Lincoln WealthBuilder IUL Review (2026)

How WealthBuilder IUL works

Lincoln WealthBuilder IUL is indexed universal life insurance. It pays a death benefit when the insured dies. While the insured is alive, part of each premium builds a cash value that can earn interest tied to stock indexes. Lincoln launched it on March 24, 2025 as the first product in what it calls its Elite IUL Portfolio, and it is now Lincoln's accumulation policy. It is issued by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, which AM Best rates A (Excellent). For the company's full record, including its cost of insurance lawsuits, see our Lincoln Financial company review.

Here is the money flow in plain terms:

1. You pay a premium. Lincoln takes a premium load off the top.
2. The rest goes to a holding account. On the 15th of each month, Lincoln moves it into the fixed account and the index accounts you chose.
3. Every month, Lincoln deducts the policy's charges: a policy fee, a per-$1,000 charge and the cost of insurance.
4. When an index segment matures, after one or two years, it earns a credit based on how its index moved, limited by a participation rate and a cap. The credit is never below 0%.
5. Later, you can borrow against or withdraw from the cash value, often to supplement retirement income.

The key point: the 0% floor protects the index credit, not your cash value. Lincoln's own fact sheet says policy charges remain in effect and reduce the policy value. In a year the index falls, the credit is 0%, but the monthly charges still come out.

This is life insurance, not an investment account. If you are weighing it against one, read is IUL a good investment first.

Index accounts and current rates

WealthBuilder IUL offers eight indexed accounts. Current caps and participation rates are available on request. Lincoln's public fact sheet lists rates labeled current as of March 10, 2025, and we do not present rates that old as current. In February 2026 Lincoln said it was raising caps and participation rates on many indexed accounts during 2026, so ask for the rates in effect on the date of your illustration.

What does not change is the contract's floor on those rates. The table below shows the guaranteed minimums from Lincoln's fact sheet.

Read those minimums as a worst case, not a forecast. A 2% cap would leave very little room to cover the charges.

What the terms mean

• Participation rate: the share of the index gain that counts. At 120%, a 5% gain counts as 6%.
• Cap: the most the account can credit in a segment. On a 2-year account, the cap covers the full two years, not each year.
• VCI (volatility-controlled index): an index that moves money between the S&P 500 and cash to hold its swings near a target, 15% or 10% here. When markets are calm it can hold more than 100% stock exposure. Lincoln says these are the highest volatility targets it has ever offered. Our guide to volatility-controlled indexes covers the tradeoffs.
• Account value enhancement: Lincoln's name for the bonus on the two fixed bonus accounts. It is added when a segment matures, based on the average monthly segment balance, with a 0.25% guaranteed minimum.

The S&P 500 Index behind the traditional accounts is a price index, so it does not count dividends. The Fidelity AIM Dividend Index was created in 2019 for Lincoln, so any record before then is a back-test. Lincoln also notes that the methods of both S&P indexes were built on historical data. Ask how much of any history you are shown is live.

Two-year accounts

The three 2-year accounts credit once, at the end of a two-year segment. They carry higher caps than the 1-year accounts because the cap covers two years. The tradeoff is time: nothing is credited at the end of year one. Loans draw first on the fixed, holding and dollar cost averaging accounts, then proportionally from open segments, so ask in writing what happens to a 2-year segment you tap before it matures.

The Multiplier Rider

The Multiplier Rider must be added at issue. After that you can switch it on or off each month, and it works only on the five 1-year accounts. It has three settings:

The charge is taken from the segment at its start. At maturity, the multiplier raises the credit by a percentage, even above the cap. Lincoln's fact sheet states the risk plainly: there is a risk of loss if the segment credit is less than the charge.

Hypothetical crediting example

This example is hypothetical. The 10% cap and 40% multiplier are made up to show the math. They are not Lincoln's current rates and not a forecast. It uses a 1-year capped account with 100% participation, with the rider off and with the 2% setting on, and assumes the credit applies to the segment value left after the charge.

The rider only pays when the index does well. In a modest year it can leave you behind, and in a down year you lose the charge. Our guide to IUL bonuses and multipliers explains why a multiplier is priced into the product, not free.

Fixed, holding and dollar cost averaging accounts

The fixed account, the holding account and an optional dollar cost averaging account each credit a declared rate with a 1% guaranteed minimum. The dollar cost averaging account moves part of a larger premium into the index accounts each month. It requires a $1,000 minimum premium and, except for 1035 exchanges, annual or semiannual payments. Ask for current rates on your illustration.

Charges

Lincoln's fact sheet publishes some charge amounts and only describes others. Ask for each charge, current and guaranteed maximum, on a signed illustration before you apply.

The premium load is the charge to weigh hardest. At 9% for 20 years, $10,000 a year in premium costs $900 a year in load before a dollar reaches your account. The threshold matters too: premiums above Lincoln's yearly threshold can carry a higher load, up to 20% guaranteed. Ask where that threshold sits for your design. See IUL fees and charges for how to compare total costs.

Loans and withdrawals

This is where WealthBuilder IUL stands out. Both loan types have guaranteed loan rates written into the contract. You can switch between them once per policy year, as long as 12 months have passed since your last loan.

A fixed loan is predictable. It costs a net 1% a year for the first 10 years and nothing after that, under the guarantees. An indexed loan is a bet. You pay 5.50% and hope the indexed loan account credits more. In a flat or down year it credits little or nothing, and the loan still grows at 5.50%. A few such years early in retirement can shrink the cash value faster than expected. See IUL policy loans and loans vs withdrawals.

Withdrawals: the minimum is $500 and the maximum is the cash surrender value less $500. A withdrawal cannot take the face amount below the required minimum, and a charge may apply if it reduces the face amount.

Taxes. Withdrawals up to your basis, generally the premiums you paid, are not taxed, and loans are not taxed, as long as the policy stays in force and is not a modified endowment contract (MEC). A policy that takes too much premium too fast in its first seven years becomes a MEC, and then loans and withdrawals are taxed as gain first, with a 10% extra tax before age 59 and a half, with some exceptions. The biggest risk is a lapse: if the policy ends with a loan outstanding, the gain above your premiums becomes taxable income that year. See IUL taxes.

Riders and built-in benefits

At no added upfront cost:

• Accelerated Benefits Rider. Pays part of the death benefit early if the insured is terminally ill, and in some cases for a critical illness or nursing home confinement. A one-time charge applies when you use it.
• Enhanced Overloan Protection Endorsement. Protects some highly funded, heavily borrowed policies from lapsing, at no added cost. That matters because a lapse with a loan outstanding can create a large tax bill. Ask for the eligibility conditions in writing.
• No-lapse guarantee. If you pay the required premium, coverage stays in force for 10 years even if the cash value runs short. Paying only that minimum builds little cash value, and when the guarantee ends you may need a large payment to keep the policy.

Optional, some at extra cost:

• Chronic illness and long-term care acceleration: the Lincoln LifeAssure Accelerated Benefits Rider II for a qualifying chronic illness, and an accelerated death benefit rider for long-term care services. Accelerated benefits reduce the death benefit, may be taxable, and can affect eligibility for public assistance. See IUL chronic illness riders.
• Multiplier Rider, described above.
• Disability Waiver of Monthly Deductions, which waives the monthly charges if you become totally disabled.
• Children's Term Insurance Rider.
• Business riders: a surrender value enhancement for business-owned policies, the Lincoln Enhanced Value Rider (return of premium options for seven years, grading down from year 4, subject to funding), and a Change of Insured Rider.

How the illustration is built

You will decide on this policy by reading an illustration, a year-by-year projection of premiums, cash values and death benefits. The guaranteed column assumes maximum charges and minimum crediting. The non-guaranteed column assumes today's charges and an illustrated interest rate held level for decades.

The NAIC's AG 49-A limits how high that illustrated rate can be, including how much extra credit multipliers and bonuses can show in the projection. Revisions that took effect in 2023, often called AG 49-B, tightened those limits, and 2026 revisions added consumer disclosures. Lincoln does not publish WealthBuilder IUL's maximum illustrated rate in its consumer materials, so ask for it. Our own rule for hypotheticals is to stay at or below the AG 49-A limit and never above 6.5%. We also suggest a second illustration 1 to 2 points lower, and one with the Multiplier Rider off, so you can see how much of the projection depends on it.

Projections built on indexed loans usually look better than those built on fixed loans, because they assume the index keeps beating the 5.50% loan rate. Ask to see both. Our guide on how to read an IUL illustration walks through each column.

Who WealthBuilder IUL fits

• You need permanent life insurance and have used cheaper tax-advantaged options first, such as a 401(k) match and an IRA. See IUL vs 401(k).
• You can fund the policy at or near the tax limit for many years. That is what max-funded IUL means.
• You plan to draw income through loans and value guaranteed loan rates, including a zero net cost fixed loan from year 11.
• You want volatility-controlled index options next to a traditional capped S&P 500 account.
• You live outside New York.

Who should look elsewhere

• You may need the money in the first nine years. Surrender charges apply that long, and the 9% premium load means early cash values sit well below premiums paid. Lincoln designed WealthBuilder ECV IUL for higher early cash values.
• You mainly want a guaranteed death benefit. Term insurance, guaranteed universal life, or Lincoln's WealthProtector IUL is built for that.
• You cannot commit to steady premiums. Underfunded accumulation policies are the ones that lapse. See IUL lapse risk.
• You want the top AM Best grade. Lincoln is rated A, one step below A+.
• You want your cap locked. No IUL does that. Caps and participation rates are current rates that can fall for future segments, down to the contract minimums.
• You live in New York. Lincoln does not sell this policy there.

To see how this policy stacks up against other accumulation designs, compare it in our IUL comparison tool or see the best IUL for cash accumulation.