Stock Selloff Hits Life Insurers’ Fastest-Growing Product

The hottest thing in life insurance for more than a decade might be cooling off.

A long-running stock-market rally and low interest rates combined to create the perfect conditions for indexed universal-life policies. Sales of these policies rose from 4% of life-insurance sales in 2008, as measured by new annualized premiums, to 28% in the third quarter, according to industry-funded research firm Limra.