Best Life Insurance Companies for 2021
Locating the best life insurance company involves weighing customer support information and the insurer’s financial strength. Countless life insurance companies compete for your business, often selling similar products, so it’s sensible to get life insurance quotes from no less than a few before making a decision.
To assist you evaluate your choices, NerdWallet scores companies that sell life insurance policies to individuals.
How to choose the best life insurance company for you
Have a look at customer satisfaction scores: Other customers’ experiences can help you decide whether you want to do business with a business. You can get clues about an insurer’s reputation through complaints filed by state authorities, which can be visible on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website.
Contemplate financial strength: It is particularly important to check into life insurance companies’ financial strength since you’ll want a company that could pay claims a long time down the road. Financial strength ratings for life insurance businesses are available through evaluations agencies like A.M. Best. We do not recommend considering carriers using an A.M. Best rating of B or reduced.
Get prices: The cost of coverage varies among companies, so it is wise to compare prices. It’s possible to use NerdWallet’s instrument to compare life insurance quotes from multiple insurance companies.

Evaluate product choices: There are two chief types of life insurance, term and permanent. Term life insurance coverage lasts a set number of years and is typically sufficient for many families.
Permanent life insurance lasts your entire life and frequently includes an investment component. Under the umbrella of permanent life insurance, there are several distinct kinds of coverages, such as whole life and universal lifespan.
Though many companies sell similar policies, some focus on certain products, such as whole life, or on particular clients, like seniors who need life insurance. You can narrow down your choices by emphasizing the companies that focus on the type of insurance you’re looking for.
More concerning the best life insurance firms
An insurer’s client complaint ratio is just one of the metrics NerdWallet utilizes to rate an organization’s offerings. Every one of the firms listed below have drawn fewer complaints to state regulators than anticipated for insurance of their size, according to three decades’ worth of data from the NAIC.
- Northwestern Mutual
Universal life policyholders have flexible payment and coverage alternatives, while term life clients have the chance to convert their coverage to permanent coverage without requiring a medical exam.
- Guardian
One of those perks of Guardian’s universal policy is the ability to increase or reduce your premiums to fit your requirements.
The business also provides whole life insurance for all individuals living with HIV.
- Haven Life
Haven Life offers term life insurance with accelerated underwriting, a procedure that uses algorithms and big data to quickly assess your insurability. The entire application process is conducted online and can be completed in about 25 minutes. Coverage amounts can reach as large as $3 million. All of Haven Life’s policies are issued by MassMutual.
- MassMutual
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., often shortened to MassMutual, is among the largest life insurance companies in the nation. The company delivers a wide selection of products, from online term life insurance to variable universal life — a kind of permanent policy with flexible premiums and investment opportunities. Other policies include universal life, whole life and standard term life.

- USAA
USAA provides both permanent and term life insurance specifically designed for military members and their families, and its life insurance products are accessible to nonmilitary customers as well.
USAA policies may be employed to enhance the government-provided Service members’ Group Life Insurance, which is automatically issued to eligible military personnel. USAA’s term life insurance policies typically insure you during wartime, including acts of terrorism. Policyholders between 18 and 35 years old may also increase their coverage level should they get married, buy a house or have a baby.
- AARP
AARP life insurance policies can be obtained only to the band’s members, but anyone 50 or older can join. One of the company’s biggest draws is its own simplified underwriting, so you don’t need to take a life insurance medical exam to qualify for policy. Instead, acceptance is based on your application and info about your health. Both the term and whole life products are available.
- New York Life
New York Life is a mutual company, which means it is owned by its policyholders. As such, you might qualify to vote in board elections if you purchase certain policies. The business is one of the largest insurers in the U.S.. One of its whole life coverages comprises a flexible payment option, allowing you to pay off your premiums early. You can also convert your term life policy to a permanent one in the event that you want a lifelong policy.
- State Farm
If you think of State Farm, you probably consider its auto insurance goods, but it also offers a large assortment of life insurance policies as well as cyclists. By way of instance, its instant life insurance policy is available for people ages 16 to 45, includes $50,000 of coverage and doesn’t need a medical exam. What’s more, you might have the ability to convert your term policy to a permanent product when it expires. State Farm’s permanent policies include whole life and universal life insurance.
- Country Fiscal
Launched by Illinois farmers, Country Financial offers a wide selection of insurance products, including term, whole and universal life. Its term life amounts range from $50,000 to over $1 million-plus also you can add extras for your coverage, such as $50,000 of coverage for a child or a return-of-premium rider. This rider signifies you get back any paid premiums on a 20- or 30-year policy if you are still around after it expires. The organization’s entire life product gives you five payment alternatives, such as paying off your premiums in one lump sum or stretching them out over the amount of the coverage.
- Pacific Life
Pacific Life was founded in 1868 and offers a wide selection of expression and permanent products, such as term life, universal life, indexed universal life and variable universal life insurance. In reality, Pacific Life is a leading seller of indexed universal life insurance, which grows investments based on stock exchange indexes like the S&P 500. Pacific Life’s coverage includes a guaranteed floor, meaning your life insurance policy cash value won’t go below a certain value if the stock market dives.
- Penn Mutual
Comparable to other mutual companies, Penn Mutual is owned by its policyholders, which means customers who buy whole life insurance can receive dividends once the company works well. Founded in 1847, Penn Mutual sells both term and permanent life insurance. Among the perks of buying Penn Mutual’s Guaranteed Convertible Term policy is the option to convert it into permanent coverage without needing to provide proof of good health.
- Amica
Its term life policy comes in 10-, 15-, 20-, 25- and 30-year provisions and could be converted into a whole life policy regardless of changes to your health. Additionally, healthy applicants might not have to have a medical exam to qualify for coverage. Amica’s entire life coverage ranges from $25,000 to $1 million and features a terminal illness rider at no cost. This rider permits you to draw a part of this death benefit early if you become terminally ill.