Millions of American seniors use AARP membership for their discounts and insurance products. However what a lot of them don’t realize is that they are overpaying and not getting the best insurance benefits by going this route. In this case, I am referring to their life insurance offering that you have probably seen on television or in a postcard that you received in the mail from AARP. If you are looking for an AARP life insurance review you have come to the right place but before we look into the details of what they are offering let’s clarify that AARP doesn’t actually offer any insurance products. Instead, they use their branding to push other companies products exclusively, in return for a financial gain. When you buy life insurance through them you are buying a policy from New York Life. So now that we got that out of the way lets see if buying life insurance from New York Life makes financial or common sense. When buying life insurance it can seem like a daunting task with all these articles focusing on their personal gain rather than their clients’ interests. Here at InsureChance, we only provide the most unbiased and honest reviews for our consumers because we believe that you would better utilize an unbiased article rather than having our opinions shoved down your throat! In this article we will be focusing on AARP and their history, followed by their community involvement, an honest review of them with an accurate rating, and lastly, we will be providing you with some highlights of their product offering.
*Bottom Line is AARP doesn’t have any of their own insurance products and you can do better with other insurers. So feel free to compare rates right here on our site.
AARP Life Insurance Company 2017 Review
This company is a huge advocate for the senior community and has close to 40 million members. They make money by marketing other companies products and to be clear they actually don’t have a life insurance product of their own. Like we mentioned earlier, New York Life is who offers life insurance products that AARP advertise. AARP offers life insurance products through New York Life such as Term life and Whole life policies as well as guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance and whole life insurance for children. We always write about the company’s A.M Best rating but there isn’t one anywhere to be found so chances are that they didn’t reach out to a rating agency to review their financials and come up with a rating that measures their financial stability. New York Life’s financial strength is rated “A++” or superior which is also the top rating by A.M Best.
Why a company’s rating is important to read
Looking at a company’s rating may not be the most fun thing to read but honestly, it is the most beneficial for you to read as a consumer. A company’s rating will reveal how financially stable or unstable they are. Rating agencies such as A.M Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch, are here to help you understand a company’s financial standing before you make an investment. When you are buying a product such as life insurance you are making an investment for future profits with the company and you really don’t want to invest into a company that isn’t going to have these future profits for you. These rating agencies go through numerous investigations to be able to provide you with these ratings. If a company has a good rating such as an “A+”, “A”, or “A-” they are financially stable and will more than likely be capable of paying out your policy’s benefits to your beneficiaries. If a company has a very low rating it obviously means the opposite. The company with a low rating is not financially stable and they are vulnerable to any economic and environmental changes around them. So let’s say the market were to crash, they wouldn’t know how to handle the situation and chances are they may pull out or file bankruptcy. Your premiums and policy will disappear with the wind and we don’t want you to experience this from any company that’s why we take the time to share with you the importance of reading a company’s rating.
AARP Life Insurance for Seniors Product Offerings
As experts in the life insurance industry, we would only recommend going through AARP if you are unsure about getting coverage due to bad health. They are offering three types of life insurance options which are term, permanent and guaranteed issue.
AARP Term Life Insurance
Term Life is the most affordable and easy to understand life insurance product that covers you for a specific duration. The word “term” is referencing the amount of time you’ll be covered. AARP has a plan that it offers through one of their affiliated insurers that will cover seniors up to age 80. The big downfall with this plan is that the premiums are not fixed and go up every 5 years. This can be a huge surprise for most individuals. Keep in mind that most level policies are locked in for the entire term. You’re much better off getting a plan with level coverage.
AARP Whole life Insurance
Whole Life is a type of permanent life insurance that will cover you until age 100 and will also accumulate some savings in the cash value account. If you’re between ages of 50 to 80 you can qualify for this plan. This plan is good until age 96 and you can get up to $50k of coverage. The coverage is simplified which means there are few questions and no requirement for a medical examination.
AARP Guaranteed Whole Life Insurance
Just like the name states, a guaranteed whole life insurance policy is a whole life insurance policy which again provides life insurance coverage for your WHOLE life but you are guaranteed to get approved. If you’re between ages 50 to 80 you can apply up to $25,000 of life insurance coverage but remember there is a waiting period in the first few years.
AARP Life Insurance Quotes
It’s kind of hard to get an idea of whether or not you want to buy a policy AARP or not because you don’t know how their quotes look like. We are here to the rescue! A typical AARP Term Life Insurance policy for men between 50-54 with a coverage amount of $50,000 annually you are looking at $612 and for women between 50-54 is $435. For an AARP Whole Life Insurance policy men between the ages of 50-54 with coverage of $75,000 you are looking at $749 annually and for women ages 50-54 are looking at $525 annually. An AARP Guaranteed Acceptance Whole Life insurance policy for 50-year old men with a coverage amount of $25,000 you are looking at $1,316 a year and for a 50-year old woman you are looking at $1,098 a year.
AARP Pros and Cons
There are a couple of pros and cons associated with AARP and we know it will help you a lot to know these pros and cons. A pro of AARP is that they do have some options for people who are in most cases uninsurable. This is very rare because not many insurance companies want to take the risk of ensuring a senior. Another pro is that AARP is available for most states across the country and you can apply quickly online. The last pro is that they do tend to work with some pretty big and reputable carriers. A con of AARP is that they don’t offer a traditional universal life policy or index universal and index universal which makes it harder for those seniors who want to make some short-term investments for their legacy. Another con of AARP is that they don’t have a financial rating from one of the many popular rating agencies which make it hard for a consumer to make sure they are financially stable, thank goodness they show New York Life’s financial strength. The last con of AARP is that they are only one among many other life insurance companies who offer amazing life insurance products such as TransAmerica.
Feel free to read our article to find out who the best life insurance companies for seniors are!
Work with us!
Working with over 60 life insurance companies it’s was quite obvious to us that you can get significantly more savings with other large companies. After comparing quotes from AARP website to our most competitive companies it’s clear that people are overpaying by as much as 50% for life insurance coverage through New York Life. As stated in CBS News Article
As you can see AARP is actually pushing a product for NY Life Insurance company which is quite costly. There are many better alternative out there in which you can get an affordable policy with a reputable company. The best thing to do is compare quotes online with all the companies simultaneously through an independent agency. Luckily we are that agency so you can run both term life and permanent life insurance quotes without any obligation. Whether you are shopping for a new policy or trying to replace an existing one is never late to save money. Thank you for reading and feel free to drop a comment below!
