Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Review

Northwestern Mutual is one of the most highly rated insurance companies in the nation. The company offers a robust range of insurance policies and pays dividends to qualified policyholders. It also ranks third in J.D. Power’s Life Insurance Study for overall customer satisfaction in 2022.

Learn more about the life insurance options available where you live. Compare life insurance policies online or call to speak with a licensed insurance agent who can help you find the best life insurance for your needs.

Interesting Information About Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance

Northwestern Mutual has been in business since 1857, and it’s the largest insurer of individual insurance policies in the United States. It’s a mutual company, which means it reports to its policyholders instead of stockholders. As such, the company often pays dividends to policyholders.

The company has a rating of A+ with the Better Business Bureau, which is the highest possible ranking for an insurer. The company is rated extremely highly in every area.

What Products and Services Does Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Provide?

Northwestern Mutual offers an extensive list of insurance plans, including policies in seven different categories. Unfortunately, the company’s business model requires speaking to an agent or advisor to go over these plans, so there isn’t extensive policy information available on their website.

That said, due to the complexity of the company’s insurance plans, it’s probably a good idea to speak to an advisor about them anyway. There are 17 total plans across their offerings, so guidance from an advisor ensures you’re able to select the best possible plan for your needs.

Northwestern Mutual’s plans fall into the following plan categories:

• Term: This policy insures you for a limited time, not your entire life.
  
  
• Single Life Insurance: This type of policy insures one life. It’s available as term, whole life and universal options.
  
  
• Second-to-Die Life Insurance: This type of policy covers two lives, but it only pays out on the second death.
  
  
• Traditional Portfolio Based: This policy is the whole life offering. It provides a death benefit and cash values and is a permanent life insurance policy.
  
  
• Traditional Portfolio-Based CompLife and Blended Whole Life Term: This category includes their CompLife policies, which offer adjustable features such as premium flexibility and death benefits.
  
  
• Variable Universal Life: This is a universal life insurance policy that also includes investment options. It’s good for people comfortable with higher risk because the investment options have the potential for losses and gains.
  
  
• Portfolio-based Universal Life: This category features a range of universal life insurance policies with flexible premiums and potential death benefits.

Term Life Policies

Northwestern Mutual offers term life policies on 10-, 20- and 80-year term plans. These plans are convertible, and some of those have level premium options. The non-level-term policies have increasing premiums. While there are options for conversion, the conversion period has specific timelines, so it’s something you’ll want to look at in more detail if you choose this plan.

Northwestern Mutual’s two level-term policies are Level Term 10 and Level Term 20. These policies offer different conversion periods depending on your needs, and they allow you to lock in a level premium rate so that your premiums don’t increase as you age.

Term conversion is available for specific terms on these policies. If you choose to convert your policy to a whole life one within the period, you’ll receive guaranteed acceptance as well as locked-in lower rates for being younger in life.

Northwestern Mutual also offers the opportunity to earn dividends on eligible term life policies.

Whole Life Policies

Northwestern Mutual offers a wide array of plans across a range of categories. These include:

• Three different whole life plans that cover you for life, with issue ages ranging from 0 to 80
• Three different CompLife plans, which is their series of term and whole life combination policies
• Five different universal plans, including three variable plans

Keep in mind, policies with investment options can be risky. And due to the lack of information about these plans on Northwestern Mutual’s website, be sure to speak to a licensed advisor with the company when looking for more information on these policies.

The Pros and Cons of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance

Pros

• One of the most highly rated insurance companies in the United States
• Offers the option to convert term to whole life with guaranteed acceptance
• Offers dividend payments on term life policies

Cons

• Information on the website is vague, and you need to call for more
• You can only purchase policies through a company agent

What Are People Saying About Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance

On the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s National Complaint Index report, Northwestern Mutual had an incredibly low complaint score of just 0.03 for 2022, far below the average complaint score of 1.0. That makes Northwestern Mutual substantially above the competition in terms of customer satisfaction.

Likewise, in J.D. Power’s Life Insurance Study, Northwestern Mutual ranks third in customer experience and satisfaction in 2022.

Who Would Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Be Good For?

Northwestern Mutual’s term life options might be particularly well-suited to younger policyholders on a budget as these can be converted to whole life policies later down the road with guaranteed acceptance. This is a big benefit to a younger crowd who can lock in rates now rather than paying higher premiums later.

That said, Northwestern Mutual offers a vast array of different policies and options. If you’re shopping for life insurance — whether it’s term, whole life or something in between — you’ll want to look into Northwestern Mutual’s offerings. The company literally offers something for everyone. With plans for every budget and policies that help build cash over time, there’s literally something for everyone.

To compare life insurance policies and life insurance companies in your area, request a free plan quote online or call to chat with a licensed insurance agent.