IUL stands for Indexed Universal Life Insurance.
This is a type of permanent life insurance policy that allows the policyholder to build a cash value. Indexed Universal Life insurance differs from other universal life insurance policies in that the interest credited to the cash value is tied to a market index, such as the S&P 500.
This can potentially yield higher returns than a fixed interest rate, although many policies do provide a minimum guaranteed interest rate to protect against market downturns.
The guaranteed minimum interest rate is a feature of many indexed universal life (IUL) insurance policies.
This rate is the minimum amount of interest the insurance company guarantees to credit to your cash value account, regardless of how the linked market index performs.
This feature can offer a measure of protection in years when the market performs poorly or even experiences a downturn.
For example, if the policy has a guaranteed minimum interest rate of 1%, then even if the linked market index goes down or stays flat over the course of a year, the cash value account would still be credited with a 1% return. This is one of the ways IUL policies can help to mitigate the risk associated with market downturns.