivatives’ use plan. The Company’s derivatives’ use plan meets the requirements of both states. While the statutory constructs and regulatory oversight of Ohio and New York are historically consistent, there is a possibility the two states could diverge in their respective regulation of the Company’s derivatives use creating an additional expense or lost opportunity to the Company.

Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act is a framework to regulate the over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives markets through the required clearing of certain types of OTC transactions and the posting of collateral, each of which results in additional risk mitigation costs to the Company. NLIC and NLAIC, currently required to clear specified OTC derivatives products, are subject to the posting and collection of initial margin on its non-cleared OTC derivatives portfolios with certain of their counterparties. These initial margin requirements, in conjunction with variation margin requirements, may require the Company to hold more cash and highly liquid securities with lower yields than it might otherwise hold in the absence of the margin requirements; potentially resulting in a reduction of investment income. Furthermore, U.S. and global regulation of the derivatives markets continues to evolve, potentially creating unexpected costs as well as opportunities.

Environmental, Social and Governance Regulation

The Company is exposed to risks relating to ESG factors. Customers, regulators and other market participants may evaluate the Company’s business or other practices according to a variety of ESG standards, expectations, or metrics, all of which may evolve, may be subjective or underdeveloped in nature, and may reflect contrasting or conflicting values. Standard-setting organizations and regulators including, but not limited to, the NAIC, SEC, legislators and state insurance regulators, have proposed or adopted, or may propose or adopt, ESG legislation, rules or standards applicable to the Company. For example, the NAIC (led by the California Department of Insurance) has modified the Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey to align with the standards established by the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures ("TCFD"), a recognized framework of recommendations that were developed to enhance climate-related disclosures. On March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted final climate disclosure regulations that impose new reporting requirements for certain climate-related information including disclosure of the board’s existing oversight practices for climate-related risks and management’s role in assessing and managing material climate-related risks as well as describing internal processes for identifying, assessing, mitigating and disclosing material climate risks. The final regulation includes a phased-in compliance period, with the compliance date dependent on a filer’s status and content of

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disclosure. The impacts of the final regulation are being evaluated by the Company. Some regulators are taking opposing positions on financial services companies’ consideration of ESG factors in carrying out their businesses. For instance, some states are prohibiting entities with state contracts from considering certain ESG factors, while others are encouraging consideration of such factors and promoting divestment from certain industries, especially carbon-based industries. Such opposing regulatory positions present potential difficulties for Nationwide’s Investment and Retirement Security businesses, which have extensive state contracts. Due to the sometimes conflicting, uncertain, and subjective ESG regulatory and market environment, the Company may be seen as acting inconsistently with ESG standards or values from the perspective of certain customers, regulators or other constituents. As a result, the Company could face adverse regulatory, customer, media or public scrutiny related to ESG that potentially could have a negative impact on our business or reputation or lead to legal challenges. More specifically, climate risk has the potential for negative impacts resulting from damage to physical property insured or held as investments due to increase extreme weather events, financial losses or decreased revenues resulting from the transition to a low carbon economy and legal and regulatory losses attributable to climate change or failing to manage climate risk factors.

Management of Climate Risk

The NAIC, state legislators and state insurance regulators are evaluating issues related to the management of climate risk. The NAIC’s goal is to address climate-related risks through three areas of insurance regulation: financial risk analysis; insurance market availability and affordability; and consumer education and outreach. The NAIC’s executive-level Climate and Resiliency Task Force has four workstreams dedicated to this initiative.

In October 2023, California adopted legislation that requires businesses with total revenues over $1 billion and operating in California to disclose to an emissions reporting organization their Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2026 and Scope 3 starting in 2027.

In addition, in furtherance of the Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk, dated May 20, 2021, the FIO sought public comment on climate-related financial risks in the insurance industry. In June 2023, the FIO released a report entitled, Insurance Supervision and Regulation of Climate-Related Risks, which assesses climate-related issues and gaps in the supervision and regulation of insurers. The report acknowledges that there are important existing efforts to incorporate climate-related risk into state insurance regulation and supervision, although they largely remain in the preliminary stage. The report encourages state insurance regulators and the NAIC to build on their progress and makes 20 policy recommendations to improve the supervision of climate-related risks, including that NAIC and state insurance regulators should prioritize the creation and use of new and effective climate-related risk tools and processes, such as the development of scenario analysis.

Diversity and Corporate Governance

The NAIC and state insurance regulators are also evaluating issues related to diversity within the insurance industry. In New York, the NY DFS issued a circular letter in 2021 stating that it expects the insurers it regulates to make diversity of their leadership a business priority and a key element of their corporate governance. The NY DFS published aggregate data from 2020 regarding the diversity of corporate boards and management from insures that met certain New York premium thresholds, although no further guidance was provided. The NAIC is also evaluating issues related to race, diversity and inclusion, and is examining practices in the insurance industry in order to determine how barriers are created that disadvantage people of color or historically underrepresented groups.

Privacy and Cybersecurity Regulation

The Company is regulated by the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA") and subject to federal and state regulations promulgated thereunder that require financial institutions and other businesses to ensure the privacy, security and confidentiality of nonpublic personal information, including laws that regulate the use and disclosure of, among others, Social Security numbers and health information. Federal and state laws require notice to affected individuals, law enforcement, regulators and others if there is a breach of the security of certain personal information, including Social Security numbers and health information. Federal regulations require financial institutions and creditors to implement effective programs to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft. Federal and state laws and regulations regulate the ability of financial institutions to make telemarketing calls and to send unsolicited commercial e-mail, text or fax messages to consumers and customers. Federal laws and regulations regulate the permissible uses of certain personal information, including consumer report information. Federal and state legislatures and regulatory bodies continue to focus on regulation regarding these subjects, including the privacy of personal information, and the security of financial institutions’ information technology ("IT") systems and the information processed thereon. Despite functionally similar laws and regulations, there is ongoing risk of non-uniform regulatory interpretation and application due to the multiplicity of state and federal regulators examining the Company.

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The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA") grants all California residents the right to know the information a business has collected from them and the sourcing and sharing of that information, as well as a right to have a business delete their personal information (with some exceptions). The CCPA’s definition of "personal information" is more expansive than those found in other privacy laws applicable to the Company in the U.S. Failure to comply with CCPA could result in regulatory fines, further, the law grants a right of action for any unauthorized disclosure of personal information as a result of failure to maintain reasonable security procedures. The CCPA became effective on January 1, 2020 and enforcement by California’s Attorney General began July 1, 2020. Final regulations were promulgated shortly thereafter. In November 2020, the CCPA was amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA"), which became effective in most material respects on January 1, 2023. The CPRA provides expanded rights for California consumers (e.g., the right to correct inaccurate personal information) and created a new regulatory agency, the California Privacy Protection Agency, dedicated to enforcing Californians’ consumer privacy rights. Other U.S. states have enacted, or are considering, similar privacy laws; however, some of these laws include entity-wide exemptions for financial institutions that collect and use nonpublic personal information subject to the GLBA.

New York’s cybersecurity regulation for financial services institutions requires entities, including insurance entities subject to the jurisdiction of the NY DFS, to establish and maintain a cybersecurity program designed to protect consumers’ private data. The regulation specifically provides for: (i) senior leader and Board oversight of the covered entity’s cybersecurity program; (ii) controls relating to the governance framework for a cybersecurity program; (iii) risk-based minimum standards for technology systems for data protection; (iv) requirements for cyber breach responses, including notice to the NY DFS of material events; and (v) identification and documentation of material deficiencies, remediation plans and annual certification of regulatory compliance with the NY DFS. In November 2022, the NY DFS proposed amendments to expand the regulation, including heightened governance and technical requirements. As a result of comments received on the draft amendments, the NY DFS proposed revisions to the draft amendments, which were subject to another comment period that ended on August 14, 2023. On November 1, 2023, NY DFS adopted amendments to its cybersecurity regulation. The amended regulation will require the Company’s Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") to sign an annual certification that Nationwide is complying with the cybersecurity regulation. Previously, this certification was signed by the Chief Information Security Officers ("CISO") only, but it must now be signed by both the CEO and CISO.

The NAIC adopted the Insurance Data Security Model Law (the "Cybersecurity Model Law"), which established standards for data security and notification of cybersecurity events in states where adopted. The Cybersecurity Model Law has been adopted in Ohio and several other states. Additional states may follow. The Cybersecurity Model Law, which is functionally similar to the NY DFS’ regulation, imposes significant regulatory burdens intended to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the regulated entity’s information systems. The NAIC is also developing a new model law to replace the existing privacy models, Insurance Information and Privacy Protections Model Act, and Privacy of Consumer Financial and Health Information Regulation, rather than updating them. In Spring 2023, the NAIC’s Privacy Protections (H) Working Group’s ("PPWG") held meetings during which interested parties and consumer advocates provided feedback on the initial exposure draft of the new Consumer Privacy Protections Model Law ("Model 674"). At the conclusion of the meetings, PPWG rewrote the model law and, on July 11, 2023, exposed the new draft of Model 674 for further public comment. Due to the large number of comments received, PPWG requested an extension of time to develop Model 674 at the NAIC’s Fall National Meeting in December 2023, wherein the NAIC announced that a one-year extension would be given, with final adoption expected at the NAIC 2024 fall meeting.

The NAIC has also established a Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (H) Working Group ("BDAIWG") devoted to ensuring that regulations and regulatory activities appropriately protect consumers from harm which could result from technological developments in the insurance sector. The BDAIWG is considering such issues as the lack of transparency and potential for bias in algorithms used to synthesize big data. It has issued an artificial intelligence survey for life insurance and is exploring the creation of a regulatory evaluation of third-party data and model vendors. On July 17, 2023, the NAIC’s Innovation, Cybersecurity, and Technology (H) Committee exposed for public comment a draft model bulletin which outlines how insurance departments should govern the development, acquisition and use of artificial intelligence technologies, as well as the types of information that regulators may request during an investigation or examination of an insurer in relation to artificial intelligence systems. The public comment period closed on September 5, 2023. The NAIC released a revised version of the bulletin on October 17, 2023, and it adopted a final version of the Model Bulletin on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers during its Fall National Meeting in December 2023. The Company cannot predict what, if any, changes to laws or regulations may be enacted with regard to big data and artificial intelligence.

In February 2022, the SEC proposed new rules for investment advisors, registered investment companies, and business development companies to enhance cybersecurity preparedness and improve the resilience against cybersecurity threats and attacks. Specifically, the proposal would: require advisers and funds to adopt and implement written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to address cybersecurity risks; require advisers to report significant

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cybersecurity incidents to the SEC on proposed Form ADV-C; enhance adviser and fund disclosures related to cybersecurity risks and incidents; and require advisers and funds to maintain, make, and retain certain cybersecurity-related books and records. In March 2023, the SEC approved additional proposals for public comment to amend Privacy of Consumer Financial Information (Regulation S-P) and Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity, which would require covered entities, including broker-dealers, to, among other requirements, notify the SEC of significant cybersecurity events and make disclosures regarding cybersecurity risks and incidents via Form Summary of Cybersecurity Incidents and Risks, Part II.

Compliance with existing and emerging privacy and cybersecurity regulations could result in increased compliance costs and/or lead to changes in business practices and policies, and any failure to protect the confidentiality of client information could adversely affect our reputation and have a material effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The Company cannot predict whether such rules would be adopted, or what effect such rules would have on its business or compliance costs.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA")

The ERISA contains fiduciary obligations that have been changing dramatically back and forth over the past few years. In 2016, the Department of Labor ("DOL") enacted a 2016 Fiduciary Rule that expanded the traditional Five Part Test as to who was a fiduciary under ERISA. However, on June 21, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the 2016 Fiduciary Rule. As a result, the fiduciary standards under ERISA revert to those in place before the issuance of the 2016 Rule. On June 29, 2020, the DOL further released technical amendments that reinstated the Five Part Test. On December 18, 2020, the DOL also adopted a new Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption ("PTE"), "Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees" effective February 16, 2021. Although this is the current status of the law, on October 31, 2023, the DOL once again proposed another Fiduciary Rule referred to as "the Retirement Security Rule." Like the 2016 Fiduciary Rule, the Retirement Security Rule would again significantly alter the Five Part Test, expand the definition of a fiduciary, and modify known exemptions.

See also "Risk Factors—Changes to regulations under ERISA could adversely affect the Company’s distribution model by restricting the Company’s ability to provide customers with advice."

Tax Matters

Life insurance products may be used to provide income tax deferral and income tax free death benefits. Annuity contracts may be used to provide income tax deferral. The value of these benefits is related to the level of income tax rates and capital gains tax rates. Changes to the income tax rates and the capital gains tax rates can affect the value of these benefits, and therefore the desirability of those products.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (the "Act") was signed into law. The Act includes a new Federal corporate alternative minimum tax, effective in 2023, that is based on the adjusted financial statement income set forth on the applicable financial statement of an applicable corporation. See Note 8 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for additional discussion of the Act.

Additional changes to the IRC to address the fiscal challenges currently faced by the federal government may also be made. These changes could include changes to the taxation of life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, retirement savings plans, and other investment alternatives offered by the Company. Such changes to the IRC could have an adverse impact on the desirability of the products offered by the Company.

Employees

The Company does not have any employees of its own, but rather is provided personnel by NMIC or NLAIC pursuant to the enterprise cost sharing agreements between the companies.

Risk Factors

Risks Related to Economic and Financial Market Conditions

Adverse capital and credit market conditions may significantly affect the Company’s ability to meet liquidity needs and access the capital required to operate its business, most significantly its insurance operations.

The Company’s insurance, annuity and investment products, as well as its investment returns and access to and cost of financing, are sensitive to disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the capital and credit markets, thereby ultimately impacting the Company’s profitability and ability to support or grow its businesses. In the insurance industry, liquidity refers

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to the ability of an enterprise to generate adequate amounts of cash from its normal operations in order to meet its financial commitments. The principal sources of the Company’s liquidity are insurance premiums, annuity considerations, deposit funds and cash, including from its investment portfolio and assets. Sources of liquidity also include surplus notes and a variety of short-term debt instruments, including intercompany borrowings and FHLB programs.

In the event current resources do not satisfy the Company’s needs, the Company may have to seek additional financing. The availability of additional financing will depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions, the availability of credit generally and specifically to the financial services industry, market liquidity, the Company’s credit ratings, as well as the possibility that customers or lenders could develop a negative perception of the Company’s long- or short-term financial prospects if it incurs large investment losses or if its level of business activity decreases. Similarly, the Company’s access to funds may be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating agencies take negative actions against it. The Company’s internal sources of liquidity may prove to be insufficient, and in such a case, it may not be able to successfully obtain additional financing on favorable terms, or at all.

As such, the Company may be forced to issue debt with terms and conditions that may be unfavorable to it, bear an unattractive cost of capital or sell certain assets, any of which could decrease the Company’s profitability and significantly reduce its financial flexibility. The Company’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be materially adversely affected by disruptions in the capital and credit market.

Difficult conditions in the global economy and capital markets could adversely affect the Company’s business and operating results and these conditions may not improve in the near future.

At times throughout the past few years, volatile conditions have characterized financial markets. Stressed conditions, volatility and disruptions in global capital markets, particular markets or financial asset classes could adversely affect the Company’s investment portfolio. Disruptions in one market or asset class can also spread to other markets or asset classes.

General economic conditions could also adversely affect the Company by impacting consumer behavior and pressuring investment results. Consumer behavior changes could include decreased demand for the Company’s products. For example, holders of interest-sensitive life insurance and annuity products may engage in an elevated level of discretionary withdrawals of contractholder funds. Investment results could be adversely affected as deteriorating financial and business conditions affect the issuers of the securities in the investment portfolio.

The impact on distributors, vendors and customers of sustained or significant deterioration in economic conditions could adversely affect the Company’s business.

The Company is exposed to risks associated with the potential financial instability of its customers and distributors, many of whom may be adversely affected by volatile conditions in the financial markets or an economic slowdown. As a result of uncertainties with respect to financial institutions and the global credit markets, changes in energy costs, and other macroeconomic challenges currently or potentially affecting the economy of the U.S. and other parts of the world, customers and distributors may experience serious cash flow problems and other financial difficulties. In addition, events in the U.S. or foreign markets and political and social unrest in various countries around the world can impact the global economy and capital markets. The impact of such events is difficult to predict. Protectionist trade policy actions, such as tariffs and quotas could adversely affect the Company’s investment results, as an increase in the scope and size of tariffs could disrupt global supply chains and increase inflationary pressures which may have an adverse effect on economic activity. As a result, they may modify, delay, or cancel plans to buy or sell the Company’s products, or make changes in the mix of products bought or sold, that are unfavorable to the Company.

In addition, the Company is susceptible to risks associated with the potential financial instability of the vendors on which the Company relies to provide services or to whom the Company delegates certain functions. The same conditions that may affect the Company’s distributors could also adversely affect the Company’s vendors, causing them to significantly and quickly increase their prices or reduce their output. The Company’s business depends on its ability to perform, in an efficient and uninterrupted fashion, its necessary business functions, and any interruption in the services provided by third parties could also adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

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Risks Related to Investments

The Company is exposed to significant financial market risk, which may adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition, and may cause the Company’s net investment income to vary from period to period.

The Company is exposed to significant financial market risk, including changes in interest rates, credit spreads, equity prices, real estate values, foreign currency exchange rates, domestic and foreign market volatility, the performance of the economy in general, the performance of specific obligors included in its portfolio and other factors outside the Company’s control. Adverse changes in these rates, spreads and prices may occur due to changes in monetary policy and the economic climate, the liquidity of a market or market segment, investor return expectations and/or risk tolerance, insolvency or financial distress of key market makers or participants, or changes in market perceptions of credit worthiness.

The Company’s exposure to interest rate risk relates primarily to the market price and cash flow variability associated with changes in interest rates. The Company’s investment portfolio contains interest rate sensitive instruments, such as bonds and derivatives, which may be adversely affected by changes in interest rates from governmental monetary policies, domestic and international economic and political conditions and other factors beyond its control. During periods of low or declining interest rates, as cash becomes available from premiums on insurance and annuity policies and from the maturity, redemption or sale of existing securities or from other sources or as securities are realized prior to maturity, the yield on new investments will be lower than that on existing investments, thus lowering the average yield that the Company earns on its investment portfolio. Conversely, inflation may increase and interest rates may suddenly spike, which could have a material effect on the Company’s results of operations, insofar as inflation may affect interest rates. Although the Company seeks to carefully measure and manage its interest rate risk positions, the Company’s estimate of the liability cash flow profile may be inaccurate, and it might need to sell assets in order to cover the liability, which could adversely affect the Company’s financial position and results of operations.

The Company’s insurance and investment products are also sensitive to interest rate fluctuations and expose the Company to the risk that falling interest rates or credit spreads will reduce the Company’s margin, or the difference between the returns earned on the investments that support the obligations under these products and the amounts that must be paid to policyholders and contractholders. Because the Company may reduce the interest rates credited on most of these products only at limited, pre-established intervals, and because some contracts have guaranteed minimum interest crediting rates, or may be subject to regulatory minimum rates, declines in interest rates may adversely affect the profitability of these products.

There may be economic scenarios, including periods of rising interest rates, that increase the attractiveness of other investments to the Company’s customers, which could increase life insurance policy loan, surrender, and withdrawal activity in a given period. Such situations could result in cash outflows requiring that the Company sell investments at a time when the prices of those investments are adversely affected, which may result in realized investment losses. Unanticipated withdrawals and terminations may also cause the Company to accelerate other expenses, which reduces net income in the period of the acceleration.

The Company’s exposure to credit spreads primarily relates to market price and cash flow variability associated with changes in credit spreads. A widening of credit spreads would increase unrealized losses or decrease unrealized gains in the investment portfolio and, if issuer credit spreads increase as a result of fundamental credit deterioration, would likely result in higher other-than-temporary impairments. Credit spread tightening will reduce net investment income associated with new purchases of fixed securities. In addition, market volatility can make it difficult to value certain of the Company’s securities if trading becomes less frequent. As such, valuations may include assumptions or estimates that may have significant period-to-period changes due to market volatility, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.

The Company invests a portion of its portfolio in alternative investments, such as private equity funds, private debt, real estate funds, hedge funds and tax credit funds. The capital and surplus of the Company can be affected by changes in the underlying value of the investments. In addition, the timing and amount of distributions from such funds, which depend on particular events relating to the underlying investments, as well as the funds’ schedules for making distributions, can be inherently difficult to predict and can impact the Company’s net realized capital gains and losses.

The Company’s exposure to equity risk relates primarily to the potential for lower earnings associated with certain of the Company’s insurance businesses, such as variable annuities and investment advisory business, in each case where fee income is generally earned based upon the fair value of the assets under management. In addition, certain of the

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Company’s annuity products offer guaranteed benefits, which increase its potential benefit exposure. Statutory reserve and capital requirements for these products are sensitive to market movements, which could deplete capital. Increased reserve and capital requirements could lead to rating agency downgrades.

The Company is exposed to many different industries, issuers, and counterparties, and routinely executes transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds and other investment funds and institutions. Many of these transactions expose the Company to credit risk in the event of default of the counterparty. While counterparty risk is generally secured, the Company’s credit risk may be exacerbated when the collateral held by the Company cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure due to it. The Company may have further exposure to these issuers in the form of holdings in unsecured debt instruments, derivative transactions and stock investments of these issuers. Realized losses or impairments to the carrying value of these assets may materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

For additional information on market risk, see Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

The Company uses derivative instruments to manage exposures and mitigate risks. See Note 2 and Note 6 to the audited statutory financial statements in the F pages of this report for additional information regarding the Company’s use of derivatives instruments. These derivative instruments primarily include interest rate swaps, currency swaps, futures contracts and options. There can be no assurances these programs will successfully mitigate the associated risks.

The Company maintains an Asset Valuation Reserve ("AVR") as established in accordance with the NAIC Annual Statement Instructions for Life and Accident and Health Insurance Companies for the purpose of offsetting potential credit related investment losses on each invested asset category, excluding cash, policy loans and income receivable. The Company records an IMR established in accordance with the NAIC Annual Statement Instructions for Life and Accident and Health Insurance Companies, which represents the net deferral for interest-related gains or losses arising from the sale of certain investments, such as bonds, mortgage loans and loan-backed and structured securities sold. See Note 2 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for additional information regarding the Company’s use of an AVR and IMR.

Some of the Company’s investments are relatively illiquid.

The Company holds certain investments that may lack liquidity, such as privately placed bonds and structured securities based upon residential or commercial mortgage loans or trust preferred securities, commercial mortgage loans, policy loans, consumer loans secured by securities portfolios, equity real estate, including real estate joint ventures and other limited partnership interests.

If the Company requires significant amounts of cash on short notice in excess of normal cash requirements or is required to post or return collateral in connection with the investment portfolio, derivatives transactions or securities lending activities, the Company may have difficulty selling these investments in a timely manner, be forced to sell them for less than the Company otherwise would have been able to realize, or both.

The Company does not have the intent to sell, nor is it more likely than not that it will be required to sell, bonds and stocks in an unrealized loss position. Investment losses, however, may be realized to the extent liquidity needs require the disposition of bonds and stocks in unfavorable interest rate, liquidity or credit spread environments.

Securities Lending can affect liquidity and exposes Nationwide to investment risk.

Nationwide currently engages in securities lending. Its securities lending program is managed through Bank of New York Mellon ("BNYM"). As its agent, BNYM lends out securities to approved borrowers and receives cash or U.S. government/agency collateral (non-cash loans). The cash collateral is invested in accordance with the approved investment policy. The investment policy currently is constrained to U.S. Government and Agency collateralized overnight reverse repurchase agreements. While securities are on loan, Nationwide is not able to sell those securities. This can affect near-term liquidity until the securities can be returned. In the event the borrower defaults and does not return the securities, Nationwide would retain the cash collateral that has been invested in U.S. government or agency collateralized overnight reverse repurchase agreements. BNYM indemnifies Nationwide against borrower default and losses on non-cash loans. Nationwide bears the risks associated with cash investments. There is risk in the reverse repurchase agreements which the cash collateral is invested in. If the counterparty in the repurchase agreement defaults, Nationwide would retain the U.S. Government Bonds and/or U.S. agency bonds/mortgages. There is risk that the U.S. government bonds and/or U.S. agency bonds/mortgages have declined in value below the level of the cash invested.

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The Company has exposure to mortgage-backed securities, which could cause declines in the value of its investment portfolio.

Securities and other capital markets products connected to residential mortgage lending, particularly those backed by non-agency loans, may become less liquid. The value of the Company’s investments in mortgage-backed securities may be negatively impacted by an unfavorable change in or increased uncertainty regarding delinquency rates, foreclosures, home prices, and refinancing opportunities. In addition, securities backed by commercial mortgages are sensitive to the strength of the related underlying mortgage loans, the U.S. economy, and the supply and demand for commercial real estate. Deterioration in the performance of the residential and commercial mortgage sector could cause declines in the value of that portion of the Company’s investment portfolios.

Defaults on commercial mortgage loans and volatility in performance may adversely affect the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.

A decline in the commercial real estate market within the U.S. resulting from changes in interest rates, real estate market conditions or an economic downturn may have a negative impact on the value of the Company’s commercial mortgage loan portfolio. The Company has a broadly diversified commercial mortgage loan portfolio (i.e., property type or geographic location), but negative developments across a certain property type or the occurrence of a negative event within a geographic region may have a significant negative impact, if the Company has some concentration risk within that property type or geographic region. The Company’s operations and financial conditions may be adversely affected from an increase in borrower defaults within the Company’s commercial mortgage loan portfolio.

The determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on the Company’s investments is judgmental and could materially impact its results of operations or financial position.

The Company’s determination of the amount of allowances and impairments varies by investment type and is based on its periodic evaluation and assessment of known and inherent risks associated with the relevant asset class. Such evaluations and assessments are revised as conditions change and new information becomes available. The Company updates its evaluations regularly and reflects changes in allowances and impairments in operations as such evaluations are revised. Market volatility can make it more difficult to value the Company’s securities if trading in such securities becomes less frequent. In addition, a forced sale by holders of large amounts of a security, whether due to insolvency, liquidity, or other issues with respect to such holders, could result in declines in the price of a security. Furthermore, additional impairments may need to be taken or allowances provided for in the future. Historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments or allowances.

For additional information on the Company’s allowance and impairment review process, see Note 2 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report.

The Company’s valuation of investments is based on amortized cost, fair value, and the equity method of accounting in the Company’s statutory financial statements, which may be significantly different than the values at which the investments may ultimately be realized.

The Company’s investments primarily consist of bonds, stocks, investments in subsidiaries, mortgage loans, policy loans, cash equivalents, short-term investments and alternative investments. On the basis of accounting practices prescribed or permitted by the Department, as applicable, the carrying value of such investments is as follows:

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Bonds are generally stated at amortized cost, except those with an NAIC designation of "6", which are stated at the lower of amortized cost or fair value. Changes in fair value of bonds stated at fair value are charged to capital and surplus.

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Loan-backed and structured securities, which are included in bonds in the statutory financial statements, are stated in a manner consistent with the bond guidelines, but with additional consideration given to the special valuation rules implemented by the NAIC applicable to residential mortgage-backed securities that are not backed by U.S. government agencies, commercial mortgage-backed securities and certain other structured securities. Under these guidelines, an initial and adjusted NAIC designation is determined for each security. The initial NAIC designation, which takes into consideration the security’s amortized cost relative to an NAIC-prescribed valuation methodology, is used to determine the reporting basis (i.e., amortized cost or lower of amortized cost or fair value).

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Preferred stocks are generally stated at amortized cost, except those with an NAIC designation of "4" through "6", which are stated at the lower of amortized cost or fair value. Common stocks are stated at fair value. Changes in fair value of stocks stated at fair value are charged to capital and surplus.

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•

The investment in the Company’s wholly-owned insurance subsidiaries, NLAIC, JNL and Eagle, and wholly-owned noninsurance subsidiaries, NISC and NIA, are carried using the equity method of accounting. Investments in NLAIC, JNL and NISC are included in stocks, and the investment in Eagle is included in other invested assets on the statutory statements of admitted assets, liabilities, capital and surplus.

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Commercial mortgage loans are recorded at unpaid principal balance, adjusted for premiums and discounts, less a valuation allowance.

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Policy loans, which are collateralized by the related insurance policy, are carried at the outstanding principal balance and do not exceed the cash surrender value of the policy. As such, no valuation allowance for policy loans is required.

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Cash equivalents include highly liquid investments with original maturities of less than three months and amounts on deposit in internal qualified cash pools.

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Short-term investments consist of government agency discount notes with maturities of twelve months or less at acquisition and are carried at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. Short-term investments also include outstanding promissory notes with initial maturity dates of one-year or less with certain affiliates.

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Alternative investments are generally reported based on the equity method of accounting.

Investments not carried at fair value in the Company’s statutory financial statements (certain bonds and stocks and commercial mortgage loans) may have fair values which are substantially higher or lower than the carrying value reflected in the Company’s statutory financial statements. Each such asset class is regularly evaluated for impairment under the accounting guidance appropriate to the respective asset class.

The Company’s valuation of certain bonds and stocks held at fair value may include methodologies, estimates and assumptions which are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially and adversely affect the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.

See Note 2 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report, for a discussion of the Company’s fair value categories and valuation methodologies.

The determination of fair values in the absence of quoted market prices is based on valuation methodologies, values of securities the Company deems to be comparable, and assumptions deemed appropriate given the circumstances. The use of different methodologies and assumptions may have a material effect on the estimated fair value amounts. Further, rapidly changing and unprecedented credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities as reported within the Company’s statutory financial statements, and the period-to-period changes in value could vary significantly. Decreases in value may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.

Risks Related to the Legal and Regulatory Environment of the Insurance Industry

Certain changes in accounting and/or financial reporting standards issued by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, state insurance departments, the Securities and Exchange Commission or other standard-setting bodies could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

The Company’s insurance entities are required to comply with the Statutory Accounting Principles ("SAP") established by the NAIC and adopted and administered by state departments of insurance. The various components of SAP (such as actuarial reserve methodologies) are currently subject to review by the NAIC and its task forces and committees, as well as by state insurance departments, in an effort to address emerging issues and otherwise improve or alter financial reporting. Calculations made in accordance with SAP also govern the ability of the Company’s insurance entities to pay dividends to their respective parent companies. The NAIC is working to reform state regulation in various areas, including comprehensive reforms relating to life insurance reserves and the accounting for such reserves. The Company cannot predict whether or in what form reforms will be enacted and, if so, whether the enacted reforms will positively or negatively affect the Company’s insurance entities.

The Accounting Manual provides that state insurance departments may permit insurance companies domiciled therein to depart from SAP through prescribed practices or by granting them permitted practices.

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NLIC and NLAIC have elected to apply a prescribed practice promulgated under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3901-1-67 ("OAC 3901-1-67") to its derivative instruments hedging indexed products and indexed annuity reserve liabilities in order to better align the measurement of indexed product reserves and the derivatives that hedge them. Under OAC 3901-1-67, derivative instruments are carried at amortized cost with the initial hedge cost amortized over the term and asset payoffs realized at the end of the term being reported through net investment income, rather than the derivative instruments being carried at fair value with asset payoffs realized over the term through net realized capital gains and losses. Additionally, the cash surrender value reserves for indexed annuity products only reflect index interest credits at the end of the crediting term as compared to partial index interest credits accumulating throughout the crediting term in increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims. The application of this prescribed practice on NLIC’s eligible derivative instruments and indexed products resulted in a decrease of NLIC’s statutory surplus by an immaterial amount as of December 31, 2023 and an increase of NLIC’s statutory surplus by an immaterial amount as of December 31, 2022. The application of this prescribed practice on NLAIC’s eligible derivative instruments and indexed products resulted in a decrease of NLIC’s subsidiary valuation of NLAIC by $89 million as of December 31, 2023 and an increase of NLIC’s subsidiary valuation of NLAIC by $232 million as of December 31, 2022.

Eagle applies one prescribed practice with multiple applications as provided under the State of Ohio’s captive law, which values assumed GMDB and GLWB risks on variable annuity contracts from NLIC and GLWB risks on fixed indexed annuity contracts from NLIC and NLAIC using an alternative reserving basis from the Statutory Accounting Principles detailed within the NAIC Accounting Practices and Procedures manual pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3964 and approved by the Department. The prescribed practice resulted in an increase of the Company’s subsidiary valuation of Eagle by $228 million as of December 31, 2023 and a decrease of the Company’s subsidiary valuation of Eagle by $118 million as of December 31, 2022.

Effective October 1, 2023, Eagle was granted a permitted practice from the Department, allowing Eagle to carry a reinsurance recoverable asset under an excess of loss reinsurance agreement with a third-party reinsurer as an admitted asset that increased NLIC's valuation of Eagle by $853 million as of December 31, 2023.

Prior to October 1, 2023, Olentangy was granted a permitted practice from the State of Vermont allowing Olentangy to carry the assets placed into a trust account by Union Hamilton Reinsurance Ltd. on its statutory statements of admitted assets, liabilities and surplus at net admitted asset value for certain universal life and term life insurance policies. This permitted practice increased NLIC and NLAIC’s valuation of Olentangy by $67 million as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021. Effective October 1, 2023, Olentangy terminated this permitted practice due to NLAIC's recapture of the reinsurance agreements.

However, the Company cannot predict what permitted and prescribed practices any applicable state insurance department may allow or mandate in the future, nor can the Company predict whether or when the insurance departments of states of domicile of the Company’s competitors may permit them to utilize advantageous accounting practices that depart from SAP. Moreover, although states generally defer to the interpretations of the insurance department of the state of domicile with respect to the application of regulations and guidelines, neither the action of the domiciliary state nor the action of the NAIC is binding on a non-domiciliary state. Accordingly, a state could choose to follow a different interpretation. The Company can give no guarantees that future changes to SAP or components of SAP, or the ability to apply a prescribed practice or the granting of permitted practices to the Company’s competitors, will not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

The Company’s insurance entities are subject to extensive regulation.

The Company’s insurance entities are subject to extensive state regulatory oversight in the jurisdictions in which each does business, as well as to federal oversight with respect to certain portions of their business. Insurance companies are regulated by the insurance departments of the states in which they are domiciled or licensed. The primary purpose of such regulatory supervision is to protect policyholders, rather than the Company. State insurance authorities have broad administrative powers with respect to various aspects of the insurance business. Accordingly, the Company could be adversely affected by, among other things, changes in state law relating to advertising and marketing; privacy; acquisitions; payment of dividends; the form and content of insurance policies (including pricing); operating and agent licenses; regulation of premium rates; premium tax increases; rating and underwriting restrictions and limitations; asset and reserve valuation requirements; enterprise risk management; surplus requirements; accounting standards; RBC requirements, statutory reserve and capital requirements; assessments by guaranty associations; affiliate transactions; unfair trade and claims practices; admittance of assets to statutory surplus; maximum interest rates on life insurance policy loans and minimum accumulation or surrender values; the type, amounts and valuations of investments permitted; reinsurance transactions, including the role of captive reinsurance; ESG rules and standards including management and

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disclosure of climate risks and other matters. Changes in state regulations, or in the interpretation or application of existing state laws or regulations may adversely impact the Company’s pricing, capital requirements, reserve adequacy or exposure to litigation and could increase the costs of regulatory compliance.

Changes are often implemented by state regulators in order to benefit policyholders to the detriment of insurers. State insurance regulators and the NAIC continually re-examine existing laws and regulations and may impose changes in the future that put further regulatory burdens on the Company, and thus, could have an adverse effect on its results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, state insurance laws, rather than federal bankruptcy laws, govern the liquidation or restructuring of insurance companies. Virtually all states in which the Company operates require the Company bear a portion of the loss suffered by some insureds as a result of impaired or insolvent insurance companies via participation in state guaranty associations.

From time to time, increased scrutiny has been placed upon the U.S. insurance regulatory framework, and a number of state legislatures have considered or enacted legislative measures that alter, and in many cases increase, state authority to regulate insurance and reinsurance companies. In addition to legislative initiatives of this type, the NAIC and insurance regulators are regularly involved in a process of re-examining existing laws and regulations and their application to insurance and reinsurance companies.

At the federal level, the Company could be affected by laws and regulations that may affect certain aspects of the insurance industry. While the federal government in most contexts does not directly regulate the insurance business, federal legislation and administrative policies in a number of areas, including limitations on antitrust immunity, minimum solvency requirements, systemic risk regulation, grant of resolution authority to a federal agency, uniform market conduct standards, credit for reinsurance initiatives, other proposals at the federal level to replace or streamline state regulatory processes, employment and employee benefits regulation, financial services regulation, and federal taxation, can significantly affect the insurance business.

This state regulatory oversight and various proposals at the federal level could in the future adversely affect the Company’s ability to sustain adequate returns in certain lines of business. The Company cannot predict the effect any proposed or future legislation or change in the interpretation or application of existing laws or regulations may have on its financial condition or results of operations.

A failure to comply with rules and regulations in a jurisdiction could lead to disciplinary action, the imposition of fines or the revocation of the license, permission or authorization necessary to conduct the Company’s business in that jurisdiction, all of which could have a material adverse effect on the continued conduct of business in a particular jurisdiction.

The Company could be adversely affected if its controls designed to ensure compliance with guidelines, policies and legal and regulatory standards are not effective.

The Company’s business is highly dependent on the ability to engage on a daily basis in a large number of insurance underwriting, claims processing and investment activities, many of which are highly complex. These activities often are subject to internal guidelines and policies, as well as to legal and regulatory standards. A control system, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Ineffective controls could lead to financial loss, unanticipated risk exposure (including underwriting, credit and investment risk) or damage to the Company’s reputation.

Litigation or regulatory actions could have a material adverse impact on the Company.

Current and future litigation or regulatory investigations and actions in the ordinary course of operating the Company’s business, including class action lawsuits, may negatively affect the Company by resulting in the payment of substantial awards or settlements, increasing legal and compliance costs, requiring the Company to change certain aspects of its business operations, diverting management attention from other business issues, harming the Company’s reputation with customers or making it more difficult to retain current customers and to recruit and retain agents or Nationwide employees. See Note 13 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for a description of litigation and regulatory actions.

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The amount of statutory capital and surplus that the Company and its insurance subsidiaries have and the amount of statutory capital and surplus they must hold can vary significantly from time to time and is sensitive to a number of factors outside of the Company’s control, including equity market and credit market conditions and the regulatory environment and rules.

The Company conducts the vast majority of its business through its licensed insurance entities. Insurance regulators and the NAIC prescribe accounting standards and statutory capital and reserve requirements for the Company and its U.S. insurance entities. The NAIC has established regulations that provide minimum capitalization requirements based on RBC formulas for life insurance companies. The RBC formula for life companies establishes capital requirements relating to insurance, business, asset and interest rate risk, including equity, interest rate, operational and management and expense recovery risks associated with life and annuity products that contain death benefits and/or certain living benefits.

In any particular year, statutory surplus amounts and RBC ratios may increase or decrease depending on a variety of factors, including the amount of statutory income or losses generated by the Company’s insurance entities (which itself is sensitive to equity market and credit market conditions), the amount of additional capital they must hold to support their business growth, changes in equity market levels, changes in reserve requirements, credit market volatility, changes in consumer behavior, the value of certain bonds in their investment portfolios, the value of certain derivative instruments that do not get hedge accounting treatment, changes in interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates, and changes to the NAIC RBC formulas. Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations ("NRSROs") may also implement changes to their internal models, which differ from the NAIC RBC model, that have the effect of increasing or decreasing the amount of statutory capital that the Company’s insurance entities must hold in order to maintain their current ratings. Increases in the amount of required statutory reserves reduce the statutory surplus used in calculating the Company’s insurance entities’ RBC ratios.

In addition, the NAIC often considers reforms to the RBC framework which can increase the Company’s capital requirements. See "Business—Regulation—Risk-Based Capital" for further discussion of potential changes to the RBC framework.

The Company’s insurance entities’ statutory surplus and RBC ratios have a significant influence on their financial strength ratings, which, in turn, are important to their ability to compete effectively. To the extent that any of the Company’s insurance entities’ statutory capital resources are deemed to be insufficient to maintain a particular rating by one or more rating agencies, capital may need to be raised. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital in such a scenario, any ratings downgrade that followed could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. See Note 14 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for a further discussion of RBC.

Changes in tax laws could adversely affect the Company.

Congress has periodically considered legislation that, if enacted, could materially reduce or eliminate many of the tax advantages of purchasing and owning annuity and life insurance products, such as disallowing a portion of the income tax interest deduction for many businesses that own life insurance. In addition, Congress has considered proposals to further limit contributions to retirement plans and accelerate the distributions from such plans after the death of the participant. If these proposals or other changes affecting the taxation of life insurance and/or annuity contracts, or the qualification requirements for retirement plans, were to be enacted, the Company’s sale of COLI, BOLI, variable annuities, variable life products and other retirement plan products could be adversely affected.

Congress and various state legislatures also have considered proposals to reduce the taxation of certain products or investments that may compete with life insurance. Legislation that increases the taxation on insurance products or reduces the taxation on competing products could lessen the advantage or create a disadvantage for certain of the Company’s products, making them less competitive. Such proposals, if adopted, could have a material effect on the Company’s profitability and financial condition or ability to sell such products, and could result in the surrender of some existing contracts and policies.

The products that the Company sells have different tax characteristics, in some cases generating tax deductions for the Company. The level of profitability of certain products is significantly dependent on these characteristics and the Company’s ability to continue to generate taxable income, which is taken into consideration when pricing products and is a component of the Company’s capital management strategies. Accordingly, changes in tax law, the Company’s ability to generate taxable income, or other factors impacting the availability or value of the tax characteristics generated by the Company’s products, could impact product pricing and returns or require the Company to reduce its sales of these

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products or implement other actions that could be disruptive to the Company’s businesses. In addition, the adoption of "principle-based" approaches for statutory reserves may lead to significant changes to the way tax reserves are determined and thus reduce future tax deductions.

See "Business—Tax Matters" for further discussion of other changes in federal tax laws and regulations that may adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes to regulations under ERISA could adversely affect the Company’s distribution model, by restricting the Company’s ability to provide customers with advice.

The prohibited transaction rules of ERISA and the IRC generally restrict the provision of investment advice to ERISA plans and participants and Individual Retirement Account ("IRAs") owners, if the investment recommendation results in fees paid to the individual advisor, his or her firm, or their affiliates, that vary according to the investment recommendation chosen. Although the DOL issued final regulations which provide limited relief from these investment advice restrictions, the investment advice restrictions could restrict the ability of the Company’s affiliated broker-dealers and their registered representatives to provide investment advice to ERISA plans and participants and with respect to IRAs. Also, the investment advice restrictions may require the fee and revenue arrangements of certain advisory programs to be revenue neutral, resulting in potential lost revenues for these broker-dealers and their affiliates. The 2020 PTE, which took effect on February 16, 2021, was expected to ease some of the investment advice restrictions under ERISA. However, this expectation may change if the Retirement Security Act, a new rule similar to the 2016 Fiduciary Rule, becomes law.

Overall, the DOL has issued or proposed several regulations over the past eight years that increase the level of disclosure that must be provided to plan sponsors and participants. These ERISA disclosure requirements will increase the Company’s regulatory and compliance burden, resulting in increased costs. See "Business – The Company’s insurance entities are subject to extensive regulation" for further information on the impact of regulations issued by the DOL.

Changes in state insurance laws regarding the suitability of product sales and fiduciary/best interest standards may affect the Company’s operations and profitability.

The Company’s annuity sales practices are currently subject to strict regulation. State insurance regulators are becoming more active in adopting and enforcing suitability standards with respect to sales of annuities, both fixed and variable. The NAIC amended its annuity suitability model regulation to incorporate a best interest standard. Many states have adopted the amendments, including Ohio. Some states have enacted or proposed legislation to impose new or expanded fiduciary/best interest standards on broker-dealers, investment advisors and/or insurance agents providing services to retail investors. Additionally, some state regulators have adopted or signaled they will be pursuing rule-making in this space. For example, the NY DFS amended the annuity suitability regulation to incorporate the best interest standard for annuity sales and they expanded its scope to include "in-force" recommendations and life insurance policies. Any material changes to the standards governing the Company’s sales practices, including applicable state laws and regulations, could affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. See "Business—Regulation—Annuity Sales Practices."

The Company may be unable to mitigate the impact of Regulation XXX and Actuarial Guideline 38, potentially resulting in a negative impact to NLAIC’s capital position and/or a reduction in sales of NLAIC’S term and universal life insurance products.

NLAIC has implemented reinsurance and capital management transactions to mitigate the capital impact of Regulation XXX and AG 38 for certain term life insurance and universal life insurance policies with secondary guarantees. These arrangements are subject to review by state insurance regulators and rating agencies and, for any new transactions entered into in the future, are subject to AG 48 as well. For those insurance policies where NLAIC has not implemented reinsurance and capital management transactions to mitigate the capital impact of Regulation XXX and AG 38, NLAIC has experienced a negative impact on its financial condition and results of operations. If NLAIC is unable to implement solutions to mitigate the impact of in force Regulation XXX and AG 38 business, this may continue to have a negative impact on its financial condition and results of operations.

See "Business – Regulation - Captive Reinsurance Regulation" for further discussion of Regulation XXX and Actuarial Guideline 38.

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Risks Related to the Business and Operations of the Company

The Company is rated by S&P, Moody’s, and A.M. Best, and a decline in ratings could adversely affect the Company’s operations.

Financial strength and claims-paying ability ratings, which various NRSROs publish as indicators of an insurance company’s ability to meet contractholder and policyholder obligations, are important to maintaining public confidence, competitive position, and ability to market products. Such factors are important to policyholders, agents and intermediaries; however, they are not evaluations directed towards the protection of investors and are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Downgrades in NLIC and its subsidiaries’ financial strength ratings could have an adverse effect on their financial condition and certain of their results of operations in many ways, including reducing new sales and renewals of insurance products, annuities, and other investment products, adversely affecting their relationships with their sales force and independent sales intermediaries, materially increasing the number or amount of policy surrenders and withdrawals by contractholders and policyholders, requiring a reduction in prices to remain competitive, and adversely affecting their ability to obtain reinsurance at reasonable prices or at all.

Additionally, various NRSROs also publish credit ratings for NFS and several of its subsidiaries. Credit ratings are indicators of a debt issuer’s ability to meet the terms of debt obligations in a timely manner and are important factors in the Company’s overall funding profile and ability to access certain types of liquidity. Downgrades in the credit ratings for NFS and its subsidiaries could have an adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations in many ways, including adversely limiting access to capital markets, potentially increasing the cost of debt and requiring the posting of collateral.

Ratings are subject to ongoing review by A.M. Best, Moody’s, and S&P, and the maintenance of such ratings cannot be assured. If any rating is reduced from its current level, the Company’s financial position and results of operations could be adversely affected. The Company cannot predict what actions rating agencies may take, or what actions it may take in response to the actions of rating agencies, which could adversely affect its business. As with other companies in the financial services industry, the Company’s ratings could be downgraded at any time and without any notice by any NRSRO.

See "Business—Ratings" for further information on current financial strength, claims-paying ability and credit ratings.

Guarantees within certain of the Company’s and its insurance entities’ products may adversely affect the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

The Company offers guarantees which can include a return of no less than the total deposits made on the contract less any customer withdrawals, total deposits made on the contract less any customer withdrawals plus a minimum return, or the highest contract value on a specified anniversary date minus any customer withdrawals following the contract anniversary. These guarantees can also include benefits payable in the event of death, upon annuitization, upon periodic withdrawal or at specified dates during the accumulation period.

NLIC remains ultimately liable for the specific guaranteed benefits and is subject to the risk that reinsurers are unable or unwilling to pay. In addition, NLIC is subject to the risk that hedging and other risk management procedures prove ineffective, or the estimates and assumptions made in connection with their use fail to reflect or correspond to the actual liability exposure, or that unanticipated policyholder behavior or mortality, combined with adverse market events, produces economic losses beyond the scope of the risk management techniques employed. These risks, individually or collectively, may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

An inability to access the Company’s credit facilities could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.

The Company maintains committed unsecured revolving credit facilities. The Company relies on these facilities as a potential source of liquidity, which could be critical in enabling it to meet its obligations as they come due, particularly during periods when alternative sources of liquidity are limited. The Company’s ability to borrow under these facilities is conditioned on the Company’s satisfaction of covenants and other requirements contained in the facilities. The Company’s failure to satisfy the requirements contained in the facilities would, among other things, restrict the Company’s access to the facilities when needed and, consequently, could have an adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

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Deviations from assumptions regarding future persistency, mortality, morbidity, and interest rates used in calculating reserve amounts could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.

The Company’s earnings significantly depend upon the extent to which the actual experience is consistent with the assumptions the Company uses in setting prices for its products and establishing liabilities for some future policy benefits and claims. Such amounts are established based on estimates by actuaries of how much the Company will need to pay for future benefits and claims. The process of calculating reserve amounts for some products within a life insurance organization involves the use of a number of assumptions, including those related to persistency (how long a contract stays with a company), mortality (the likelihood of death or the likelihood of survival), morbidity (likelihood of sickness or disability) and interest rates (the rates expected to be paid or received on financial instruments, including insurance or investment contracts). In addition, significant changes in mortality or morbidity could emerge gradually over time, due to changes in the natural environment, including climate change, the health habits of the insured population, treatment patterns and technologies for disease or disability, the economic environment, or other factors. Actual results could differ significantly from those assumed. Although the Company may be permitted to increase premiums or adjust other charges and credits during the life of certain policies or contracts, the adjustments permitted under the terms of the policies or contracts may not be sufficient to maintain profitability or may cause the policies or contracts to lapse. As such, significant deviations from one or more of these assumptions could result in a material adverse impact on the Company’s life insurance entities’ results of operations or financial condition.

Pricing of the Company’s insurance and deferred annuity products are also based in part upon expected persistency of these products, which is the probability that a policy or contract will remain in force from one period to the next. Persistency within the Company’s annuities business may be significantly impacted by the value of guaranteed minimum benefits contained in many of the Company’s annuity products being higher than current account values, in light of poor equity market performance or extended periods of low interest rates, as well as other factors. Persistency could be adversely affected generally by developments affecting client perceptions of the Company, including perceptions arising from adverse publicity. Many of the Company’s products also provide the Company’s customers with wide flexibility with respect to the amount and timing of premium deposits and the amount and timing of withdrawals from the policy’s value. Results may vary based on differences between actual and expected premium deposits and withdrawals for these products, especially if these product features are relatively new to the marketplace. The pricing of certain of the Company’s annuity products that contain certain living benefit guarantees is also based on assumptions about utilization rates, or the percentage of contracts that will utilize the benefit during the contract duration, including the timing of the first lifetime income withdrawal. Results may vary based on differences between actual and expected benefit utilization. The development of a secondary market for life insurance, including life settlements or "viaticals" and investor-owned life insurance, and third-party investor strategies in the annuities business, could adversely affect the profitability of existing business and the Company’s pricing assumptions for new business.

The Company’s risk management policies, practices and procedures could leave it exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risks, which could negatively affect its business or result in losses.

The Company has developed an enterprise-wide risk management framework to mitigate risk and loss to the Company, and maintains policies, procedures and controls intended to identify, measure, monitor, report and analyze the risks to which the Company is exposed. Many of the Company’s risk management strategies or techniques are based upon historical customer and market behavior, and all such strategies and techniques are based to some degree on management’s subjective judgment. The Company cannot provide assurance that its risk management framework, including the underlying assumptions or strategies, will be accurate and effective.

The risk management policies and procedures, including hedge programs at NLIC and NLAIC, utilize derivative financial instruments, and expect to do so in the future. Nonetheless, the Company’s policies and procedures to identify, monitor, and manage both internal and external risks may not effectively mitigate these risks or predict future exposures, which could be different or significantly greater than expected. As the Company’s businesses change and the markets in which the Company operates evolve, the Company’s risk management framework may not evolve at the same pace as those changes. As a result, there is a risk that new products or new business strategies may present risks that are not appropriately identified, monitored or managed. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to the Company, or that it currently deems to be immaterial, may adversely affect its business, results of operations and financial condition.

A-25

A large-scale pandemic or epidemic, natural and man-made catastrophes, climate change, the continued threat or acts of terrorism, or ongoing military and other actions may result in decreases in the Company’s net income, revenue, and assets under management and may adversely impact its investment portfolio.

A large-scale pandemic or epidemic, natural and man-made catastrophes, climate change, the continued threat or acts of terrorism within the U.S. and abroad, ongoing military and other actions, and heightened security measures in response to these types of threats may cause significant volatility and declines in the U.S., European, and other securities markets, loss of life, property damage, additional disruptions to commerce and reduced economic activity. As a result, the Company’s net income and/or revenue, and some of the assets in the Company’s investment portfolio, may be adversely affected by declines in the securities markets and economic activity.

The Company cannot predict whether or the extent to which industry sectors in which it maintains investments may suffer losses as a result of potential decreased commercial and economic activity, how any such decrease might impact the ability of companies within the affected industry sectors to pay the interest or principal on their securities, or how the value of any underlying collateral might be affected.

The Company operates in a highly competitive industry, which can significantly impact operating results.

The Company’s ability to compete is based on a number of factors including scale, service, product features, price, investment performance, commission structure, distribution capacity, financial strength ratings and name recognition. The Company competes with a large number of financial services companies such as banks, mutual funds, broker-dealers, insurers and asset managers, many of which have advantages over the Company in one or more of the above competitive factors. The Company’s revenues and profitability could be impacted negatively due to such competition. The competitive landscape in which the Company operates may be further affected by government-sponsored programs and longer-term fiscal policies. Competitors that receive governmental financing or other assistance or subsidies, including governmental guarantees of their obligations, may have or obtain pricing or other competitive advantages. Competitors that are not subject to the same regulatory framework may also have a pricing advantage as a result of lower capital requirements.

See "Business—Competition" for a further description of competitive factors affecting the Company.

The Company’s products and services are complex and are frequently sold through intermediaries, and a failure of such intermediaries to properly perform services, or their misrepresentation of the Company’s products or services, could have an adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

Many of the Company’s products and services are complex and are frequently sold through intermediaries. In particular, the Company is reliant on intermediaries in its unaffiliated distribution channels to describe and explain its products to potential customers. The intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of the Company’s products and services in advertising materials or other external communications, or inappropriate activities by the Company’s personnel or an intermediary, could adversely affect the Company’s reputation and business prospects, as well as lead to potential regulatory actions or litigation.

The Company’s business success depends, in part, on effective information technology systems and on continuing to develop and implement improvements in technology.

The Company depends in large part on technology systems for conducting business and processing claims, as well as for providing the data and analytics it utilizes to manage its business, and thus the Company’s business success is dependent on maintaining the effectiveness of existing technology systems and on continuing to develop and enhance technology systems that support its business processes and strategic initiatives in a cost- and resource- efficient manner. Some system development projects that are long-term in nature, may negatively impact the Company’s expense ratios as it invests in the projects, and may cost more to complete than the Company expects. In addition, system development projects may not deliver the benefits the Company expects once they are complete, or may be replaced or become obsolete more quickly than expected, which could result in accelerated recognition of expenses. If the Company does not effectively and efficiently manage and upgrade its technology portfolio, including with respect to the technology portfolio of its recently acquired businesses, or if the costs of doing so are higher than it expects, the Company’s ability to provide competitive services to new and existing customers in a cost-effective manner and its ability to implement its strategic initiatives could be adversely impacted.

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The Company faces a risk of non-availability and increased cost of reinsurance.

Market conditions beyond the Company’s control determine the availability and cost of the reinsurance protection it purchases. The Company can offer no guarantees that reinsurance will remain continuously available to it to the same extent, and with the same terms and rates, as are currently available. If the Company is unable to maintain its current level of reinsurance or purchase new reinsurance protection in amounts that it considers sufficient and at prices that it considers acceptable, the Company would either have to be willing to accept an increase in its net exposures or reduce its insurance writings. A significant reinsurer’s insolvency or inability to make payments under the terms of a reinsurance treaty could subject the Company to credit risk with respect to its ability to recover amounts due from reinsurers. Because of the risks set forth above, the Company may not be able to collect all amounts due to it from reinsurers, and reinsurance coverage may not be available to it in the future at commercially reasonable rates or at all. These risks could have a material adverse effect on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company.

A breach of information security or other unauthorized data access could have an adverse impact on the Company’s business and reputation.

In the ordinary course of business, the Company collects, processes, transmits, and stores large quantities of personal information, customer financial and health information, and proprietary business information (collectively referred to herein as "Sensitive Information"). The secure processing, storage, maintenance, and transmission of this Sensitive Information are vital to the Company’s operations and business strategy. Although the Company undertakes substantial efforts to reasonably protect Sensitive Information, including internal processes and technological safeguards and defenses that are preventative or detective, and other commercially reasonable controls designed to provide multiple layers of security, Sensitive Information maintained by the Company may be vulnerable to attacks by computer hackers, to physical theft by other third-party criminals, or to other compromise due to error or malfeasance by an individual providing services. Attacks may include both sophisticated cyber-attacks perpetrated by organized crime groups, "hactivists," or state-sponsored groups, as well as non-technical attacks ranging from sophisticated social engineering to simple extortion or threats, which can lead to access, disclosure, disruption or further attacks. Such events may expose the Company to civil and criminal liability or regulatory action, require consumer and regulatory notification of the unauthorized data access harming its reputation among customers, deter people from purchasing the Company’s products, cause system interruptions, require significant technical, legal and other remediation expenses, and otherwise have an adverse impact on its business. Third parties to whom the Company outsources certain functions are also subject to the risks outlined above, and if such a third party suffers a breach of information security involving the Company’s Sensitive Information, such breach may result in the Company incurring substantial costs and other negative consequences, including a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. The Company offers no guarantees that it will be able to implement information security measures to anticipate or prevent all breaches of information security.

Losses due to system failures or physical locations being unavailable to conduct business could have an adverse impact on the Company’s business and reputation.

Network, utility, telecommunications, business systems, hardware and/or software failures due to a computer virus or cyber-attack, such as a distributed denial of service attack, could prevent the Company from conducting its business for a sustained period of time. The Company’s facilities could be inaccessible due to a disaster, natural or man-made catastrophe, blackout, terrorist attack, pandemic or war. Even if the personnel providing services to the Company are able to report to work, they may be unable to perform their duties for an extended period of time if the Company’s data or systems are disabled or destroyed. There can be no assurance that the Company’s business continuation plans and insurance coverages would be effective in mitigating any negative effects on the Company’s operations or profitability, and the Company could be adversely impacted by any disruption of its ability to conduct business.

Nationwide employee error, misconduct, or excessive risks may be difficult to detect and prevent and could adversely affect the Company.

As an insurance enterprise, the Company is in the business of accepting certain risks. The associates who conduct the Company’s business, including executive officers and other members of management, sales managers, investment professionals, product managers, sales agents, and other personnel, do so in part by making decisions and choices that involve exposing the Company to risk. These include decisions such as setting underwriting guidelines and standards, product design and pricing, determining what assets to purchase for investment and when to sell them, deciding which business opportunities to pursue, and other decisions. Losses may result from, among other things, excessive risk, fraud, errors, failure to document transactions properly, failure to obtain proper internal authorization or failure to comply with regulatory requirements. Although the Company employs controls and procedures designed to monitor individual business decisions and prevent the Company from taking excessive risks, it is not always possible to deter or prevent individual

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misconduct, and the precautions the Company takes to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. The impact of those losses and excessive risks could harm the Company’s reputation and have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and business operations.

The Company’s business may be adversely affected if Nationwide is unable to hire and retain qualified employees.

There is significant competition from within the financial services and life insurance industries, and from businesses outside those industries, for qualified employees, especially those in key positions and those possessing highly specialized underwriting knowledge. The Company’s performance is largely dependent on the talents, efforts and proper conduct of highly-skilled individuals, including the Company’s senior executives. For many of the Company’s senior positions, it competes for talent not just with insurance or financial service companies, but with other large companies and other businesses. The Company’s continued ability to compete effectively in its business and to expand into new business areas depends on its ability to attract new personnel and to retain and motivate its existing personnel. If the Company is not able to successfully attract, retain, and motivate the personnel that provide services to it, its business, financial results and reputation could be materially and adversely affected.

The Company may be subject to intellectual property risk.

The Company relies on copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws, as well as various contractual rights and obligations, to protect its intellectual property. Although the Company uses a broad range of measures to protect its intellectual property rights, third parties may infringe or misappropriate its intellectual property. The Company may resort to litigation in order to enforce its intellectual property rights. Such litigation would represent a diversion of resources that may be significant in amount, and the final outcome of any litigation cannot be predicted with certainty. The Company’s inability to successfully secure or enforce the protection of the Company’s intellectual property assets, despite the Company’s best efforts, could have a material adverse effect on its business and ability to compete.

The Company also may be subject to costly litigation in the event that another party alleges that its operations or activities infringe upon that party’s intellectual property rights. The Company may be subject to claims by third parties for alleged infringement of third-party patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or breach of any license. If the Company were found to have infringed any third-party intellectual property rights, it could incur substantial liability, and in limited circumstances could be enjoined from providing certain products or services to its customers. Alternatively, the Company could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with third parties to resolve any alleged intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties.

Acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses and dispositions or other structural changes may result in operating difficulties, unforeseen liabilities or asset impairments, and other unintended consequences.

From time to time, the Company may investigate and pursue acquisition or disposition opportunities if it believes that such opportunities are consistent with its long-term objectives and that the potential rewards of an acquisition or disposition justify the risks.

The Company’s ability to achieve certain financial benefits it anticipates from its acquisitions will depend in part upon its ability to successfully grow the businesses consistent with its anticipated acquisition economics. The Company’s financial results could be adversely affected by unanticipated performance issues, unforeseen liabilities, transaction-related charges, diversion of management time and resources to acquisition integration challenges or growth strategies, loss of key Nationwide employees, amortization of expenses related to intangibles, charges for impairment of long-term assets or goodwill and indemnifications.

The process of integrating an acquired company or business can be complex and costly and may create unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. Acquired businesses may not perform as projected, any cost savings and other synergies anticipated from the acquisition may not materialize and costs associated with the integration may be greater than anticipated. Acquired businesses may not be successfully integrated, resulting in substantial costs or delays and adversely affecting the Company’s ability to compete. Accordingly, the Company’s results of operations might be materially and adversely affected.

A-28

The Company faces compliance obligations and corresponding risk of noncompliance with, and enforcement action under, the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering, and sanctions statutes and regulations.

A major focus of U.S. governmental policy on financial institutions in recent years has been aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 substantially broadened the scope of U.S. anti-money laundering laws and regulations by imposing significant new compliance and due diligence obligations on regulated companies, creating new crimes and penalties and expanding the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the U.S., in certain circumstances, and by expanding the categories of financial institutions subject to such laws and regulations to include some categories of insurance companies. Certain financial institutions are also prohibited from entering into specified financial transactions and account relationships and must use enhanced due diligence procedures in their dealings with certain types of high-risk clients and implement a written customer identification program. Financial institutions must take certain steps to assist government agencies in detecting and preventing money laundering and report certain types of suspicious transactions without notifying the affected clients. Similarly, the U.S. government has been escalating the obligations and requirements associated with sanctions laws including those enforced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"). Regulatory authorities routinely examine financial institutions to ensure that they have policies and procedures reasonably designed to comply with applicable requirements and for compliance with the policies and procedures and these substantive obligations. Failure of a financial institution to maintain and implement adequate programs, including policies and procedures, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, or to comply with all of the relevant laws or regulations, could have serious legal and reputational consequences for the institution, including causing applicable regulatory authorities not to approve merger or acquisition transactions when regulatory approval is required or to prohibit such transactions even if approval is not required. Regulatory authorities have imposed cease and desist orders and civil money penalties against institutions found to be violating these obligations. The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to OFAC’s regulations, and anti-money laundering statutes and certain regulations, and its compliance obligations under these rules result in increased costs and allocation of internal resources.

Consolidation of distributors of insurance products may adversely affect the insurance industry and the profitability of the Company’s business.

The Company distributes many of its individual products through other financial institutions such as banks and broker−dealers. An increase in bank and broker−dealer consolidation activity could increase competition for access to distributors, result in greater distribution expenses and impair the Company’s ability to expand its customer base. Consolidation of distributors and/or other industry changes may also increase the likelihood that distributors will try to renegotiate the terms of any existing selling agreements to terms less favorable to the Company.

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

See Note 13 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for a discussion of legal proceedings.

MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

There is no established public trading market for NLIC’s shares of common stock. All 3,814,779 issued and outstanding shares of NLIC’s common stock are owned by NFS. NLIC did not repurchase any shares of its common stock or sell any unregistered shares of its common stock during 2023.

There were no dividends paid in 2023 or 2022. During March 2021, the Company paid an ordinary dividend of $550 million to NFS.

NLIC currently does not have a formal dividend policy.

See Business – Regulation – Regulation of Dividends and Other Distributions and Risk-Based Capital for information regarding dividend restrictions.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

Forward-Looking Information

The information included herein contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the results of operations, businesses and financial condition of the Company made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Whenever used in this report, words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend,"

A-29

"plan," "believe," "project," "target," "will," "shall," "could," "may" and other words of similar meaning are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance, and certain important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements include, among others, the following possibilities:

(a)

fluctuations in the results of operations or financial condition;

(b)

actual claims losses exceeding reserves for claims;

(c)

difficult economic and business conditions, including financial, capital and credit market conditions as a result of changes in interest rates or prolonged periods of low interest rates, equity prices, volatility, yields and liquidity in the equity and credit markets, as well as geopolitical conditions and the impact of political, regulatory, judicial, economic or financial events, including terrorism, epidemics or pandemics, impacting financial markets generally and companies in the Company’s investment portfolio specifically;

(d)

the degree to which the Company chooses not to hedge risks, or the potential ineffectiveness or insufficiency of hedging or risk management strategies the Company does implement;

(e)

changes in certain accounting and/or financial reporting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"), SEC, NAIC or other standard-setting bodies;

(f)

the inability to maintain the availability of systems and facilities in the event of a disaster, natural or man-made catastrophe, blackout, terrorist attack or war;

(g)

heightened competition that affects the cost of, and demand for, the Company’s products, specifically including the intensification of price competition, the entry of new competitors, consolidation, technological innovation and the development of new products by new and existing competitors;

(h)

adverse state and federal legislation and regulation, with respect to, among other things, tax law changes impacting the federal estate tax and tax treatment of life insurance and investment products; limitations on premium levels; restrictions on product approval and policy issuance; increases in minimum capital and reserves and other financial viability requirements; restrictions on mutual fund service fee payments; changes affecting sales practices, including investigations and/or claims handling and escheat investigations; and regulatory actions of the DOL under ERISA, in particular proposed rule-making with respect to fiduciary obligations, rule-making adopted by regulatory authorities under the Dodd-Frank Act and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, including SEC comprehensive rulemaking and guidance regarding standards of conduct for broker dealers and investment advisers;

(i)

the inability to mitigate the capital impact associated with statutory reserving and capital requirements;

(j)

failure to maintain or expand distribution channels;

(k)

possible difficulties in executing, integrating and realizing projected results of acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings;

(l)

loss of key vendor relationships or failure of a vendor to protect confidential and proprietary information or otherwise perform;

(m)

changes in interest rates and the equity markets causing a reduction in the market value of the Company’s investment portfolio, investment income and/or asset fees; an acceleration of other expenses; a reduction in separate account assets or a reduction in the demand for the Company’s products; increased liabilities related to living benefits and death benefit guarantees; or an impact on ultimate realizability of deferred tax assets;

(n)

outlook changes and downgrades in the financial strength and claims-paying ability ratings of the Company assigned by NRSROs;

(o)

competitive, regulatory or tax changes that affect the cost of, or demand for, products;

(p)

fluctuations in RBC levels;

(q)

settlement of tax liabilities for amounts that differ significantly from those recorded on the balance sheets;

(r)

deviations from assumptions regarding future persistency, mortality and morbidity rates (including as a result of natural and man-made catastrophes, pandemics, epidemics, malicious acts, terrorist acts and climate change), and interest rates used in calculating reserve amounts and in pricing products;

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(s)

adverse results and/or resolution of litigation, arbitration, regulatory investigation and/or inquiry;

(t)

the availability, pricing and effectiveness of reinsurance;

(u)

the effectiveness of policies and procedures for managing risk;

(v)

interruption in telecommunication, information technology or other operational systems or failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data on such systems;

(w)

adverse consequences, including financial and reputational costs, regulatory problems and potential loss of customers resulting from a breach of information security, a failure to meet privacy regulations, or inability to secure and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary or customers’ personal information;

(x)

the inability to protect intellectual property and defend against claims of infringement;

(y)

realized losses with respect to impairments of assets in the investment portfolio of the Company;

(z)

exposure to losses related to variable annuity guarantee benefits, including from downturns and volatility in equity markets;

(aa)

statutory reserve requirements associated with term and universal life insurance policies under Regulation XXX, Guideline AXXX and principle-based reserving requirements;

(ab)

lack of liquidity in certain investments, access to credit facilities, or other inability to access capital; and

(ac)

defaults on commercial mortgages and volatility in their performance.

The Company undertakes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or development, except as required by law. For a more complete description of the various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could affect future results, see Risk Factors.

Overview

The following discussion provides an assessment of the financial position and results of operations of the Company for the three years ended December 31, 2023. This discussion and analysis is based on and should be read in conjunction with the audited statutory financial statements and related notes beginning on page F-1 of this report.

See Business – Overview for a description of the Company and its ownership structure.

See Business – Business Segments for a description of the components of each segment and a description of management’s primary profitability measure.

Revenues and Expenses

The Company earns revenues and generates cash primarily from life insurance premiums, annuity considerations, policy charges, accident and health insurance premiums and net investment income. Life insurance premiums are recognized as revenue over the premium paying period of the related policies. Annuity considerations are recognized as revenue when received. Policy charges are comprised of several components including asset fees, which are earned primarily from separate account values generated from the sale of individual and group variable annuities and life insurance products and cost of insurance charges earned on all life insurance products except traditional, which are assessed on the amount of insurance in force in excess of the related policyholder account value. Policy charges also include administrative fees, which include fees charged per contract on a variety of the Company's products and premium loads on universal life insurance products and surrender fees which are charged as a percentage of premiums/deposits withdrawn during a specified period for annuity and certain life insurance contracts. Accident and health insurance premiums are earned ratably over the terms of the related insurance and reinsurance contracts or policies. Net investment income includes earnings on investments supporting fixed annuities, FHLB funding agreements, certain life insurance products and earnings on invested assets not allocated to product segments, all net of related investment expenses.

Management makes decisions concerning the sale of invested assets based on a variety of market, business, tax and other factors. All realized gains and losses generated by these sales are reported in net realized capital gains and losses. Also included in net realized investment gains and losses are the impact of exercised, matured or terminated derivatives, with the exception of derivatives applying the prescribed practice under OAC 3901-1-67 which are recognized in net investment income. All charges related to other-than-temporary impairments of bonds, specific commercial mortgage loans, other investments, and changes in the valuation allowance not related to specific commercial mortgage loans are reported in net realized capital gains and losses.

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The Company’s primary expenses include benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries, commissions and other business expenses. Policy benefits and claims that are expensed include interest credited to policy account balances, benefits and claims incurred in the period in excess of related policy reserves and other changes in future policy benefits. Commissions include commissions paid by the Company to affiliates and non-affiliates on sales of products. See Business – Marketing and Distribution for a description of the Company’s unaffiliated and affiliated distribution channels.

Profitability

The Company’s profitability largely depends on its ability to effectively price and manage risk on its various products, administer customer funds and control operating expenses. Lapse rates on existing contracts also impact profitability. The lapse rate and distribution of lapses affect surrender charges.

In particular, the Company’s profitability is driven by premiums and annuity considerations for life and accident and health contracts, fee income on separate account products, general and separate account asset levels and management’s ability to manage interest spread income. Premiums and annuity considerations for life and accident and health contracts can vary based on a variety of market, business and other factors. While asset fees are largely at guaranteed annual rates, amounts earned vary directly with the underlying performance of the separate accounts. Interest spread income is comprised of net investment income, excluding any applicable allocated charges for invested capital, less interest credited to policyholder accounts. Interest spread income can vary depending on crediting rates offered by the Company, performance of the investment portfolio, including the rate of prepayments, changes in market interest rates and the level of invested assets, the competitive environment and other factors.

In addition, life insurance profits are significantly impacted by mortality, morbidity and persistency experience. Asset impairments and the tax position of the Company also impact profitability.

Fair Value Measurements

See Note 2 and Note 7 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for details regarding the Company’s policies for fair value measurements of certain assets and liabilities.

Credit Risk Associated with Derivatives

See Note 6 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report for details regarding the Company’s evaluation of credit risk associated with derivatives.

Significant Accounting Estimates and Significant Accounting Policies

The preparation of the statutory financial statements requires the Company to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the statutory financial statements and accompanying notes. Significant estimates include certain investment and derivative valuations and future policy benefits and claims. Actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

Note 2 to the audited statutory financial statements included in the F pages of this report provides a summary of significant accounting policies.

Results of Operations

2023 Compared to 2022

The following table summarizes the Company’s results of operations for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	Change
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$14,670	$14,535	1%
Net investment income	3,136	2,019	55%
Other revenues	2,389	2,346	2%
Total revenues	$20,195	$18,900	7%
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$17,416	$15,963	9%
Increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	3,747	2,525	48%
Net transfers from separate accounts	(3,742 )	(1,635 )	(129% )
Commissions	766	810	(5% )

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	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	Change
Reserve adjustment on reinsurance assumed	(153 )	(161 )	5%
Other expenses	702	564	24%
Total benefits and expenses	$18,736	$18,066	4%
Income before federal income tax expense and net realized capital (losses) gains on investments	$1,459	$834	75%
Federal income tax expense	108	100	8%
Income before net realized capital (losses) gains on investments	$1,351	$734	84%
Net realized capital (losses) gains on investments, net of tax and transfers to the interest maintenance reserve	(402 )	240	(268% )
Net income	$949	$974	(3% )

The Company recorded lower net income for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 2022, primarily due to higher benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries, increases in reserves for future policy benefits and claims and net realized capital (losses) gains on investments, net of tax and transfers. These were partially offset by larger net transfers from separate accounts and increases in net investment income and premiums and annuity considerations.

Higher benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries were principally related to surrender benefits in individual deferred variable annuity products and private sector retirement plans.

The increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims was primarily related to larger reserve increases in individual deferred fixed annuity and immediate annuity products that was partially offset by larger reserve decreases in private and public sector retirement plans and individual deferred variable annuity products.

Net realized capital losses on investments, net of tax and transfers during 2023 compared to gains in 2022 were primarily associated with derivative instruments in each period.

The increase in net transfers from separate accounts was primarily associated with individual deferred variable annuity, variable COLI and BOLI, separate account PRT and retirement plan guarantee products.

The increase in net investment income was principally related to the Corporate Solutions and Other segment.

The increase in premiums and annuity considerations was primarily attributable to individual deferred fixed annuity and immediate annuity product considerations, partially offset by decreases in deferred registered index-linked annuity, individual deferred variable annuity and retirement plan guarantee product considerations and COLI and BOLI product premiums.

2022 Compared to 2021

The following table summarizes the Company’s results of operations for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2022	2021	Change
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$14,535	$12,664	15%
Net investment income	2,019	2,231	(10% )
Other revenues	2,346	2,455	(4% )
Total revenues	$18,900	$17,350	9%
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$15,963	$16,884	(5% )
Increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	2,525	807	213%
Net transfers from separate accounts	(1,635 )	(3,002 )	46%
Commissions	810	858	(6% )
Reserve adjustment on reinsurance assumed	(161 )	(151 )	(7% )
Other expenses	564	469	20%
Total benefits and expenses	$18,066	$15,865	14%
Income before federal income tax expense (benefit) and net realized capital gains (losses) on investments	$834	$1,485	(44% )

A-33

	December 31,
(in millions)	2022	2021	Change
Federal income tax expense (benefit)	100	(9 )	1211%
Income before net realized capital gains (losses) on investments	$734	$1,494	(51% )
Net realized capital gains (losses) on investments, net of tax and transfers to the interest maintenance reserve	240	(683 )	135%
Net income	$974	$811	20%

The Company recorded higher net income for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 2021, primarily due to increases in premiums and annuity considerations and net realized capital gains (losses) on investments, net of tax and transfers and decreases in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries. These were partially offset by increases in reserves for future policy benefits and claims and lower net transfers from separate accounts.

The increase in premiums and annuity considerations was primarily attributable to COLI and BOLI products, individual deferred fixed annuity products, retirement plan guarantee products and PRT products, partially offset by a decrease in individual deferred variable annuity products.

Net realized capital gains on investments, net of tax and transfers during 2022 compared to losses in 2021 were primarily driven by gains on derivative instruments period over period.

Lower benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries were principally related to surrender benefits in individual deferred variable annuity products and private and public sector retirement plans.

The increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims were principally related to larger reserve increases in the Annuities segment and Corporate Solutions and Other segment products, partially offset by a larger reserve decrease in public sector retirement plans.

The lower net transfers from separate accounts were primarily driven by larger net transfers to separate accounts for variable COLI and BOLI products and retirement plan guarantee products plus lower net transfers from separate accounts for private and public sector retirement plans, partially offset by an increase in net transfers from separate accounts for individual deferred variable annuity products.

Business Segments

Life Insurance

2023 Compared to 2022

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Life Insurance segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	Change
Results of Operations
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$412	$415	(1% )
Net investment income	276	261	6%
Other revenues	200	200	0%
Total revenues	$888	$876	1%
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$673	$659	2%
Increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	59	45	31%
Net transfers from separate accounts	(64 )	(98 )	35%
Commissions	25	26	(4% )
Other expenses	127	134	(5% )
Total benefits and expenses	$820	$766	7%
Pre-tax operating earnings	$68	$110	(38% )

Pre-tax operating earnings decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to lower net transfers from separate accounts, higher benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries and larger increases in reserves for future policy benefits and claims, partially offset by higher net investment income.

A-34

The lower net transfers from separate accounts reflects a decrease in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries and transfers into fixed option funds for variable universal life insurance products.

The increase in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries were primarily related to fixed universal life insurance product death benefits, partially offset by a decrease in variable universal life insurance product death and surrender benefits.

The increase in change in reserves for future policy benefits and claims was driven by a larger year over year increase in fixed and indexed universal life insurance products reserves that was partially offset by a larger year over year decrease in reserves for variable universal life insurance and traditional life insurance products.

Higher net investment income was primarily associated with growth in fixed universal life insurance products.

2022 Compared to 2021

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Life Insurance segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2022	2021	Change
Results of Operations
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$415	$425	(2% )
Net investment income	261	254	3%
Other revenues	200	198	1%
Total revenues	$876	$877	(0% )
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$659	$748	(12% )
Increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	45	86	(48% )
Net transfers from separate accounts	(98 )	(97 )	(1% )
Commissions	26	27	(4% )
Other expenses	134	137	(2% )
Total benefits and expenses	$766	$901	(15% )
Pre-tax operating earnings (losses)	$110	$(24 )	558%

Pre-tax operating earnings (losses) increased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to lower benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries and smaller increases in reserves for future policy benefits and claims.

The decrease in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries were primarily related to individual variable universal life, traditional life and universal life insurance product death benefits.

The decrease in change in reserves for future policy benefits and claims was driven by a smaller increase year over year for individual fixed universal life insurance products that was partially offset by a larger increase year over year for individual variable universal life insurance products.

Annuities

2023 Compared to 2022

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Annuities segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	Change
Results of Operations
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$7,368	$5,758	28%
Net investment income	613	346	77%
Other revenues	1,568	1,629	(4% )
Total revenues	$9,549	$7,733	23%
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$8,867	$7,978	11%

A-35

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	Change
Increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	4,210	2,347	79%
Net transfers from separate accounts	(4,246 )	(3,307 )	(28% )
Commissions	542	546	(1% )
Reserve adjustment on reinsurance assumed	(153 )	(161 )	5%
Other expenses	158	136	16%
Total benefits and expenses	$9,378	$7,539	24%
Pre-tax operating earnings	$171	$194	(12% )

Pre-tax operating earnings decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily driven by a larger increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims and higher benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries, partially offset by higher annuity considerations, net transfers from separate accounts and net investment income.

The larger increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims was driven by higher sales in individual deferred fixed annuity and immediate annuity products that was partially offset by larger outflows in individual deferred variable annuity products and lower sales in deferred registered index-linked annuity products.

The increase in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries reflects higher surrender benefits in individual deferred variable annuity products driven by positive year-over-year market performance increasing account values of surrendered contracts as the increasing interest rate environment influenced participant lapse behavior.

The annuity considerations increase was due to higher sales of individual deferred fixed annuity and immediate annuity products that were driven by the increasing interest rate environment and partially offset by lower sales in deferred registered index-linked annuity and individual deferred variable annuity products due to recent market volatility.

The increase in net transfers from separate accounts primarily reflects a decrease in annuity considerations and higher benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries in individual deferred variable annuity products.

The increase in net investment income was principally due to growth in individual deferred fixed annuity, deferred registered index-linked annuity and individual immediate annuity products.

2022 Compared to 2021

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Annuities segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2022	2021	Change
Results of Operations
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$5,758	$6,512	(12% )
Net investment income	346	337	3%
Other revenues	1,629	1,664	(2% )
Total revenues	$7,733	$8,513	(9% )
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$7,978	$8,698	(8% )
Increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	2,347	84	2694%
Net transfers from separate accounts	(3,307 )	(1,391 )	(138% )
Commissions	546	629	(13% )
Reserve adjustment on reinsurance assumed	(161 )	(151 )	(7% )
Other expenses	136	41	232%
Total benefits and expenses	$7,539	$7,910	(5% )
Pre-tax operating earnings	$194	$603	(68% )

Pre-tax operating earnings decreased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily driven by increases in reserves for future policy benefits and claims and decreases in annuity considerations, partially offset by higher net transfers from separate accounts and lower benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries.

A-36

The increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims was driven by a larger increase in individual deferred fixed annuity products, individual immediate annuity products and individual deferred registered indexed linked annuity products.

Annuity considerations decreased due to lower sales of individual deferred variable annuity products, partially offset by an increase in sales of individual deferred fixed annuity and immediate annuity products.

The increase in net transfers from separate accounts primarily reflects a decrease in annuity considerations, partially offset by lower benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries, for individual deferred variable annuity products.

The decrease in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries was principally driven by reduced individual deferred variable annuity product surrender benefits.

Retirement Solutions

2023 Compared to 2022

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Retirement Solutions segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2023	2022	Change
Results of Operations
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$4,150	$5,097	(19% )
Net investment income	835	860	3%
Other revenues	187	191	(2% )
Total revenues	$5,172	$6,148	(16% )
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$6,990	$6,662	5%
Decrease in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	(1,469 )	(622 )	(136% )
Net transfers from separate accounts	(791 )	(320 )	(147% )
Commissions	89	138	(36% )
Other expenses	214	120	78%
Total benefits and expenses	$5,033	$5,978	(16% )
Pre-tax operating earnings	$139	$170	(18% )

Pre-tax operating earnings decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily driven by lower annuity considerations and larger benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries, partially offset by higher decrease in reserves for future policy benefits and claims and net transfers from separate accounts.

The decrease in annuity considerations was primarily related to the non-recurrence of a 2022 large case acquisition in retirement plan guarantee products and a reduced level of exchanges from noninsurance trust products in public sector retirement plans.

Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries increased primarily due to surrender benefits in private sector retirement plan products, partially offset by decreases in surrender benefits in public sector retirement plan and retirement plan guarantee products.

The larger decrease in reserves for future policy benefits and claims in private and public sector retirement plan reserves primarily reflects lower participant account values due to higher volumes of withdrawals.

The larger net transfers from separate accounts was principally related to retirement plan guarantee products and driven by lower annuity considerations, partially offset by decreased surrender benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries.

A-37

2022 Compared to 2021

The following table summarizes selected financial data for the Company’s Retirement Solutions segment for the years ended:

	December 31,
(in millions)	2022	2021	Change
Results of Operations
Revenues
Premiums and annuity considerations	$5,097	$4,551	12%
Net investment income	860	861	0%
Other revenues	191	236	(19% )
Total revenues	$6,148	$5,648	9%
Benefits and expenses
Benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries	$6,662	$6,780	(2% )
(Decrease) increase in reserves for future policy benefits and claims	(622 )	89

NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE CO S-1