Insurance Professionals Comment on Kyle Busch Case
February 11, 2026 by Editorial Staff
Several insurance professionals shared their views on the indexed universal life (IUL) policies that are at the center of the complaint filed by Kyle and Samantha Busch against Pacific Life Insurance Company and insurance agent Rodney A. Smith in U.S. District Court in North Carolina.
Sheryl Moore, Winkintel.com
While all of the facts on the [Busch] case haven’t yet been released, many are speculating that this is a case of an agent behaving badly.
Indexed life is commonly sold as a ‘LIRP,’ or ‘Life Insurance Retirement Plan.’ This strategy typically has the agent search for the least amount of death benefit that a given premium can offer. The client pays that premium for [20] years, and then begins taking loans out of the contract, and uses the funds for their retirement income.
The problem? Indexed life [contracts] may earn less than what is communicated to the client via the illustration. It could earn zero interest. Further, depending on the type of loan taken, the loan interest rate may be greater than what the illustration communicates as well.
To boot, the client could take any number of actions that result in the illustrated values not coming to fruition, such as not paying the premium on time, taking a withdrawal, not paying their loan interest, etc.
