Securian Financial

[brandy0331]

So friends of our recommended a financial advisor through a company that is a partner with Securian Financial. They were telling us about this amazing life insurance policy that they can use as a retirement vehicle, has great returns and basically sounds to good to be true. It sounds like they were sold an Indexed Universal Life Insurance (IUL) policy.l I did some research on Securian and really didn’t like what I saw. Anyone else have knowledge of this company or IUL policies?

[archiethedragon]

Run fast and far from both.

[sometimesrunner]

Here's an older article that breaks down the cons. This is the guy that runs The White Coat Investor blog, which I consider a trustworthy source.

www.mdmag.com/physicians-money-digest/personal-finance/dahle-5-reasons-not-to-buy-iul-insurance

[farmvillelover]

IUL is just another name for whole life insurance from what I've read on it. Northwestern Mutual is a big fan of selling these policies to younger folks. IIRC, IUL policies often base their payout percentages on stock prices without taking into account dividends. This can make any index life policy severely underperform. Part of your monthly premium is invested in an index fund. The claim is that you’ll never lose money, but they cap the upside. Usually somewhere around 10-15%. So you likely don't ever "lose" in horrible years but you won't see the huge gains in the market on big years either. High commissions and at least after the first few years, probably high premiums.