IUL JUMP Strategy vs. Roth IRA: Which Can Produce More Retirement Income?
If someone tells you an IUL is “better than a Roth IRA,” be careful.
If someone tells you a Roth IRA automatically makes an IUL unnecessary, be careful with that too.
They’re different tools.
And if you’re serious about retirement income, the better question isn’t:
“Which one wins?”
It’s:
“What job am I asking each one to do?”
Because a Roth IRA is one of the most attractive retirement accounts available under current federal tax rules.
An indexed universal life policy is permanent life insurance.
One can hold investments.
The other provides life insurance protection, cash-value accumulation potential, and contractual access features including policy loans.
They shouldn’t be compared as if they’re identical products with different labels.
Let’s Start With the Roth IRA
A Roth IRA is funded with after-tax dollars.
You don’t generally receive an income-tax deduction for making a Roth IRA contribution.
In exchange, qualified Roth distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules.
That’s a major retirement advantage.
A Roth IRA Can Also Give You Investment Flexibility
Inside a Roth IRA, you may be able to own investments such as:
- Stocks
- Bonds
- Mutual funds
- ETFs
- Other permitted investments
The Roth itself isn’t the investment.
It’s the tax structure surrounding the assets you put inside it.
That’s an Important Distinction
People sometimes compare “the return of a Roth IRA” with “the return of an IUL.”
But a Roth IRA doesn’t have one rate of return.
Your results are affected by the investments you select.
An aggressive stock portfolio can behave very differently from a conservative bond portfolio.
So any serious comparison has to define what the Roth IRA actually owns.
What Is an IUL?
Indexed universal life insurance is permanent life insurance.
It can provide:
- A death benefit
- Cash-value accumulation potential
- Indexed-interest crediting options
- Access through withdrawals and policy loans subject to the contract
- Premium flexibility within policy requirements
It also comes with costs and restrictions that a Roth IRA doesn’t have.
An IUL Has Insurance Costs
You’re buying life insurance.
That means the policy can include:
- Cost of insurance charges
- Administrative charges
- Policy expenses
- Surrender charges
- Other contract-specific costs
A Roth IRA doesn’t have life insurance costs because it isn’t life insurance.
So Why Would Anyone Compare an IUL With a Roth IRA?
Because people often want both vehicles to solve a similar retirement problem:
“How can I build money today that I may be able to access later without creating a large income-tax bill every time I need retirement cash flow?”
That’s where the comparison becomes interesting.
The Roth IRA Has a Powerful Tax Advantage
When Roth requirements are satisfied, qualified distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules.
You’re not borrowing the money.
You’re withdrawing from your retirement account.
There isn’t policy-loan interest attached to a qualified Roth distribution.
That’s a major difference from an IUL loan strategy.
IUL Policy Loans Work Differently
With an IUL, retirement cash flow may be structured using withdrawals and policy loans.
Policy loans aren’t Roth withdrawals.
They’re loans under a life insurance contract.
They generally accrue interest.
Outstanding indebtedness can reduce policy values and the net death benefit.
And excessive borrowing can increase lapse risk.
Then Why Use Policy Loans?
Because when a non-MEC life insurance policy is properly structured and maintained, policy loans may generally provide access to policy values without current income taxation under applicable federal tax rules.
That can create another source of potentially tax-advantaged retirement cash flow.
But there are conditions and risks.
This isn’t:
“Put money in an IUL and withdraw tax-free money forever.”
That’s too simplistic.
Here’s the First Big Difference: Funding Capacity
A Roth IRA is governed by annual contribution rules.
Direct contribution eligibility can also be affected by income under current federal rules.
That creates a problem for some high-income savers.
They like the Roth.
They just want to put substantially more money into a tax-diversified retirement strategy than the direct Roth IRA contribution rules allow.
“I’m Maxing My Roth. Now What?”
This is where the conversation often starts.
Maybe you’re already:
- Contributing to your workplace retirement plan
- Funding a Roth IRA when eligible
- Using a backdoor Roth strategy when appropriate
- Saving in a brokerage account
- Holding substantial cash reserves
And you still have additional cash flow available.
Now you’re asking:
“Where does the next retirement dollar go?”
An IUL Doesn’t Use the Roth IRA Contribution Limit
Life insurance premium funding isn’t governed by the Roth IRA annual contribution limit.
That doesn’t mean you can put an unlimited amount into any policy however you want.
Far from it.
Insurance underwriting matters.
Death-benefit requirements matter.
Carrier guidelines matter.
Policy design matters.
And federal tax rules governing life insurance, including Modified Endowment Contract rules, matter.
The MEC Limit Is a Big Deal
If you’re using life insurance partly for future access to policy values, you need to understand Modified Endowment Contract rules.
Overfunding a life insurance policy beyond applicable tax-law limits can cause it to become a MEC.
That changes the tax treatment of distributions and loans.
So when someone says:
“IUL has no contribution limits.”
That’s misleading.
A Better Way to Say It
An IUL isn’t subject to the Roth IRA annual contribution limit.
But its funding capacity is constrained by insurance design, underwriting, carrier requirements, and tax rules.
That’s a much more accurate conversation.
The Second Big Difference: Market Exposure
A Roth IRA can be invested directly in securities.
If you own a stock-market fund and the market falls significantly, the investment value can fall significantly.
If the market rises strongly, you can participate in that upside based on the investments you own, less applicable expenses.
An IUL Works Differently
An IUL indexed account doesn’t directly invest policy value in the referenced stock-market index.
Indexed interest is calculated according to the policy’s contractual crediting methodology.
That methodology may involve:
- Caps
- Participation rates
- Spreads
- Floors
- Other index-account provisions
That Means You Don’t Get the Exact Stock-Market Return
If the market has a huge year, the policy’s indexed-interest credit can be limited by the applicable crediting formula.
On the other hand, an applicable indexed-crediting floor may protect the indexed-interest calculation from being negative solely because the referenced index declined.
But remember:
A 0% indexed-crediting floor doesn’t mean the policy value can’t go down.
Policy charges and loan interest still matter.
So Which Has More Upside?
If you’re comparing direct long-term stock-market ownership with an IUL indexed account, don’t assume the IUL receives all of the market’s upside.
It doesn’t.
That’s not what the policy is designed to do.
The IUL conversation is about the entire package:
Insurance.
Cash value.
Crediting mechanics.
Access.
Loan mechanics.
Retirement income.
Legacy.
The Third Big Difference: Retirement Withdrawals vs. Policy Loans
This may be the most important distinction.
With a Roth IRA, qualified distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules.
You take money from the account.
The remaining account balance continues from there.
With the JUMP Strategy, Loan Mechanics Become Central
The IUL JUMP Strategy uses a feature we refer to as the Matching Indexed Participating Loan.
At a high level, values associated with policy loans may continue participating in an applicable indexed-crediting strategy according to the terms of the policy.
That relationship can materially change the modeled retirement-income math.
Why Could That Matter?
Because retirement distributions don’t happen once.
They may happen every year for decades.
If you’re accessing significant policy value through loans, how the contract treats those loans matters.
A lot.
The Loan Rate Matters Too
With the policy structure we currently use for the IUL JUMP Strategy, the applicable loan rate is currently 5%.
The applicable loan feature also has a contractual maximum loan rate of 6%.
That gives us a defined borrowing-cost ceiling to incorporate into our modeling.
Why I Like Knowing the Maximum
I’m not interested in building a retirement strategy that works only if today’s 5% applicable loan rate stays exactly where it is for the next 30 years.
I want to ask:
“What happens if the applicable loan rate reaches its contractual 6% maximum?”
Then rerun the retirement projection.
That’s a much more useful stress test.
Does the 6% Maximum Make the IUL Better Than a Roth?
No.
That’s not what the number proves.
A qualified Roth IRA distribution doesn’t have a policy loan rate attached to it in the first place.
The 6% maximum simply gives us an upper boundary on the applicable loan cost for the policy structure we’re modeling.
This Is Where Bad Comparisons Get Made
Someone takes an IUL illustration.
Then they compare it with a Roth IRA using completely different assumptions.
The IUL gets favorable crediting.
The Roth gets a weak investment return.
Or the Roth gets no consideration for investment fees.
Or the IUL’s insurance costs aren’t clearly accounted for.
Then someone declares a winner.
That’s not analysis. That’s choosing the winner before doing the math.
What Would a Fair Comparison Look Like?
Start by defining the contribution or premium.
Then define:
- Starting age
- Retirement age
- Contribution period
- Roth investment allocation
- Roth investment-return assumptions
- Investment expenses
- IUL premium funding
- Insurance costs
- IUL crediting assumptions
- Loan mechanics
- Loan rates
- Retirement distributions
- Distribution period
- Ending account or policy values
- Net death benefit
Now you have something worth comparing.
But There’s Another Problem: You May Not Be Able to Put the Same Amount Into a Roth IRA
This is where real-world planning gets messy.
Imagine a high-income household has $30,000, $50,000, or more of additional annual cash flow they want to position for retirement.
A direct Roth IRA contribution isn’t simply an unlimited bucket.
So saying:
“Just put the whole amount into a Roth IRA instead”
may not be an available direct contribution strategy.
That Doesn’t Automatically Make IUL the Answer
There may be other options.
For example:
- Workplace retirement plans
- Roth workplace contributions when available
- Backdoor Roth strategies when appropriate
- After-tax workplace-plan strategies when available
- Taxable brokerage accounts
- Other savings and investment vehicles
IUL should compete against the real alternatives available to you.
Don’t Compare IUL With an Imaginary Alternative
If you’re eligible to fund a Roth, include it.
If your workplace plan offers strong benefits, include them.
If you have an employer match, include it.
If you have a low-cost taxable investment strategy, include it.
If life insurance protection is something you actually need, include the value and cost of that too.
Make the comparison real.
The Fourth Big Difference: Life Insurance
A Roth IRA doesn’t provide a life insurance death benefit.
An IUL does.
That’s not automatically an advantage.
It’s an advantage only if the death benefit has value to your financial plan.
Who Might Care About the Death Benefit?
Someone who wants to leave money to:
- A spouse
- Children
- Grandchildren
- A business
- A charity
- Other beneficiaries
Or someone who already has a legitimate permanent life insurance need.
But Don’t Pretend the Insurance Is Free
The policy has insurance costs.
Those costs affect cash-value accumulation.
So if someone tells you:
“You get the retirement income plus a huge death benefit for free,”
that’s not how I would evaluate it.
The insurance is part of the economics.
The Fifth Difference: Liquidity
Roth IRAs and IULs have very different access rules.
Roth IRA distribution rules distinguish among contributions, conversions, earnings, qualified distributions, and other circumstances.
An IUL has its own withdrawal, loan, surrender, and policy-value rules.
Early IUL Liquidity Can Be a Problem
An IUL may have surrender charges.
Early cash surrender value may be significantly lower than cumulative premiums paid.
That’s why IUL generally shouldn’t be treated like a checking account for money you may need next year.
“What If I Need the Money?”
That’s a question you should answer before funding the policy.
How much emergency cash do you have?
What other liquid assets are available?
How stable is your income?
Are you putting so much into the policy that you’re making the rest of your financial life uncomfortable?
If so, that’s a warning sign.
A Retirement Strategy Shouldn’t Make You Cash-Poor Today
You shouldn’t have to raid a long-term insurance strategy because the air conditioner died.
Or because you need a new roof.
Or because your business had a bad quarter.
Liquidity matters.
What About Required Minimum Distributions?
Roth IRAs owned by the original owner generally aren’t subject to lifetime required minimum distributions under current federal rules.
That’s another significant advantage.
An IUL isn’t an IRA and doesn’t have IRA RMD rules.
So neither vehicle creates the same lifetime RMD issue as a traditional IRA for the original owner.
This Makes Roth vs. IUL a More Interesting Comparison Than Traditional IRA vs. IUL
With a traditional IRA, taxes and future RMDs can be major parts of the comparison.
With a Roth IRA, many of those objections are already reduced.
So the IUL has to prove itself somewhere else.
Where Does JUMP Have to Prove Itself?
Potential areas include:
- Additional funding capacity
- Retirement-income modeling
- Loan mechanics
- Life insurance protection
- Legacy objectives
- Different exposure to market losses
- Overall retirement-income diversification
And the numbers still have to justify the costs and risks.
What About the “Up to 300% More Retirement Income” Comparison?
We’ve evaluated certain modeled scenarios where the IUL JUMP Strategy produced projected retirement income up to approximately 300% higher than the compared 401(k) or IRA strategy.
That’s a modeled result.
It isn’t a universal promise.
And I would be especially careful about taking that number and casually applying it to every Roth IRA.
A Roth Comparison Needs Its Own Math
If we’re comparing JUMP directly with a Roth IRA, we should model the Roth IRA as a Roth IRA.
Use realistic contribution rules.
Use an actual investment assumption.
Use reasonable expenses.
Model qualified Roth treatment appropriately.
Then model the IUL using its own costs, crediting assumptions, loan mechanics, and death benefit.
Don’t force the 300% claim onto a comparison it wasn’t built from.
That’s How You Keep the Math Honest
If JUMP wins a specific modeled Roth comparison, show why.
If the Roth wins, show why.
If the best answer is using both, show that too.
I don’t need the IUL to win every spreadsheet.
I need the spreadsheet to tell the truth.
What About the Approximately 40% Traditional IUL Comparison?
In certain modeled comparisons we’ve evaluated, the JUMP Strategy has produced approximately 40% more projected retirement income than the traditional IUL design being compared.
That comparison is more directly tied to differences between IUL designs, including loan mechanics.
It isn’t a statement about Roth IRA performance.
This Is Why Specific Comparisons Matter
“IUL beats Roth.”
“Roth beats IUL.”
Both statements are too broad.
Give me the actual person.
The actual age.
The actual funding.
The actual investment assumptions.
The actual policy.
The actual retirement-income objective.
Then we have something to discuss.
What If You’re Already Maxing Out Your Roth IRA?
This may be where the IUL conversation becomes more relevant.
You’re not necessarily asking:
“Should I stop funding my Roth and buy life insurance?”
You may be asking:
“I’ve already used the retirement accounts available to me. What should I do with the next $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000 a year I’m saving?”
That’s a different question.
The Best Strategy May Be Roth Plus JUMP
This doesn’t have to be a cage match.
A Roth IRA can provide one source of retirement assets.
An IUL can potentially provide another.
A 401(k) can provide another.
A taxable brokerage account can provide another.
Social Security can provide another.
Maybe a pension provides another.
Retirement can be stronger when you have multiple sources of cash flow with different tax and risk characteristics.
Think in Buckets
You may have:
Tax-deferred money.
Traditional 401(k)s and IRAs.
Roth money.
Roth IRAs and Roth workplace accounts.
Taxable money.
Brokerage accounts, cash, and other assets.
Life insurance cash value.
When properly designed and maintained, that can potentially become another source of retirement liquidity through withdrawals and policy loans.
Why Multiple Buckets Can Matter
Retirement rarely follows the exact spreadsheet.
Maybe tax rules change.
Maybe markets fall.
Maybe you need a large amount of cash one year.
Maybe you want to leave more money to your children.
Different buckets can give you different choices.
But More Complexity Isn’t Automatically Better
This is important.
Owning seven different financial products doesn’t automatically make you diversified.
Sometimes it just makes your life complicated.
Every strategy should have a job.
If you can’t explain why you own it, that’s a problem.
What Job Would the Roth IRA Have?
Maybe it’s your long-term investment-growth bucket.
Maybe it’s an asset you intentionally preserve until later in retirement.
Maybe it’s part of your legacy strategy.
Maybe it’s a flexible source of qualified tax-free distributions.
What Job Would the IUL Have?
Maybe it’s permanent life insurance.
Maybe it’s another potential source of retirement cash flow.
Maybe it’s part of your legacy plan.
Maybe the JUMP loan structure creates compelling modeled retirement-income economics for your situation.
If it doesn’t have a clear job, don’t force it into the plan.
Who Might Prefer the Roth IRA?
A Roth may be especially attractive for someone who:
- Qualifies to contribute directly or has another appropriate Roth funding path
- Wants direct investment ownership
- Wants relatively simple retirement-account mechanics
- Doesn’t need permanent life insurance
- Wants qualified tax-free distributions
- Is comfortable with market volatility
- Values investment flexibility
Who Might Want to Evaluate JUMP?
The JUMP Strategy may be worth evaluating for someone who:
- Has substantial additional cash flow available for long-term retirement planning
- Has already funded other retirement vehicles
- Wants permanent life insurance protection
- Wants another potential source of retirement cash flow
- Can tolerate reduced early liquidity
- Can qualify medically and financially for life insurance
- Understands that policy performance isn’t guaranteed
- Is willing to monitor the policy over time
Health Matters With an IUL
This is another major difference.
You don’t have to pass life insurance medical underwriting to open a Roth IRA.
An IUL is life insurance.
Your health, age, underwriting class, and insurability can materially affect policy economics or whether coverage is available at all.
This Can Completely Change the Comparison
A great IUL concept on paper may become much less attractive if underwriting produces substantially higher insurance costs.
That’s why hypothetical comparisons are only the beginning.
Eventually you need real numbers.
Age Matters Too
The economics of an IUL funded at 40 can look very different from one started at 65.
Insurance costs change.
The accumulation period changes.
The amount of time before retirement loans begin changes.
So don’t take somebody else’s illustration and assume it applies to you.
“What If We Mess This Up and Regret It?”
This is where the decision becomes emotional.
You think:
“What if we mess this up and regret it?”
Maybe you already have a Roth.
You understand it.
Then someone introduces an insurance strategy that looks more complicated.
Part of you thinks:
“Why would I mess with something that’s already working?”
That’s a reasonable reaction.
The Real Fear Is Making an Irreversible Late-Life Mistake
At 35, a bad financial decision can hurt.
At 60, it can feel much heavier.
You have fewer peak earning years left.
Retirement is close.
You don’t want to lock yourself into something you don’t fully understand.
And you shouldn’t.
“We Should Be Able to Handle This Ourselves”
You think:
“We should be able to handle this ourselves.”
You’ve probably managed retirement accounts for years.
You know how a brokerage account works.
You understand stocks and mutual funds.
Then insurance terminology enters the conversation.
Caps.
Participation rates.
Policy loans.
MEC limits.
Cost of insurance.
It can feel like someone changed the language on you.
You Don’t Need to Become an Insurance Expert
But you should understand enough to answer:
What am I paying?
What am I getting?
What’s guaranteed?
What’s not?
How do I access the money?
What happens if the policy underperforms?
What happens if I change my mind?
What happens if I die?
What happens if I live to 100?
“I Don’t Want to Ask My Kids for Help”
Then there’s the deeper retirement fear:
“I don’t want to ask my kids for help.”
You want retirement assets that support your independence.
You want choices.
You want to be able to pay your bills without becoming somebody else’s financial responsibility.
And if there’s money left when you’re gone, you’d rather help your children than need them to rescue you.
The Identity Conflict: Investor vs. Protector
The Roth speaks strongly to the investor side of your brain.
Own investments.
Keep costs low.
Let them grow.
Use qualified tax-free distributions later.
Simple.
The IUL Speaks to Another Part of You
The protector.
Protect the family.
Create another pool of retirement assets.
Reduce exposure to certain market-loss dynamics.
Leave a death benefit.
Have another place to access money.
Neither identity is wrong.
The Mistake Is Letting One Identity Make the Whole Decision
If you’re only thinking like an investor, you may dismiss insurance without studying the retirement-income mechanics.
If you’re only thinking like a protector, you may overpay for insurance you don’t actually need.
Make both sides prove their case.
The Emotional Override Moment
For the Roth, it may happen when someone says:
“Tax-free growth forever.”
For the IUL, it may happen when someone shows you a giant projected retirement-income number.
Both can make you stop asking questions.
Don’t.
Ask the Roth Questions
- How much can I actually contribute?
- What am I investing in?
- What return assumption am I using?
- What expenses am I paying?
- How much market risk am I taking?
- When can I take qualified distributions?
- What role does the Roth play in my total retirement plan?
Then Ask the IUL Questions
- How much premium am I funding?
- What death benefit is required?
- What are the policy charges?
- What are the surrender provisions?
- What is guaranteed?
- What is nonguaranteed?
- What indexed-crediting assumption is being used?
- How does the Matching Indexed Participating Loan work?
- What is the current applicable loan rate?
- What is the contractual maximum loan rate?
- What happens under lower crediting?
- What happens at the maximum loan rate?
- What happens to the loan balance at age 90?
- What net death benefit remains?
- What could cause the policy to lapse?
Then Compare the Outcomes
Not the sales pitches.
The outcomes.
How much money went in?
How much retirement cash flow came out?
What assumptions were required?
What risks were taken?
What values remained?
What happened when the assumptions were less favorable?
The Retirement Math Method™
This is exactly why we use the Retirement Math Method™.
I don’t want to tell you an IUL is better than a Roth IRA.
I don’t want to tell you a Roth IRA is automatically better than an IUL.
I want to model the actual choices available to you.
If you have a Roth, what is it invested in?
How much can you put into it?
What retirement income could it potentially support under the assumptions we’re using?
If we’re evaluating JUMP, what does the actual policy show?
What are the costs?
What are the loan mechanics?
What happens at the current 5% applicable loan rate?
What happens if we stress-test the applicable loan feature at its contractual 6% maximum?
What happens under lower indexed crediting?
What happens to the policy at 90?
At 100?
Then compare the numbers.
I don’t try to sell you on the strategy. I make the strategy prove itself with the math.
Let the math do the talking.
Frequently Asked Questions About IUL vs. Roth IRA
Is an IUL better than a Roth IRA?
Neither is universally better. A Roth IRA is a retirement account that can hold investments. An IUL is permanent life insurance with cash-value and policy-loan features. Their purposes, costs, risks, tax treatment, liquidity, and mechanics are different.
Can I have both a Roth IRA and an IUL?
Yes. They’re different financial vehicles. Owning an IUL doesn’t by itself prevent someone from owning or funding a Roth IRA if that person otherwise qualifies under applicable rules.
Does an IUL have the same annual contribution limit as a Roth IRA?
No. Life insurance premiums aren’t governed by the Roth IRA annual contribution limit. However, IUL funding isn’t unlimited. Underwriting, policy design, death-benefit requirements, carrier guidelines, and federal tax rules including MEC limits can restrict how a policy is funded.
Can high-income earners contribute directly to a Roth IRA?
Direct Roth IRA contribution eligibility is subject to income rules that can change by tax year. High-income taxpayers may have other Roth strategies available, but tax circumstances should be reviewed with a qualified tax professional.
Are Roth IRA withdrawals tax-free?
Qualified Roth IRA distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules. Roth distribution rules should be reviewed carefully because treatment can vary among contributions, conversions, earnings, qualified distributions, and nonqualified distributions.
Are IUL policy loans tax-free?
Policy loans from a properly structured and maintained non-MEC life insurance policy may generally provide access to policy values without current income taxation under applicable federal tax rules. They are loans, generally accrue interest, reduce policy values and death benefits, and can create tax consequences if a policy with gain later lapses or is surrendered.
Does a Roth IRA charge loan interest?
A qualified Roth IRA distribution isn’t an insurance policy loan, so it doesn’t carry an IUL policy-loan interest rate. Roth IRAs and IUL policy loans use fundamentally different access mechanics.
What is the current loan rate used with the JUMP strategy?
With the policy structure we currently use for the IUL JUMP Strategy, the applicable loan rate is currently 5%, and the applicable loan feature has a contractual maximum loan rate of 6%. The actual carrier-approved illustration and insurance contract should be reviewed before relying on policy-specific figures.
Does the 6% maximum guarantee the JUMP loan strategy will work?
No. The contractual maximum defines the upper boundary of the applicable loan rate under the policy provisions. It doesn’t guarantee indexed crediting, positive loan arbitrage, retirement income, policy values, death benefits, or policy durability.
Does an IUL have required minimum distributions?
An IUL isn’t an IRA and isn’t subject to IRA RMD rules. Roth IRAs owned by the original owner generally aren’t subject to lifetime RMDs under current federal rules either.
Can an IUL lose value?
Yes. A 0% indexed-crediting floor doesn’t guarantee that total policy value cannot decline. Policy charges, insurance costs, withdrawals, loans, and loan interest can reduce policy values.
Is the IUL JUMP Strategy guaranteed to produce more retirement income than a Roth IRA?
No. Any comparison must be modeled using specific assumptions for the Roth IRA and the IUL. Results aren’t guaranteed, and a modeled comparison shouldn’t be generalized to every Roth IRA or IUL.
So Should You Choose the Roth IRA or the IUL JUMP Strategy?
Don’t start there.
Start with:
“What am I already doing?”
Then:
“What problem am I trying to solve?”
Then:
“What does the math say about the choices actually available to me?”
Maybe the Roth is clearly the better destination for the next dollar.
Maybe you’ve already used the Roth opportunities available to you and JUMP deserves a look.
Maybe the strongest strategy uses both.
The strategy doesn’t get to choose itself.
Want to Compare JUMP With Your Roth Strategy?
We can compare the numbers instead of arguing over which financial product has the better internet fan club.
We can evaluate:
- Your current Roth IRA
- Your current 401(k) or IRA
- Your annual savings capacity
- Your retirement age
- Your Roth investment assumptions
- Your projected retirement distributions
- Your tax diversification
- Your life insurance needs
- Your IUL funding capacity
- Insurance costs
- Indexed-crediting assumptions
- Matching Indexed Participating Loan mechanics
- The current 5% applicable loan rate
- The contractual 6% maximum loan rate
- Lower-crediting scenarios
- Projected loan balances
- Projected policy values
- Projected net death benefit
- Long-term policy durability
In certain modeled comparisons we’ve evaluated, the IUL JUMP Strategy has produced projected retirement income up to approximately 300% higher than the compared 401(k) or IRA strategy and approximately 40% higher than the compared traditional IUL strategy.
Those aren’t guaranteed outcomes, and the 300% figure shouldn’t automatically be applied to a Roth IRA comparison.
A Roth IRA deserves its own apples-to-apples analysis.
That’s the point.
Don’t buy the 300%.
Don’t buy the 40%.
Don’t buy “Roth is always better.”
Don’t buy “IUL is always better.”
Make both strategies show you what they’re actually capable of doing under assumptions you understand.
We don’t sell you a retirement strategy. We run the math and let you decide.
Let the math do the talking.
Schedule Your Retirement Strategy Appointment
Explore More
IUL JUMP Strategy vs. 401(k): What Happens When You Compare Retirement Income?
Are IUL Policy Loans Really Tax-Free?
What Happens If Your IUL Policy Loan Rate Goes Up During Retirement?
Important Disclosure
This article is for educational purposes only and isn’t intended as individualized tax, legal, accounting, investment, securities, insurance, or retirement-planning advice. FPP Financial does not provide tax or legal advice. Consult appropriately qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your individual circumstances.
Roth IRA contribution eligibility, contribution limits, distribution rules, qualified-distribution requirements, and other federal tax provisions can change. Qualified Roth IRA distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules when applicable requirements are satisfied. Nonqualified distributions may receive different tax treatment. Individual circumstances should be reviewed with a qualified tax professional.
Indexed universal life insurance is permanent life insurance and is subject to underwriting, policy charges, cost of insurance, surrender charges, liquidity restrictions, premium requirements, policy-specific loan provisions, and other contractual terms. Indexed universal life policies don’t directly invest policy values in a stock-market index. Indexed interest is determined under the policy’s contractual crediting methodology and may be affected by caps, participation rates, spreads, floors, index-account terms, and other provisions. Policy illustrations contain guaranteed and nonguaranteed values and aren’t predictions or guarantees of future performance.
Life insurance premium funding isn’t subject to Roth IRA annual contribution limits, but that shouldn’t be interpreted as unlimited funding capacity. Policy funding is affected by underwriting, insurance needs, policy design, carrier requirements, Internal Revenue Code provisions, Modified Endowment Contract limits, and other factors. A policy classified as a Modified Endowment Contract receives different federal tax treatment for distributions and loans and may be subject to additional tax consequences.
Policy loans aren’t withdrawals and generally accrue interest. Loans and withdrawals reduce policy cash values and death benefits and may increase lapse risk. Participating or indexed loan structures don’t guarantee positive loan arbitrage, indexed crediting greater than loan costs, or a particular retirement-income result. If a policy with gain and outstanding indebtedness is surrendered or lapses, taxable income may result based on policy basis, gain, indebtedness, and applicable tax law.
With the policy structure currently used by FPP Financial for the IUL JUMP Strategy, the applicable loan rate is currently represented as 5%, with a contractual maximum loan rate of 6% for the applicable loan feature. These figures should be confirmed using the current carrier-approved illustration and governing insurance contract before reliance. The current 5% rate isn’t a guarantee that the applicable loan rate will remain at 5%. The 6% figure refers to the represented contractual maximum for the applicable loan feature and should be verified against the actual contract issued to an individual policy owner.
References to the IUL JUMP Strategy and Matching Indexed Participating Loan feature describe a planning approach and policy-specific feature evaluated by FPP Financial. Availability, eligibility, loan treatment, loan rates, indexed-crediting treatment, caps, participation rates, spreads, and other provisions are policy-specific. The feature doesn’t guarantee positive loan arbitrage, a particular retirement-income level, death benefit, tax result, policy value, or that a policy will remain in force. The insurance carrier and product used in an individual recommendation are reviewed during a personal consultation and aren’t identified in this article.
Statements that the IUL JUMP Strategy has produced up to approximately 300% more projected retirement income than a compared 401(k) or IRA strategy or approximately 40% more projected retirement income than a compared traditional IUL strategy refer only to specific modeled comparisons using particular assumptions. These statements aren’t guarantees, promises, expected returns, or claims that every client, policy, 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, or IUL will experience those differences. The up to approximately 300% comparison shouldn’t be assumed to describe a Roth IRA comparison unless a specific Roth analysis using clearly identified assumptions supports that result.
Comparisons between an IUL and Roth IRA can change materially based on contribution or premium amounts, contribution eligibility, investment selection, investment returns, expenses, underwriting, age, health, policy design, insurance costs, indexed crediting, caps, participation rates, spreads, loan rates, loan mechanics, tax assumptions, retirement timing, distribution amounts, longevity, death-benefit objectives, policy management, and other factors.
Before purchasing, replacing, funding, borrowing against, withdrawing from, surrendering, or changing a life insurance policy, review the carrier-approved illustration, actual insurance contract, guaranteed and nonguaranteed values, policy charges, surrender provisions, loan provisions, crediting methodology, potential lapse scenarios, tax considerations, and available alternatives. Before making Roth IRA or other retirement-account decisions, review applicable account rules, investment risks, expenses, tax consequences, and available alternatives. Consider coordinating with appropriately qualified tax, legal, insurance, investment, and financial professionals before making a decision.







