State Farm life insurance review 2024

To determine the best whole life insurance companies, our life insurance experts evaluated data provided by Veralytic, an independent publisher of life insurance research and analytics.

Each life insurance company included in our evaluation had the opportunity to earn up to 100 points, based on the following factors.

Cost competitiveness of cash value policies: 35 points. We looked at internal policy costs, such as administrative fees and policy charges, to determine the competitiveness of permanent life insurance policies.

Historical performance: 25 points. Our analysis took into account the historical performance of the life insurance company’s investments to determine how an insurance company’s performance and therefore cash growth potential compared to its competitors.

Reliability of policy illustrations: 20 points. We evaluated the accuracy of each life insurance company’s policy illustration, a document that shows projected cash value growth, to determine which companies provide the most reliable outlooks.

Financial strength: 10 points. There are four major rating agencies — AM Best, Fitch, Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s — that evaluate an insurer’s financial strength, a factor that indicates an insurer’s ability to pay out a claim years from now. We considered this to account for the likelihood that an insurance company can meet claim obligations.

Cash value: 10 points. Cash value policies grow at different rates, and we factored the liquidity of a cash value policy into our analysis. Some policies have a cash value that grows faster in the early years. Others have slower cash value growth in the early years, and policyholders must wait a significant period before having access to a sizable cash value. Whole life insurance policies with cash value that grows faster in the early years received more points.