Good Ins. company

Who would be a good company to sit with and have a face to face with and get the best straight forward answers regarding whole life Insurance? My financial person ( Edward Jones ) broached the subject but we didnt go into any details. Thanks for help

ChiefsFan,

This is a good question, and one that many people fail to ask. I would stick with the big 3 mutuals: NYLife, Northwestern or Mass mutual for investment grade whole life.

The answers you are looking for can be found in the discussion on this thread:

http://forums.kiplinger.com/showthread.php?t=11943

another good one ...

http://forums.kiplinger.com/showthread.php?p=20129#post20129

I sent an e-mail to Edward Jones asking them for info on Insurance like this and she responded saying universal life was more of what she has seen being used. Would this be the sign that she is steering me only to one size fits all policy?

Get outta town!

This comes back to the old saying - When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail...

To be fair here Blank, I dont even know what Ins. companies she would be recommending. She may have the 3 horseman that others have said here were the best. ( Mass, NW, and NYL). I hope to have more info and research done before meeting with her, and to her credit, she has never tried to push an investment on me without giving me complete analysyts. I am very happy with my Edward Jones account, and this also goes to the load-noload threads on the retirement threads. I know what I paid and what fees are incurred. Not to stray too far but to say run away as fast as possible is saying never listen to the other side 1st. I hope to have a general feeling from my research which is best and let her help me decide, as that is why I paid them up front to do. Thanks, anyone elser have some input?

Chief,

You misinterpreted my outburst. I realize it came across as misleading, sorry about that. I simply meant to say "Gee whiz!" with my "get outta town!" comment, not for you to stay away. The implication is - this response from your EJ gal doesn't surprise me.

I'll be interested to hear the outcome of this interaction - who knows, maybe she will offer you a WL policy at one of the mutual companies...? And, as I've indicated in the past - the relationship is the most important aspect of working with an advisor for the long term. It doesn't hurt to go in with your eyes wide open, knowing what your costs are and the like, as well, as you indicate you have wisely done.

Noted there Blank. Thanks for any help along the way tho. I'll try to check back in after meeting with her.

EJ will likely offer you AIG (totally sucks) or Hartford for any life insurance needs you may have. they have revenue sharing agreements with several companies and they make the most off of these companies. i can ASSURE you that they will not offer you products from the top three investment grade mutual insurance companies. that said, let us know what you hear. EJ is a captive provider and as such only has about a half dozen choices from which to select.

p.s. even though EJ has a conflict of interest in their ins companies and revenue sharing, they don't hide it. they are honest about it.

there is a whole thread on why AIG sucks, but here is one view on why they suck and i have always maintained they suck:

http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2008/05/12/at-aig-history-hideously-repeats.aspx

Any update here Chiefs on what you are leaning towards?

Not yet Rachael24. My finance woman at Edward Jones said she would look over my present coverages and do some checking on policy's and see where I'm at. Probably wont hear from her until end of week maybe, then I will go sit with her and talk.

Everybody, when you say certain co. are no good or you dislike them, can you give me some specifics, like was it price, or they didnt do what they said, or sold you something you didnt want? I like lots of info when I meet with her. Thanks........

Who would be a good company to sit with and have a face to face with and get the best straight forward answers regarding whole life Insurance? My financial person ( Edward Jones ) broached the subject but we didnt go into any details. Thanks for help
If you really want the best straight forward answers, your best bet would be to pay for the advice you're seeking, especially if you are considering a permanent policy at all.

Some states have a special license (like Texas, for instance) where insurance advisors can provide consultations on a fee-only basis, so you don't have to worry about the way back-end commissions might be influencing the perspective of a traditional advisor.

If you are really looking for the most straight forward answers, that's the way to go.

However, given that you're already working with an Edward Jones advisor and likely are used to paying for your advice through commissions that are built into the products, your best bets for the companies would be NYL & NWML.

There are some new developments in permanent insurance products (no load) that a Raymond James advisor (who is minding his P's & Q's) might be able to tell you about, but you're not likely to learn about them from a NYL or NWML agent because they don't manufacture them.

Chiefsfan,without knowing your intentions.I guess ill ask if whole life is what your leaning towards?If so what type of structure?

Well, it's good to know there are plenty of adult films easily accessible in a financial forum. I'm certain that's what most people are on here looking for.

Back to the two-month-old subject at hand...

I'm sure Chiefsfan has already made a decision, so this is more for others who might be considering insurance. I don't think any of the companies mentioned can be categorized as being the best to talk to for objective advice, or even the best investment grade insurance companies.

Every insurance company has its niche market, for whom their products will be the most competitive comparable to other companies. For example, I find that when I run comparisons on VULs for people in their 20s and 30s, Nationwide tends to come out on top (specifically with female applicants), but for ULs of people in their 70s and up, Hancock usually has an edge.

Doesn't matter if you know what all that means, my point is simply that if you want objective advice, go to someone that can do an informal general application and get illustrations from several different companies. Depending on your age and specific situation, different companies will be the best horse in the race for different situations.

Ask your advisor how they are paid for their recommendations, and how much. Personally, I'm on commission, but I don't get any extra benefits for going with one insurance company over the other. I'm not sure how Edward Jones works.

Finadvisor, I have'nt yet made a definite decision yet as I dont have all my research done. Actually, it may well be this time next year before I have the extra money to buy a policy. I already have a term policy where i work that will pay 5X my salary.
I did happen to speak with my advisor when I was Edward Jones last week for some mutual funds reallocations. We touched on it briefly and I let her know I was'nt ready so she just pulled up some screen and said "lets just get something random to get you a ballpark figure".

Just for starters only she didnt even say what company, just put in my age and basics and went with $100,000, and I'm guessing it would have been some type of varible.
She said the monthly payment was around $87 and that if i overfunded for ten years At $186 per month it would be paid off and never have to pay premiums after that.
So, that was as far as we went as I am not ready yet.
Thanks for tasking interest and I do check in here time to time and would enjoy reading responses.

There were a couple red flags that came up in that post. The first was that your advisor pulled up the quote on her computer. This would indicate that she's not shopping around for you. She pulled up the numbers for one company. I don't know if it was proprietary or not, but I do know that she can't access more than one company's quotes in just one computer program.

The second was that you mentioned variable. If she's talking about putting you into a VUL (Variable Universal Life) policy, then a number of issues arise. First off, it means that you aren't guaranteed that your policy will be paid off after 10 years. If the market does poorly, so will your policy, and you will have to put in more. Also, funding a VUL with such a small amount is not fully taking advantage of the benefits associated with a VUL. Those things are costly, but one major upside is the ability you have to invest inside the policy, and have it come out tax free (***way more to it than that, but I'll save the disclosures for a later conversation***). Your advisor might not know the right way to structure that kind of policy to get those advantages. You could be probably socking away another few hundred bucks a month and getting tax free growth on it. If that's not the right way to go for you, I might shy away from a permanent policy. You should be able to get $100k at a 30 year term for waaaay less, and your need for insurance after that point diminishes dramatically anyway.

And don't put off your insurance needs until next year. Don't kid yourself and assume that you will magically have more money to spend next year (even if you know that you will make more money next year). If you make more next year, what will magically occur is that you will have some new expense that you didn't have the year before. Start paying yourself now. Whether it's insurance, or more investments, or both, you can do it now just as easily as next year.

Thanks Finadvisor, good info.

I'm not putting off having ins. until next year as I have 5x my salary now in term. The wait is for any other type I was considering. ( vul, whole life, etc.).
The more I read about this stuff the more I am leaning towards getting more term ins. in the event I leave the company I work for now and the ins. doesnt carry at the price I'm paying now.
I just cant make a case for me to now to buy anything else but term.

Thanks for the reply.....

Side note to moderator or someone at Kiplinger's.
Please do something about this gopeedeet dufus that is hijacking all these threads with smut and porn. I hate seeing that there are new posts to read only to find out its this crap.
Please!!!!!!!!!!