Best Life Insurance Companies: Top Term and Whole Life Insurers in 2022

Best term life insurance companies

How does term life insurance work?
A term policy will have a designated length, after which the policy will expire and cease to exist. If you were to pass away during the policy’s term, your beneficiaries would receive the full policy value.

Below we have provided our rankings of the best term life insurance companies for 2022. We suggest evaluating the complete list of rankings since the best life insurance company for you may change.

A factor such as pricing may be the most important feature of your financial decision-making process and could change your own best life insurance company rankings.

Fortunately, term life insurance is the simplest and often cheapest life insurance available to purchase.

Rank

Company

AM Best

NAIC complaint index

Annual cost

1Massachusetts MutualA++0.14$1242Lincoln FinancialA+0.26$1263John HancockA+0.40$1154New York LifeA++0.24$1375Protective LifeA+0.79$1106Northwestern MutualA++0.07$1657Principal FinancialA+0.08$1428Brighthouse FinancialA0.89$1189Guardian LifeA++0.06$16210Minnesota LifeA+0.29$147

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Best online life insurance companies

Until recently, you could get life insurance rates online, but if you wanted to purchase a policy, you had to complete forms and speak to an agent offline. Now, a number of startups allow you to handle the entire application process online, with near-immediate approval or rejection in many cases.

Haven LifeApply Now

Consider this if you want to buy life insurance entirely online from a trusted company with the best rates.

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Insurer details

  • Editor’s rating:

  • J.D. Power score (MassMutual): 782
  • AM Best rating (MassMutual): A++ (Superior)
  • Payment options: credit card, electronic funds transfer (EFT), direct bill
  • Unique value: Fast approvals for coverage and competitive rates for many shoppers.

Read the full review.

Haven Life Insurance provides the best term life insurance quotes for a wide variety of customer profiles and allows you to complete the entire quote and application online.

You can even pay for your policy with a credit card, which is rare for life insurance. In addition, Haven Life offers some of the fastest approvals. Although some policies are fully underwritten with a medical exam, many customers will get a same-day determination.

Term policies can be purchased from Haven Life for periods ranging from 10 years to 30 years, and the company offers up to $2 million in coverage. Though Haven Life’s set of optional features, also known as riders, is somewhat limited, it has all the standards you’d expect from an insurer, such as an

accelerated death benefit rider

and a

waiver of premium rider

.

And, while Haven Life is a relatively new insurer, the company is backed by MassMutual (our pick for overall best term life insurer), meaning you can rest assured that the company will be there when needed.

Ladder LifeApply Now

Consider this if you want to purchase life insurance online and expect your needs to change over time.

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Insurer details

  • Editor’s rating:

  • J.D. Power score: Not rated
  • AM Best rating (Fidelity Security): A (Excellent)
  • Payment options: electronic funds transfer (EFT), direct bill
  • Unique value: Quick coverage that’s customizable over time.

Read the full review.

The amount of life insurance you need changes over time — unlike most insurers, Ladder Life Insurance allows you to easily increase or decrease your policy limits. This means you don’t have to pay for unnecessary coverage now if you expect your financial situation to change later — for example, when you have kids or buy a house.

Though Ladder Life’s rates aren’t the lowest, the company is quite competitive, often with below-average premiums. Its term life policies can be purchased for periods of 10 to 30 years, and Ladder lets you purchase up to $8 million in coverage. This is the highest coverage limit we came across for a completely online insurer.