A good insurance policy is essential for protecting the needs of your family. So if you’re looking for a top-rated insurer, you may want to take a closer look at New York Life.
New York Life is one of the largest policyholder-owned insurance companies in the United States. In fact, the company is one of the largest life insurance underwriters around the globe.
New York Life started issuing policies in 1845. Since then, the company’s underwritten many policies for consumers.
As of 2021, the insurer manages more than $702 billion in assets. Accordingly, you’re in good company if you invest in a policy with New York Life.
Keep reading for a New York Life whole life insurance review.
A Brief New York Life Whole Life Insurance Review
New York Life is one of the most well-known insurers in the United States. The company offers a range of insurance products. These products include term, whole, variable and universal coverage.
There are a few reasons why you may want to consider a New York Life insurance policy. First, your surviving spouse can use your policy to access life insurance without a medical exam with New York Life insurance.
Also, the insurer offers accelerated death benefits. In addition, for example, the company offers disability and living benefits.
In addition, New York Life insurance is flexible. You can convert many of their term policies into permanent, whole coverage.
If the idea of earning passive income appeals to your interest, that’s another excellent reason to consider New York Life. The company shares its success with policyholders. In fact, it has a strong history of paying regular dividends.
Furthermore, New York Life receives top ranks. The company has earned an award as one of the best term life insurance companies.
It has also received accolades as one of the best whole life insurance companies. Overall, New York Life is a solid pick for meeting your life insurance needs.
Before diving into a New York Life insurance review, it helps to understand the insurer’s offerings.
New York Life Insurance Products
New York Life offers two temporary insurance products. If you need short-term coverage, either the company’s yearly or level premium convertible may meet your needs.
Yearly Temporary Convertible Insurance
New York Life’s yearly convertible is a good choice if you’re looking for temporary coverage. It gives you the option to switch to permanent coverage once the policy ends.
Level Premium Temporary Convertible
A level premium convertible policy provides coverage for a specific time. For instance, you might opt for coverage for 10 or 20 years. During the term of the policy, you can convert to permanent coverage.
New York Life Permanent Whole Life Policies
New York Life term life insurance policies are straightforward. They offer a sole benefit—a single payout to your beneficiary and provide coverage for a set number of years, typically 30 years. In addition, a term life insurance policy allows you to convert to a permanent, whole life insurance policy later.
Whole Life Insurance
Policyholders pay the standard New York Life premium until age 100. After 100, you’ll receive coverage indefinitely.
Custom Whole Life Insurance
With a custom whole life insurance policy, your agent can set the premium payments anywhere from age 5 to 75. Once you pay the premiums in full, the policy will remain in effect permanently.
Adjustable Lifetime Coverage Policies
New York Life adjustable lifetime coverage policies are another type of permanent coverage. But, again, you’ll retain policy benefits as long as you pay premiums.
Variable Universal Life Coverage
This kind of policy provides longer-term protection. It also allows you to build cash value based on market performance.
Universal Life Coverage
The universal life coverage policy is the same as the variable universal life policy. However, it does not build cash value.
New York Life Insurance Health Ratings
Underwriters assign risk classes that determine the price of your life insurance policy. The following are health ratings for New York Life policies, listed from best to worst:
• Select preferred
• Preferred
• Preferred II
• Non-smoker
• Select standard
• Juvenile (age 0 to 17)
• Non-smoker – standard special classes (age 2 to 13)
The insurer will select a class based on your background, health and lifestyle. Your classification will affect your premium as well as the minimum benefit payout.
Minimum Payout Benefits
For a basic whole life policy, the minimum death benefit is $25,000. With a custom whole life policy, the minimum benefit is $50,000. The minimum payout for juveniles is also $50,000.
However, your insurer may provide a larger payout if you’re classified as preferred II or higher. In that case, the minimum payout is $100,000.
New York Life Coverage Options
New York Life provides superior whole life insurance benefits. There is a range of products available to suit your budget, lifestyle, wants, and needs.
For example, the company offers a guaranteed death benefit. You can also accrue tax-deferred cash value with a New York Life whole insurance policy.
You can even take the option to borrow against your policy’s cash value. Also, you can qualify to earn annual dividends with a New York Life policy.
New York Life’s whole life premiums never go up in price. Furthermore, you can customize your policy with additional riders.
New York Life Insurance Riders
Insurance riders are an add-on to your insurance policy. Some New York Life riders come standard with your policy, and others are available for purchase.
Free New York Life Riders
The Insurance Exchange Rider enables you to transfer your policy to someone else. Although this rider is free, there’s a fee to perform the transfer.
In some cases, the Living Benefit rider allows you to access some of the death benefits. You can access this free rider if you’re terminally ill. A physician must diagnose you with 12 months or less to live in order for you to access the benefits.
New York Life also offers a free Spouse’s Paid-Up Insurance Purchase Option rider. If you pass, your spouse can use the benefit payout for a new, fully paid life insurance policy for themselves.
Paid New York Life Riders
You can purchase additional Accidental Death Benefit coverage of up to $300,000. However, most people choose to purchase a full life insurance policy rather than accidental coverage.
You can also add Children’s Insurance to your term insurance. This rider would pay a benefit if your children were to pass.
You can ensure coverage for your children with the Child’s Protection Benefit rider. With this rider, your child will not have to pay for life insurance coverage until they turn 25.
Meanwhile, the Chronic Care rider allows you to access part of your policy if you become chronically ill.
With a Disability Waiver of Premium rider, you will not pay premiums for your entire life if you become disabled. This rider is an important added benefit. It’s inexpensive but provides significant value.
The Payer Protection Benefit rider is similar to the Disability Waiver of Premium rider. However, it applies when the person who pays for the policy is different from the person who’s insured.
Other Paid New York Life Riders
The Dividend Option Term provides additional term insurance coverage. This rider prevents the price of your insurance from increasing.
You can convert the term portion of the Dividend Option Term to whole life. You may want to choose this rider if you want to make your policy more affordable.
With the Level Premium Convertible Term rider, you’ll receive additional term coverage with premiums that will not increase for five years. You can also convert the term portion of this rider to a whole life policy within ten years.
The Yearly Convertible Term rider is similar to the level premium convertible rider. However, the price for coverage increases each year.
The Option to Purchase Paid-Up Addition adds cash value to a whole life policy immediately. You’d purchase this rider if you want to build cash value right away.
The Policy Purchase Option rider allows you to add whole life coverage in the future. However, it will enable you to do so without another medical exam and underwriting process.
Understanding Policy Conversions
New York Life allows you to convert your policy to whole life within the first ten years. However, the insurer may allow you to convert an older policy at its discretion.
If you convert your policy within the first five years, you’ll have conversion credits that you can use as a discount. In this case, you’ll want to ask your insurance agent to apply your conversion credits to your new policy if you decide to convert to a whole life policy.
The Benefits of New York Life
New York Life is a top-rated insurer. The company’s been in business for more than 175 years and has established itself as one of the top underwriters in the industry.
Today, New York Life has superior brand recognition. However, the company is also highly rated.
In fact, New York Life is rated as the best in overall customer satisfaction, matched only by Nationwide. The following represent a few of the company’s high marks:
- A.M. Best: A++
- Fitch Ratings: AAA
- Moody’s Investors Services: Aaa
- Standard & Poor’s Rating: AA+
There are few companies that can match the insurer’s excellent life insurance reviews.
New York Life Finances
It’s vital to choose an insurer with strong financial health. The financial health of an insurer indicates an underwriter’s ability to pay claims en masse.
New York Life is solid in many areas—including their finances. In 2021, the underwriter announced strong financial performance for the previous year.
The company CEO declared that the firm has a $27 million surplus. The surplus represents a new high for the company.
New York Life also holds $284 billion in its general account in cash and invested assets as part of the $702 billion under its management. The insurer netted an operating profit of $2.3 billion in 2020.
The company’s policies have increased and cash value for 167 consecutive years. In 2021, New York Life manages $1.1 trillion in individual life insurance policies.
New York Life Dividend Rates
If you want cash earnings, you may find New York Life’s dividend payments interesting. The 2021 dividend payment rate for New York Life is 5.8%. The company paid out $1.8 billion in dividends in 2021. The 2021 dividend payment is on par with the $1.9 billion of the previous year.
New York Life continues to provide dividend payments that exceed forecasts, thanks to its long-term investment strategy. The following highlights New York Life’s dividend payment since 2001:
New Your Life Dividend Rate
| 2001 | 7.9 |
| 2002 | 7.32 |
| 2003 | 6.79 |
| 2004 | 6.79 |
| 2005 | 6.79 |
| 2006 | 6.79 |
| 2007 | 6.79 |
| 2008 | 6.79 |
| 2009 | 6.14 |
| 2010 | 6.11 |
| 2011 | 6.11 |
| 2012 | 5.8 |
| 2013 | 5.9 |
| 2014 | 6 |
| 2015 | 6.2 |
| 2016 | 6.2 |
| 2017 | 6.3 |
| 2018 | 6.1 |
| 2019 | 6 |
| 2020 | 6.1 |
| 2021 | 5.8 |
New York Life dividend rates fluctuate. However, they remain stable over the years.
In 2021, New York Life’s average dividend rate over the last ten years was 6.5%. Over the last 15 years, the company has paid out an average of 6.32% in dividends.
The Drawbacks of New York Life
New York Life is a leading insurer. Resultantly, it’s challenging to find drawbacks to purchasing a policy from the company.
However, the company does have one unfavorable policy quirk. You can only purchase policies under $25,000 of premium from New York Life agents.
This circumstance limits the availability of agents for clients. It also makes it harder for an agent to recommend a New York Life policy.
At Top Whole Life, we’re firm believers in an independent insurance model, where all agents can sell to all clients. This kind of policy allows for increased competition and, in the end, offers more value to customers.
Choosing the Right Policy for Your Needs
Hopefully, this New York Life whole life insurance review will help you make an informed decision. Of course, it’s always a wise choice to compare insurance providers.
As you research providers, you’ll find that New York Life is one of the top providers in the insurance industry.
Furthermore, the company has performed exceptionally well for more than 176 years.
Today, New York Life continues its tradition of outstanding performance. Accordingly, now’s a great time to purchase a New York Life whole insurance policy.
Start securing your future today! Please feel free to contact Top Whole Life at (855) 946-5353 or connect with us online for a free quote.
