Is the IUL JUMP Strategy worth it? Don’t answer that from one illustration or a 300% retirement-income claim. Put the strategy through the full retirement math test, including funding, loans, charges, underwriting, taxes, weak crediting, longevity, retirement income, and legacy.
Can an IUL really produce up to 300% more retirement income than a 401(k) or IRA? In certain modeled comparisons, the IUL JUMP Strategy has produced results in that range. But the 300% isn’t the answer. The assumptions and mechanics creating the difference are what you need to understand.
Two people can each contribute $10,000 a year to an IUL and end up with very different projected retirement income. The reason is not simply the contribution. Policy design, loan mechanics, charges, indexed crediting, funding structure, and retirement distributions can change the math.
That IUL illustration may show a huge retirement-income number. But what has to happen for the number to work? Here are the red flags to look for before trusting an IUL retirement illustration.
Before buying an IUL for retirement, ask more than “How much income does it show?” These 25 questions can help you understand the policy charges, loans, crediting assumptions, death benefit, lapse risk, underwriting, JUMP mechanics, and what happens when the illustration does not go as planned.
Should both spouses use the IUL JUMP Strategy? Two policies can create two separate retirement-income and death-benefit paths, but they also mean two underwriting paths, two sets of policy costs, and two future JUMP approval sequences that need to prove themselves independently.
What happens if you build an IUL for retirement but die before the retirement-income strategy fully unfolds? The policy does not simply disappear. Here is how death benefit, cash value, outstanding loans, unfinished JUMPs, and beneficiary proceeds can interact.
Should you take the maximum projected income from your IUL or leave more death benefit behind? The answer should come from the math. See how distributions, policy loans, longevity, crediting, loan costs, and legacy goals change the tradeoff.
Can an IUL provide retirement income and still leave money to your family? It can be modeled for both goals, but every dollar accessed, every policy loan, policy charges, crediting results, and longevity can change the net death benefit ultimately left to beneficiaries.
Already have a pension? An IUL should not simply duplicate what the pension already does. See how to test whether it adds meaningful retirement-income flexibility, tax diversification, life insurance protection, or legacy value.