Learn How This Actually Works
Eight plain-English guides to indexed universal life — the mechanics, the costs, the historical record and the failure modes. No email required, nothing gated, and the criticisms are in there alongside the case for it.
Most IUL Content Is Either a Sales Pitch or a Takedown
Search for information on indexed universal life and you will find two kinds of pages. One promises market returns with no risk. The other tells you the whole category is a scam. Neither is written to help you decide anything.
These guides are written the way we talk to clients: here is the mechanism, here is what it costs, here is what the historical record supports, and here is exactly how it fails when it fails. If a section makes the product look bad, we left it in, because you are going to find out either way and it is cheaper to find out now.
- No email gate, no download form, no drip sequence
- Every criticism we think is legitimate is stated in full
- Written for people evaluating a decision, not people already sold
What you won’t find in here
- “Market upside with zero downside”
- An illustration’s ending value presented as a forecast
- Backtests that quietly leave out dividends and charges
- A claim that this replaces your 401(k)
- Anything you have to give us an email address to read
Eight Guides
Read them in any order. If you are starting cold, number one is the foundation for the rest.
How IUL Crediting Actually Works
Caps, floors, participation rates and spreads — what each dial does and why carriers set them where they do.
Read the guide 02What an IUL Really Costs
Every charge inside the policy, why the cost curve falls over time, and how to judge whether yours is reasonable.
Read the guide 03What Market History Says About Caps and Floors
Eight decades of index returns run through a capped, floored crediting method — where it helps and where it hurts.
Read the guide 04Funding Discipline: Underfunding and Delay
What actually happens to a policy when you pay less than planned or start late — and the escape hatches that exist.
Read the guide 05Policy Loans and Tax-Free Income
How borrowing against cash value works, the arbitrage math, and the lapse risk nobody explains at the kitchen table.
Read the guide 06The Honest Pros and Cons of IUL
The real advantages, the legitimate criticisms, and a straight answer on who this product does and doesn't fit.
Read the guide 07How to Read an IUL Illustration
The columns that matter, the ones that don't, and the stress tests to demand before you sign anything.
Read the guide 08The Plain-English IUL Glossary
Nearly fifty terms from the contract, the illustration and the sales conversation — defined without the jargon.
Read the guide