What IUL Illustrations by Carrier Show
Every carrier's IUL illustration carries two numbers, not one. What we see readers get wrong most often is judging a policy by the column an agent points at, called the illustrated rate, instead of the column further back in the packet that the carrier is actually bound to deliver, called the guaranteed rate.
Both numbers sit in the same document for every one of the carriers people search for by name: Allianz Life, National Life Group, Nationwide, F&G, and Transamerica among them, plus a digital agency called Amplify that sells policies from other carriers under its own brand.
The Two Numbers Every IUL Illustration Shows
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) writes the rule that shapes every IUL illustration sold in the United States, called Actuarial Guideline 49-A (AG 49-A). It caps how high the illustrated, non-guaranteed column is allowed to run, tied to a benchmark index calculation rather than to whatever cap rate a carrier is currently crediting. That cap stops the most aggressive illustrations of a decade ago, but it does nothing to the second column.
The guaranteed column assumes the carrier's contractual floor, usually 0%, and the maximum cost of insurance the contract allows the carrier to charge as you age. That second column is the one written into the contract. The first column is a projection built on today's cap and today's charges, both of which the carrier can change. Ask any agent, for any carrier on this page, for the guaranteed-rate illustration before you compare a single cap rate. The NAIC's own Life Insurance Buyer's Guide tells buyers to ask what part of a policy's projected value is not guaranteed, and this is exactly that question.
What Allianz Life's Illustration Shows You
Allianz Life sold $65.3 million in new IUL premium in the first quarter of 2024, ranking sixth by premium among U.S. carriers, according to LIMRA's quarterly sales survey. Its policy count that quarter was only 2,160, well outside the top ten by count. Divide the two and Allianz's average new IUL policy carried roughly $30,000 in first-year premium, the highest average of any carrier in the top seven. That split tells you who buys an Allianz Life illustration: fewer buyers, funding larger policies, often for the tax-free-loan and estate uses larger premiums make possible.
A larger average premium does not change what the illustration owes you. Ask for the guaranteed column exactly as you would with a smaller policy, and confirm in writing which riders and index strategies carry an extra charge that is not always broken out in the summary page.
What National Life Group's Illustration Shows You
National Life Group led the entire U.S. IUL market in the first quarter of 2024, first by new premium at $117.3 million and first by policy count at 31,783, per LIMRA. Both rankings landing on the same carrier is unusual. It happens because National Life Group runs two distinct IUL products aimed at different budgets: FlexLife, issued from birth to age 85 with a minimum death benefit of $50,000 and built for middle-income buyers, and PeakLife, which requires a $1 million minimum face amount and targets business owners and higher-net-worth households.
The illustration you receive depends on which of the two you are shown. A FlexLife illustration and a PeakLife illustration from the same company can carry different cap rates, different rider menus, and different surrender-charge schedules, so confirm which product name appears on your specific illustration before you compare it to anything else on this page.
What Nationwide's Illustration Shows You
Nationwide sold $74.9 million in new IUL premium in the first quarter of 2024, ranking fourth by premium, against 7,979 policies, per LIMRA. That works out to roughly $9,400 in average first-year premium per policy, a mid-sized figure that sits between Allianz Life's larger average and the volume-driven averages at the top of the count rankings. Nationwide's own consumer materials, like every carrier's, separate the illustrated and guaranteed projections into two adjacent tables, and the guaranteed table is the one worth reading first.
What Amplify Shows You
Amplify is not an insurance carrier. It is a digital insurance agency: a storefront that quotes and sells IUL policies underwritten by other companies, similar to how a travel site sells seats on flights it does not operate. Its calculator projects the numbers for whichever carrier's product you are actually being quoted, such as EMC National Life's Prosper IUL policy. An illustration you pull through Amplify's site carries that underlying carrier's cap, floor, and cost-of-insurance schedule, not a rate Amplify itself sets. Ask which company is the named issuer on the contract before you sign anything, since that company, not Amplify, is who owes you the guaranteed column.
What 'Fidelity' Usually Means in an IUL Search
Searchers typing "IUL calculator Fidelity" are rarely looking for Fidelity Investments, which does not manufacture indexed universal life policies, or for Fidelity Life, whose own site states plainly that it "doesn't offer indexed universal life insurance." The carrier most people mean is F&G, formally Fidelity & Guaranty Life, now doing business as F&G Annuities & Life. F&G ranked seventh in the first quarter of 2024 by new premium at $50.4 million, per LIMRA, but fourth by policy count at 19,506, a combination that points to smaller average policies sold at higher volume than National Life Group's PeakLife or Allianz Life's book. If your search actually meant Fidelity Investments, that company sells brokerage accounts and mutual funds, not permanent life insurance, so any IUL quote referencing "Fidelity" is almost certainly F&G.
What Transamerica's Illustration Shows You
Transamerica sold $85.9 million in new IUL premium in the first quarter of 2024, ranking third by premium, against 24,312 policies, the second-highest count in the market that quarter, per LIMRA. That combination, a high rank on both measures, puts Transamerica's average policy size close to National Life Group's FlexLife tier rather than Allianz Life's larger average. Transamerica illustrations follow the same two-column AG 49-A format as every other carrier here. The same rule applies here too. The guaranteed column, not the illustrated cap, is the number the contract has to honor.
How to Compare Illustrations from Different Carriers Fairly
Two illustrations from two different carriers are not comparable unless you strip both down to the same three inputs: the guaranteed floor, the guaranteed maximum cost of insurance, and the actual premium you plan to pay every year, not the minimum the carrier will accept. A side-by-side of two illustrated columns mostly compares two marketing assumptions against each other, not two policies.
Request the guaranteed-rate run from each agent, in writing, before you compare a single cap rate across carriers. Then enter the same premium, death benefit, and age into our IUL calculator and run it at a 0% floor with the guaranteed cost-of-insurance figures each carrier discloses. That gives you one consistent projection to hold every carrier's illustration against, instead of five different marketing assumptions dressed up as five different products. For the mechanics behind why the illustrated column tends to run optimistic in the first place, our guide to indexed universal life insurance walks through the cap, floor, and participation-rate math in full.
This comparison is not useful if you already have every carrier's guaranteed-column illustration in hand and only need to check the arithmetic. A calculator does that faster than reading five PDFs side by side. It would also matter less if AG 49-A were rewritten to fold the guaranteed charges into the capped illustrated number, which would remove the gap this page is built around, but no such rule exists as of this writing.
Frequently asked questions
Which carrier has the best IUL illustration?
No carrier's illustrated column is more trustworthy than another's, because AG 49-A caps how optimistic the illustrated rate can look for every company selling IUL. National Life Group, Transamerica, Allianz Life, Nationwide, and F&G all publish the same two-column format. The difference worth comparing is not the illustrated cap, it is the guaranteed cost-of-insurance schedule and surrender-charge period each carrier's contract actually locks in.
What does the National Life Group IUL calculator show?
National Life Group's tools illustrate either FlexLife, its middle-income product issued from birth to age 85 with a $50,000 minimum death benefit, or PeakLife, its $1 million-minimum product for larger buyers. National Life Group led the U.S. IUL market in both new premium and policy count in the first quarter of 2024, according to LIMRA, so confirm which of its two products your illustration is actually running before comparing it elsewhere.
Is Amplify a real insurance company?
No. Amplify is a digital insurance agency that quotes and sells IUL policies underwritten by other carriers, such as EMC National Life. Its calculator and illustrations reflect whichever carrier actually issues the policy you are quoted, so the guaranteed charges and floor come from that underlying carrier's contract, not from Amplify.
Does Fidelity Investments sell IUL policies?
No. Fidelity Investments does not manufacture indexed universal life insurance. A search for an "IUL calculator Fidelity" most often points to F&G, formerly Fidelity & Guaranty Life, a distinct company that ranked seventh among U.S. IUL carriers by new premium in the first quarter of 2024, per LIMRA.
Why do IUL illustrations look so different between carriers if they're all capped by the same rule?
AG 49-A caps the maximum illustrated rate, but it does not force every carrier to use the maximum. Riders, index strategies, admin fees, and surrender-charge schedules still vary by product and by carrier, which is why the same $500,000 death benefit can illustrate differently at National Life Group than at Transamerica even under the same regulatory ceiling. The guaranteed column strips out most of that variation and shows what each contract is actually obligated to deliver.
How do I get a guaranteed-rate illustration instead of the illustrated one?
Ask your agent, in writing, for an in-force or new-business illustration run at the policy's guaranteed minimum floor and guaranteed maximum cost of insurance, not the currently illustrated cap. Every carrier on this page can produce one. It is a standard part of the contract disclosure, even though agents do not always volunteer it first.
Sources
We prioritize primary sources for rules, formulas, rates, limits, and definitions. See our calculator methodology and editorial policy.