Life insurance should be considered for nearly every financial plan – regardless of an individual’s age or employment status. In addition to using money from a life insurance policy to continue paying living expenses, these funds can also be used for paying off debts of the insured, as well as for paying his or her funeral and other financial expenses – which today can exceed $10,000.
When you are searching for the right life insurance policy – and premium – it is important that you ensure that you go with the proper type of coverage, and the appropriate amount of protection. You should also evaluate the underlying insurance carrier that you are considering obtaining the policy through to ensure that it has a respectable reputation for quickly paying out its policy holders’ claims. One company that fits these criteria is Mass Mutual.
The History of Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company
Mass Mutual was initially founded back in 1851. From the very start, the company had a single purpose of helping people to secure their future, and to protect the ones they love. More than 160 years later, this principle remains as the company’s guiding mission.
In helping to achieve its overall mission, Mass Mutual offers a long list of financial and insurance products and services, including life insurance and annuities, as well as retirement savings options.
The company has earned numerous awards and accolades throughout the years – including being named as one of the 2016 World’s Most Ethical Companies. This marks the third consecutive year that the company has been recognized.
Mass Mutual is also a very charitable minded company. During the year 2016, the company provided more than $20 million in charitable contributions, many of which focus on education and economic development in the communities that it serves.
Likewise, being highly responsible from a corporate perspective, Mass Mutual is consistently seeking ways that the company can help its employees, as well as to support people and protect the environment. Mass Mutual has its main company headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Mass Mutual Life Insurance Review
As its name implies, Mass Mutual is a mutual insurance company. This means that the company does not have to answer to shareholders, but rather is owned by the policy holders that it serves.
Through its “participating” insurance policies, Mass Mutual offers dividends to its policy holders (although dividends are not guaranteed). The company has a very strong dividend paying history, and in just the year 2015 along it paid out approximately $1.6 billion in such payments.
Mass Mutual is quite strong and stable financially. As of year-end 2016, the company held roughly $675 billion in assets under management, and it had $560 billion in just life insurance protection in force. During the year 2016, Mass mutual delivered approximately $5 billion to its customers and policy holders.
Insurer Ratings and Better Business Bureau Grade
Mass Mutual has an investment strategy that is built on diversification, prudent security selection, and value. For this reason, the company has been able to achieve solid long-term investment returns – even during times of unpredictable markets and challenging economic times.
The financial strength and timely claims payment history shows in the high ratings that Mass Mutual has earned from the insurer ratings agencies. These include the following:
- A++ (Superior) from A.M. Best Company. This is the highest possible rating out of 15 total.
- AA+ (Very Strong) from Fitch Ratings. This is the second highest possible rating in a total of 21.
- Aa2 (Excellent) from Moody’s Investors Services. This is third in a total of 21 possible ratings from Moody’s).
- AA+ (Very Strong) from Standard & Poor’s. This is the second highest rating out of 21 total).
Also, although Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company is not an accredited company through the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the company has been given a grade of A+ by the BBB. This is per an overall grade scale of between A+ and F.
Over the past three years, Mass Mutual has closed out 33 total customer complaints via the Better Business Bureau, with one being closed out within the past 12 months. Of these 33 total customer complaints, 20 had to do with problems with the company’s products and / or services, 11 were related to advertising and / or sales issues, one pertained to billing and / or collection issues, and another one had to do with the company’s delivery issues.
Life Insurance Products Sold By Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company
Over the years, Mass Mutual has vastly expanded its life insurance product line. The company offers both term and permanent forms of life insurance protection, which allows its clients to add to and / or change coverage as their needs also change over time.
Term Life Insurance Coverage Through Mass Mutual
Term life insurance is the most basic form of life insurance available. That is because term life offers a death benefit, and no savings or cash value build up. Term life insurance is very affordable – especially for those who are young and healthy at the time of application.
With term life insurance, coverage will remain in force for an established time. Mass mutual offers plans that can be purchased for ten or twenty years. During this time, the amount of coverage will remain set, and the premium cannot be increased.
Many of the term life insurance policies that are offered through Mass Mutual can be transformed over into permanent life insurance plans, typically without the insured having to take a medical exam or prove insurability.
Converting a term policy over into a permanent form of coverage can allow an insured to obtain life insurance protection for life – regardless of future age increases and the possibility of contracting an adverse health condition.
The company also offers Mass Mutual Direct Term life insurance. With this option, individuals can apply for coverage online. The policy is still quite affordable. The death benefit coverage on this plan can range from $100,000 up to $2 million (provided that certain conditions are met). Individuals who are between the age of 18 and 64 can apply. Typically, a coverage approval decision can be made within just a few days – or even within the same day that the individual applies for the coverage.
Permanent Life Insurance Coverage Through Mass Mutual
Mass Mutual also offers many options for permanent life insurance coverage. With permanent life insurance, there is both a death benefit and a cash value / investment component in the policy. With permanent life insurance, there is no set time limit on the coverage like there is with term coverage. In most cases, provided that the premium is paid, the coverage will remain in force. Permanent life insurance policies will also have a monetary value component, where money can grow and compound on a tax deferred basis.
There are several various types of permanent life insurance policies that are offered by Mass Mutual. These include:
Participating Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance ensures a guaranteed amount of death benefit protection – regardless of how long the insured lives. With this type of policy, cash value can be built up over time, and these funds may be borrowed to help pay for a child or grandchild’s college expenses, to supplement retirement income, or any other needs.
The participating whole life insurance policy holders of Mass Mutual plans may also be able to receive dividends. These may be taken in cash, or alternatively they may be used to purchase additional amounts of insurance. Even though dividends are not guaranteed, they have been paid out to eligible Mass Mutual policy holders every year since 1869.
Universal Life Insurance
Universal life insurance is designed to be flexible, and can often be altered to keep up with a policy holder’s changing needs. For example, if there is enough money in the policy to cover the cost of insurance and administration charges, the policy holder is allowed to decide how much premium to pay (within certain limits). This means that sometimes the policy holder can add extra premium, while at other times they can pay less than what they otherwise might need.
Depending upon the amount of premium the policy holder chooses to pay, the cash value account can build value. And, should the account build up enough, the policy holder can borrow from these funds for any reason that he or she chooses.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
Most variable universal life insurance courses will allow a policy holder to choose either a level death benefit, or one that includes the account value. As with a regular universal life insurance policy, the premium payments may be varied with this type of coverage.
Variable universal life insurance can also provide the opportunity to build up cash value based on the performance of underlying market investment options such as mutual funds. Premium dollars can be allocated among these investment offerings or they may go towards the Guaranteed Principal Account – which is a fixed account and is guaranteed to earn interest daily.
Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance
The guaranteed acceptance life insurance option from Mass Mutual offers coverage that can range from $2,000 to $25,000 – with premium rates that start at just $10 per month. Once a policy is purchased, the premium amount will be locked in throughout the life of the policy. These policies are geared towards those who are between the ages of 50 and 75 at the time of application – and, regardless of health condition, an individual cannot be denied this coverage.
Disability Insurance Sold By Mass Mutual
Aside from offering quality insurance coverage, Mass Mutual also sells long-term disability plans.
If you were to have an accident outside of work, and you were severely injured and couldn’t go to work, what’s going to happen to your paycheck?
If you don’t have disability insurance, then you could struggle to pay your mortgage, utilities, and groceries.
You can be as safe as you want, but you never know when there is going to be a slip-up. This is what makes disability insurance a wise investment.
With these plans, you’ll get a portion of your paycheck in monthly payments if you can’t work because of an injury or illness.
Mass Mutual sells a long-term disability insurance policy called Radius. If you’re between the ages of 18 – 60, then you might be eligible for this plan.
You can get benefits for up to 10 years or until age 67.
This plan has own occupation disability definition, meaning the plan will pay out if you can’t perform your job, but could still do another job. With Mass Mutual, if you’re working another occupation, you won’t get paid, unless you add an additional rider.
The plan is non-cancelable, and you have the chance to get dividends on the plan after 5 years of having the plan.
Unlike some other disability insurance carriers, Mass Mutual includes several riders at no-cost. They will give you waiver of premium at no cost, a rehabilitation benefit, recurring disability benefit, and automatic benefit increase rider at no cost.
In addition to the built-in coverage, Mass Mutual also has some additional riders you can add to the policy. The more riders, the higher the premiums.
Some of those riders are:
- Cost of living adjustment rider
- Future insurability rider
- RetireGuard
- Student loan rider
- And several more
Other Products and Services Offered
In addition to life insurance coverage, Mass Mutual offers a wide array of other financial and insurance related options to its customers. These include the following:
- Disability Income Insurance
- Long Term Care Insurance / Combination Life Insurance and Long-Term Care Coverage
- Medicare Supplement Insurance
- Retirement Annuities – Fixed, Fixed Indexed, and Variable
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) – Traditional and Roth
- Mutual Funds
- Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
- Unit Investment Trusts (UITs)
- 529 College Savings Plans
- Advisory and Trust Services
- Workplace Benefits – Employee benefit solutions, and retirement plans
The Best Premium Rates on Life Insurance Coverage
If you are seeking the top-quality rates on life insurance coverage from Mass Mutual – or from any of the top rated life insurance companies – it is suggested that you partner with an independent life insurance broker or agent. That way, you can easily and conveniently compare the plans and the prices of numerous life insurance options all in one place.
