You either got approached by an agent that works for Penn Mutual or a close one recommended them to you and now you’re wondering if you should go with them. Well, in short, I think you have many better alternatives so be sure to shop around with many companies to see what’s out there. Of course, if you’re seriously trying to do your homework feel free to read the entire article to get a good idea of what this company has to offer. So let’s dive in and cover everything from how long they been around to what kind of products they offer.
About Penn Mutual
This company has been around for a very long time and I can’t believe they were started in 1847, can you imagine how life was in those days? Probably a lot less hectic but apparently people still bought life insurance. Penn Mutual believes that life insurance is a core element of your financial planning and I couldn’t agree more because life insurance is the only way to replace what you provide for your family. Now, this does have an “A+” rating from A.M. Best which is a very positive sign and to put it in simple words this means that they are financially stable. In other words, if there are a lot of claims they will still be standing and writing checks.
Now, let’s see what kind of financials they have. According to their site, the company had about $22.3 billion in assets as of December of 2016 and annual revenue of $1.9 billion dollars. This is definitely a financially stable company so they pass the test there. When I see such large revenues I always like to check if the company is giving anything back to the community and in their case they are. They have The Penn Mutual Center for Veteran Affairs which helps veterans with scholarships to help them find work in the financial services industry. In addition to that, they also donate funds to United Way so they are one of the good guys.
Penn Mutual Products
Even though this company sells a variety of different insurance and financial products like annuities, retirement planning and business planning we are going to focus on life insurance. However, they do have some cool annuity plans for both fixed and variable options.
Now, let’s look at some life insurance plans that are available to you as a consumer.
Term Life
If you didn’t know by now but Americans love term life and it is one of the most popular life insurance products that you can secure. The reason is that term life is unbeatable when it comes to cost and is also very simple to understand. Most companies term life insurance plans are pretty similar but they usually have some distinctions. So let’s look at some bullet points for Penn Mutual Term:
- Term Lengths can be locked in for 10, 15 or 20 year period.
- Premiums and death benefit are fixed for the duration of your term policy.
- The plan comes with a conversion privilege so you can take some or all of your term death benefit and turn it into a permanent life insurance plan without any questions or medical examinations. (Convert before term expiration or prior to age 70)
- Ideal for new families looking for affordability and guarantee of knowing that they can get lifetime plan regardless of their health. Or for people who have a temporary need for life insurance.
- Available add-ons are disability waiver of premium, accidental death benefit, and children’s term rider.
Whole Life
This is the first type of permanent life insurance that came out with the idea of covering you until age 100 at which point the policy matures. In addition to lifetime protection, this policy also builds up cash value which can be accessed in the future to supplement retirement or for small emergencies. The downfall of whole life is its high cost and lack of flexibility. Here are some key highlights of Penn Mutual’s Guaranteed Choice Whole Life:
- Lifetime protection unlike term so at one point or another your family will collect.
- Great way to leverage cash since you can use a sum of money and turn it into more instantly by buying life insurance for life.
- Cash value grows on a guaranteed basis so there is low risk but don’t expect to kick Warren Buffett of the Forbes List.
- Premiums are locked in for life.
Universal Life
Another form of permanent insurance that was designed to provide lower cost and more flexibility than a whole life policy. There are a lot of variations of universal life but for pure protection, we always recommend that you go with a Guaranteed Universal Life aka No Lapse Universal Life. Here are some highlights of Universal Life with Penn Mutual:
- Guaranteed death benefit coverage until age 100 or 121 for your family.
- You can make adjustments to your premiums.
- Access your cash value accumulation to supplement your retirement or for emergencies.
- More variety than the whole life on how your money gets invested.
Variable Universal Life
Righ of the bat let me state that in my professional opinion this is more of an investment vehicle rather than life insurance and should only be bought by active investors. This plan provides life insurance but the cash value is very flexible where one can invest directly in stocks so if you do bad your policy can be in jeopardy but if you do great you’ll have some ability to get a lot of money in your account. Let’s look at some highlights of Penn Mutual’s Variable Universal Life:
- Lifetime coverage
- Get aggressive returns in a tax-deferred product.
- Very flexible when it comes to adjusting the death benefit or premiums.
Joint or Survivorship
This is simply a permanent type of life insurance that covers two individuals so it only pays out when both policyholders die. This may be a good option for estate planning or wealth transference to heirs. Here are some highlights:
- This is an Indexed Universal Life plan that covers two people.
- Affordable option when needing a second to die death benefit.
- Has solid cash value accumulation that you can access via loans.
- Different options to access cash value.
Penn Mutual Quotes
We couldn’t get any quotes from this company since they don’t have an online quote function and it says that you need to find an advisor to meet for a quote. This is kinda inconvenient and outdated since most top rated insurers allow you to get quotes on their website or by calling. Well, either way, we did find out from some agents that work with them that their rates are not the lowest and they tend to get beaten out by other insurers, so shop around.
Conclusion
After reading this article you may now know more about Penn Mutual than some of the people that work for them, just kidding the article wasn’t that long. However, you should know now that Penn Mutual is a highly reputable company with a long history so they are definitely legit. In addition to that, they do offer a variety of life insurance plans to meet different needs of their clients which is also great. But and there is always a but, if you’re looking for a simple life insurance plan without any complex vocabulary and confusing structure at the best price, then you’re better off checking out Term Life or Permanent Life plans from the top carriers. And unlike Penn Mutual, we have instant quotes on our site so you can let all the top companies compete for your business. Here at InsureChance, we work with over 60 top rated life insurance carriers and give you the power. We will also walk you through finding a plan, applying for coverage and getting your policy in your hand without you having to leave your home. If you’re ready to move forward request an application through one of our comparison tools or simply call our friendly agents at 888.492.1967!
