North American Company for Life and Health insurance quickly moved up the list and into my best life insurance companies list. I put together this North American Company review to help you understand the strength of the company and why it is a great option if it offers the best rates for your life insurance needs.
History of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance
North American Company for Life and Health Insurance has been in the business of offering coverage and financial advice since 1886. The company was initially formed as North American Accident Association, and in 1890, A.E. Forest bought the company for the sum of $2,000 and was appointed as the firm’s very first general agent.
In the year 1918, North American was the first company to offer a disability insurance policy for women. Many years later, in 1981, North American entered into the brokerage marketplace, and the following year, it introduced its first universal life insurance product.
Throughout the years, the firm has grown into a large and thriving insurer. Unlike many of the other stockholder run insurance firms, North American is privately owned – and, in 2015, North American was ranked as Number 77 on the Forbes 2015 List of America’s Largest Private Companies. (This list encompasses 216 privately held firms that have annual revenues that are more than $2 billion).
This insurer prides itself on its stellar customer service, as well as its highly competitive insurance and retirement solutions. Today, North American Company for Life and Health Insurance is a part of the Sammons Financial Group, Inc. (SFG) – a company that’s member companies provide a highly diverse portfolio of products. These include annuities, life insurance, and retirement offerings.
North American Company Review
While it follows a conservative investment strategy, North American is considered to be a very strong company financially. As of December 31, 2014, the company held more than 525,000 life insurance and annuity policies, and it had more than $16 billion in assets overall. Regarding life insurance alone, the company holds more than $105 billion of coverage in force.
The company’s financial strength and stability, as well as its good reputation for paying out its policyholder claims, is reflected in its high ratings. These include the following:
- A+ (Superior) from A.M. Best. This is the second highest possible rating out of 15 total.
- A+ (Strong) from Standard & Poor’s. This is the fifth highest rating out of 22 total.
Products Offered by North American
North American Company for Life and Health Insurance offers several types of coverage products, including life insurance and annuities. In the life insurance category, North American provides the two primary types of this product, both term and permanent, as well as a life insurance calculator for each type offered directly on the company’s website that can help site visitors in determining how much a certain type and amount of coverage may cost, based on their age, gender, and state of residence.
Term Life Insurance Coverage
Term life insurance is considered to be the most basic type of life insurance that is available in the marketplace. This is because term life provides only death benefit coverage, without any cash value or savings component attached to it.
With term life insurance, coverage will last for a certain set period – or term – such as 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. There are also 1-year renewable term life insurance options available. Because there is no cash value, term life insurance is typically a more affordable option than a comparable permanent life insurance policy.
North American offers many different options for term life insurance coverage. In certain instances, for those who purchase a term life insurance policy through North American Company for Life and Health Insurance, if they have bought a policy and then later realize that they still have a need for life insurance coverage, they may be able to either renew their term plan, or depending on the policy’s rules regarding conversion, convert the plan over to a different type of policy.
If, in 10, 15, or 20 years, the policyholder is still healthy, based on the insurer’s standards, then the insured may even be able to re-qualify at a reasonable premium rate. If, however, his or her health has declined, then they may find that it is too costly to renew the plan – or, they may not be able to re-qualify for coverage at all.
As an example, the ADDvantage Term life insurance product that is offered via North American offers an insured a level premium period of either 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. There are also certain riders available that can allow the insured to design the policy to better meet individual needs for the coverage. This particular plan also have the ability to coverts over to a permanent policy if needs change in the future.
Permanent Life Insurance Coverage
Permanent life insurance offers both a death benefit and a cash value component. This can be a nice feature for the policyholder in that they can save money while at the same time knowing that they have peace of mind for their loved ones.
North American Company for Life and Health Insurance offers a variety of permanent life insurance policies, including both universal life (UL) and indexed universal life (IUL) insurance coverage.
Universal life insurance (UL) coverage is considered to be very flexible, as the policyholder can oftentimes – within certain guidelines – choose when to pay the premium, as well as how much of that premium to place into the cash portion of the policy, and how much to place within the death benefit portion. UL policies that are offered through North American include the following:
- Custom Growth CV – This policy offers an interesting bonus and a premium bonus to help with building long-term cash value for future financial needs of the policy holder. It also provides access to a portion of the policy’s death benefit in order to assist in covering the cost of a chronic or terminal illness of the policyholder.
- Custom Guarantee – The Custom Guarantee policy offers the ability for death benefit protection up to age 120 with no premiums due after the insured turns age 100. There is also access to a portion of the death benefit to help in covering the cost of an unexpected illness.
- Custom Term GUL – With the Custom Term GUL, the policyholder gets low-cost death benefit protection, along with access to cash via withdrawals and policy loans, including net zero-cost loans in policy years 11 and beyond. This plan also provides access to a portion of the death benefit for helping to cover the cost of a chronic or terminal illness.
Indexed Universal Life insurance (IUL) is a type of UL policy whereby the cash value growth is linked to an underlying market index such as the S&P 500. If the market performs well, growth can occur – however, if there is a market downturn, principal is protected. This can essentially allow for a win-win situation for the policyholder. Also, indexed universal life insurance can allow for other nice benefits, too, such as the ability to borrow the cash value on a tax-free basis to use in supplementing retirement income in the future.
The indexed universal life insurance policies that are offered via North American Company for Life and Health Insurance Company include the following:
- Builder IUL – This product offers the ability to earn interest based on the movement of an index, along with access to a portion of the death benefit to assist in covering the cost of an unexpected illness. The policyholder can also have access to the cash value via withdrawals and policy loans – including net zero-cost loans – in policy years 6 and beyond.
- Guarantee Builder IUL – This policy provides the ability to have guaranteed death benefit protection up to age 120. It also allows cash value withdrawals and policy loans, as well as access to a portion of the death benefit for unexpected illness.
- Rapid Builder IUL – The Rapid Builder IUL policy also provides access to cash value through withdrawals and policy loans, including net zero-cost loans, in policy years six and beyond, as well as access to a part of the death benefit via accelerated death benefit endorsements in order to assist in covering the cost of illness or to use for other purposes as well.
- Survivorship GIUL – The Survivorship GIUL policy provides low-cost death benefit protection for the insured. Also, it also provides the ability to insure two lives with just one single premium payment – along with all of the other features of an indexed universal life insurance plan, such as the ability to earn interest in the cash value that is based on the movement of an underlying stock market index. In addition, the policyholder can also gain access to the cash value via withdrawals and policy loans – including net zero-cost loans – in policy years six and later.
How and Where to Obtain Premium Quotes
When seeking the best cheap quotes on life insurance policies that are offered by the North American Company for Life and Health Insurance – or even for any other life insurance carrier – typically the best way to go about it is to work through a company or through an agency that has access to more than just one single life insurer. This way, you will be able to compare many different plans, and their premium prices, in order to determine which is the best one for you.
If you are ready to move forward with the purchase of a life insurance policy for the protection of the ones that you care about, we can help. We work with many of the very best life insurance carriers in the marketplace today, and we can assist you with the information that you require. When you are ready to proceed, fill out the quote tool on the side of this page.
Should you find that you still have any questions at all, please feel free to contact us. We can be reached directly by phone. Our experts will be happy to walk you through any of the concerns that you may have. Call us toll-free at 888-229-7522.
The purchase of life insurance protection is one of the most important decisions that you can ever make. In many cases, the proceeds of life insurance will determine the ongoing security of loved ones – whether that be for the payoff of large debts, ongoing income support, or even the payoff of final expenses. Having life insurance is essentially making a promise to those you care about and letting them know that you won’t be leaving them in financial hardship.
With that in mind, you want to ensure that you will have the right type and amount of insurance coverage. In addition, you should also determine that the insurance carrier that you purchase the coverage through is strong and stable financially and that it has a good reputation for paying out its policyholder claims. Otherwise, if and when the time comes for the unthinkable, you could run the risk of leaving your loved ones without the financial security that they were counting on.
