Universal life is the policy type most often sold in the secondary market, and it is also the type most likely to fail quietly. The premium you set in 1998 was never guaranteed to carry the policy to age 100. Inside a universal life contract, monthly cost-of-insurance charges rise as you age, and at some point they can consume the account value faster than your payments replace it. This page covers what an F&G universal life owner should verify before deciding to keep, surrender, or sell.
Pine Lake Life Solutions is an independent education resource. We do not purchase policies, we are not affiliated with or endorsed by F&G, and nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice. Our only ask is a free, no-obligation policy review.
In This Article
- Why Cost of Insurance Is the Clock Running on Your UL Policy
- Request the In-Force Illustration Before Anything Else
- Who Services Your F&G Universal Life Contract in 2026
- F&G’s Financial Strength and Current Product Focus
- Change of Ownership: The Step a Settlement Actually Requires
- What Buyers Look At in a Universal Life Contract
- Signals That Mean You Should Look at This Now
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Cost of Insurance Is the Clock Running on Your UL Policy
A universal life policy is not a fixed-premium contract. It is an account. Your premiums go in, interest is credited, and every month the carrier deducts a cost-of-insurance charge plus expense and administrative charges. The cost-of-insurance charge is based on your attained age and the net amount at risk, so it climbs every year, and the climb is steep after roughly age 75.
For decades this was invisible, because credited interest was high enough to absorb it. It is far less invisible now. If the account value is being drawn down each month rather than growing, the policy has a finite runway, and the only question is how long. When the account value can no longer cover the monthly deductions, the policy enters a grace period and then lapses — and a lapsed policy pays nothing to anyone.
That is the reason universal life dominates life settlement volume. An owner facing an escalating premium demand on a policy they no longer need has three real exits: surrender for whatever account value remains, let it lapse for nothing, or sell it to a licensed institutional buyer who will take over the premiums. The first is usually small. The second is the worst possible outcome. The third is worth investigating before either happens.
Request the In-Force Illustration Before Anything Else
The single most important document for an F&G universal life owner is the in-force illustration, and almost no one has a current one. It is a projection the carrier runs on your actual contract, showing year by year what happens to the account value under a stated set of assumptions. As policy owner you are entitled to request it, and there is normally no charge.
Ask for it in writing and be specific about the scenarios, because a single default run will not tell you what you need to know. At minimum, request a projection at current charges and current credited rate assuming you continue your present premium; a projection at guaranteed maximum charges and the guaranteed minimum credited rate on the same premium; a projection showing what happens if you stop paying premiums entirely as of today; and a solve for the premium required to carry the policy to age 100 or to maturity.
The gap between the current-assumption run and the guaranteed run is the honest measure of your risk. If the current run keeps the policy alive to age 95 but the guaranteed run shows lapse at age 79, you are relying on the carrier continuing to credit above the guaranteed floor and not raising charges to the guaranteed maximum. Neither is promised.
Who Services Your F&G Universal Life Contract in 2026
If your statements have changed letterhead more than once, you are not imagining it. The company was incorporated in Maryland in 1959 as Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company and was a subsidiary of United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company until 1995. Old Mutual plc acquired it in September 2001 and renamed it OM Financial Life Insurance Company in 2007. Old Mutual sold the U.S. life and annuity business to Harbinger Group on April 6, 2011, and the Fidelity & Guaranty Life name returned that same month. The home office moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 2013.
CF Corporation acquired the business in 2017 and ran it as FGL Holdings. Fidelity National Financial completed its acquisition in 2020. Then on December 1, 2022, FNF completed a partial spin-off in which F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. began regular-way trading on the NYSE under the ticker FG; FNF distributed roughly 15 percent of the shares to its own shareholders and kept about 85 percent.
None of this changed the terms of your contract. What it changed is where the servicing sits and which entity name appears on the forms you will be asked to sign — a real practical issue when a universal life policy issued in the OM Financial era is being reviewed today.
| Illustration to request | Assumption | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Current charges run | Current rates, current premium | Best-case runway |
| Guaranteed run | Maximum charges, minimum rate | Worst-case lapse year |
| Stop-paying run | No further premium | How long it survives unfunded |
| Premium solve | Carry to age 100 | True annual cost to keep |
F&G’s Financial Strength and Current Product Focus
A.M. Best affirmed on March 12, 2025 the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a” (Excellent), outlook stable, for Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company (Des Moines, Iowa) and Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company of New York. A.M. Best’s commentary referenced Fidelity National Financial’s approximately 85 percent ownership and the company’s top-five position in fixed indexed annuities within the independent agent channel. Ratings can move; confirm the current rating at ambest.com or with F&G.
On the product side, F&G states on its own life insurance pages that it specializes in indexed universal life. The company is actively writing new business and is not in runoff, but its current retail life shelf is built around IUL rather than the traditional current-assumption universal life sold in the 1980s and 1990s. If that describes your policy, expect to be working with a service center rather than a product specialist, and expect to have to ask precise questions to get precise answers.
Also confirm which entity issued your policy. New York residents were generally issued contracts by Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company of New York, which is a separate legal company with its own filings and its own forms.
Change of Ownership: The Step a Settlement Actually Requires
A life settlement is not complete when a price is agreed. It is complete when F&G records the new owner and beneficiary. F&G publishes its requirements on its own contact pages: ownership transfers use F&G’s Transfer of Ownership form, identified as ADMIN 0177, with the signature section completed by the account holder and policy owner including printed name, signature, and date.
Trust-owned contracts require pages 1 and 2 of the trust plus the signature page, signed by the trustees. Corporate owners and powers of attorney require signatures of two corporate officers with titles. Documents go to the F&G Service Center, P.O. Box 81497, Lincoln, NE 68501-1497, or overnight to 777 Research Drive, Lincoln, NE 68521. The life fax number F&G lists is 800.281.5777, and F&G asks that you allow three business days for faxed documents to enter processing. Confirmation is mailed to the owner’s address on file. The service number published for individual life and annuity policies is 888.513.8797. Confirm current forms and addresses with F&G directly, since carriers revise both.
One caution specific to universal life: while a transfer is pending, premiums still have to be paid to keep the account value from being depleted. Nobody should let a policy drift into a grace period on the assumption that paperwork will land in time.
What Buyers Look At in a Universal Life Contract
Secondary-market pricing is not a percentage of the death benefit, and treating it that way leads to bad decisions. A buyer is calculating what it will cost to hold the policy to maturity and what that maturity is likely to be worth in present-value terms.
Four inputs dominate. Life expectancy, drawn from medical records, is the largest driver. Minimum premium to keep the policy in force comes straight from the in-force illustration — a policy with a rich account value and low required outlay is worth far more than an identical death benefit that needs large annual funding. Contract mechanics matter: whether there is a secondary guarantee, how the surrender charge schedule runs, and whether cost-of-insurance rates are at guaranteed maximums already. Finally, outstanding loans reduce net proceeds, because loan balances and accrued interest come out of the transaction.
Two policies with the same face amount and the same insured age can be worth very different amounts for these reasons. It is also why an owner in good health should expect a modest offer, or none. Good health is good news; it is simply not what the secondary market pays for.
Signals That Mean You Should Look at This Now
Some circumstances are time-sensitive enough that waiting a year costs real money. If you have received a notice from F&G that additional premium is required to keep the policy in force, that is not a form letter to file away — it means the account value is no longer covering the monthly deductions.
Other signals: your account value has declined for several consecutive statements; you are paying a premium you no longer comfortably afford on coverage whose original purpose has ended; the policy is already in a grace period; health has declined materially since issue; or you were about to surrender the contract for a small account value without checking whether the policy is worth more to someone else.
A free policy review costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Pine Lake does not buy policies. We read the in-force illustration with you, explain what each path produces, and tell you plainly when the right answer is to keep what you have.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get an in-force illustration from F&G?
Request it in writing as the policy owner, either through the service center or through your agent of record, and state the specific scenarios you want run rather than accepting a default projection. There is normally no charge. Ask for current-assumption and guaranteed-assumption runs at minimum, plus a run showing what happens if you stop paying, so you can see the range rather than a single optimistic line.
My universal life statement says OM Financial Life. Is that still F&G?
Yes. The company was renamed OM Financial Life Insurance Company in 2007 under Old Mutual ownership, and the Fidelity & Guaranty Life name returned in April 2011 after the business was sold to Harbinger Group. The contract terms did not change with the name. If you need it documented, ask the F&G service center for written confirmation of the issuing entity for your policy number.
Does Pine Lake buy F&G universal life policies?
No. Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies and is not affiliated with F&G. We are an education resource offering a free, no-obligation policy review. Purchases in a life settlement are made by licensed institutional buyers, and whether any given policy qualifies depends on the insured’s age and health, the policy’s terms, and the rules of the state where the owner resides.
Is it too late if my policy is already in the grace period?
Not necessarily, but time is short and the grace period is finite. Contact F&G immediately to confirm the exact date coverage would terminate and the minimum amount required to keep it in force. Some owners choose to pay the minimum to preserve options while a review is completed. Once a policy lapses, it pays nothing, and reinstatement typically requires new evidence of insurability.
Will selling the policy affect my taxes?
It can, and the treatment is not simple. Proceeds are generally analyzed against your cost basis and the policy’s cash surrender value, with different portions potentially treated differently. Pine Lake does not provide tax advice. Discuss any transaction with your own CPA or tax attorney before you sign, and ask F&G in writing for your cost basis and current cash surrender value so your advisor has real numbers to work from.
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Related Reading
- Sell My Fidelity Guaranty Whole Life Policy
- Sell My Fidelity Guaranty Indexed Universal Policy
- Sell My Fidelity Guaranty Guaranteed Universal Policy
- How To Read In Force Illustration
- How Long Policy Survive Without Premiums
- Carrier Change Of Ownership Requirements
- How Life Settlement Value Is Calculated
- Sell My Transamerica Universal Life Policy
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.