Proprietary indices are as complex as they are popular, particularly in the FIA world but increasingly in Indexed UL as well. So what's an advisor to do? Just looking at hypothetical historical performance is not enough due diligence, but taking the time to fully understand and evaluate every proprietary and volatility-controlled index offering is an impossibly large undertaking. Getting it wrong can mean choosing an index that ultimately performs quite differently from expectations and peer indices. The key question, then, is whether or not proprietary indices are worth the effort.