Mutual of Omaha IUL Express Review (2026)
Written and reviewed by Hans Goldstein, licensed insurance producer, NPN 20602398 · CA Insurance License #4273294Last reviewed · Published October 3, 2026
Editorial review by a licensed agent who may earn a commission. No insurer pays for placement or grades. Hans is paid a commission by the insurer if you buy a policy through him. For life insurance, ask and he will tell you what he earns on your specific policy.
What IUL Express is
Indexed Universal Life Express is Mutual of Omaha's simplified-issue IUL, issued by United of Omaha Life Insurance Company (policy forms ICC19L190P or ICC19L191P). "Simplified" means no medical exam: underwriting runs on the application questions and data checks. Face amounts are modest compared with fully underwritten IULs, and the maximum falls as you get older. Index crediting has a 0% floor, so a down year for the index is credited as zero rather than a loss, while the monthly charges still come out.
Mutual of Omaha ranked No. 10 in 2025 IUL new premium and in the top three by number of policies sold (LIMRA), which tells you this is a small-policy, high-volume product.
AI voices. Education, not tax or legal advice. Hans is paid a commission if you buy a policy through him. Comment REVIEW on the video for the checklist.
Goldstein Scorecard: Indexed Universal Life Express
Goldstein Scorecard · Goldstein Index v1 · graded Oct 3, 2026 · how we grade →
Mutual of Omaha · vs. other indexed universal life policies · Draft grades on public data. Grades are shown on the page only and are Hans's editorial view.
| Dimension (weight) | Grade | One-line take |
|---|---|---|
| Cap / participation strength (15%) | B- | 9.25% cap at 100% participation: below the carrier's Income Advantage (10.00%) but above its Life Protection Advantage (8.50%). [1] as of Nov 2025 re-grading |
| Floor and guaranteed minimums (5%) | B | 0% floor on index crediting; guaranteed minimum fixed account rate to confirm from the form. [2] as of Oct 3, 2026 |
| Loan options and current loan rate (15%) | Pending | Loan rates not public; to confirm from the current loan provisions |
| COI and charge drag (15%) | Pending | Charge schedules are in the policy form and illustration, not public; graded from the standardized case |
| Living-benefit riders (10%) | B- | Terminal, chronic and critical acceleration, discounted by life expectancy at claim. [2] as of Oct 3, 2026 |
| Overloan protection (5%) | Pending | No overloan protection rider found in public materials; confirm |
| Illustration conservatism (AG 49-A/B) (10%) | Pending | Graded from the illustrated rate in the standardized case vs peers |
| Carrier strength (10%) | A | AM Best A+, affirmed 4/2/2026. [3] as of Apr 2, 2026 re-grading |
| Cash value at years 10/20 vs peers (standard case) (15%) | Pending | Needs Hans's standardized illustration (WinFlex/iPipeline), on file before grading |
| Guaranteed minimum cap disclosed (disclosure, not weighted) | No | Not publicly disclosed. Ask for it: it is the lowest the cap can ever go. |
| OVERALL | Incomplete | No overall grade yet: only 40% of the Index weight can be graded from public data (those dimensions average B). The overall grade waits for Hans's standardized case (M45 preferred nonsmoker, $12,000/yr to 65, max-funded Option B to A, plus a minimum-funded case at the same death benefit). |
On public data, Indexed Universal Life Express grades strongest on carrier strength. 5 of 9 dimensions wait for a standardized illustration, so treat this as a starting point, not a verdict. Neutral summary of the scorecard, not a personal recommendation.
Best for: Smaller face amounts bought without an exam, where speed and simplicity matter more than maximum cash value.
Look elsewhere if: You can pass a paramed exam and could qualify for a preferred class; fully underwritten products offer more health classes, including preferred, and higher faces.
- Ask: what is the guaranteed minimum cap and the guaranteed minimum participation rate in the contract for each index account? Not today's cap, the floor the cap can never go below.
- Why it matters: today's cap is not guaranteed. The insurer can lower caps on your policy over time, all the way down to that contractual minimum. Guaranteed minimum caps we have seen published run from 0.25% to 4% (insurer documents, 2024 to 2026), and several insurers don't publish theirs at all. That is a very different worst case.
- Many agents cannot answer this question on the spot. If yours can't, ask them to find it in the policy form or the illustration's guaranteed assumptions before you sign.
Where the insurer publishes it, the Goldstein Scorecard shows the guaranteed minimum cap; otherwise it says "not publicly disclosed". Caps, participation rates, loan rates, charges and dividends are not guaranteed and can change.
An honest presentation of anything non-guaranteed uses words like "up to", "could" or "illustrated at". If you hear "will" about cash value, index credits, loan income or a living-benefit payout ("this policy will pay you 80%", "you will have $1 million at 65"), treat it as a red flag. Only the guaranteed column and the contract's stated guarantees are promises; ask the person to show you where the word "guaranteed" appears.
Get your IUL Express graded.
Send your email and I'll send the in-force illustration request letter. Return the illustration and I'll grade your policy within one business day.
We’ll email it to you. Hans Goldstein · NPN 20602398.
Rather talk it through? Or book 15 minutes on Hans’s calendar.
Living benefits: what "up to" means
IUL Express includes terminal, chronic and critical illness accelerated benefits. You can request part of the face amount early (ask for the maximum percentage), but the check is reduced by an actuarial discount based on your life expectancy at the time of the claim. The closer to death, the closer the payout gets to the amount requested; a heart attack you are expected to survive by many years pays much less than a terminal diagnosis.
For scale, Transamerica's published examples on a similar discount design paid 92% of the amount accelerated for a terminal illness and 54% for a heart attack at 48 (Transamerica brochure). Those are another insurer's numbers; ask for Mutual of Omaha's own sample calculation at your age. More in how much living benefits pay.
Fact sheet: Indexed Universal Life Express
| Item | Detail | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AM Best rating | A+ (affirmed 4/2/2026) | Apr 2, 2026 | AM Best: Mutual of Omaha rating affirmation (4/2/2026) |
| Underwriting | Simplified issue: no medical exam, with fewer health classes than fully underwritten IULs | Oct 3, 2026 | Mutual of Omaha: universal life insurance (consumer page) |
| Face amount | Smaller face amounts than fully underwritten IULs; the maximum falls with age (ask for the current limits) | Oct 3, 2026 | Mutual of Omaha: universal life insurance (consumer page) |
| Caps and floor | S&P 500 1-year cap 9.25% at 100% participation; the same carrier's Income Advantage 10.00% and Life Protection Advantage 8.50% (2026 crediting history flyers, renewal caps) | Nov 2025 | source |
| Floor | 0% floor on index crediting | Oct 3, 2026 | Mutual of Omaha: universal life insurance (consumer page) |
| Living benefits | Terminal, chronic and critical illness accelerated benefits; the benefit is reduced by an actuarial discount based on life expectancy (ask for the maximum percentage and a sample calculation) | Oct 3, 2026 | Mutual of Omaha: universal life insurance (consumer page) |
| Policy form | ICC19L190P (sex distinct) or ICC19L191P (unisex) | Oct 3, 2026 | Mutual of Omaha: universal life insurance (consumer page) |
Caps, participation rates, loan rates, charges and dividends are not guaranteed and can change. Confirm current figures in the carrier's latest disclosure and the California policy form before you buy.
What my own book shows
I publish data from the IUL policies I have placed: 179 in-force policies as of September 15, 2026, with a median premium of $79.41 a month for a median death benefit of $75,000 (life insurance cost by age). Most of that book is small-face, no-exam coverage of exactly this kind. The pattern is clear: buyers keep their budget roughly level and buy less coverage as they get older, because the cost per $1,000 rises with age.
If you buy IUL Express, set up the premium so you won't miss it, and treat it as lifelong coverage.
Where the premium goes, and the cost of insurance ladder
In this model a male 45 paying $10,000 a year loses about 15% of the first 10 years of premium to charges when the policy is max-funded, and about 22% when the same premium buys three times the death benefit. The surrender charge is extra: in year 1 the cash surrender value is about $4,245 of $10,000 (max-funded) and $0 (target-funded), which is why early cash value can feel like half the premium disappeared. A common rule of thumb is that roughly half of early premium goes to charges; in this model that is close for year-one surrender value, and too high for the ongoing charges in a well-funded design.
Hypothetical. Not an illustration of any specific policy. Not a quote. Model on current (non-guaranteed) charges: premium load 10% (years 1-10) then 5%, $10 a month fee, per-$1,000 charge for 10 years, current COI at 80% of 2017 CSO select rates, 6% illustrated crediting. Guaranteed maximum charges are higher. Ask your insurer for the policy's actual charge schedule.
Read it like a ladder. The insurance part of the policy gets more expensive every year: the guaranteed maximum rate is about $8 per $1,000 at 65, $24 at 75 and $82 at 85 (2017 CSO). Each step is small until the late 70s, then the ladder curves up sharply. In a well-funded policy the cash value grows faster than the charges, so the policy carries itself with no extra premium (green). In an underfunded policy the charges eat the cash value from the inside, and the owner must pay more or the policy lapses (red, at 79 here). Real results usually land between those lines, which is why an in-force illustration every few years matters.
Hypothetical. Not an illustration of any specific policy. Not a quote. Male 45, preferred nonsmoker. Charges per the stated model; COI is charged on the net amount at risk (death benefit minus cash value), so the dollar cost depends on both the rate and how much coverage the cash value has not yet replaced. Source for rates: Society of Actuaries, 2017 CSO table 3291.
Cash value: realistic expectations
IUL Express can build cash value, but on a small face with a modest premium, charges take a large share of each dollar in the early years. Its cap is not dramatically lower: 9.25% at 100% participation, between Mutual of Omaha's fully underwritten Income Advantage (10.00%) and Life Protection Advantage (8.50%) (Mutual of Omaha crediting history, 2026). The bigger difference is class: simplified-issue products usually offer fewer health classes than fully underwritten ones. Think of it as permanent coverage first, with cash value as a bonus that shows up after many years. If cash value is the main goal and you can pass an exam, a fully underwritten IUL funded close to the tax-law limit usually builds far more (max-funded IUL). Paramed vs no exam walks through the trade-off.
Who IUL Express fits
- Fits: someone who wants a modest amount of permanent coverage without an exam, quickly: final expenses with a legacy, a mortgage balance, a small business need, or a truck driver who can't sit for a paramed (life insurance for truck drivers).
- Fits less well: a healthy buyer who can pass an exam and wants the most cash value per dollar.
- Not a fit: an estate or trust need (face limits are too low; see GUL vs IUL).
Taxes, briefly
The death benefit is generally income-tax-free to your beneficiaries under IRC §101(a). Policy loans and withdrawals up to your basis are generally not taxed if the policy is not a modified endowment contract (IRC §7702A) and stays in force; a lapse or surrender with a loan outstanding can create taxable income. Accelerated benefits for the terminally or chronically ill are generally excluded from income under IRC §101(g), subject to per-diem limits for chronic illness.
Ballpark ranges by age, sex, health class and face amount, with dates and sources: What an IUL costs, by funding level →
Get your exact number in 15 minutes on a call with Hans.
Own IUL Express, or thinking about it?
Send the policy or the quote. Within one business day you get a written read: is the premium enough to keep it in force, what the living benefits would really pay, and whether an exam route would save you money.
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Hans Goldstein · 213-414-2808 · NPN 20602398, independent licensed insurance producer
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Mutual of Omaha: universal life insurance (consumer page)
- AM Best: Mutual of Omaha rating affirmation (4/2/2026)
- LIMRA: 2025 full-year top 20 IUL company rankings
- Transamerica Financial Foundation IUL II living benefits brochure (07/25)
- Hans Goldstein: life insurance cost by age, 179 in-force IUL policies (9/15/2026)
- 26 U.S.C. §101 (death benefits, accelerated benefits), Cornell LII
- 26 U.S.C. §7702A (modified endowment contracts), Cornell LII
Hans Goldstein, CA Insurance License #4273294 · NPN 20602398 · Goldstein & Co. LLC dba Goldstein Insurance Services, CA License #6016830
Contact: hans@hansgoldstein.com · 213-414-2808
General education, not tax or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on your facts and on current law, which can change. Talk to your CPA or estate attorney. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Guarantees apply only to the contractual terms of the policy. Caps, participation rates, loan rates, charges and dividends are not guaranteed and can change. Hans is paid a commission by the insurer if you buy a policy through him. For life insurance, ask and he will tell you what he earns on your specific policy. Product and company names are trademarks of their owners. Goldstein Insurance Services is an independent agency, not affiliated with or endorsed by any insurer named here. Life insurance requires underwriting; not everyone qualifies. This page describes products in general terms; read the policy and the insurer's disclosures before you buy.