History 

New York life happens to be a fortune 100 company and also the third largest life insurer in America. That is not an easy feat so is no surprise they have been around since 1845, also happens to be the day that Texas was admitted as the 28th state of the Union. (for my history buffs) At first, the company was called Nautilus and they offered life, fire, and marine insurance. In 1849 they renamed the company to New York Life after deciding to make life insurance their primary business. The company had a mega growth explosion thanks to their model of recruiting a large number of agents to sell their products countrywide.

As you can tell this company has been around through pretty much the entire history of U.S., which goes to show you that they have survived all economic downturns, one civil war, and two world wars. In addition to that, the company was concerned about the upcoming crisis of 2008 and made some adjustments to their assets which saved them big time. They were one of the few companies that actually rejected any government bailout during the financial meltdown. (I’m impressed)

The company has the highest ratings from various rating agencies. A strong rating signifies that the company has strong financials and that they know how to allocate their assets. So what does that mean for you? Simply that they can cut the check to your beneficiaries in the event that you die. And to be exact, New York Life has about $570 billion in total assets so you can sleep safely at night. This might explain why they have some very high ratings which are very difficult for life insurance companies to receive.

Here is a quick breakdown of their ratings:

Charitable Giving 

This may not be a must for most agencies that consider a life insurance company for their clients but for my agency it is. I believe a company that gives back to the less fortunate and to the community just has a different fabric running through its culture which also reflects on the type of core values the company has. I can also tell you that most large life insurance companies are big advocates of giving back not only with money but with volunteer hours. 

So how does NY Life stack up?

Well, for the starters they have already given over $240 million dollars in charitable contributions through their foundation. The company is focused on partnering up with nonprofit organizations that hat help all kind of people who are in need but their primary focus is on the youth.

In addition to that, lots of the company’s employees volunteer to help the homeless and to tutor children. I like the warm and fuzzy feeling I get knowing that the company I represent or want to have a policy with does something nice for the less fortunate and New York Life is no slouch in that department.

Overall when it comes to New York Life as a company alone they get a high rating from us. The company has an outstanding history, financial strength, and philanthropic plan. If all things equal with a competitive company then you can definitely pick them.

Our Rating:

Just like any major insurance carrier that offers life insurance, they too offer two types of plans with variations. If you don’t already know this, the two types of life insurance plans are term life and permanent life. Term life offers temporary coverage usually ranging from 1-year term all the way to a 30-year term. During the term, the policy payment is fixed and if you die within the term period your family will get the money. The other type of coverage is designed to provide lifetime protection and goes by many names as whole life, universal life, and variable life. It is more expensive because there is no expiration and it also accumulates a savings element called cash value.

So let’s see what NY Life offers with these plans:

Level Term Plan

This is your traditional term life insurance plan that every life insurer offers as part of their portfolio. The company offers the term length of up to 20 years with any amount of coverage. Premiums of this policy are going to stay the same so you don’t have to worry about the coverage going up and unfortunately it won’t go down either. A cool feature of this plan that makes it slightly different then other term life plans is that you can convert the policy to a permanent plan on a guaranteed basis and get your term premium credited towards the new plan if done so within the first 10 years of the term.

Just like any other life insurance plan NY Life offers you a ton of customizable add-ons we industry call riders. (click here to learn more).

Here is a short list of the rider you can add for an extra charge (toggle to learn more):

A form of permanent life insurance policy that provides guaranteed interest rate on your cash value along with a guarantee that your policy will stay in force for life if you pay the agreed upon premiums.

Along with lifetime coverage, this plan also offers a savings element where a part of your premium goes to accrue interest. Because New York Life is a mutual company which means policyholders are also shareholders, you will also get a dividend payout to your cash value.

**Never consider a whole life policy unless it is with a mutual carrier since the returns are (excuse my language) crap without dividends.

The cash value accumulation of this policy can be used to supplement your retirement income, help pay for your children’s college or for emergencies that might arise. Growth within the cash value is tax-deferred.

A big difference between whole life and other permanent plans is that the cash value growth has a guaranteed interest rate, so is not affected when the national interest rate fluctuates. Because of that you also get a lower return since there is less risk. But because you also get dividends with your whole life with NY Life it may still be a competitive return.

Another type of permanent life insurance that came after whole life and was supposed to be an improvement. A universal life policy offers more flexibility in its premium and death benefit along with a higher rate of return on your cash value. There are different types of universal life plans and you can learn more about them here.

New York Life offers a simplified universal life plan that allows you to skip the medical examination. It is a single premium option which means you make one large payment and you have paid up your policy for life. This also great benefit since your cash value compounding start immediately and of a large amount. You also get a huge discount on the cost of insurance! There is no better way to leverage your cash for leaving money behind to your loved ones than a single payment permanent life insurance plans.

They also offer other varieties of universal life such as variable which is designed for more active investors who are seasoned and are looking for bigger returns. It does also come with more risk as well. If regular universal life is considered a passive investment then variable life is an aggressive one.

New York Life Service

This is probably where this wonderful carrier is going to disappoint a lot of us because they fell short. If you’re one of those people who is spoiled with some of the great customer service provided by companies like Amazon, Google, and Geico, NY Life is not for you. J.D. Power and associated has given them 3/5 stars for their customer service which is considered average but far from good.

As far as clients the company has a few hundred complaints which are nothing considering the carrier has millions of policies out there. I think the reason their customer service is lacking is unlike other big carriers who build huge client support centers where you can call and get most of your concerns addressed. New York life mostly relies on its captive agents to provide support which means when you have an issue with the policy you need to contact the local agent who sold you the policy.

They also need to do a better job at addressing complaints on the Better Business Bureau as they have some unresolved customer complaints. A company of this size shouldn’t have difficulty taking care of few complaints.

When we look at the overall service a company provides we also like to see how useful and resourceful the company’s website is.

I got to tell you that although their website is modern looking, I had a hard time finding information on what kind of policies are available and forget about getting a pdf plan specifics like you’d get with any other major carrier. They do have a login for existing clients so let’s hope you can manage your policy online.

Our Service Rating:

The Good

There are a lot of good to list with this and is probably a carrier you’d like to consider for life insurance. One of the biggest things is it’s financial strength and rating. Out of all the big life insurers in the market NY Life has a very rare “A++” rating with A.M. Best. To put this in perspective Metlife and Prudential which are also giants have an “A+” rating.

It is also clear to see that before a huge economic downturn this carrier makes the right moves so they tend to avert any disasters. This is great since you want to work with a carrier that can be there for centuries to come.

Other big positive that stands out is that it’s a mutual company and as stated before that means policyholders are the shareholders of the company which is quite unique. Most other companies are set up where if you have a policy you’re simply a customer and to own shares you’ll have to buy stock through a public exchange.

Being a mutual company means that if you purchase a cash value life insurance plan with them, you’ll be collecting dividends on the policy that can be used to purchase additional insurance, taken out for personal use or used to pay the policy premiums. The best part is that the dividends are paid out on top of the interest accumulated with the cash value.  

Which brings us to the next point of them having some cool products not only for life insurance but for retirement planning as well. If you’re in the market for a whole life policy NY Life is an obvious choice due to it having the dividend payouts to the cash value account. Their term plan also offers a premium credit option if you convert the policy to a permanent plan within the first 10 years which is not common with other companies.

The Bad

You can’t really have the good without the bad right, well at least not most of the time. There are some things that left us with a bad impression. First, one is that the company needs to offer longer term lengths such as a 30-year term and not limit it to a 20-year term. 

Term life insurance is a very popular product and is usually purchased for mortgage protection which as you already know most mortgages are for 30 years. My guess would be that they are mostly focused on selling you their whole and universal life plans.

I personally can tell you that in my experience it is not in your best interest to work with a life insurance company that has captive agents. A captive agent is someone who can only exclusively represent one company and only offers their products.

This is not ideal when you’re trying to get the best deal or have certain pre-existing conditions. The only time this works is if you’re working with a broker like our firm to make sure you get a fair deal.

Lastly, they have done a bad job in the customer support department and have been rated average by J.D. Power which is not good for a company of their size.

As we mentioned before the website doesn’t have a solid list of life insurance products and you won’t find any specifications either. The only way to find out is to sit across the table with a NY Life insurance salesmen.

New York Life vs. Other carriers

The goal was to get quote comparison to see how New York Life stacks up against other large companies of its size like Prudential, John Hancock, Metlife and few others. However, New York Life quotes are not readily available and need to be requested which we can do for you but to create a table would take us forever.

To give you an idea they are more costly when comparing to highly aggressively priced companies like Banner Life, AIG and Protective Life. If you’re looking for a pure protection product with the best rate then some of the other companies are a much better choice. Also, if you have certain medical conditions or high-risk hobbies you may get turned down by NY Life since they can have pretty strict underwriting guidelines. The reason I know is that a lot of people come to us after being turned down by them and although they are one of the sixty companies we work with, there are a lot better options for higher risk life insurance applicants.

So you may wonder why even work with them? Well, if the plan you’re looking for is competitively priced we usually recommend that you pick them because their rating is just superb, so you’re getting one reliable company. The other times is of course when you shopping for a whole life policy it doesn’t make any sense but to work with them because you’re not getting the dividends payout with a non-mutual company.

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