New York Life Insurance Guide

With high rankings from independent industry reviewers, this provider might be a good option for those seeking flexible coverage combined with potential wealth-building opportunities down the line. Fortunately, LifePlans makes it easy to learn the ins and outs of obtaining coverage from this insurer before you commit. Here's what to know before diving in.

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New York Life Insurance

Getting to Know New York Life

New York Life is what’s known as a mutual insurer: the company is owned by its policyholders. This means that if you pay for coverage, you’ve invested in the firm and are entitled to yearly dividends, which the company has successfully paid every year since its founding 164 years ago – a pretty nice perk on top of gaining coverage. Any profits that don’t contribute to your dividend rebates get put back into the company, improving its ability to offer protection.

New York Life is known for its consistently high financial strength ratings, philanthropic efforts, investments, and broad insurance portfolio. It’s also known for its longevity and size – it’s the oldest and largest mutual life insurer in the U.S. as well as AARP’s only approved life insurance partner.

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New York Life Policy Options

New York Life products come in a few flavors, most of which can be customized with the addition of optional policy riders. Here are the main varieties:

Whole Life Insurance

These policies last for as long as you live. While this does require you to pay premiums for the rest of your life, the company offers a unique guarantee that those premiums will never increase while your policy remains in good standing.
Your policy's cash value grows under a tax-deferred scheme. This means you can use the plan to increase your savings and still have access to withdrawals for emergencies, investments, real estate purchases, or school tuition fees. Whole-life insurance may suit those who want to ensure their protection lasts even as they manage their money intelligently.

Term Life Insurance

New York Life's term life insurance offers immediate coverage that expires after a predefined period. It's temporary, so the coverage only pays out if you die during the specified term, but these plans are also convertible to more permanent options. This provider's term life insurance features premiums that gradually increase, but those seeking more predictability can lock in their costs for 10 to 20 years. The company also offers a special term life plan for those who need at least $1 million in protection.

Investments and Retirement

Another big strength of New York Life lies in its diverse investment portfolio. You can choose from annuities, mutual funds, ETFs, and a number of retirement income products designed to keep your money working. While these aren't strictly insurance policies, they're worth investigating if you plan on using your coverage policy to build wealth – switching to New York Life might make it easy to manage everything at once.

Supplemental Insurance

New York Life offers a number of supplemental insurance plans independent of the riders you can attach to their other products. For instance, you can use disability coverage to supplement the benefits from an employer-sponsored disability insurance policy, guaranteeing your income stream if something happens to you while you're still of working wage. Long-term care insurance helps you cover medical assistance and other forms of aid when you become medically unable to look after yourself. It's commonly used as an alternative to chipping away at your beneficiaries' eventual life insurance payout.

Variable Universal Life Insurance

Variable universal policies leverage long-term market growth to increase their cash value. These policies are ideal for those who want to be able to invest the money in their policies without incurring tax burdens or running into legal barriers.
Although doing so will reduce the amount of any life insurance payout your beneficiaries get when you pass, you can use a variable universal policy as a source of supplemental or primary income without being penalized.

Universal Life Insurance

This form of insurance is for those who want the greatest possible amount of long-term coverage yet don't really care about increasing the cash value of their policy.
Policyholders gain a great deal of flexibility, such as being able to choose between an adjustable or guaranteed death benefit and selecting flexible premiums that they can tweak over time.

Benefits

Is New York Life the Right Provider for You?

What do people have to say about New York Life? Business rating agencies like J.D. Power give the company high marks, and according to NerdWallet and Investopedia, the firm receives surprisingly few complaints for such a big provider. One potential drawback, however, is that New York Life quotes can be harder to find. Also, although the company claims to offer products tailored to every budget, it does seem to cater to those on the higher end of the earning spectrum. For instance, you might not get much out of benefits like its tax-deferred withdrawals if you’re just searching for affordable short-term coverage. On the other hand, New York Life products are generally recognized as being flexible, so you have ample leeway to experiment with riders and options until you find the ideal coverage.

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