Northwestern Mutual continues to dominate the life insurance landscape in 2025, boasting a perfect Comdex score of 100, managing nearly $700 billion in assets, and delivering a record-breaking $8.2 billion dividend payout to policyholders. As the largest life insurance provider in the U.S. with 8.39% market share, Northwestern Mutual offers unparalleled financial strength for those seeking both protection and wealth-building opportunities.
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Review of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance
The following review of Northwestern Mutual is part of our life insurance reviews series focused on what we consider the best whole life insurance companies for wealth building and legacy creation.
We are focusing on strong companies that offer the option to generate high cash value, as opposed to an initial high death benefit.
With that in mind, let’s find out a little more about Northwestern Mutual.
About Northwestern Mutual
In 1857, Northwestern Mutual was originally known as the Mutual Life Insurance Company of the State of Wisconsin. Northwestern Mutual now ranks #110 on the 2024 FORTUNE 500 (up from #100 in 2016), and continues to be recognized by FORTUNE as one of the “World’s Most Admired” life insurance companies in 2025.
What is a mutual insurance company?
A mutual insurance company is one that is owned by the policyholders. Policyholders share in the ownership rights of the company. Participating policyholders take part in the company’s profits through dividends.
Northwestern Mutual’s dividend interest rate has increased to 5.15% for 2024 (up from 4.90% in 2018), marking the highest rate increase in over 25 years. The company will pay participating policyholders a record total of $8.2 billion in dividends in 2025.
Northwestern Mutual has experienced tremendous growth, with current assets reaching nearly $700 billion (up from $265 billion previously reported), with record revenues of over $38 billion (up from $28.1 billion), and $2.4 trillion worth of life insurance in force (up from $1.8 trillion).
The company continues to be led by John Schlifske as chairman, president, and CEO, with a focus on growth and delivering value to policyholders.
Northwestern Mutual Ratings
Northwestern Mutual remains the highest rated life insurance company in the U.S. As of 2025, Northwestern Mutual maintains the following exceptional financial ratings:
These top-tier ratings have been maintained for 34 consecutive years, according to Northwestern Mutual’s announcement, demonstrating the company’s long-term financial stability and strength.
Northwestern Mutual Products
Life Insurance
- Term Life Insurance
- Permanent Life Insurance
Disability Income Insurance
- Supplemental disability income insurance ($550 million in dividends allocated to disability insurance policyholders in 2024)
Long Term Care Insurance
- Long term care planning (claims exceeding $6 billion across life, disability, and long-term care insurance)
- Hybrid long-term care insurance options
Annuity Products
- Immediate Income Annuities ($240 million in dividends allocated to annuity policyholders in 2024)
- Deferred Income Annuities
Investment Products and Services
- Brokerage products and services
- Investment advisory services (client investment assets grew to $335 billion by the end of 2024, a 19% year-over-year increase)
- Trust services
- Private client services for HNW individuals
- Fee-based financial planning
Nearly 175 Northwestern Mutual advisory firms were named to Forbes’ Best-in-State list for Top Wealth Management Teams in 2025, quadrupling last year’s recognition. Additionally, the company ranked sixth among independent broker-dealers by Financial Advisor Magazine for gross revenue performance.
Education Planning
- 529 Plans
- Coverdell Educational Savings Accounts
According to a 2024 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study, 95% of parents saving for their children’s college expenses expect to cover over half the costs, highlighting the importance of education planning services.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Policies
Although Northwestern Mutual is known more for its stellar whole life insurance, the company also offers both term life and universal life insurance.
Although there are benefits to all types of coverage, in our opinion there is a clear winner when considering between term life insurance vs whole life.
Benefits of Term Life Insurance
- Lower Initial Cost
- Income Protection
- Mortgage Protection
- Conversion Option
Benefits of Permanent Life Insurance
Although not exhaustive, below are some areas where permanent life insurance can be extremely beneficial when combined with a diversified asset portfolio:
We often recommend that if you are considering term life insurance then you should choose convertible term life insurance that can be converted into a top of the line permanent life insurance policy. Alternatively, you can always get a smaller universal or whole life policy and add a supplemental term life rider to maximize your death benefit, but also begin growing your cash value.
Northwestern Mutual Term Life Insurance
Northwestern Mutual offers both Level Term Life Insurance and Annual Renewable Term Life Insurance.
Term life insurance allows you to have a large guaranteed death benefit for a lower initial cost than permanent coverage.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company offers level term life insurance for 10 and 20 years. You can also choose from its annual renewable term offerings of Term 80 and Term 10. As of 2025, the company also offers 30-year term life insurance options for longer coverage needs.
Northwestern Mutual Permanent Life Insurance
CompLife: Blends permanent insurance with term life insurance to give you ultimate policy design flexibility.
Universal Life: the benefit of permanent coverage with an adjustable death benefit and premium payments.
- Custom Universal Life Accumulator
- Single Premium UL
Variable Life: the flexibility of universal life insurance with the additional benefit of allowing the cash value to be invested in various options across different asset classes.
Northwestern Mutual Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance lasts your entire life and offers specific guarantees, including:
- Guaranteed death benefit,
- Guaranteed cash accumulation and
- Guaranteed level premiums.
Additional cash value growth is available through dividends. Although not guaranteed, Northwestern Mutual has paid a dividend every year since 1872 and has announced a record $8.2 billion dividend payout for 2025.
Dividends are valuable and can be used to:
- Purchase paid up additions
- Pay Premiums
- Earn interest with the company
- Cash Out
Northwestern Mutual has 3 whole life options to choose from:
- 65 Life: make premium payments until age 65.
- 90 Life: make premium payments until age 90.
- Limited Pay Life: 10 Pay, 20 Pay, and 30 Pay are among the options available.
You can go here to read more about limited pay life insurance pros and cons.
Additional Benefits of Whole Life Insurance
Tax free life insurance policy loans
Tax free life insurance loans are available from the company using your cash value as collateral.
Tax deferred cash value growth
The cash value in your policy grows tax deferred. And if you utilize the policy correctly you will never need to pay taxes on the cash value growth.
Additional tax deferred cash value accumulation can be acquired through the use of paid up additions. Paid up additions allow you to contribute more premium into the policy, but not exceeding the total limit set by formula described in the internal revenue code. If you exceed the limit your policy will be considered a modified endowment contract.
Tax free death benefit
You beneficiary receives the death benefit income tax free. Normally, the only way a death benefit is taxed is if your estate exceeds the federal estate tax exemption limit or your state has a death tax. Careful asset protection planning is prudent for those with large estates.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Policy Riders
Accelerated Care Benefit: allows access to your death benefit for long term care needs.
Additional Purchase Benefit: purchase additional insurance at future dates without evidence of insurability. This is a great option when considering life insurance for children, as it will protect their future insurability in the event they are diagnosed with some type of disease or develop some other lifestyle habit that would preclude them from coverage.
Waiver of Premium Benefit: waives all premiums due if the insured becomes totally disabled.
Northwestern Mutual Review Conclusion
Northwestern Mutual continues to be a fantastic company with a long history of success. As of 2025, it maintains its position as the largest life insurance provider in the U.S. with 8.39% market share, manages nearly $700 billion in assets, and has announced a record $8.2 billion dividend payout to policyholders.
With the highest possible financial strength ratings maintained for 34 consecutive years and a dividend interest rate that increased to 5.15% (the highest increase in over 25 years), Northwestern Mutual demonstrates unmatched financial stability and a commitment to delivering value to policyholders.
The question then becomes, is this the right company for you based on your unique needs, objectives and goals?
Get Your Personalized Whole Life Strategy
Before deciding on Northwestern Mutual or any other insurance provider, get a customized analysis from our expert team. We’ll help you understand if this is truly the right fit for your specific situation.
- ✓ Compare illustrations from multiple top-rated carriers
- ✓ Discover policy design strategies to accelerate cash value
- ✓ Learn how to integrate whole life with your existing portfolio
- ✓ Get answers to your specific questions and concerns
Schedule your complimentary 30-minute strategy session today and take the first step toward financial certainty.
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7 comments
Matt
Is Northwestern Mutual’s whole life PUA rider good for the infinite banking concept?
Insurance&Estates
Hi Matt,
Northwestern Mutual’s dividend paying whole life insurance with a PUA rider is great. It really comes down to degrees when dealing with a policy built for practicing the infinite banking concept. NW is a fine choice. However, due to the company using only captive agents and due to the lower dividend payout percentage than other mutual companies, we have our own preferences as to which company will be best to use in conjunction with infinite banking. With that said, you could do a lot worse than NW Mutual.
Best, Steve Gibbs for I&E
Steven Gibbs is a licensed insurance agent, and the following agent
license numbers of Steven Gibbs are provided as required by state law:
Resident License; AZ agent #17508301,
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UT agent #655544.
CHARLES
I’m looking for general liability, workers. For my company.
Insurance&Estates
Hi Charles, thanks for inquiring. While we offer various life products for business owners that are extremely powerful, we do not currently offer liability insurance products. Let us know if we can help you with business planning, infinite banking or other business strategies for entrepreneurs.
Best, Steve Gibbs, for I&E
ndelle mbwette
WE NEED TO HAVE AN PPI POLICY INSURANCE FOR OUR NEW PROJECT INTO AGRO BUSSINESS PLEASE GUIDE US WE ARE BASED IN TANZANIA WE EMPLOY OVER 2000 PPPEOPLE 60% WEMEN WE WORK IN THE FARMS AND WE CONSDER SOCIAL DISTANCING AND PROTECTION FOR COVID-19
Insurance&Estates
Hi Russell, thanks for your inquiry. In the referenced article about NW Mutual, we make it very clear that they are a captive company with which we are not affiliated. For this reason, we aren’t at liberty to provide comparisons or illustrations for their products. As for the quoter on our site, it is available to offer consumers a ballpark point of reference and is NOT a firm representation by us or anyone else concerning premiums, etc., of any company. Quoter inquiries are often a great way to start a conversation concerning the actual needs and goals of our customers and we can offer more specific information as the conversation continues. We do have connections with NW Mutual agents but are not actively attempting to draw NW Mutual customers. Life insurance costs vary based upon many factors, such as health, habits and lifestyle. If you’re interested in comparing NW Mutual, I suggest you locate a NW Representative in your area and start there. For other companies such as Penn Mutual, Foresters and Mass Mutual, we are happy to provide additional information that you could use to compare as part of your own research. Let us know if we can help and Happy New Year.
Russell Andrews
Hi, can you show me a comparison of Northwestern Mutual Whole Life dividend history and any other company that has done as well. Thanx,