Indexed universal life insurance (IUL) is permanent life insurance issued by international life insurers. It pays a death benefit from US$1m upwards and builds a cash value that earns index linked credits, with a 0% floor and a cap. Index credits cannot be negative, but policy charges still apply, so cash value can fall.
Australians can hold IUL whether they live in Australia or abroad. We are not aware of any Australian domestic insurer that offers IUL, so cover is arranged through international insurers. Capital for Life structures IUL for Australian expats in the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UK, for internationally mobile families and business owners, and works with Australian residents within the limits Australian law places on offshore firms.
Policy loans — borrow without selling
Borrow against built up cash value instead of selling assets.
Retirement income alongside super
No contribution caps, no preservation age — a second pool beside super.
A defined legacy for family
A contractual death benefit paid to nominated beneficiaries.
Indexed universal life insurance (IUL) is permanent life insurance issued by international life insurers. It pays a US dollar death benefit from US$1m upwards and builds a cash value earning index linked credits, subject to a 0% floor and a cap; policy charges still apply, so cash value can fall. Australians can hold IUL whether they live in Australia or abroad — it sits outside the superannuation system, carries no Division 296 exposure, and can be owned personally or in trust. Capital for Life structures IUL for Australian expats and, within the limits Australian law places on offshore firms, for Australian residents. For Australian residents, personal advice must come from an AFSL licensed adviser. Information, not advice.
The right way to work with us depends on where you live. Everything on this page is information, not advice.
We work with you directly. Policies are issued on the basis of your country of residence, not your nationality, and we coordinate everything from illustrations to underwriting where you live. Most of our Australian clients are based in the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong or the UK.
See if I Qualify for IULCapital for Life does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and does not provide financial product advice in Australia. We can deal directly with Australian residents who qualify as wholesale clients under Australian law — broadly, net assets of at least AUD 2.5m, or gross income of at least AUD 250,000 in each of the last two financial years, certified by a qualified accountant (the certificate is valid for two years). If that is you, start the assessment and we will take it from there. If it is not, we will, with your consent, introduce you to an AFSL licensed Australian adviser and support them on the technical structuring.
Start the private assessmentBy submitting, you consent to Capital for Life contacting you by email and phone about your enquiry. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Findings from the Capital for Life IUL Buyer Survey 2026, drawn from 1,800+ global respondents. Not Australia-specific — shown here for wider context.
83% of IUL enquirers had no financial adviser — for Australian residents, an AFSL licensed adviser is the essential first step.
Source: Capital for Life IUL Buyer Survey 2026 · 1,800+ global respondents
Source: Capital for Life IUL Buyer Survey 2026 · 1,800+ global respondents
Source: Capital for Life IUL Buyer Survey 2026 · 1,800+ global respondents
Yes. Australians can buy IUL through international life insurers, whether they live in Australia or overseas. We are not aware of any Australian domestic insurer that currently offers indexed universal life insurance.
Eligibility is set by residence and insurer underwriting. For Australian expats, the process runs on the rules of the country where you live. For Australian residents, how we can work with you is set out above, and the insurers apply their own acceptance rules for Australia.
Cover starts at US$1m in death benefit. There is no fixed upper limit for qualified applicants; large cases are structured across insurers where needed.
Three uses come up more than any others in our Australian client work.
Once cash value has built, you can borrow against it instead of selling assets. The loan is contractual, so there is no bank credit process, and the policy continues uninterrupted while the loan runs. In practice: a business owner funds the policy through peak earning years, then borrows against it for a Sydney property deposit — no asset sales, no new lender underwriting. Loan interest and mechanics apply.
Property for Life →IUL sits outside superannuation, so it carries no contribution caps and no preservation age. Clients who have already used their super caps fund a policy alongside it, then draw policy loans in retirement to supplement income on their own timetable. In practice: a couple who maximised super years ago add a US dollar policy as a second pool. The after tax result for an Australian resident depends on the foreign life policy rules — resolve this with your adviser first.
Income for Life →The death benefit is contractual from day one — in the early years typically a multiple of premiums paid — and it is paid to nominated beneficiaries under the policy. Families use it in estate planning to guarantee a defined amount for children, whatever happens to other assets. In practice: parents in Australia with one child in London and one in Perth use the death benefit to equalise inheritances across borders, independent of what the family company is worth on the day.
Family for Life →An IUL policy has two parts: a death benefit and a cash value. Premiums, after charges, build the cash value.
The cash value earns credits linked to an index such as the S&P 500, subject to a cap or participation rate. The floor on the credit is 0%, so a negative index year produces a nil credit rather than an index loss. Policy charges are deducted regardless, which is why cash value can still fall in a flat or negative year. We publish our stress testing of exactly this behaviour rather than illustrating around it.
Once sufficient cash value has built, you can borrow against it. Two loan types are available, fixed and participating, and they behave differently in different index conditions. The death benefit is paid to your nominated beneficiaries under the policy terms; how it is treated in their hands depends on ownership, jurisdiction and structure — see the tax section below.
Illustrative only. Hypothetical index returns shown for explanatory purposes; not a forecast of future performance.
Indicative planned premiums for US$2m of cover start around US$38,500 a year for a male non-smoker aged 40–49, on a 10 pay basis — insurer illustrations replace this before any decision.
Premiums depend on age, gender, smoker status, cover level and how much of the premium goes to cash value versus cost of insurance. The estimator below gives an indicative annual figure at a given profile — insurer illustrations replace it before any decision.
Division 296 is an additional tax on superannuation earnings attributable to total super balances above AUD 3 million. It became law in March 2026 and applies from 1 July 2026.
Earnings attributable to balances between AUD 3 million and AUD 10 million attract an additional 15%, taking the effective rate to about 30%. Above AUD 10 million, the effective rate rises to about 40%. Both thresholds are indexed, and the tax applies to realised earnings. Confirm rates, mechanics and dates against final ATO guidance — sources at the foot of this page.
Many trustees and advisers are now reviewing whether super above the threshold should stay there. That is a decision for you and an AFSL licensed adviser — it is not one Capital for Life advises on, and this page does not suggest an answer.
What we provide is the technical picture of one structure those advisers are increasingly asked about: how an international life insurance policy behaves on tax, access, cost and estate transfer, so that a proper comparison with super, trusts and personal holdings can be made. If your adviser wants that comparison, we prepare it with them.
Indexed universal life insurance (IUL) sits alongside superannuation, not in place of it. IUL is a life insurance contract held outside the Australian super system, so the super rules do not apply to it: no contribution caps, no preservation age, and no Division 296 exposure, because a life policy is not a superannuation interest.
Many people search for “IUL vs superannuation” and “IUL vs SMSF”, but the two are not competitors. Superannuation is how most Australians save for retirement, and it enjoys concessional tax treatment that an insurance policy does not. IUL is a separate structure some families fund alongside super, often once their contribution caps are already fully used. A fair comparison rests on after tax outcomes, access and estate treatment, not on headline features.
A self managed super fund (SMSF) is a superannuation structure regulated by the ATO. IUL is a policy issued by a life insurer. They are not direct alternatives, and some families hold both. Whether either belongs in your planning is a question for an AFSL licensed adviser. Capital for Life designs and places the insurance structure once that advice is in place.
Not alternatives — some families hold both. Neither column is a recommendation.
Gains on an international life insurance policy held by an Australian tax resident are assessed under the ten year rule in Section 26AH of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. The policy grows free of annual Australian tax — known as gross roll-up — and once ten complete policy years have passed, withdrawals are generally free of Australian income tax, provided the policy qualifies as an eligible policy and the 125% contribution rule has been observed.
Australian residents typically build long term wealth in one of three tax environments. Each has a different mix of tax, access and estate treatment; none is a recommendation.
When money is withdrawn from an eligible policy, the growth element is treated as a “bonus” and assessed as ordinary income on a sliding scale tied to the policy's age.
Often searched as the “10 year rule”. Figures show how much of the gain is assessable in the policy year of withdrawal.
Gains taxed at marginal rates of up to 45%, year by year.
Earnings concessionally taxed at 15% in accumulation, but contribution caps and preservation rules restrict access, generally until age 60.
Investment bond, portfolio bond or PPLI: growth compounds inside the wrapper and tax is dealt with under the ten year rule rather than year by year.
Premiums in any policy year can rise to 125% of the previous year's premium without consequence. Pay more than that, and the ten year clock restarts from the beginning of that policy year. If nothing was paid in the previous policy year, any new contribution restarts the clock — a detail that catches out ad hoc top ups.
The eligible period runs from the policy's commencement date, not from the date you become an Australian tax resident. An expat who starts a policy in Dubai or Singapore and returns to Australia six years later already has six years on the clock. This applies equally to Australian nationals planning a return and to foreign nationals moving to Australia.
Investment bonds issued by Australian life companies are “tax paid”: the insurer pays tax on earnings at the 30% corporate rate before crediting returns, and the same ten year rule applies to the policyholder. A policy issued from a tax neutral jurisdiction grows gross, with no internal tax drag.
Cross border families use IUL to address the recurring challenges that come with international mobility — a single US dollar policy that follows the family wherever life takes them.
For expats planning an eventual return to Australia, the ownership and structure decisions made before returning matter more than any made after. It's among the most common questions we work through with clients and their tax advisers — and it belongs on the agenda early.
The treatment depends on where you are resident, how the policy is owned — personally, by a company, or by a trust — the policy terms, and what you do with the policy over its life.
The five questions in the checklist are the ones to resolve with your tax adviser before proceeding — and ideally before you move.
Applying for indexed universal life insurance with Capital for Life takes three steps: share your details, compare life insurer illustrations within 24 hours, and complete underwriting. Most policies issue within 6 to 10 weeks, whether you are in Australia or living abroad as an expat.
Your age, gender, smoker status, the level of cover you want, and your country of residence. We ask only for what the life insurers need to prepare illustrations — nothing more. Australian residents complete the assessment described above first.
Within 24 hours, we send you illustrations from the international life insurers available for your age, residence and cover level, and set out the differences between them in plain terms. Decisions, and any advice on them, stay with you and your adviser.
We manage the application and underwriting with the insurer from start to finish. Where a medical is required, it takes place at an approved clinic outside Australia — Australian residents typically travel to Singapore or Dubai, and Australian expats use an approved clinic in the city where they live, such as Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong or London. IUL policies typically issue within 6 to 10 weeks.
“Carlton really stands out for his ability to find elegant and structured solutions for genuinely complex cross-border cases. The level of technical depth he brings — and expects from the advisers he works with — is rare.”
“Carlton really stands out as a true expert within the market. He has been instrumental as a trusted adviser to my high-net-worth clients because of his ability to provide specialised and creative life insurance products for retirement and estate planning.”
It is the first question we ask, because it changes everything. Expats can generally implement an international policy while abroad, and the ten year clock under Australia's Section 26AH starts at commencement — years held overseas count. For Australian residents, this page is general information only, and personal advice must come from an AFSL licensed adviser.
Carlton Crabbe is the Founder and CEO of Capital for Life, an international life insurance advisory specialising in Indexed Universal Life and Private Placement Life Insurance for high net worth and ultra high net worth families, entrepreneurs and their advisers. With close to 30 years of specialist experience, and prior regulated roles at Barclays Private Bank and Grant Thornton, he designs cross border IUL and PPLI structures for protection, liquidity and global estate planning across the UAE, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Capital for Life has advised (U)HNW and corporate clients from Google, Red Bull, BlackRock, L'Oréal, private equity executives, the UK government, hedge fund managers, billionaires, and pop and sports stars. The firm works alongside financial advisers, tax specialists, trustees, private bankers, fiduciaries and family offices, designing high-value IUL and PPLI strategies, multi pay and premium financed solutions, policy loan arrangements and trust based planning.
Primary research from Capital for Life alongside the independent authorities we reference throughout this page.
Capital for Life's free three minute assessment shows Australians and Australian expats which indexed universal life structures and international life insurers are available for their age, residence and cover level — and produces the questions to take to an AFSL licensed adviser. No obligation, no meeting, nothing to prepare.
