Can You Sell a Globe Life Indexed Universal Life Policy? (2026)

The Globe Life corporate family, and how to identify your issuer

Globe Life Inc. is the holding company formerly known as Torchmark Corporation; the name change took effect on August 8, 2019, and the New York Stock Exchange ticker changed from TMK to GL. Corporate headquarters are in McKinney, Texas, where the group relocated from Birmingham, Alabama in 2006.

The principal insurance subsidiaries are:

• Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company — Nebraska-domiciled, and therefore examined by the Nebraska Department of Insurance. This is the direct-to-consumer brand behind the mail and television solicitations.
• American Income Life Insurance Company — headquartered in Waco, Texas, distributing through labor union and association channels.
• Liberty National Life Insurance Company — the company that acquired Globe Life And Accident in 1980 and formed Torchmark as the holding company.
• United American Insurance Company and Family Heritage Life Insurance Company of America — supplemental health and Medicare supplement focused.

Your policy’s schedule page names the issuing company, the state of issue, and the plan. That is the document to look at before anything else — not the envelope, not the premium notice, and not the website you were directed to. If you cannot locate it, request a duplicate from the issuing company’s service department. Our guide on finding your policy cover page explains what the page should show and how to read it.

A note on why this matters for a settlement: the governing law for a life settlement is generally the law of the owner’s state, and the insurer’s domicile determines its solvency regulator. Nebraska regulates viatical and life settlement activity under its Viatical Settlements Act at Neb. Rev. Stat. sections 44-1101 through 44-1117.

How indexed universal life actually credits interest

If you do hold an IUL, understand the crediting mechanics before you evaluate anything else, because they are the source of nearly every unpleasant surprise.

An IUL is a universal life contract. Premiums go into an account value; the carrier deducts monthly cost-of-insurance charges and expenses; interest is credited on the balance. What makes it “indexed” is how that interest is calculated. The account value is not invested in the market. The carrier tracks the movement of an external index — the S&P 500 price return is the most common — over a segment period, usually one year, and credits interest according to three levers:

• The cap. A ceiling on credited interest for the segment. If the cap is 9% and the index returns 24%, you receive 9%.
• The participation rate. The share of index movement used in the calculation. At 70% participation, a 10% index move produces 7% before the cap applies.
• The floor. Usually 0%. In a down year you are credited nothing, which is genuinely valuable — but nothing is not the same as breaking even, because the monthly charges keep coming out.

Two structural points get glossed over in sales presentations. Crediting is almost always based on the index’s price movement, excluding dividends, which historically has been a meaningful drag versus total return. And caps and participation rates are typically not guaranteed — the carrier can lower them, subject only to a contractual minimum that is often far below the current declared rate. Find the guaranteed minimum cap and guaranteed maximum charges in your contract, not the current ones. See our explainer on indexed universal life.

Feature	What the sales illustration showed	What the contract guarantees
Index cap	Current declared cap, e.g. 9-12%	Guaranteed minimum cap, often far lower
Participation rate	Current rate, sometimes 100%+	Guaranteed minimum participation rate
Floor	0% in down years	0% — but charges still deduct
Index basis	Index movement	Usually price return only, dividends excluded
Cost of insurance	Current COI scale	Maximum guaranteed COI, materially higher
Illustrated rate ceiling	Set by AG 49 (2015), AG 49-A (2020), AG 49-B (2023)	No retroactive effect on older policies
Policy duration	Often to age 100 or 121	Guaranteed-run lapse year is the real number

Why an IUL that illustrated beautifully can be failing by year 20

This is the pattern that brings most IUL owners to a settlement conversation, and it does not require anyone to have done anything wrong.

The policy was illustrated at a level annual premium against an assumed crediting rate — 7%, sometimes higher on older contracts — projected forward for decades. The illustration showed the account value growing, the policy carrying itself, maybe funding retirement income. Then reality arrived: some years the index was down and the floor credited zero; other years the cap truncated a strong year; caps were lowered along the way; and throughout, the monthly cost-of-insurance charge climbed with the insured’s attained age.

The cost-of-insurance mechanic is what turns a shortfall into a collapse. COI is charged against the net amount at risk — the death benefit minus the account value. As the account value falls behind the illustration, the net amount at risk grows, which increases the charge, which drains the account value faster. That feedback loop is why IUL policies tend to fail abruptly in the insured’s late seventies or eighties after appearing healthy for fifteen years. See how cost of insurance works.

Regulators responded to the illustration side of this problem. The NAIC adopted Actuarial Guideline XLIX in 2015, capping the maximum rate an indexed UL policy could be illustrated at and requiring side-by-side disclosures. AG 49-A followed in 2020 to curb illustrations built on multipliers and bonuses, and AG 49-B took effect in 2023 to further constrain how volatility-controlled and proprietary index accounts could be shown. Each tightening made new illustrations more conservative. None of it retroactively fixed a policy sold under the older rules — and those are precisely the contracts now in trouble.

The document that decides everything

Request two in-force illustrations from the issuing company, not one:

1. One projected at current caps, current participation rates, and current charges.
2. One projected at guaranteed minimum crediting and guaranteed maximum cost-of-insurance charges.

The second is the contract the carrier is actually obligated to deliver. On many IUL policies the current-assumption run carries coverage to age 100 while the guaranteed run lapses in the insured’s early eighties. Reality lands between them, but only the guaranteed column is a promise.

Ask for three specific figures alongside them: the current account value and net cash surrender value; the minimum annual premium required to carry the policy to maturity; and the date the policy would lapse if you paid nothing further starting today. That last number is the one that reframes the decision — owners routinely discover they have three years of runway, or eight months.

Also ask whether any secondary or no-lapse guarantee is attached, whether it is currently in force, and if it has failed, whether a catch-up payment can restore it and by when. No-lapse guarantees are commonly voided by a premium paid late rather than one paid short, and once the catch-up window closes the guarantee is permanently gone. See what a no-lapse guarantee is and why the in-force illustration matters.

One more item for the file: ask whether the policy is a modified endowment contract. A policy funded aggressively enough to cross the seven-pay limit becomes a MEC, which changes how distributions and loans are taxed during life. It does not prevent a sale, but it belongs in front of your own tax advisor before you compare surrendering against any other option.

Whether an IUL is worth selling, and what else to consider

Universal life on any chassis, indexed included, is the most commonly transacted contract type in the life settlement market, for a straightforward reason: a buyer can dial funding down to the minimum premium that keeps the policy in force, which makes it efficient to hold for decades. The offer is the projected death benefit, less the premiums the buyer expects to fund, discounted at their required return.

What decides the number is the insured, not the product. The market concentrates on insureds past 70, or past 65 with impairments that shorten projected life expectancy against standard mortality tables. Most providers require at least $100,000 of face amount and prefer $250,000 or more. Existing loans reduce net proceeds and must be cleared at closing. The two-year contestability period, which restarts after a reinstatement, blocks a closing until it runs. See selling an indexed universal life policy and what affects an offer.

Before accepting anything, price the alternatives against each other. Reducing the death benefit shrinks the net amount at risk and therefore the monthly charge, which sometimes turns an unaffordable policy into one that sustains itself on existing account value — the single most underused option in universal life. Paying nothing and letting account value carry the contract buys decision time. Surrender is immediate but usually yields far less than the market pays for the same contract, which is the entire reason the market exists.

And if the policy in question turns out to be a $20,000 simplified-issue whole life policy from Globe Life rather than an IUL, the honest answer is that no settlement market exists at that size, and you should be told so in the first conversation rather than the fifth.

Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state. We provide education and a free policy review — identify the actual issuer, read the guaranteed-rate illustration, and tell you which options the contract genuinely supports. Send the policy cover page or call (305) 209-7183.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Globe Life sell indexed universal life insurance?

No. The Globe Life consumer brand markets simplified-issue term and whole life, generally between $5,000 and about $50,000 of face amount for adults, with no medical exam. If you hold an indexed universal life contract, check the schedule page for the actual issuing company — it may be an affiliate under the same parent or an unrelated insurer.

Which state regulates Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company?

It is domiciled in Nebraska, so the Nebraska Department of Insurance is its solvency regulator, while the corporate headquarters sit in McKinney, Texas. Nebraska also governs viatical and life settlement activity through its Viatical Settlements Act at Neb. Rev. Stat. sections 44-1101 through 44-1117.

What did AG 49 change about IUL illustrations?

The NAIC’s Actuarial Guideline XLIX, adopted in 2015, capped the maximum crediting rate an indexed universal life policy could be illustrated at and required comparative disclosures. AG 49-A in 2020 restricted illustrations relying on multipliers and bonuses, and AG 49-B in 2023 tightened treatment of proprietary and volatility-controlled indices. None applies retroactively to older policies.

Why is my IUL underperforming its original illustration?

Because credited interest was capped in strong years, floored at zero in down years, and calculated on price movement excluding dividends, while cost-of-insurance charges rose with attained age. As account value falls behind, the net amount at risk grows and the monthly charge increases, which accelerates the shortfall. Request a guaranteed-rate in-force illustration to see the projected lapse year.

Can an indexed universal life policy be sold in a life settlement?

Yes. Universal life on any chassis is the most frequently transacted contract type, because buyers can reduce funding to the minimum premium that keeps it in force. Qualification depends far more on the insured’s age and health than on the product, with most providers looking for insureds past 70 and at least $100,000 of death benefit.

What is a modified endowment contract and does it block a sale?

A MEC is a life policy funded past the seven-pay limit, which changes how loans and withdrawals are taxed during the insured’s life. It does not prevent a settlement, but it affects how surrendering compares to other options. Ask the carrier whether your policy is classified as a MEC and take that answer to your own tax advisor.

Related Reading

• What Is Indexed Universal Life
• Can I Sell An Indexed Universal Life Policy
• What Is Cost Of Insurance
• What Is A No Lapse Guarantee
• In Force Illustration Why It Matters
• What Is A Modified Endowment Contract
• Where To Find Your Policy Cover Page
• What Affects A Life Settlement Offer
• Sell My Globe Life Universal Life Policy

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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.