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Whole life insurance has long competed against term life insurance policies. Life insurance agents promise lower premiums and higher benefits with term policies, but unfortunately they may leave out the part where you must go through the application process again if you decide to make your old term life insurance policy permanent.
Whole life, on the other hand, does not need to be converted and is often referred to as permanent life insurance. If you're looking for a policy to last longer than a few decades, you may want to consider whole life.
The Best Whole Life Insurance Companies
- State Farm Life Insurance: Best for Customer Satisfaction
- Prudential Life Insurance: Best for Seniors
- Columbus Life: Best for Accelerated Death Benefits
- New York Life Insurance: Best for Insurance Agent Support
- USAA Life Insurance: Best for Military Members
- Guardian Life Insurance: Best for People with HIV
- Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance: Best for No Medical Exam
- Allianz Life: Best for Investing
Here are some of the top whole life policy options from our list of the best life insurance companies.
Compare Whole Life Insurance Companies
Whole Life Insurance Frequently Asked Questions
Whole life insurance is not necessarily better than term life insurance. It depends what you're looking for. As the name suggests, term life insurance has a term after which it expires, unless you re-apply to have it converted to whole life insurance. Term life is often preferred for its lower premiums; whole life is preferred for cash value.
A bare-bones life insurance policy with no additional riders might be cheap. However, this policy will also have limited coverage, and users may find other holes later. For example, adding extra coverage for disability or missed payments may cost more now. But suitable riders can save you money and protect your investment later on.
You can use whole life insurance policies for investment purposes, retirement, sudden illness or injury, and more. A life insurance agent can help you set up a plan that meets your needs. Then, you pay the agreed-upon premiums.
Some of the best life insurance companies sell whole life insurance or term life insurance with no medical exams required. However, insurers may still ask about your medical history and pull other medical records. These policies generally offer lower benefits, and successful applicants are typically younger and healthy.
Whole Life Insurance Reviews
State Farm Whole Life Insurance
State Farm Life Insurance continues to lead the way in customer satisfaction. Customers typically hold auto, home, and other insurance policies with multi-policy discounts. Life insurance agents with State Farm can only quote its company policies. But they have the training to apply all available discounts to be as aggressive as possible with policy premiums.
Like many other companies, State Farm now offers "living benefits" in the event of illness or injury. Whole life options include a single premium, premiums payable to age 100, and premiums payable to an agreed-upon point. Buyers can discuss options with a licensed life insurance agent.
- State Farm agents can quote with all applicable discounts and customized benefits
- Single premium plans and premiums payable for a set time are available
- Life insurance customers can take out loans from their policy, and State Farm offers living benefits
Prudential Whole Life Insurance
Prudential Life Insurance is known for its superior financial stability (and that extends to the company's other insurance products, as well). The Prudential VUL Protector (and the Pruco Life of New Jersey VUL Protector plan) offers specialized life insurance planning for seniors.
Premiums are fixed, and Prudential provides a lower risk profile on this plan to minimize potential losses. With less aggressive investments, buyers won't see the significant gains associated with higher-risk investment vehicles.
- Coverage is specialized for senior applicants with a high likelihood of acceptance
- Low-risk investment vehicles to minimize losses
- Fixed premiums over the entirety of your life insurance policy
Prudential Life Insurance Review
Columbus Whole Life Insurance
Columbus Life remains a top competitor in life insurance overall. More companies now offer accelerated death benefits, sometimes called living benefits. Columbus remains on the cutting edge. Buyers can pull money for immediate medical bills, long-term care, and end-of-life expenses before they pass away. Competitors frequently use a discounted death benefit, which offers confusing data for the average consumer. So it's hard to know what impact an early withdrawal would have on your death benefit. Columbus simplifies the process with the lien method. It makes it easier for the average life insurance investor to understand the impact of withdrawals on long-term financial planning.
Columbus Life customers enjoy various life insurance plans supplemented with plenty of riders. Base premiums are highly affordable, and riders allow policy customization to find each buyer's best life insurance products. Some customers choose whole life products up front, but Columbus Life enables qualified applicants to apply to convert term life insurance policies to whole policies up to initial expiration date.
- Accelerated life insurance benefits available for long-term disability or extreme illness
- Columbus uses the lien method instead of the discounted death benefit
- Plenty of riders available to customize policies
New York Life Whole Life Insurance
New York Life Insurance offers policies with payouts going into the millions. Many life insurance plans are designed for investment purposes allowing buyers to withdraw money on a set schedule. Expected payout and penalties are laid out up front, and sales agents are knowledgeable and friendly.
Buyers looking to maintain a significant death benefit for their beneficiaries can take out loans against the life insurance balance. While interest may apply, penalties will not. Qualified New York Life insurance agents can guide you through different life insurance options to find the plan that meets your needs.
- Extensively trained insurance agents are there to answer any questions you have about New York Life
- High-value life insurance plans available for financial planning
- Loan options to preserve higher death benefits while using existing funds as needed
New York Life Insurance Review
USAA Whole Life Insurance
USAA Life Insurance offers $400,000 in coverage with the servicemember's group life insurance (SGLI) policy, available to eligible military members in the major branches and reserves. Due to deployment, traditional life insurance companies may not offer policy options for military members. USAA specializes in serving active duty military members, and it provides additional life insurance options for veterans.
USAA underwriters consider factors like age, health, and lifestyle, and medical exams are involved. However, it takes away many of the common barriers military members face, even when being deployed.
- Active-duty service members can use it to supplement SGLI
- Available for a diverse range of military members and veterans
- Applicants may still be required to undergo medical exams
Guardian Life Whole Life Insurance
Guardian Life Insurance offers unique policies for high-risk groups, including HIV patients.Due to medical innovations, undetectable cases of HIV are on the rise. The long-term health issues and early deaths of patients with HIV are lower than ever before, but many insurers are still hesitant to issue life insurance policies to HIV patients.
Applicants should be between 20 and 60 years old and in good health. Guardian Life also requires accepted applicants to be on antiretroviral therapy for a minimum of two years with promising lab results. While an HIV diagnosis is acceptable for Guardian Life insurance policies, applicants cannot have any AIDS-defining illnesses. Because of its thorough underwriting process, Guardian offers generous policies with reasonable premiums for qualified applicants.
- Specialized plans available for patients with HIV
- Applicants must be under the care of an HIV doctor and on retroviral therapy for at least two years
- Applicants cannot have AIDS-defining illnesses
Guardian Life Insurance Review
Mutual of Omaha Whole Life Insurance
Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance is known, above all else, for its financial stability. It offers various plans and riders, including no-exam life insurance plans. Some policies are as small as $2,000 for applicants between 50 and 75. Life insurance policies max out at $25,000 for healthy applicants looking to avoid a medical exam.
Once approved, there is a two-year waiting period for no medical exam life insurance policies with Mutual of Omaha. If policyholders die during those two years, Mutual of Omaha will pay out 110% of the premiums paid to date. The company closes most claims on the same business day for qualifying claims.
- No medical exam policies are available, with payouts up to $25,000
- Available for applicants up to 85 except in New York, where the age limit is 75
- Two-year waiting period for full benefits
Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance Review
Allianz Whole Life Insurance
Allianz offers high-value plans for tax-free payouts and aggressive investments. Many applicants use Allianz life insurance policies to supplement 401(k)s and other retirement investment vehicles. Some estimates suggest qualified applicants could increase their income by up to 20%. In addition, buyers can add riders to customize life insurance plans.
Allianz is among a few companies offering life insurance policies for foreign nationals with H-1B visas.
- Million-dollar policy limits for qualified applicants
- Strong growth and investment options
- Plans available for foreign nationals with H-1B visas
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Chose the Best Whole Life Insurance
Life insurance comes in many shapes and forms, and whole life isn't always the right option. It depends on your goals, your current finances, and other factors. We base our reviews on crucial factors to help consumers determine which life insurance plan is right for them.
- Price: The insurance premium often overshadows other factors when generating life insurance quotes. Cheap life insurance has appeal now, but it doesn't always get you the coverage you need. We look at affordability as part of the bigger picture.
- Coverage: How much coverage can you qualify for? Will it cover the death benefits you want for family or other beneficiaries? Will it meet your investment goals? Applicants seeking death benefits to cover funeral costs have different expectations than those looking to live comfortably in retirement. We also look at unique products like those for HIV patients, seniors, foreign nationals, and more.
- Performance: What kind of gains can you expect? We look at the risk profile and average financial gains over the policy's lifespan.
- Payouts: A whole life policy will pay out upon death or earlier based on what's written in the policy documents. We examine the claims process, average processing time, and payment rate.
Read our insurance rating methodology for all the details on how we evaluate insurance companies.
How to Pick The Best Whole Life Insurance Policy for You
How does life insurance work for the average consumer? With many riders and options available, life insurance options are better than ever. Buyers enjoy more types of life insurance, competitive life insurance rates, and much more.
Insider recommends working with a trusted life insurance agent to make the final decision. Insurance professionals can help you set parameters that make sense for your search and compare prices with benefits. As a result, qualified insurance agents can get consumers affordable pricing and ensure greater customer satisfaction.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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