The Best Life Insurance Companies of 2016

• Skip to Methodology to learn more about how we researched life insurance providers.
• Skip to Understanding Life Insurance Features to learn what features matter the most in choosing a life insurance provider.
• Skip to Editor’s Awards to learn who performed the best across our core metrics.

Overview of Research

Along with our insurance expert, Karla Lant, our research team spent 60 hours researching the top 125 life insurance companies by size and market share. We used information from our research to narrow that list down to 30 of the top providers, and then evaluated each across 22 key features selected for their importance to individuals in the market for a life insurance policy.

Karla Lant Insurance Writer

Karla Lant is an experienced writer and editor with numerous publications on the topics of health, business, and insurance.

We determined the final ranking using a weighted methodology consisting of our 22 key features grouped into four core metrics: Financial Stability (35%), Reputation (30%), Customer Experience (20%), and Range of Product Offerings (15%).

Methodology

Our expert

Karla Lant, an expert on the insurance industry, guided us in our research. A graduate of Columbia Law School, Karla is a retired trial attorney and an adjunct professor in business. She has spent years writing on topics of health and business, both of which are married in her writing on the insurance industry.

How we selected our test group

There are countless subjective factors that go into deciding on a life insurance policy. Everyone’s needs, desires, financial situation, and health status are different. They impact every aspect of the insurance buying process. Therefore, it is always wise to consult a registered life insurance agent who can walk you through the buying process and help you choose the correct plan for you. When choosing an agent, it’s also a good idea to choose an independent agent who can shop policies from multiple companies rather than a “captive” agent who represents just one. This gives you a much wider range of options and helps guarantee that you’ll find the right coverage at the right price.

However, just like you wouldn’t walk into a car dealership without an idea about make, model, and price range, you should do plenty of research on your own before consulting a life insurance agent. These rankings are meant to aid in that research, and to show you the companies most likely to meet all of your insurance needs.

Though health factors are intricately tied to the insurance industry, unlike the medical sector, life insurance is first and foremost a business. Therefore, in order to decide which life insurance providers to rank, our first step was to see which ones were succeeding most in the marketplace. Using data sourced from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), we selected the top 125 companies based on market share. However, we didn’t want to rank solely on those financial aspects. So rather than simply rank the top 30 companies by market share, we used several more criteria to narrow our list. Those criteria included:

• Number of state licenses: In order to make our rankings relevant to the largest number of readers, we focused on the companies who were licensed (either themselves or through subsidiaries) to sell life insurance in the most states. The providers with the most nationwide coverage were given more consideration.
• Individual insurance providers: The purpose of these rankings is to inform readers of their best options for purchasing a life insurance. Therefore, we focused on the companies that serviced the widest range of customers. We eliminated companies that only offered group insurance policies to employers or companies dedicated only to one demographic, such as veterans, the elderly, or specific professions.
• Reputation and customer feedback: Using a combination of NAIC complaint data, JD Power consumer rankings, and BBB reviews, we compiled a list of the highest rated companies and compared them to our preliminary list. The companies represented the most on each made the final cut.

This left us with the following 30 life insurance providers to rank:

1. AIG
2. Allstate
3. American Income Life/National Income Life
4. American National
5. AXA
6. Cigna
7. Colonial Life
8. Genworth Financial
9. Great-West Life Assurance Co.
10. Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
11. John Hancock Financial
12. Liberty National
13. Lincoln Financial Group
14. MassMutual
15. MetLife
16. Midland National/North American Co.
17. Minnesota Life Insurance Company
18. Mutual of Omaha
19. Nationwide
20. New York Life Insurance Co.
21. Northwestern Mutual
22. Pacific Life
23. Primerica
24. Principle Financial
25. Protective Life
26. Prudential Financial
27. Southern Farm Bureau
28. State Farm Life
29. Transamerica/Aegon
30. Voya Financial

How we selected which data to use in our methodology

Our expert decided on 22 key features by which to grade each life insurance provider. They were selected from her professional experience, recommendations from the NAIC and Insurance Information Institute, praises or complaints from consumer reviews, and recurring themes found in our initial research.

Those key features where then categorized as sub-metrics into four weighted core metrics.

Here is the breakdown:

Metric 1: Financial Stability (35% of final score)

• Market share percentage
• Comdex credit score
• Asset to liability ratio
• Company age

Metric 2: Reputation (30% of final score)

• Individual life complaint ratio (2015)
• Group life complaint ratio (2015)
• Claim handling and payment complaints (2015)
• 3-year complaint trend (2013-2015)

Metric 3: Customer Experience (20% of final score)

• Overall satisfaction
• Billing and payment
• Price
• Policy offerings
• Interaction

Metric 4: Range of product offerings (15% of final score)

• Term life
• Convertible term life
• Whole life
• Guaranteed acceptance whole life
• Universal life
• Indexed universal life
• Variable universal life
• Survivorship
• Living/Accelerated benefits

Data was sourced from the NAIC, JD Power and Associates, the BBB, the VitalSigns Comdex ratings, and each provider’s own website.

How we scored our methodology

After grouping the sub-metrics into their core metrics, we assigned each a score of 1-10 for every company reviewed. The final core metric score was averaged from the sub-metric totals.

For example, our #1 overall provider, State Farm, ranked 4th in Reputation with a score of 8. That core metric is made up of four sub-metrics.

Here’s how State Farm scored for each:

• Individual life complaint ratio: 8/10
• Group life complaint ration – 6/10
• Claim handling/Payment complaints: 8/10
• 3-year complaint trend: 10/10

Once the sub-metrics were averaged, we took each insurance company’s core metric scores, applied the weights (as described in the earlier breakdown), and calculated a final ranking.

Understanding Life Insurance Features

Which features matter and why?

Editor's Awards

Perfect customer experience scores and above-average marks in all other metrics make State Farm the best place to shop for life insurance in 2016.

Though it wasn’t our most heavily weighted metric, State Farm’s perfect customer experience scores were enough to push it past all competition to claim our number one spot in this year’s rankings. They’re one of the younger companies on our list, but they still have nearly a hundred years of experience in the life insurance business. They have a strong financial standing, bolstered by a near-perfect credit rating, and one of the best reputations in the business. State Farm is a great choice by all measurable standards.

And while not the highest ranking, they also have a very wide range of product offerings. Based on their customer reviews in the price category, it’s also a safe bet that you’ll find the exact coverage you need for a lower cost with State Farm, rather than with most of their competitors.

Some of the scores in the core metrics were very close, with the first runner up finishing only a tenth of a point behind. However, if State Farm continues its trends from this review, it has the potential to rank as the top life insurance company for years into the future.

Ranking Results:

• Financial Stability – 7/10
• Reputation – 8/10
• Customer Experience – 10/10
• Range of Product Offerings – 7.4/10

Great financial stability and reputation, coupled with the widest range of product offerings, make MassMutual one of the companies most likely to meet all of your life insurance needs.

MassMutual had the widest range of available products and options for the purposes of this ranking, of all of the companies that we reviewed. No matter your short-term coverage needs or long-term investment strategies, MassMutual is guaranteed to have a plan to meet them.

Along with their second place overall finish, MassMutual also ranked second in our reputation metric. Their complaint ratios rank well below the national average, with only 5 claims handling/payment complaints for 2015.

However, that stellar NAIC reputation isn’t necessarily reflected in their customer reviews. MassMutual had a below average rank in our customer experience metric, weighed down by low price and interaction scores. So while they are nearly guaranteed to have the plan you need, customer feedback seems to imply that you’ll pay more for it, and may have a harder time getting and managing it.

Drawbacks:

• Low customer review scores in price and interaction

Ranking Results:

• Financial Stability – 8/10
• Reputation – 9/10
• Customer Experience – 5.2/10
• Range of Product Offerings – 9.2/10

With a large market share and a near-perfect credit rating, you are all but guaranteed to never lose your investment with Guardian Life.

Guardian Life Insurance Company of America didn’t particularly stand out in most of our core metrics. However, it did have higher-than-average scores in all of them except for range of product offerings. That solid showing is propped even higher by their top finish in financial stability.

Founded in 1860, Guardian Life is one of the oldest companies in our rankings, and they have the financial standing that you’d expect to come with over 150 years of experience. They have an above-average market share, nearly-perfect credit score, and a great asset-to-liability ratio. So while their product offerings may be somewhat limited compared to their competitors, they do have all of the standard options. And should you find a plan that fits your needs with them, you can rest assured that they will remain in a financial position to fulfill their obligations to your family if the time comes.

Drawbacks:

• Multiple claim/payment complaints and an increasing trend in overall registered complaints

Ranking Results:

• Financial Stability – 8.5/10
• Reputation – 6.5/10
• Customer Experience – 7.6/10
• Range of Product Offerings – 6.4/10

Southern Farm Bureau has a nearly non-existent complaint history which, coupled with high customer experience scores, means every buying and claims process with them should be hassle-free.

Due to the nature of our scoring system, Southern Farm Bureau’s highest standing in our review was actually a tie for first place with the Great-West Life Assurance company in our reputation metric. Both had among the lowest complaint ratios of any company. However, when looking at the pre-ranking data, Southern Farm had a slightly lower complaint trend percentage and one less claim handling/payment complaint, which gave it the edge for the purposes of this writing. So while they both received an “A” grade on the curve, Southern Farm Bureau answered one more question correctly on the test.

Reputation was Southern Farm’s only significant showing in our review. They have a below-average financial stability ranking and poor range of product options. However, those who did find an agreeable product and price with Southern Farm seem very satisfied with their plan. They received an above-average customer experience ranking, and very few of those customers are registering complaints against the company.

Drawbacks:

• Below-average Comdex score and poor asset-to-liability ratio
• Limited product offerings

Ranking Results:

• Financial Stability – 5.7/10
• Reputation – 9.5/10
• Customer Experience – 7/10
• Range of Product Offerings – 4.6/10