In 1860, German American immigrants in New York City founded the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. Its 2,500 financial agents and $9.3 billion in assets enable it to provide individuals and corporations with life insurance and other financial products. Guardian is authorized to sell coverage in all 50 states and the district of Columbia. Finxpd’s Guardian life insurance review can help you understand the company’s services and determine if it’s right for you.
List of Contents
Overview: Guardian Life
Types of Coverage: Whole life, term life, universal life, variable life
Dividends for 2022: $1.13B
Online Application: Not Available
AM Best Rating: A++
NAIC Complaint Index (averaged over 3 years): 0.64
J.D. Power Ranking: 11
Suppose customer satisfaction and financial stability are important to you. In that case, you’ll be pleased to learn that Guardian receives very few complaints compared to other insurers and has an AM Best financial strength rating of A++ (the highest possible grade). In addition, the company provides dividend-eligible policies and no-medical-exam life insurance with coverage of up to $3 million. Nevertheless, you can only apply for life insurance with the assistance of a licensed agent, and policy details are difficult to get online.
Policy
Term Life Insurance
A set premium is required for term life insurance. In general, 10-30 years. If you die within the term, your beneficiaries will be paid the death benefit for the premiums you paid. Term life insurance death benefits are often paid as a tax-free lump sum. Term life insurance is less expensive than permanent life insurance because it is only valid for a set time.
Guardian offers fixed-rate medically underwritten Guardian Level Term insurance. The policy application process will include a paramedical check and health questionnaires.
Guardian Level Term covers 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. You can change to any Guardian whole life insurance policy. During the first five years, you can convert for free or purchase an extended conversion rider until the end of the level term.
Whole Life Insurance
A Guardian whole life insurance policy offers coverage for the policyholder’s entire life, as opposed to a limited time. The policy’s cash value is increased by the premium payments made by the policyholder. Guardian’s Paid-Up at 99 Permanent life insurance includes whole and universal life insurance. When you get a complete life insurance policy, you pay a fixed premium for the duration of the coverage.
Universal Life Insurance
Universal life (UL) insurance coverage is designed to last your entire life, similar to your life. However, the cash value is determined by the current interest rate, and both the death benefit and premium payments are variable. For instance, you may skip a premium payment or pay late without the policy lapsing.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
Variable universal life (VUL) insurance products combine permanent life insurance protection with an investing component. The cash value of this insurance is invested in sub-accounts, which are mutual funds within the VUL policy.
In contrast to other types of permanent protection, however, cash value might be lost if investments perform poorly or if gains are insufficient to satisfy policy expenses. If you require a guaranteed death benefit, purchasing a VUL policy may not be wise.
Featured Riders
Guaranteed Insurability Rider
You can add Guardian’s guaranteed insurability rider, Guaranteed Insurability Option (GIO) rider, to your whole life policy to boost your life insurance coverage in the future. You may do so without proof of insurability for up to eight “option” dates.
Option dates are determined by age or a particular event, such as getting married, purchasing a property, or having a child. On each date, you may acquire up to $350,000 per election in additional coverage for $2,800,000 per date.
Waiver of Premium
If you become disabled for at least six months, a premium waiver rider exempts you from paying your premium. This rider enables you to retain your policy in effect during these difficult economic times.
Accidental Death Benefit
The regular death benefit can be supplemented with an accidental death benefit. This rider gives an added death payout in the event of an unexpected death.
Expediting Death Benefit Riders
Guardian has a few accelerated death benefit (ADB) riders that allow you to access the death benefit early (before death) if specific health circumstances occur. These riders diminish the death benefit paid to your beneficiaries.
- Long-term care rider: When you buy certain forms of life insurance, you can add a Guardian Long-term Care rider. This long-term care rider allows you to access money from your policy if you require long-term care services due to a chronic illness.
- Chronic illness rider: A chronic illness rider pays a portion of the death benefit if you are diagnosed with a chronic illness and cannot conduct at least two daily activities. The confirmed sickness or handicap does not have to be terminal, unlike a terminal illness rider.
- Terminal illness rider: The no-cost terminal illness rider from Guardian allows policyholders diagnosed with a terminal illness to collect a portion of their death benefit while they are still alive.
Paid-Up Additions
You can purchase a paid-up additions (PUAs) rider if you have a Guardian whole life policy. PUAs are insurance packets with a cash value and a death benefit that you can buy to build your approach over time. Spending profits on PUAs for your whole life coverage can be highly beneficial.
PUA compounding can counter inflation by giving you a more considerable death benefit and cash value over time. Guardian Life Insurance gives policyholders the option of receiving cash, reducing their premium, purchasing more term insurance, applying to existing policy loans, or not using the profits and allowing them to build interest.
Complaint Index
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks complaints and gives information about the consumer experience of many different insurance firms. The NAIC produces a complaint index with a base value of 1.0 from these data.
If a company has a complaint index of more than 1.0, the insurance company receives more complaints than would be expected for a company of its size. The company received fewer complaints than expected if the ratio was less than 1.0. Guardian Life Insurance scored 0.64, indicating receiving fewer complaints than predicted.
Customer Service
Guardian Life Insurance can be reached over the phone or via email.
- Contact customer service at 1-888-Guardian.
- Contact 1-877-500-2386 or email [email protected] for employee benefits through an employer or broker anytime.
- Accounts and Policies: Call 1-888-482-7342 or contact il [email protected] (through a financial advisor or agent).
- Coverage purchased immediately online: dial 1-866-569-9900.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✔ J.D. Power customer satisfaction scores are the highest.
✔ Excellent average NCQA plan rating
✔ Members have access to complimentary mental health resources.
Cons
✘ Plans are marketed in eight states and the District of Columbia.
✘ Limited plan types
Pros Clarified
- No-medical-test life insurance up to $3 million. Not many insurance firms provide policies that do not require a medical exam, but Guardian Life Insurance does. It also has relatively large coverage quantities. Usually, businesses limit no-medical-exam life insurance to $1 million or less, whereas Guardian gives up to $3 million in coverage to healthy applicants up to 50.
- Guardian Life Insurance achieved an A++ AM Best grade for financial strength: This rating considers an insurer’s relative creditworthiness to assess how well it can meet its ongoing insurance obligations, which includes, in part, how well it can pay insurance claims. Only nine of the 91 insurers we examined scored an A++ from AM Best.
- Extremely few customer complaints. Among the 91 insurers we looked at, Guardian has the sixth lowest National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index score over three years. This means the company received relatively few complaints for a company of its size and outperformed all but five of its competitors, earning it our pick for the top overall life insurance company with the fewest complaints.
- Policies are available up to the age of 90. You may be qualified for a life insurance policy up to the age of 90. Guardian Life Insurance is one of just five insurers out of the 91 assessed that offer insurance up to the age of 90.
- Whole-life policies are eligible for dividends. In 2022, Guardian Life Insurance paid $1.13 billion to qualifying whole-life policyholders. These payouts repay a percentage of clients’ premiums on their whole life policy.
Cons Clarified
- The company’s website must provide more information on policy offerings, pricing, and coverage limits.
- There is no online application process. Guardian Life Insurance does not have an online application, which may be cumbersome for some customers.
Is Guardian Life Insurance A Worth Insurance to Get?
It’s probable. Guardian’s financial stability and common client complaints make it a great life insurance provider. If you’re looking for a dividend-paying whole-life policy, MassMutual, New York Life, and Northwestern Mutual (all A++ AM Best-rated) should be on your list. Healthy applicants can get up to $3 million in no-medical-exam life insurance from the company, the second-highest limit we’ve observed. Even with all the benefits, you can’t get an indexed universal life policy or apply online.
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Read more: Popular Life Insurances
Source: Investopedia