As a hardworking American, you understand the importance of protecting what you have worked for. We protect our cars, homes, boats and our future by investing for retirement. What we tend to forget is to protect our lives from the unexpected death by providing our loved ones with the peace of mind that a life insurance policy can bring. But of course you already came to this realization and you either got approached by an agent, seen an ad or already have a product with TIAA Life Insurance Company. Now you’re simply wondering if this is the best choice for you and your family. Well, you have come to the right place because here at InureChance not only do we work with all the top rated insurers but we also review 100’s of others, so read on to get the full scoop.
*Just a quick note: If you are wondering if TIAA is a legitimate company or if their products are good, let me save you some time. This is one of the most reputable and highly rated companies in the entire world with some solid product offerings. They are also a sort of one-stop shop since you can get insurance and investment products from them. So if you were on the fence just about their overall reputation don’t be and take the plunge, however, if you haven’t shopped around yet or are looking for the best rate then you should definitely check out all the quotes since they are on the high sides in comparison to other large companies. Click here to compare rates instantly!
About TIAA
History
Like all large insurers, this company has been around for quite some time and to be exact since 1918. The company was originally started to address the insurance and financial needs of teachers and if you didn’t know the TIAA stands for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. However, today the company offers a large number of products in over 50 countries to individuals in all walks of life. TIAA came out swinging from its inception after getting a $1 million dollars from Carnegie Foundation. That’s right the American steel Barron was the founder of this financial institution giant. Many people know the company as TIAA-CREF but they have changed it to simply TIAA back in 2016 to have a more simple and modern look. TIAA is headquartered in the thriving state of New York but as mentioned before they have offices all across the globe.
Financial Strength
One of the most important aspect to consider when determining a life insurance carrier is their financial strength. And before I hit you with all the facts I got to say I have never seen a company as solid as TIAA when it comes to financial strength. This company has around $954 Billion Dollars in assets under management, that’s almost a Trillion! They have also paid out $394 billion in benefits since 1918 which goes to show you that you won’t have to worry about your claim being paid. In addition to that, they have the highest grades with various rating agencies like A.M. Best, S&P and Moody’s. They have an “A++” with A.M. Best which is the highest rating a company can get, just to put this in perspective most companies we review are two to three categories lower and they are also popular household names. I guess this is what happens when you combine smart business management of an insurer with a not for profit organization.
Giving Back
As an independent life insurance brokerage with a strong focus on ethics and putting customers first we always like to work with companies that give back. Not only does it feel good to recommend such a company it also shows that they are not just out for themselves. In this regard, TIAA shines as well by giving back to causes related to the environment and by having one of the largest employee participation in community volunteering. The company also like to vote on major world issues and hold other large companies accountable when it comes to business practices.
Awards
TIAA has more awards than I have personally seen any other insurer have. Whether it has to do with their ethics, investment performance or being a great workplace they have an award for that. And they are not just a one trick pony, it seems like they get awards every year. So not only do employees and clients recognize them as one of the best but so does everyone else. It is always good to work with a company that has received multiple recognitions as it creates more of a certainty in your buying decision. The company also has numerous awards for workplace diversity and for women.
TIAA Overall Service
I don’t know about you but to me, customer service is everything when it comes to any company. After some browsing it seems that people online have mixed feeling about this carrier, some are blown away by the service others are getting the runaround. According to the Better Business Bureau, they have a grade of “B” which is okay I guess but most big companies we review have an “A” rating with most negative complaints being resolved. Now keep in mind that they do have over 5 million individual clients and the service more than 15,000 institutions for group benefits so the 100 or less bad reviews they have is not a lot considering their total client base.
However, the company should still work on improving the simplicity and access to highly trained staff for their customer service support network. Many people are reporting difficulty finding the right people to speak to regarding their plans or issues. Now, don’t get me wrong I do strongly believe that any issue you have will be dealt with but you may have to make more than one phone call. It is not surprising though since companies of this size are just too big and that’s why sometimes I like solid small companies since you can get more of a personalized service.
I did really like their website because it was very clean and informative. You can learn all about the company and their product offerings along with access to company customer service details. They are also tech-friendly, unlike many other big insurers from the standpoint of them allowing you to log in to your own portal where you can access any important plan information and manage your policy.
TIAA Life Insurance Products
This is one of the companies that we can write a book about if we start describing all of their products. Just to give you an idea they have retirement plans, IRA’s, Mutual Funds, Brokerage Accounts, 529 College Plans, banking services, and employer-sponsored plans plus more. To save your eyes we are going to focus on what you came here for and that’s life insurance.
Now you need to understand that there are really only two types of life insurance policies. One is a term life insurance and the other is permanent life insurance. They do have variations but these are the two types and the difference is one is very affordable for temporary coverage and the other is more costly but provides a lifetime cover along with cash value growth. So let’s see what TIAA has to offer for both of these types of plans.
Temporary Coverage
You can secure a term life insurance policy with TIAA which is the most affordable and simple to understand option. Here is a breakdown of what their plan offers:
Term
- Guaranteed Level Benefit and Premiums which means that your plan will be fixed for the duration of the term.
- Offers pure protection for all causes of death like accidental, natural cause or illness.
- You can lock the policy in for 10, 15, 20 or 30-year term length.
- The plan is convertible to a permanent life insurance option without any underwriting. Regardless of your health, you can convert the plan to a permanent option that they offer at the time.
- After the term guarantee expires your plan will become an annual renewable term which means that you’ll have coverage but it will increase in premium every year.
Permanent Coverage
There are a variety of permanent life insurance plans like Whole Life and Universal life which will also have multiple choices. TIAA offers a variety type of universal life plans for people looking to get permanent life insurance with some potential cash value build up. Here are some of their plans:
Universal Life
- Designed to provide lifetime protection
- You can secure a life on one person or two by getting the Survivorship Universal Life Policy. (pays out when both parties die)
- Provides flexibility when it comes to making an adjustment to your death benefit or premiums.
- Unlike other universal life plans their plan doesn’t charge any surrender fees or load fees so your cash value growth more efficient.
- Although you can earn more interest on your cash value the guaranteed rate is 3% so even if the market is doing worse you’ll get that return.
- Access your cash value anytime without any penalty.
Universal Life with Long-Term Car Rider
- Same as above but it powers your policy up with an add-on that allows you to have long-term coverage along with life insurance in one policy.
- If you ever need to be admitted to adult day care, assisted living, home health care, hospice care or nursing home this policy will provide a monthly benefit from it.
- Monthly payments are more than a regular universal life due to additional benefits.
Variable Universal Life
- A variation of a universal life policy but with aggressive ability to build up the cash value.
- You have an ability to allocate the investments within the cash value similar to an investment portfolio.
- There is a higher risk to lose money since you are making the investment choices.
- Provides lifetime protection.
- Offers flexibility in your death benefit and premium.
- An ability to select a fixed account cash value accumulation.
- You can withdraw cash value if you need it for small emergencies or to supplement your income.
All these universal life policies also come with an option to choose a survivorship policy which is simply insuring two people and only paying out if both insured are deceased. Typically these policies are ideal for estate planning or wealth transfer functions.
Sample Quotes
We decided to see how this company stacks up against other big competitors when it comes to their rates. On their website your only able to obtain term life insurance quotes. So for the purpose of this illustration, we are going to run a quote on a 35 year old male and female with perfect health who are looking to secure a 30-year term plan. Let’s see what we come up with:
$500,000 30 Year Term
TIAA Life Insurance Rate is $55.08/mo for a male and $43.28/mo for a female.
Now let’s see what the most competitive top company offers us through our comparison tool.
Banner Life Insurance Rate is $37.75/mo for a male and $31.82/mo for a female.
There were about 15 other companies that beat them out when it came to the term life insurance quotes. So although they are a great company with a lot of reasons to go with they are not as price competitive as they should be.
Bottom Line
Overall this is a ginormous company who has the most awards and one of the top ratings we have ever seen. I don’t think this company can even be shaken by an Armageddon based on almost a trillion dollars in assets that they have. I also love the fact how great the company is to their employees and it’s customers. They also have very solid products and as I was looking through the plan brochures I would personally love to buy their products myself and have to say they are definitely in the top 10% of life insurers out there. It is also interesting to note that they are a nonprofit insurance provider and it can be seen with their focus on providing whats best for their clients and not only their bottom line.
However, as great as this company is we were able to find a few things that they lacked in. First off, their service seems to be tricky since some clients are blown away and others are still trying to find their way to the right department for guidance. I didn’t like that they had a “B” rating with the Better Business Bureau but then again if you have millions of clients 40 complaints isn’t so bad now is it. The biggest downfall with them is they are an expensive company, they were almost double in the cost of a 30-year term policy versus one of our top rated companies called Banner Life. Now, Banner is known to beat out everyone when it comes to pricing but in the case of TIAA most of the companies we represent had a way better rate. They also seem to not offer a no medical exam coverage for people that want a policy fast and electronically.
So when is all set and done, unless you have a very competitive rate or really like the company for their reliability you have better options out there when it comes to more products and better cost.
Let Us Help!
Here at InsureChance, we work with over 60 top rated life insurers like Prudential, Metlife, Banner Life, TransAmerica and many others. We let you compare rates with all of them by providing transparency through our quote engines. Simply select the type of life insurance policy you’re looking for and let the companies fight for your business. In addition to that, we specialize in hard to place cases so if you have a pre-existing condition or dangerous occupation we can help you secure a plan. If you prefer to hear a live person on the other line call one of our friendly agents at 888.492.1967. Welcome to InsureChance!
