Best IUL Insurance Companies (2026)

The best IUL insurance company depends on what you want the policy to do. If you want to see how an insurer's rates have moved, Pacific Life posts its declared participation rates online. If you want charges spelled out, Transamerica publishes them in its consumer guide. Nationwide adds a long-term care rider option, Allianz lets you lock in an index gain partway through the year, and National Life Group builds living benefits riders into its policies at no added premium.

We're a matching service, not an insurer; licensed agents we connect you with may offer policies from some of these companies. See how we review companies.

How did we choose these companies?

We compared six insurers that sell indexed universal life (IUL) to individuals, using only what each company, its rating agencies and the NAIC publish. For each one we looked at:

• Crediting terms: the floor, whether caps or participation rates are published, and the index options offered.
• Charges: premium charges, account charges and surrender periods, where the company discloses them.
• Guarantees and riders: no-lapse guarantees, living benefits, and protection against lapse from loans.
• Financial strength: AM Best, S&P, Moody's or Fitch ratings, with dates.
• Complaints: each issuer's 2025 individual life complaint index on the NAIC Consumer Insurance Search, data as of September 29, 2026.

We don't give star ratings or scores, and no company paid to be included. The full criteria are on our methodology page. New to IUL? Start with what indexed universal life insurance is.

How do the six IUL companies compare?

Ratings are financial strength opinions, not reviews of the policy. A complaint index of 1.00 is the national baseline for the insurer's size.

Pacific Life: best for seeing how rates have moved

Pacific Life is the only company here that posts IUL crediting rates on a public page. Its indexed account rates page lists 13 months of declared participation rates for the 1-Year No Cap account in Pacific Horizon ECV IUL, tied to the S&P 500. The rate was 60% on September 3, 2026, ranged from 55% to 65% over the prior year, and has a guaranteed minimum of 5% and a 0% floor. Pacific Life's IUL page presents Horizon ECV for businesses and affluent individuals.

Its Trident IUL client guide lists 4 to 20 years of no-lapse protection at no extra charge for issue ages 75 and under, an optional rider that can extend it up to lifetime for a charge, and a fixed account with a 1% minimum.

Caution: a no-cap account can still credit little in a flat year, and the 5% minimum participation rate is far below today's 60%. Trident IUL's surrender charges apply for 10 years after issue. Pacific Life Insurance Company is not licensed in New York.

Transamerica: best for charges you can read before you buy

Transamerica's FFIUL II consumer guide spells out charges most insurers leave to the illustration. It lists a premium charge of 4% current and 6% guaranteed. It also lists an index account charge of 0.06% a month (0.72% a year) on its S&P 500, Global and Balanced Uncapped accounts; the Basic S&P 500 account has no such charge. The guaranteed floor is 0.75%, not 0%. FFIUL II issues from birth to age 85 (75 in Florida), with a $25,000 minimum face amount for juvenile, tobacco and nontobacco classes and $100,000 for other classes. No-lapse periods run 20 years for issue ages 0 to 45, to age 65 for ages 46 to 60, and 5 years after that. A terminal illness rider is included automatically; the chronic illness rider must be chosen when you apply.

Transamerica's IUL page also lists FFIUL II Express, with a faster application for coverage up to $500,000.

Caution: in a year the index falls, the 0.75% floor and the 0.72% account charge roughly cancel out. Transamerica Life's 2025 individual life complaint index was 4.48, well above the 1.00 baseline. FFIUL II is not available in New York.

Nationwide: best if you want a long-term care rider option

Nationwide's Indexed UL Accumulator III offers a Long-Term Care Rider II, plus chronic, critical and terminal illness benefits and an Overloan Lapse Protection Rider II. Its client guide lists a 0% floor on index strategies, a 1% minimum on the fixed account, and index options on the S&P 500, a multi-index blend of the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow, and a BNP Paribas volatility-control index. Its Performance Lock lets you keep a gain once a target is reached, on uncapped strategies. If your premiums pass an accumulated premium test at the start of year 16 (earlier for some issue ages), a rewards credit of 0.20% a year is added. For protection first, Nationwide lists Indexed UL Protector II 2020.

Caution: Nationwide notes that uncapped strategies may carry a spread, and that volatility-control strategies are not guaranteed to credit more. It says you need an insurance professional to buy, and New York residents get separate YourLife products.

Allianz: best for locking in a gain partway through the year

Allianz says Allianz Life Accumulator was the first life policy to offer Index Lock. On many allocations you can lock an index value once per crediting period, or set a target so Auto Lock does it for you. Optional riders can accelerate part of the death benefit for chronic or terminal illness, and another rider is designed to prevent lapse while a policy loan is outstanding.

Caution: Allianz warns that locking can produce a lower credit than not locking, and it won't tell you when to lock. Its bonus allocations generally have lower caps and participation rates and may carry higher surrender charges. Allianz says its IUL requires health and financial underwriting, and the content does not apply in New York.

National Life Group: best for built-in living benefits

National Life Group's living benefits guide, for policies issued by National Life Insurance Company, describes accelerated benefits riders at no additional cost for terminal illness (24 months or less to live), chronic illness, critical illness, critical injury, and a qualifying Alzheimer's disease or Lewy body dementia diagnosis. On its IUL explainer, the company says all its IUL products have a 0% floor, that you can switch index strategies for the next crediting period, and that a Systematic Allocation Rider can spread premium over 12 months.

Caution: accelerated benefits are paid at a discount and reduce the death benefit, with a lifetime limit across riders. The Alzheimer's rider isn't available if a parent or sibling has had the disease. Life Insurance Company of the Southwest does not do business in New York.

Mutual of Omaha: best if the death benefit comes first

Mutual of Omaha's Life Protection Advantage IUL offers a death benefit that can be guaranteed through age 90 if you pay the no-lapse premium or more (a 10-year guarantee for applicants over 75). It has a 0% floor and includes accelerated death benefit and guaranteed refund option riders. Its Income Advantage IUL puts more weight on cash value growth.

Caution: the guarantee holds only if you pay the no-lapse premium, and Mutual of Omaha requires you to work with an agent for universal life. United of Omaha does not sell in New York.

How should you compare IUL quotes?

Compare IUL policies on the terms that drive long-term results, not on the illustrated rate. Since 2015, NAIC Actuarial Guideline 49, now AG 49-A, has limited how IUL can be illustrated, but an illustration is still a projection, not a promise.

1. Ask for current and guaranteed minimum caps and participation rates for each index option. Our guide to how IUL caps and participation rates work shows how each one changes your credit.
2. Ask for every charge in writing: premium charges, account charges, cost of insurance, and how long surrender charges last.
3. Check the floor and the fixed account minimum. A 0% floor doesn't stop monthly charges from lowering your cash value.
4. Run a lower-rate illustration. Ask what premium keeps the policy in force to age 95 or 100 if crediting is 1 to 2 points below illustrated.
5. Plan loans carefully. If you want income later, read our guide to IUL for retirement income and ask about overloan protection.
6. Look up the issuer by exact legal name on the NAIC Consumer Insurance Search.

If you're still deciding whether IUL fits at all, weigh the IUL pros and cons, compare IUL vs. term life insurance, or read whether IUL is a good investment. More guides are on our IUL hub.