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Best Life Insurance Companies
- Pacific Life – Best Overall
- Protective – Best for Indexed Universal Life Insurance
- Prudential – Great for Reliable Policy Illustrations
- Lincoln Financial – Great for Variable Universal Life Insurance
- MassMutual – Best for Financial Strength
- Nationwide – Great for Young Adults
- Mutual of Omaha – Best for Investment Performance
- Penn Mutual – Best for Universal Life Insurance
Best Term Life Insurance Companies
We found that Corebridge Financial, Pacific Life, Protective and Symetra offer the best term life insurance. Term life insurance is ideal for covering finite financial concerns, like the years until retirement.
Best Universal Life Insurance Companies
Penn Mutual is the best universal life insurance company in our analysis. Universal life insurance offers the flexibility of adjustable premium payments, within certain parameters, and a flexible death benefit amount.
Best No-Exam Life Insurance Companies
Brighthouse Financial, Legal & General America, Pacific Life and Transamerica are the best companies in our no-exam life insurance analysis. No-exam life insurance offers the convenience of skipping the medical exam typically required by traditional life insurance.
Cheapest Life Insurance Companies
Symetra is our top pick for the cheapest life insurance company, based on our analysis of term life insurance rates.
How Do I Choose the Best Life Insurance?
How Much Does a Life Insurance Policy Cost?
Here is the average cost of life insurance for different types of policies, though your own life insurance rates will depend on your age, health, gender, amount of coverage and more.
- Term life insurance costs an average of $217 a year, or $18 a month, for a 30-year-old woman for a 20-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy, based on the companies in our analysis. For a male buyer of the same age, the same policy costs an average of $257 a year or $21 a month.
- Whole life insurance costs an average of $3,945 a year, or $329 a month, for a 30-year-old woman with $500,000 coverage. For a male buyer the same age, the same policy costs an average of $4,375 a year or $365 a month.
Life Insurance Cost for Females
Here are the average monthly costs for each top-ranking life insurance company for a 20-year $500,000 term life insurance policy for a healthy female.
Company | Buyer age 30 cost per month | Buyer age 40 cost per month | Buyer age 50 cost per month |
---|---|---|---|
$16 | $23 | $53 | |
$16 | $24 | $54 | |
$21 | $29 | ||
$16 | $26 | $58 | |
$19 | $28 | $61 | |
$19 | $26 | $55 | |
$20 | $28 | $61 | |
$15 | $23 | $53 |
Life Insurance Cost for Males
Here are the average monthly costs for each top-ranking life insurance company for a 20-year $500,000 term life insurance policy for a healthy male.
Company | Buyer age 30 cost per month | Buyer age 40 cost per month | Buyer age 50 cost per month |
---|---|---|---|
$18 | $28 | $68 | |
$18 | $28 | $69 | |
$24 | $33 | $71 | |
$19 | $32 | $75 | |
$23 | $31 | $80 | |
$22 | $30 | $74 | |
$22 | $33 | $82 | |
$18 | $28 | $68 |
Life Insurance Policies Available by Company
Company | Term life | Whole life | Universal life | Indexed universal life | Variable universal life | Guaranteed universal life |
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✓ | ✓ | ✖ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖ | ✖ | |
✓ | ✓ | ✖ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Related: How To Get Life Insurance
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Methodology
To find the best life insurance companies, we evaluated term life and permanent life insurance for each company. We used our own research and data courtesy of Veralytic, a leading publisher of life insurance product research. Veralytic’s data provides a unique depth to Forbes Advisor’s analysis of whole, universal, indexed universal and variable universal life insurance policies from each insurer.
While independent research is commonplace for most every other element of our financial lives, life insurance product recommendations are too often based on hypothetical quotes or illustrations. What you pay in premiums and what you get in cash value and death benefits depends on what the insurance company actually charges and what you actually receive in performance over time. As such, Veralytic measures the competitiveness of internal policy costs and actual historical performance. Veralytic reports are available through financial advisors.
Our analysis was based on the following.
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Read more: How Forbes Advisor Rates Life Insurance Companies
Other Life Insurance Companies We Rated
Company | Forbes Advisor rating |
---|---|
Columbus Life | |
Minnesota Life | |
Guardian Life | |
Midland | |
Symetra | |
Massachusetts | |
Ameritas | |
National Life |
More Life Insurance Ratings
If you’re looking for a specific type of policy, check out our top picks across these categories:
Best Life Insurance Companies Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What does life insurance cover?
Life insurance covers the life of the insured person. If you pass away with an in-force life insurance policy, the beneficiaries specified on the policy will receive the death benefit. Beneficiaries can use that payout in any way they choose.
What does life insurance exclude?
Life insurance policies typically include a suicide clause. This clause specifies that suicide within the first two years of the policy will not be covered.
Apart from the suicide clause, life insurance policies pay the death benefit no matter the cause of death unless the insurer can prove misrepresentation or the policyholder stops paying premiums. An insurer may deny a life insurance claim if it discovers something like a known health issue that was not disclosed in the application. It could also deny a payout if the policy had lapsed due to nonpayment.
Can I buy life insurance on someone else?
Yes, you can purchase life insurance on someone else as long as you can prove an “insurable interest” in that person. An insurable interest means that you would financially suffer if they died. The person being insured must sign the application. You cannot purchase a policy on someone without their knowledge.
If you buy life insurance on someone else, you can make yourself the life insurance beneficiary.
Can I use my life insurance while still living?
If you have a cash value life insurance policy, there are ways to use your life insurance while still living. You can access the cash value through loans, withdrawals or by surrendering the policy.
Another way to use your life insurance while still living is through living benefits if your policy includes them. Living benefits allow you to access money from your own death benefit if you meet specific health requirements. This could include people who are diagnosed with a terminal, chronic or critical illness.
If you’re buying life insurance, find out what living benefits can be included in the policy.