Among the myriad choices, universal life insurance stands as a beacon of flexibility and security, offering a range of options tailored to your unique financial landscape. Whether you’re drawn to the cost-effective protection of Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance, the growth potential of Indexed Universal Life Insurance, or the investment opportunities of Variable Universal Life Insurance, understanding these paths is crucial. But how do you discern which insurer will be your steadfast companion on this journey?
Our Criteria for the Best Universal Life Insurance Companies
When narrowing down the best universal life insurance companies into a top 10 list, it is important to focus on five key areas.
- Financial Strength
- Flexibility
- Policy Options
- Customer Service
- Non-Captive Company
Financial Strength
When it comes to rating life insurance companies for financial strength, there several options to choose from, including A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s and the overall Comdex rank.
A.M. Best Ratings for Life Insurance Companies
We tend to use theย A.M. Best Ratings because it is the oldest, founded in 1899, and most widely recognized rating agency dedicated to the insurance industry. A.M. Best ratings have 2 symbols that indicate their ratings analysis.
The first symbol is alphabetical, ranging from A++ at the top end to E at the lower end, and indicates the financial strength of the company. When calculating financial strength, A.M. Best, conducts a thorough examination of the company’s income and balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile.
The second symbol is a roman numeral that designates the financial size of the company, ranging from I, less than 1 million, to XV, greater than 2 billion. A.M. Best arrives at this rating by examining data such as policyholder reserve funds, other investment or operating contingency funds, and miscellaneous reserves reported as liabilities on the balance sheet.
Because we’re more concerned for this review with strength verses size, we’ll focus on the first symbol. Most life insurance companies have a rating of A- (excellent) or better by A.M. Best, so we’ll be pointing to those that meet or exceed this benchmark. Note: Companies with a rating of B or less are considered “vulnerable” by A.M. Best.
Flexibility
When it comes to universal life insurance, flexibility is the name of the game.
Universal life insurance is by definition a flexible premium plan. This allows policy holders the flexibility to skip a payment if things get financially tight.
However, flexibility extends to more than premium payments into areas such as policy design options. Some companies are simply more inventive when it comes to the ways that policies can be designed and the riders that are available to support an optimal plan.
In other words, flexibility is only a part of the policy design equation. We also want to know what kinds of coverage options and incentives for consumers are available from a given universal life policy.
Policy Options
Options and incentives for consumers would concern the financial aspects of the policy such as “index caps”, the “money sweep” policy, policy expenses, accelerated benefits, policy loan options, interest bonus options and “overloan” protection.
All of the above are related to the performance and profitability of an indexed universal life policy and should be considered on a case by case basis.
Further, living benefits are also an important factor to consider when choosing how your universal life insurance policy is designed. The addition of living benefits can greatly enhance your overall protection.
While we won’t do a deep dive into these areas for each company in this article, our chosen companies all strive to stay competitive in these areas to offer consumer friendly products.
Customer Serviceย
Of course, a top life insurance company should be characterized by happy customers and we’ve thus endeavored to make sure that all those who make our list have maintained a solid customer service reputation.
In reviewing our contender’s customer service reputation, we delved into our wealth of personal experience and looked at web based surveys including the NAIC and J.D. Power survey for life insurance companies.
Captive vs. Non-Captive Companies
We are NOT contending that non-captive life insurance companies offer better products than captive companies.
We simply raise the question whether a non-captive company is a more consumer friendly alternative because the professionals are encouraged to shop companies for the consumer rather than keep the business “in house”.
Thus, although some may disagree, we factor this criteria into our search for the best companies.
So with the above criteria in mind, here are our picks for the…
Best Universal Life Insurance Companies
This list is fluid as the top universal life insurance company is the one that offers the right product that meets your goals and objectives.
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Pacific Life Insurance Company is an A+ rated (superior) company that reportedly offers one of the best IUL products in the industry. A simple review reveals that they offer 5 different indexed product options and within those products, their performance riders are top notch.
Pacific Life is a mutual life insurance company that is fun to write about even though they’ve stayed out of the whole life insurance market. Arguably, they’ve made up for this lack of diversity with a keen emphasis on providing a widely diverse set of universal life options for consumers.
Pacific Life offers all types of universal life insurance, including GULs, IULs, and VULs.
Pacific Life also has an above average customer service record and is a non-captive company that is easy for independent agents to work with and obtain information for clients.
North American Company for Life and Health
North American Company is an A+ rated (superior) company that is part of a group of companies owned by Sammons Enterprises, Inc., which also owns Midland National Life Insurance.
North American Life offers a robust variety of IUL product options. Opportunities for consumers include a builder and legacy optimizer IUL and their policy design options have thus catapulted them to the top of our list.
North American Life also ranks very high in customer service and is a non-captive company. This company focuses more on universal life insurance and does not delve into whole life insurance products.
However, if you’re exploring an indexed universal life insurance path, we highly recommend checking this company out as well as its sister company Midland National. The company also offers custom guarantee universal life which provides guaranteed death benefit protection at a great price.
Another reason that North American tops our list is an above average customer service reputation.
Lincoln National Life Insurance Company
Lincoln National Life Insurance Company is a subsidiary of Lincoln Financial Group, Inc., and is currently offering a solid wealth building IUL for consumers that includes a fixed loan rate option and a 1% crediting rate.
They also offer design options for wealth protection, retirement or business protection.
With an A.M. Best rating of A+ (superior), this company meets our criteria for financial strength.
Lincoln National’s customer service is excellent and they are a non-captive company, both of which add to their overall ranking.
The Prudential Insurance Company of America
There are a number of divisions to the Prudential group of companies which all carry the A+ (superior) A.M. Best Rating. For our purposes, we’re focusing on the Prudential Insurance Company of America but will refer to them all as Prudential.
Prudential is another great company that was catapulted to the top of our list based upon some practical experience with their IUL products and frankly their track record of policy performance.
Prudential entered the IUL world in 2012 with their PruLifeยฎย IndexAdvantage UL, and has since added other products. Depending upon your age and other factors, Prudential may offer the best option for your IUL policy goals.
Prudential is a non-captive company and did well on the J.D. power customer satisfaction survey as well as our other inquiries.
Mutual of Omaha
Mutual of Omaha is currently offering an array of attractive policy options for consumers. With an A.M. Best rating of A+ (superior), this company meets our criteria for financial strength.
Mutual of Omaha has put together an exceptional set of indexed universal life policy options that offer flexibility to accommodate the kinds of wealth building and estate planning objectives that we value.
Mutual of Omaha’s customer service is good based upon web based feedback and they are a non-captive company that is easy for professionals to work with and are also highly flexible in policy design.
John Hancock
John Hancock is what we consider a company to watch closely. John Hancock has been quietly improving its marketing and products and is thus moving up in our ranks.
They are innovating an impressive set of consumer options in the IUL world that offer some great wealth building enhancements for consumers.
With an A.M. Best rating of A+, this company meets our criteria for financial strength.
John Hancock is a non-captive company with solid, although not spectacular, customer service reviews.
Foresters Financial
Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company is a subsidiary of Foresters Financial, both of which are rated A (excellent) by A.M. Best. Foresters is arguably the least known life insurance company on our list and yet commanded our attention for a few reasons.
First, Foresters offers a no exam life insurance option which is a very consumer friendly approach. Available for ages 16-55, Foresters is one of the few companies that are exploring automated underwriting.
Second, Foresters has an exceptional IUL product that is reportedly very favorable for wealth building for real estate investors andย using life insurance policy loans for working capital.
So, Foresters gets high marks for both a range of policy options AND exceptional policy design options. Foresters is non-captive and easy for agents to work with.
Finally, Foresters has a solid customer service reputation, thus placing them high in our rankings.
The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company is an A+ rated (superior) company.
In addition to Penn Mutual’s dividend paying whole life product, which is one of the front runners in the industry, Penn recently introduced a number of accumulation builder indexed universal life products.
So, Penn Mutual is covering the spectrum with an exceptional array of choices for consumers when it comes to wealth building.
Penn Mutual is also a non-captive company that is easy to work with and their customer service record is above average.
Transamerica Life Insurance Company
Transamerica Life is a solid company with a good set of policy options and designs. With an A+ (superior) A.M. Best rating and a structure that is essentially non-captive, this company offers a nice set of options for consumers.
Although the company culture is somewhat unique, in utilizing a kind of multilevel approach to the agent offices, agents only need to be appointed to offer their products.
Transamerica caters to all kinds of strategies including wealth building through whole life, universal life and variable life products. They are also a non-captive company that is easy to work with.
Depending upon where you look, Transamerica’s customer service record ranges from solid to mediocre.
American National Life Insurance Company
American National Life Insurance Company has an A.M. Best rating of A (excellent) and thus meets our criteria for financial strength.
American National made our list because they get some accolades for their solid policy performance options.
American National’s customer service is middle of the road and they are a non-captive company, both of which add to their overall ranking.
About Universal Life Insurance
The three different types of universal life insurance policies are guaranteed universal life, indexed universal life, and variable universal life.
Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance
A guaranteed universal life insurance policy is permanent life insurance designed primarily for cost effective long term protection, with less emphasis on cash value growth. This type of policy will often include some type of guaranteed death benefit protection as long as the premiums are paid.
Indexed Universal Life Insurance
An indexed universal life insurance policy is permanent life insurance that is focused more on cash value growth. The cash value account can be placed into various subaccounts that track the performance of certain stock market indexes, such as the S&P 500. The death benefit can be fixed or you can choose a death benefit that grows with the policy over time.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
A variable universal life insurance policy is permanent life insurance that grows based on the cash value account being invested in subaccounts that act like mutual funds, allowing the owner of the policy to participate in the gains or losses of the chosen investment.
Conclusion
There are a lot of top universal life insurance companies list out there and the above were the ones that continue to command our attention. If you are looking to gain financial independence, build wealth, plan for retirement, protect your business and create a legacy through universal life insurance, we believe the above companies to be the top contenders when searching for the best product and company to meet your goals.
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7 comments
Michelle M
Good afternoon,
I would like to establish an IUL for myself
And an IUL for my son here in CA. My use and interest is tax savings as well as fund vehicle for investments.
Thank you.
Michelle M
Good afternoon,
I would like to establish an IUL for myself
And an IUL for my son here in CA. My use and interest is tax savings as well as fund vehicle for investments.
Thank you
Insurance&Estates
Hello Michelle, if you haven’t connected yet with our IUL expert Jason Herring, go ahead and reach out to him at jason@insuranceandestates.com to request a call.
Best, Steve Gibbs for I&E
michelle grant
Send me raites and information about Universal insurance. Michelle from Rhode island.
Insurance&Estates
Hi Michelle, thanks for commenting. Your request has been forwarded to Jason Herring who should be reaching out to you. You can also contact him directly at jason@insuranceandestates.com.
Best, Steve Gibbs for I&E
Jay D Reagan
Iโm interested in gain financial independence, build wealth, plan for retirement!
Insurance&Estates
Hello Jay, thanks for reading and your enthusiastic comment. I’ve forwarded your interest to Jason Herring and someone will check in with you to see if you can help move you toward your goals.
Best, Steve Gibbs for I&E.