This is the final post in my mini-series on life insurance. The previous posts in this series are:
When you buy life insurance, you want to make sure the company will still be there when your beneficiaries need the payout. Otherwise you just paid premiums for nothing.
How can you be sure it will be there? Well, you can’t. Insurance companies can and do go out of business. Nobody can predict the future. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to pick a financially strong company when you buy your life insurance.
The good news is that you don’t have to learn how to read the financial statements of insurance companies in order to evaluate the companies’ financial strength. Professionals already do that. When you compare rates on Term4Sale or any other websites, you will see the insurance companies’ ratings, for example, A+ from A.M. Best.
Like a scorecard, the rating is an indication of the company’s financial strength. Stronger companies are expected to last longer. Rating agencies are not 100% reliable, but they do a far better job than amateurs like you and me. They are as good as you can get.
There are at least four companies that rate insurance companies in the United States — A.M. Best, Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor (S&P). Ratings from A.M. Best are the most often advertised.
When you buy life insurance, an A+ (Superior) from A.M. Best is the minimum you should require. You should also look for a good rating from at least one other rating agency like Standard & Poor or Moody’s. You should insist on a rating in the top four tiers from S&P or Moody’s, which means at least an AA- from S&P or Aa3 from Moody’s.
Insurance companies usually advertise their ratings on their website. If you don’t see the ratings, contact the company and ask.
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