Savings Bank Mutual Life Insurance – Company Review

About Savings Bank Mutual Life Insurance

SBLI is known for its founder, Louis Brandeis, who established the company in 1907 and later became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Brandeis’ original mission was to establish a savings bank that hard-working families could rely on for affordable financial protection using life insurance. During the time of the company’s founding, life insurance companies were not well respected because of certain business practices and it became Brandeis’ mission to rehabilitate the image of the industry.

Under conservative leadership and a focus to do right by American families, SBLI prospered due to the support of loyal clients and has since become one of America’s most well-respected life insurance companies.

SBLI’s Financial Ratings and Outlook

It’s essential that consumers are aware of the financial ratings of any insurer they are considering doing business with. Life insurance is a long-term relationship that consists of an insurer’s promise to pay in return for a premium that you promise to pay.

Unless the company can demonstrate its ability to keep its promise, consumers should look elsewhere. The financial ratings that are published by national rating companies make it possible for each prospective client to review a company’s financial standing and make an informed decision about the company’s financial outlook in the years to follow.

Here are the ratings for Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts – SBLI:

Life Insurance Products from SBLI

Similar to competing life insurance companies, SBLI offers term life insurance and permanent life insurance. SBLI’s difference, however, is that they make it much easier for the consumer to shop for and then purchase their products. In fact, most of the SBLI policies can be purchased without a medical exam requirement (applicants really love this).

Term Life Insurance

SBLI’s Term Life Insurance is available in policy terms of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-years, all of which can be converted to permanent life insurance policies without regard to additional medical underwriting.

The issued premium for SBLI’s term life insurance is guaranteed to remain level for the term of the policy and then can be renewed annually (at attained age rates) until age 85.

Applicants age 18 to 69 are eligible to purchase face amounts from $100,000 to $50 million. Applicants age 70 to 74 are eligible for face amounts of $100,000 to $10 million but only qualify for a 10-year policy. Applicants age 18 to 60 are eligible for Accelerated Underwriting which means there is a good possibility of no medical exam requirement as long as the face amount requested is $500,000 or lower.

Here are actual rates for a $250,000 20-year policy for a very healthy male and female non-smoker:

• Accelerated Death Benefit – This rider (available at no additional charge) provides for the insurance company to advance up to $250,000 to an insured who is diagnosed with a terminal illness which will result in the insured’s death within a year. This rider is available with the SBLI Flex Whole Life as well.
• Children’s Level Term – The children’s term rider allows the policyholder to insure all natural and adopted dependent unmarried children between the ages of 15 days and 23 years old. The Children’s Level Term rider can be converted to permanent life insurance from SBLI for up to five times the amount of the rider limit. This rider is available with the SBLI Flex Whole Life as well.
• Accidental Death Benefit – This rider provides for the insurer to pay the face amount of the rider plus the policy death benefit if the insured’s death is the result of an accident. This rider is available with the SBLI Flex Whole Life as well.
• Waiver of Premium – The waiver of premium rider provides for the insurance company to waive all premiums if the insured becomes totally disabled and cannot work. This rider is available with the SBLI Flex Whole Life as well.

SBLI Flex Whole Life Insurance

Although much costlier than term insurance, whole life insurance continues to be a popular choice for individuals and families because of the benefits and guarantees provided by whole life insurance.

• Your life insurance coverage is guaranteed to never expire
• Your premiums will remain level and cannot be increased by the insurer
• Your policy will accumulate cash value over time that can be accessed by the insured via policy loans or withdrawals.

One of the more popular elements of SBLI’s Whole Life policy is the dividends that policyholders can earn each year because the policy is considered a participating policy. Since SBLI is a mutual company, each year policyholders with whole life insurance have the opportunity to increase their policy’s value through the payment of dividends.

These dividends can be placed in the cash value account to accumulate interest, used to reduce future premium payments, purchase paid-up additional insurance, or taken as cash by the policyholder. Although dividends are not guaranteed every year, SBLI has a strong track record of distributing them each year.

Finally, it’s important to note that SBLI offers a variety of payment plans for its whole life insurance. Applicants can elect to pay continuously over their lifetime, elect a single premium policy, or choose payment plans of 10, 15, or 20 years, or they can elect to have the policy completely paid for at age 65.

All of the riders that are listed for SBLI’s Term Life Insurance can also be used for the Flex Whole Life policy plus a few additional riders. Please speak with one of our insurance professionals for more information regarding insurance riders.