Securian Financial IUL Review (2026)

Securian at a glance: who stands behind the policy

Securian Financial traces its roots to August 6, 1880, when Russell Dorr founded the Bankers Association of Minnesota in St. Paul. By Securian's account it was the first life insurance company in Minnesota. In 1901 it became a mutual company, Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company, and kept that name for almost a century. It says it introduced Adjustable Life, a policy whose premium and coverage could be changed over time, in 1971. In 1998 it adopted a mutual holding company structure and the Minnesota Life name, and in 2001 it introduced the Securian brand.

The names can be confusing, so here is the short version. Securian Financial is the marketing name. The company that actually issues its IUL policies is Minnesota Life Insurance Company. Minnesota Life is a stock company, but its stock is not publicly traded. Its ultimate parent is Minnesota Mutual Companies, Inc., a mutual holding company owned collectively by its members. Securian says no one, including management and the board, has been issued any stock. In New York, Securian products are issued by a separate company, Securian Life Insurance Company. When it launched its flagship Eclipse Accumulator II IUL, Securian said that product line is not available in New York.

Securian is large and diversified. For 2025 it reported $1.7 trillion of insurance in force, $76.8 billion in assets, $8.7 billion in revenue and $5 billion of surplus. It serves more than 23 million customers through about 5,700 employees in the United States and Canada. Besides individual life insurance, it sells group insurance through employers and coverage through banks and credit unions. Its IULs are sold through independent agents and financial professionals. For its annuity lineup, see our Securian annuity review.

How strong is Securian?

AM Best affirmed Minnesota Life's financial strength rating at A+ (Superior) on December 4, 2025, with a stable outlook. A+ is the second-highest of AM Best's 16 ratings. AM Best assessed the group's balance sheet as strongest, its highest grade, and its operating performance as strong. It also noted two soft spots. Risk-adjusted capital had dipped slightly because of operating losses and recent acquisitions, though AM Best expected it to recover. And rising interest rates had caused losses on the hedges Securian uses for its variable products.

Securian reports these ratings for Minnesota Life and Securian Life, all as of December 2025:

That is a top-tier set of ratings across all four agencies.

A rating measures the company, not the policy. It tells you how likely Minnesota Life is to pay claims decades from now. It says nothing about whether a given IUL's caps and charges suit you.

For how we weigh ratings against other factors, see how we rate life insurance companies.

Securian's IUL lineup

Securian's current consumer brochures describe three indexed universal life (IUL) policies, all under the Eclipse name and all issued by Minnesota Life. Each one credits interest from a menu of indexed accounts with a 0% floor, plus a fixed account.

Eclipse Accumulator II IUL is the flagship, built to grow cash value and later pay supplemental retirement income through loans. Securian launched it on February 13, 2025 as an enhanced version of Eclipse Accumulator IUL, stressing low charges and a simple design, by its own description. It added two new indexed accounts, a Hindsight account and a Performance Trigger account. At launch it was sold in every state except California, Florida, Oregon and New York, and the earlier Eclipse Accumulator IUL stayed on sale in those three states until the new version was approved. Ask which version is sold in your state today.

Eclipse Protector II IUL is built for a guaranteed death benefit rather than cash value. Its No-Lapse Guarantee Agreement is required. Securian says the premium you pay sets how long the death benefit guarantee lasts, up to age 120: the higher the premium, the longer the guarantee.

Eclipse Survivor II IUL covers two people in one policy and pays the death benefit after both have died. It is typically used in estate planning, for example to leave money to heirs or help pay estate taxes. An optional No-Lapse Guarantee Agreement can guarantee the death benefit up to age 120, depending on the premium paid.

Securian also sells term, whole life, fixed universal life and variable universal life. None of those are IUL.

Index options and how interest is credited

An index account does not buy stocks. It credits interest based on how much an index rose over a one-year segment, limited by a cap, a participation rate or a trigger rate, and never below a floor of 0%. The indexes do not include dividends. The menu differs by policy:

Two of these are unusual. The Hindsight account looks back at the end of the year and weights the best of its three indexes at 60%, the second best at 40% and the worst at 0%. The Performance Trigger account pays a set rate whenever the S&P 500 finishes the year up at all, and 0% otherwise, with a guaranteed minimum trigger rate of 2.00%. The S&P PRISM index moves among stocks, bonds, commodities and cash each day, and the Low Volatility index holds the 100 least volatile S&P 500 stocks. Calmer indexes cost less to hedge, which is how they can carry no cap. See our guide to volatility-controlled indexes.

The fixed account has a 2% guaranteed minimum rate. Securian also adds a lifetime interest guarantee: when the policy ends through death, surrender or termination, your cash value is credited with at least the equivalent of 2% a year, whichever accounts you used. That is a guarantee on the interest credited over the policy's life, not on your cash value. Charges still come out every month.

Current caps and participation rates are available on request. Securian's brochures say they may change over time and point buyers to their financial professional for current figures. A high cap is only part of the value. Our guide to IUL cap rates explains how to weigh caps against charges.

How Securian treats existing policyholders

This is the section that matters most in an IUL, because you will own the policy for decades after the sale. We looked at three things: caps on older policies, cost of insurance charges, and lawsuits or regulatory actions.

Caps on policies it no longer sells

We could not find a consumer-facing Securian document that lists today's caps on its older IULs, such as the original Eclipse Accumulator IUL. Securian's website for financial professionals is marked as not for use with the general public, so we did not use it. That means we cannot show you how older policies are credited now or how far their caps have moved since they were sold.

Two points are verifiable. First, Securian's brochures say caps and participation rates may change over time, so the rate in your original illustration is a current rate, not a promise. Second, its Eclipse IULs carry the 2% lifetime interest guarantee described above, which puts a modest minimum under long-run crediting whatever happens to caps. If you own a Securian IUL, your annual statement shows your current rates. Compare them with the rates in your original illustration.

Cost of insurance charges

The cost of insurance is the monthly charge for the death benefit itself. A carrier raising it on existing policies is one of the biggest risks in any universal life policy. We found no public record of Securian or Minnesota Life raising cost of insurance rates on its IUL policies. We could not verify that from company filings, so treat it as unconfirmed rather than a clean record. Securian's own disclosures say its mortality and expense charges "may increase over time." Each policy states the guaranteed maximum charges, and those maximums are the limit on any increase.

Lawsuits and regulatory actions

Securian's most significant IUL case involved how some policies were paid for, not how they were credited. According to a federal court order, a marketing organization called Shurwest, appointed to sell Minnesota Life products in 2012, allegedly promoted investments in Future Income Payments (FIP) to agents as a way for clients to fund IUL premiums. FIP bought part of a client's future pension income for a lump sum. FIP and its founder were later indicted for running a Ponzi scheme. The plaintiffs alleged that when FIP stopped paying in April 2018, they could no longer fund their policies, which lapsed and left them facing surrender charges.

Testimony from Minnesota Life and Securian staff, cited in the same court order, describes how the company responded. It began prohibiting structured cash flows like FIP as a premium source in 2017. It found 371 IUL policies sold from 2014 to 2018 linked to the FIP strategy and terminated the contracts of 68 Shurwest-affiliated agents. It offered to rescind every IUL policy bought in connection with an FIP investment and refund the premiums, and owners of 202 of those policies settled and signed releases. Policyholders sued Securian, Minnesota Life and Shurwest in Ciofoletti v. Securian Financial Group (District of Minnesota, case 18-cv-3025). On August 12, 2021, the court denied class certification, finding that individual questions about whether Securian owed each buyer a fiduciary duty would outweigh the common ones. The court docket shows an order dismissing the case on July 5, 2023. The docket summary we reviewed does not say on what terms, so we make no claim about how it was resolved. Minnesota Life separately sued Shurwest in 2021, a case closed by stipulated dismissal in October 2022.

Beyond that matter, we found other individual suits against Minnesota Life in federal court records, which we did not review one by one. We found no certified class action over Securian's IUL crediting or charges as of September 2026. We have not completed a state-by-state review of regulatory actions and market conduct exams, so we make no claim either way on that point. Our guide to IUL lawsuits covers the wider industry picture.

Riders and living benefits

Securian calls its riders agreements. On Eclipse Accumulator II IUL, its consumer brochure lists these living benefits:

• Accelerated Death Benefit for Terminal Illness. Take part of the death benefit early after a terminal diagnosis. No charge for the agreement.
• Chronic Illness Access Agreement. No added cost up front, but the payment you receive is less than the death benefit you give up.
• Accelerated Death Benefit for Chronic Illness Agreement. Monthly benefits, usable for any purpose, if the insured is certified chronically ill. Securian says its chronic illness agreements are not long-term care insurance under state law, may not cover all costs, may affect Medicaid eligibility, and have uncertain tax treatment.
• Long-Term Care Agreement. Lets you use the policy for long-term care benefits, the death benefit, or both. It may not be available in every state.

For people planning to borrow in retirement, the Overloan Protection Agreement keeps an outstanding loan from ending the policy even when the cash value can no longer cover the charges. Securian says plainly that its tax treatment is uncertain. That matters, because a lapse with a loan outstanding can create a large tax bill. See overloan protection.

Other optional agreements include waiver of premium for disability before age 65, a guaranteed insurability option, an inflation agreement tied to the Consumer Price Index, extra term coverage, and two agreements that reduce early surrender costs. Availability varies by policy and state, and many carry a charge. Our guide to IUL living benefits compares these designs.

Underwriting and service

Securian's consumer materials do not describe its IUL underwriting process in detail. Expect health and financial questions, and ask your agent whether you qualify for an accelerated process or will need an exam and labs. For what to expect, see IUL underwriting.

For policy service, Securian lists this contact information:

Who Securian fits, and who should look elsewhere

Securian is a strong candidate if you:

• Want an IUL from a carrier with top-tier ratings from all four major agencies.
• Want an accumulation design that Securian built around low charges, and can fund it steadily for many years.
• Like the idea of newer crediting designs, such as a trigger account or a best-of blend, alongside a plain S&P 500 cap.
• Need a guaranteed death benefit on one life or two, where Protector II or Survivor II fits.

Look elsewhere if you:

• Live in New York and want Eclipse Accumulator II IUL, which is not sold there. Securian Life issues Securian's New York policies, so ask what is available.
• Want to see caps and charge amounts in writing before you talk to anyone. Securian's consumer materials do not publish them; you will need an illustration.
• Might need to surrender in the early years. Surrender charges apply; on some policies an optional agreement can remove them for an added charge.
• Want your caps to hold for decades. No carrier promises that.
• Mainly want the cheapest death benefit for a set period. Term insurance may cost far less. See who should not buy IUL.

A word on taxes, since IUL is often sold on them. Income from an IUL usually comes from policy loans and from withdrawals up to your premiums paid. Both are tax-free only while the policy stays in force and is not a modified endowment contract. If the policy lapses or is surrendered with a loan outstanding, the gain can become taxable in a single year. Our IUL taxes guide walks through the rules.

To compare Securian with other carriers, start with our list of the best IUL companies.