Universal Life Illustration Calculator

The current crediting rate reflects what the insurer is paying today, which is typically higher than the contractual guaranteed minimum built into the policy as a floor. Because interest compounds on the accumulating cash value year after year, even a modest rate gap between the two scenarios widens noticeably over a long projection period.

Cash value is floored at zero in this projection rather than going negative, which represents a real risk in an actual policy: once accumulated value can no longer absorb the rising cost of insurance, the policy can lapse or require a substantially higher premium to keep the coverage in force. This is a genuine risk with universal life policies as insureds get older, not just a modeling artifact.

Mortality risk rises with age, and universal life policies pass that increasing cost through to the policyholder each year rather than locking in one flat rate for life, the way term or whole life premiums typically do. This calculator models that increase as a steady scaling of the cost-of-insurance rate the further your projected age moves past 30.

No — only the Guaranteed Rate represents a contractual floor the insurer must honor. The current crediting rate can be adjusted by the insurer over time based on their own investment returns and business conditions, so the Current Rate Cash Value projection should be read as an illustration of today's terms continuing, not a promise of future performance.