Article Treasure Cove

Size does matter, at least in the argument for choice of insurance carrier. You have already decided that the new year has begun and you will not let another day go by without life insurance on you and your wife. What now? Do you shop online for an insurance agent? Do you purchase life insurance over the phone with no medical examination?

You are confused about the options available and you seek the comfort of selecting an insurance company you have heard of most of your adult life—a big brand name life insurance behemoth such Prudential or New York Life or more recently State Farm. Depending on your concept of a comprehensive insurance company, you must review what other areas of your life also need insurance protection, and how young is your family. If you have cars, a house (or a couple) children and a private business—State Farm may be your answer, their insurance products cover: home, life, health, auto insurance and mutual fund investments. New York Life and Prudential also provide comprehensive “cradle to grave” insurance products and investments but they do not sell auto insurance. Selecting a very large insurance company like New York Life—which is America’s largest mutual life-insurance company which has it agents in every American city is a huge plus in terms of your life horizon.

If you were to change jobs and move to another state or across the nation, at least there is some continuity in service and if you need additional life insurance products or investment, or should you die—your survivors can easily locate an agent and they will help them file a claim on your death benefit. There are also many metrics to use to determine the financial strength of the large insurance company you are considering. I highly recommend visiting the website of A.M. Best, once there visit the Rating Center Home, you will be able to enter the name and read the financial ratings of your chosen insurance companies. Now let us consider “other insurance”, let us assume that one day you or your spouse open a private business of some sort, you will need business insurance, key-man insurance, a group health or group life insurance plan—all of these insurance products can be sold to you by specialists who sell nothing but that particular product—if you were to already have any agent from a large insurance company—he or she can make one phone call and connect you with the appropriate agent for an appointment. If you were to select a new insurance agency, that did not represent any of the top ten largest Life insurance carriers in the United States

You would be at a serious disadvantage in finding affordable insurance solutions because your independent life insurance agent does not have a vast array of products to cross compare coverage features and premium outlays. By default, large life insurance companies also have vast financial reserves required to pay out mass death benefits if needed. Some large life insurance companies were put to the test during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers where thousands of life insured victims died. You can rest assured that your family and beneficiaries will be taken care of if and when they file a claim on your life insurance policy with a large insurance company. A smaller life insurance company may have the misfortune of being bought out by a larger insurance company, obviously it is not your responsibility to search the daily financial news in the Wall Street Journal in order to update your contact information with the new corporate name of your life insurance policy provider. The custodian of your records is always your well informed agent and if he maintains an office with the same phone number as the one on the original business card and policy documents, then the corporate name change of the newly acquired life insurance company should not make any difference—if he was a captive agent. If he was an independent agent, you may have some continuity issues years down thee road if that agent’s independent agency were to close unsuccessfully after five years.

Where would your family follow up on your life insurance claim—with whom? Would they even remember the name of the agent and his independent insurance agency’s business address if they couldn’t locate your life insurance policy contract. These are all valid point to consider when buying an insurance agent and a life insurance policy from a large insurance company.

Tags: Finance, insurance agency, insurance companies, life insurance