Deferred‑comp committee pauses rollout of Nationwide’s “retirement income builder” pending further fiduciary review

The Deferred Compensation Advisory Committee reopened discussion of Nationwide’s Retirement Income Builder, a product designed to let participants ‘‘capture’’ their highest account balance and convert that high watermark into a lifetime income stream, but members deferred implementation pending additional fiduciary review.

Eric Linsky, identified in the meeting as a Nationwide product expert, described how the product works: participants begin capturing a “high watermark” quarterly starting at age 47; at retirement they may elect to receive income equal to 6% of that high watermark for life, and if an account later reaches zero the product’s insurance component would continue to pay 4.5% of the high watermark. "Starting at 65, they can elect to start to receive income, and they will receive 6% of that captured high…