Where should we buy a $500k 20-yr term life from: new york life($152/mo) or western reserve life($148/mo)?

Question

the coverage is for me & my wife ($500k each). both are convertible to whole life. new york life has a disability waiver of premium rider, while western reserve has terminal illness accelerated death benefit rider. am just confused as to which is a better company. am 45 yrs old, my wfife is 40. thank you in advance.

Answer 1

those rates seem a tad on the high side.  Have you shopped around?

Answer 2

Gerardo,

First, let me congratulate you on your research thus far.  I really like to see people putting forth the effort to get answers before they make a decision like this.

Second, why 20 year term?  Did you know that most people who buy term insurance only keep it for 7 years?  

Third, please do further research into each company you might purchase with, if you choose to go with a lesser of these two companies.  You do not want to buy an insurance policy from a company that may not be here 20 years from now, or even 10 years from now. And if they are convertible, are they convertible into a policy you will want in the future?

Here are the ratings of the two companies you have listed...

New York Life (163 Years in Insurance Industry)

Moodys – Aaa (#1 Moody’s Rating)

Stand and Poors – AAA (#1 Standard and Poors rating)

Fitch –  AAA (#1 Fitch Rating)

A&M – A++ (#1 A&M Rating)

Western Reserve Life (50 Years in Industry)

Moody’s – Aa3 (#4 Moody’s Rating)

Standard and Poor’s – AA (#2 Stand and Poor’s Rating)

Fitch – AA+ (#2 Fitch Rating)

A&M – A+  (#2 A&M Rating)

Also just as an FYI... New York Life offers a policy called the Family Protection Insurance, which as it is called, covers your whole family.  It is a term policy, but only a guaranteed 10 year term.  It would cover your wife and you for $500,000 each, for as low as $102 (select preferred) but could be around $180 (non-smoker) depending on both of your health conditions.  Also, this policy includes you children for $10,000 each, so your whole family would be covered.  This includes the Disability Waiver, Living Benefit Rider (which is probably the same as the Terminal Illness Rider from Western), and Spouse’s Policy Purchase Option (which means if either of you die, you can purchase another paid up policy without visiting the doctor again).

And, this is a big one... If both adult insureds die within 10 years from policy issue, while both of them are insured under a Family Protection policy, an extra death benefit of $200,000 will be paid to the beneficiaries upon the death of the second insured. This benefit is in addition to individual death benefits of the insureds and does not have to be the result of a simultaneous death.

So, your beneficiaries would get $500,000 from you, $500,000 from your wife, and another $200,000 from New York Life.  

Your New York Life agent can discuss this with you in further detail if you choose to purchase this, or you can email me with questions, I will be happy to help.

Answer 3

Probably neither, you should talk to an independent broker there are many carriers that are A rated and have much better rates. For example based on your ages and non smokers you should only be paying in the $80 to $90 range.

I suggest using yellowpages.com to search for life insurance brokers in your area.  

You will still have to find a broker but you can run real time quotes here without having to talk to anyone. http://www.termquotes.biz/termquotes/STE...