PRO TIP: Guaranteed Universal Life is the best permanent life insurance, if you don’t need cash value.
In this article, we will help you pick the best permanent coverage for you. There are many different types of permanent coverage, but we will focus on Guaranteed Universal Life or GUL.
GUL’s are a straightforward type of life insurance.
Unlike some other types of permanent coverage like a whole life or index universal life, these are complex with many moving parts like dividends, caps, participation rates, and much more.
The essential variables to consider while comparing a GUL are:
- Price
- Company Strength
We know there are more bells and whistles that you could add to a policy. But we want to keep things very simple so you can see what’s truly important.
Also, we will try to remove as many variables from your choice as possible. But, again, to keep things simple.
All of our agents will do all of the research work for particular situation, so feel free to request a quote.
In this article, we want to prove why we made our choices with actual numbers. We will give quotes for 35, 45, and 55-year old that last until age 100.
However if all you are looking for a is a guaranteed universal life quote, you can just click the following link.
What’s a Universal Life Policy?
Let’s start by first understanding regular Universal Life Insurance. A universal life policy is a type of permanent life insurance designed to last until a certain age (for example, age 100).
These policies also have a cash value.
You may not be familiar with this cash value feature. Cash value is similar to a savings account that grows inside your policy. You can access the cash value at any time, just like a savings account.
As you age, the cash value you accumulate helps offset the cost of insurance.
Universal life policies are great for getting an affordable permanent death benefit.
So is it permanent, or does it expire?
Well, it’s considered a permanent policy, but it can expire (or lapse) much later in life.
This is a widespread issue with Universal Life policies. Especially if you got your universal life policy in the ’80s or ’90s, the reason these policies would expire was that they were created in a much higher interest rate environment. So when interest rates dropped, the policies wouldn’t grow the cash value fast enough.
That’s why the industry created a universal life policy with a strong guarantee called Guaranteed Universal Life.
What’s a Guaranteed Universal Life Policy?
Guaranteed universal life insurance is a type of permanent policy. It is guaranteed to last until a certain predetermined age.
You can customize your policy to last until any age you want. The most common choices for ages are:
- Age 121
- Age 105
- Age 100
- Age 95
Once you select your guaranteed period, your policy lasts until the age you picked. Even if the cash value doesn’t perform as initially planned (because of low-interest rates, for example), your death benefit is guaranteed.
The longer the time, the more expensive the policy is. But be careful about picking a short time frame. You want to make sure your policy is there when your family needs it.
The best way to think of a GUL is like term insurance that lasts “forever.”
Guaranteed Until Age 100
As we mentioned, on a GUL, you can pick how long you want your life insurance to last. It is very tempting to pick a policy that will last until age 90, let’s say. The reason is that prices can be much lower, and you may think it’s a safe bet.
However, the odds of someone living past 95 are excellent. For example, a 65-year-old woman has 31% odds of living past age 95.
In other words, if these women would buy a policy, over 30% of them would not get a payout. So that defeats the purpose of having permanent life insurance.
So we always recommend that you pick a policy that lasts at least until Age 100.
Who Should Consider A Guaranteed Universal Life?
First, you need to be sure you want permanent coverage that doesn’t expire. Many people think they want permanent coverage, but they are better suited to cheaper term insurance.
However, if you decide that permanent life insurance is for you, the next step is straightforward. To determine if a GUL is right for you, all you need to ask yourself is:
Do I care about accessing my cash value?
If the answer is NO, you should consider a GUL over any other type of permanent life insurance.
This is because a GUL will give you the cheapest permanent life insurance you can get. And you still get strong guarantees.
If the answer is yes, you do want to access your cash value, then do not get a GUL. On a GUL, if you decide to access the cash value, you will forfeit the life insurance guaranteed period. This would defeat the purpose of buying this type of life insurance.
However, if you want to access cash value, you probably need to consider a whole life or IUL. These types of policies give you more cash value growth. If done correctly, you can also access the cash value without affecting the policy.
Top 7 Guaranteed Universal Life Companies
Our goal is to simplify your choice, so we build a table that will display all of the costs, company, and ratings for a particular age. This way, you can compare apples to apples.
We will display the top 7 companies based on pricing for 3 ages. Remember that all of the prices can change based on age and health. But use this as a guide to picking the best guaranteed universal life company for you.
All of the following companies offer the same features every Guaranteed Universal Life does like:
- Level Premiums
- Permanent Death Benefit
- Guaranteed Until Age 100
So when you read the list, just know that all these are already included.
First, we will show you some of the tables we used, and below, you can see the rankings.
We will have 3 tables, one for the mid-’30s, mid-’40s, and mid-’50s. So feel free to jump to the more relevant one to you.
The following chart is for permanent coverage for 35 year old in perfect health and a $250,000 death benefit:
35-year-old in perfect health and a $250,000 death benefit
| GUL $250,000 | |||||
| Carrier / Product | AM Best Rating | Age | Health Class | Monthly (Male) |
Monthly (Female)
|
| American National Signature Guaranteed UL | A | 35 | Preferred Plus | $99.95 | $84.60 |
| North American Company for Life and Health Insurance® Custom Guarantee Gen 8 | A+ | 35 | Preferred Plus | $112.50 | $97.50 |
| Prudential Financial PruLife Universal Protector | A+ | 35 | Preferred Best | $113 | $93.00 |
| Symetra Life Insurance Company UL-G | A | 35 | Super Preferred Non-Nicotine | $114.25 | $103.05 |
| Protective Life Advantage Choice UL | A+ | 35 | Select Preferred | $118.07 | $100.92 |
| American General Life Companies – Secure Lifetime GUL 3 | A | 35 | Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco | $126.83 | $104.18 |
| United of Omaha Guaranteed Universal Life – Brokerage | A+ | 35 | Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco | $130.23 | $104.73 |
Next is Permanent coverage for 45-year-old with the same data as the previous table:
45 year old in perfect health and a $250,000 death benefit
| GUL $250,000 | |||||
| Carrier / Product | AM Best Rating | Age | Health Class | Monthly (Male) |
Monthly (Female)
|
| American National Signature Guaranteed UL | A | 45 | Preferred Plus Nicotine | $136.75 | $119.68 |
| Symetra Life Insurance Company UL-G | A | 45 | Super Preferred Non-Nicotine | $151.55 | $131.58 |
| Protective Life Advantage Choice UL | A+ | 45 | Select Preferred | $161.34 | $132.00 |
| American General Life Companies – Secure Lifetime GUL 3 | A | 45 | Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco | $166.64 | $136.20 |
| Prudential Financial PruLife Universal Protector | A+ | 45 | Preferred Best | $168.00 | $138.00 |
| North American Company for Life and Health Custom Guarantee Gen 8 | A+ | 45 | Preferred Plus | $170.00 | $147.50 |
| United of Omaha Guaranteed Universal Life – Brokerage | A+ | 45 | Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco | $187.85 | $151.88 |
Last is a chart of Permanent coverage for 55-year-old in perfect health and 250k of death benefit guaranteed until age 100:
55 year old in perfect health and a $250,000 death benefit
| GUL $250,000 | |||||
| Carrier / Product | AM Best Rating | Age | Health Class | Monthly (Male) |
Monthly (Female)
|
| American National Signature Guaranteed UL | A | 55 | Preferred Plus Nicotine | $228.05 | $206.40 |
| Symetra Life Insurance Company UL-G | A | 55 | Super Preferred Non-Nicotine | $237.95 | $202.23 |
| American General Life Companies – Secure Lifetime GUL 3 | A | 55 | Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco | $254.73 | $215.63 |
| Prudential Financial PruLife Universal Protector | A+ | 55 | Preferred Best | $255.00 | $211.00 |
| Protective Life Advantage Choice UL | A+ | 55 | Select Preferred | $262.05 | $214.16 |
| Lincoln National Life Insurance Company Lincoln LifeGuarantee UL 2013 (eTicket-LincXpress) | A+ | 55 | Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco | $270.74 | $223.13 |
| North American Company for Life and Health Custom Guarantee Gen 8 | A+ | 55 | Preferred Plus | $277.50 | $235.00 |
We used all of the previous charts to pick the overall winners. In reality, we used much more data than we can display here, but we want to simplify your choice, as we mentioned before.
And we do need to pick some winners even though all the data changes for every individual situation, so here we go.
American National Logo
1. American National
American National is our #1 pick.
It constantly ranks as the #1 Guaranteed Universal Life in the market. The reason is straightforward; it is tough to beat if you are looking for low-cost permanent coverage.
Ratings
- A.M. Best: A
- Standard & Poor: A
These represent good ratings for any company that gives you great pricing.
Product Description
Signature Guaranteed UL product that constantly ranks in the top 3 positions for pricing.
Features
- Customizable Coverage: You can choose the amount of coverage you need
- Customizable Term Lengths: You can use the amount of time you need the coverage.
- Cash Out: This product has a desirable cash-out feature that allows you to cancel and cash out your policy.
- Benefit Acceleration: Access your death benefit in advance if you suffer a qualifying condition.
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Best Guaranteed Universal Life
Symetra logo
2. Symetra
Symetra’s guaranteed universal life is a very competitive product with regard to pricing. Also, you have a Chronic Illness Rider included in the policy. This rider can help you access the death benefit later in life.
One of the downsides of Symetra is that you can only get policies over $100,000.
Sweet Spot: Symetra’s UL-G becomes very competitive if you are between 40-55 with decent to average health. In these cases, it ranks first or second in many scenarios.
Ratings
- A.M. Best: A
- Standard & Poor: A
Product Description
Symetra UL-G is an excellent, guaranteed universal life policy with solid guarantees. It also has additional riders that can give you fascinating features, like a return of premium rider or charitable giving rider.
Minimum Policy Size: $100,000
Features
One of the strongest features of Symetra is Chronic Illness Rider. This feature lets you access half of the death benefit if you have a chronic illness.
North American Logo
3. North American
Like number 3, we have North American.
They have an incredible GUL policy at great prices. Also, their array of IUL and UL’s is very impressive. Finally, North American has better Ratings than our first 2 companies, so if you are looking for stability, this could be a good choice.
Ratings
- A+ (Superior) A.M. Best
- A+ (Strong) S&P Global Ratings
Product Description
Custom Guarantee Gen 8 is a fantastic product from one of the highest-rated companies on our list.
- $50,000 for ages 15 days to 59 years
- $25,000 for ages 60 to 85 years
Features
Pricing for guarantees until age 105 doesn’t change that much.
Also, this interesting feature allows you to switch your Custom Guaranteed policy to one of North American’s universal life insurance products that focuses on cash value accumulation.
You also have an Extended No Lapse Guarantee included on every policy and extend the guarantee period to any age up to age 120 (under certain conditions). Also, there are very little to no price increases to extend your guarantees from age 100 to age 110 or further.
It is also very powerful for single premiums of up to $500,000 per year. This allows you to set your money there, ensure the next generation gets it, and not worry about payments.
Overall it’s a great product from a great company.
American General Logo
4. American General Life Companies
American General is the largest company on our list. They have many different permanent insurance products and a great Guaranteed UL.
Financials & Income
Income 10,972,673
Net Premiums Written 2,582,512
Assets : 178,704,993
Liabilities: 170,721,408
Ratings
- Standard & Poor’s: A+ (strong)
- Moody’s Investor Services: A2 (good)
- A.M. Best = A (excellent)
- Fitch: A+ (strong)
- Weiss (Safety Rating): B
- Comdex: 81
Source AIG
Product Description
The product we are highlighting in this article is Secure Lifetime GUL 3. It’s a solid GUL with solid guarantees.
Features
Here are some of the cool features:
If you don’t have life insurance, you can surrender the policy in year 20 and receive 50 percent of your paid premiums. Or in year 25 and receive 100 percent of premiums paid up to 40% of the face amount.
Protective Life Logo
5. Protective Life
Protective has been around for over 100 years, offering clients many financial products. Their guaranteed Universal life product (Advantage Choice UL) has decent pricing.
Advantage Choice UL becomes more competitive at Standard Rates. That means that if your health is average, you can consider Protective. But if your health is excellent, then any of our top 3 is best.
Financials, Income & Earnings
Assets: 47,662,818
Liabilities: 43,380,541
Income: 4,762,606
Earnings Before Dividends and Taxes: 874,784
Ratings
Protective has solid ratings, and it is a solid company overall.
A.M. Best Company(Financial Strength): A+
Standard & Poor’s(Financial Strength): AA-
Moody’s (Financial Strength): A1
Fitch Ratings(Financial Strength): A+
Weiss(Safety Rating): B
Comdex Ranking(Percentile in Rated Companies): 9
Product Description
Protective Life Advantage Choice UL.
$50,000 (Non-Tobacco and Tobacco) $100,000 (all other classes)
Features
It lacks bells and whistles like a strong chronic illness rider, but it’s a solid company with great ratings. The product is fairly priced also.
Prudential Life Logo
6. Prudential Financial
Prudential Ins Co Of America has been around for over 140 years. It’s a strong company with solid products. Also, some of our clients pick Prudential, as it’s a name they recognize. But in general, their GUL’s will not be competitive to the top of our list.
Financials, Income & Earnings
Total Assets: 266,164,441
Liabilities: 256,216,169
Income: 31,844,341
Net Premiums Written: 25,303,813
Net Operating Earnings: 505,276
Ratings
Prudential is one of the highest-rated companies on our list, and it’s a household name many people can recognize.
A.M. Best Company(Financial Strength): A+
Standard & Poor’s(Financial Strength): AA-
Moody’s(Financial Strength): A1
Fitch Ratings(Financial Strength): AA-
Weiss(Safety Rating): B
Comdex Ranking(Percentile in Rated Companies): 9
Product Description
PruLife Universal Protector is a “basic” GUL with all of the normal benefits of a GUL.
Features
In general, Prudential will not be competitive as a GUL option. However, there are a few areas where it may make sense. For example, if you are a smoker, Prudential could be a great option.
Sagicor Life Logo
7. Sagicor
Sagicor is not a well-known name, but they have a strong life insurance product line. In addition, they offer fantastic non-medical options that rival any company.
Financials
Assets: 1,115,003
Liabilities: 1,042,343
Ratings
A.M. Best Company(Financial Strength): A
Weiss(Safety Rating): C
Products
Sagicor GUL is a good GUL with a non-medical option. This could be a good idea if you don’t want to go through the pain of taking a medical exam.
Features
Sagicor’s Accelewriting® you will not have to do a medical exam if you are between ages 16 and 65, applying for amounts of $25,000 to $400,000.
Like many GUL’s on our list, you will get accelerated benefits for chronic illness and terminal illness.
That concludes our Top 7 list. You should have a much better idea of what company to pick for your own needs.
Good Companies That Didn’t Make The List
Penn Mutual Logo
Penn Mutual
Not including Penn Mutual in our list was a hard choice. Mainly because they have a Guaranteed Universal Life product that rivals many in terms of pricing and features, but one feature makes Penn Mutuals GUL not competitive.
It has zero cash value from the start to the end of the policy.
So we were the ones that were saying that you should buy a GUL if you don’t care about the cash value, right? So why is this so important?
Because no cash value means there is no exit plan from their GUL. Once you have bought it, if you cancel it, you lose everything. If you compare this to other products where you can get all your premiums back or more, it just doesn’t make sense for most people.
You read our ranking for GUL companies, but now we want to give you more in-depth costs.
Guaranteed Universal Life Cost
Please use the following as a guide to get the cost of a guaranteed universal life policy.
The following is a table of the price for $100,000 that is guaranteed until age 100. We use many different companies for the pricing, but we just wanted you to have an idea:
| GUL $100k To Age 100 | ||
| Age | Premium (Male) | Premium (Female) |
| 30 | $42.00 | $36.00 |
| 35 | $49.00 | $43.00 |
| 40 | $58.00 | $51.00 |
| 45 | $72.00 | $63.00 |
| 50 | $92.00 | $78.00 |
| 55 | $111.37 | $97.08 |
| 60 | $133.73 | $106.52 |
| 65 | $168.99 | $138.78 |
| 70 | $238.95 | $193.96 |
As you can see, the cost of this type of policy, in general, is great. You can get permanent coverage for a very reasonable price.
What Changes The Pricing On A GUL?
GUL’s pricing is mostly based on:
- Age
- Health
- Company You Pick
- Length Of Guarantee
Like any life insurance, the healthier and younger you are, the cheaper your life insurance is.
Apart from that, you can see below our pricing chart. You see that each company has different prices for different ages and health.
Guaranteed Universal Life vs. Term
Okay, so if we said there is no cash value, why wouldn’t you consider term insurance instead of a guaranteed universal life.
Well… you should consider a term as well.
Picking a GUL vs. a term coverage depends on your specific situation.
The main questions to ask are:
- How long do you want your policy to last?
- Do you want to cash out at any point in time?
A term insurance policy will be cheaper in general, but it won’t last as long. You won’t get any cashback if you decide to cancel your policy.
Final Word
A Guaranteed Universal Life insurance is one of the best permanent life insurance you can get. It is hands down the best if you want permanent coverage for a low price and you do not care about having a cash value.
Our list of the best guaranteed universal life insurance companies is there for you to pick the best GUL without much trouble. So you can be confident that we have researched for you.
If you would like a quote or customization, please reach out to us!
Further Reading
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Best Guaranteed Universal Life
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