Penn Mutual Life Insurance 2022

	Penn Mutual	Guardian Life Insurance	Mutual of Omaha
Types of Coverage	Whole, term, universal, indexed universal, variable universal	Whole, term, universal,  variable universal	Term, universal, indexed universal, variable universal, final expense
Dividends for 2022	$123 million	$1.13 billion	Not applicable
Online Application	No	No	Yes, for guaranteed issue whole life
AM Best Rating	A+	A++	A+
Price for Term Policies	Very good	Average	Average
NAIC Complaint Index (averaged over 3 years)	0.135	0.110	1.067

Policies Available

Penn Mutual offers a wide range of insurance policies, which are described below, and most of its life insurance products are eligible for no-med-exam underwriting for up to $7.5 million in coverage.

Term Life

Term life insurance pays a benefit to designated beneficiaries if you die within a specified period of time (e.g., 15 or 30 years). It offers coverage at a fixed premium rate but does not earn cash value and expires at the end of the designated term. Penn Mutual offers the following term policies:

Guaranteed Convertible Term: These policies offer short-term protection in 10-, 15-, 20-, and 30-year terms with an option to convert to permanent coverage before the age of 70, or for the first 20 years of a 30-year term.

Protection Non-Convertible Term: As its name suggests, this plan offers terms of 10, 15, 20, and 30 years without the option to convert to permanent coverage. These are Penn Mutual’s most affordable term policies.

One-Year Term: This policy renews annually at a higher rate each year. But you can convert it up to age 84 to any Penn Mutual permanent product.

Whole Life

Whole life insurance pays a benefit to beneficiaries when the policyholder dies. It is guaranteed to remain in place for the insured’s entire lifetime if the premiums are paid. Over time, the policy builds cash value, which the insured can borrow against or withdraw from if necessary. Here are Penn Mutual’s whole life offerings:

Guaranteed Whole Life II: This policy gives death benefit protection to age 121 with locked-in premiums. Policies can be opened from birth to age 85 inclusive, with the option to pay off the premiums early, so you can avoid paying them during retirement. Payment periods are up to every five years until age 100. The policy can be customized with a host of available riders.

Survivorship Whole Life: This whole life insurance policy covers two people (for example, spouses or business partners), and transfers to the surviving person insured after the death of the first. It features a 10-year payment plan, an option to spread out premium payments until age 100 of the surviving insured, and a guaranteed death benefit to age 121 of the surviving insured.

Universal Life

Universal life (UL) insurance is a permanent life insurance policy that, like whole life, has a cash value. It grows according to an interest rate that’s determined by the insurer, and often has a contractually guaranteed low-end rate. UL policies are more flexible than whole life; the policyholder can vary the amount of the death benefit or the premium payment as long as certain other conditions are met. However, in some cases, premiums may need to be increased in the policy’s later years to continue coverage. 

Penn Mutual offers the following UL policies:

Guaranteed Protection UL: This plan offers lifetime death benefits at a competitive price and has no-lapse guarantees until age 121. It also features the ability to change the payment approach at any time. A chronic illness accelerated death benefit is automatically included at issue.

Protection UL: A lower-cost option than Guaranteed Protection UL, this policy offers no-lapse coverage until age 100 and favorable premium and coverage guarantees after age 90. Premium and death benefit flexibility, plus the ability to skip a premium payment and catch up if the policy has sufficient cash value, are other components of the plan. A no-cost chronic illness accelerated death benefit rider is included at time of issue.

Variable Life Insurance

Variable universal life (VUL) insurance is a type of permanent coverage that lets you invest the policy’s cash value in the stock market via subaccounts, which are like mutual funds. It’s considered the riskiest type of life insurance since the cash value can lose money if investments perform poorly. For this reason, the policy is more likely to lapse, relative to other types of permanent coverage.

Diversified Advantage Variable Universal Life (VUL): This policy offers income accumulation potential through variable accounts but also gives you the option to tie cash value gains to indexed accounts, which aren’t directly invested in the market. This is a unique offering in that it combines the features of a VUL policy and an IUL policy into one.

Protection VUL: Protection Variable Universal Life offers guaranteed lifetime protection via a no-lapse guarantee rider that is automatically included at no extra cost. Lower-cost investment options are available. The policy does not offer indexed accounts like the Diversified Advantage VUL.

Indexed Universal Life Insurance

Indexed universal life (IUL) insurance policies are designed to find a happy medium between the high-risk nature of VUL policies and the relative predictability and low-risk nature of UL and whole life policies. A common misconception is that the cash value in these policies is invested in a market index, like the S&P 500. But the cash value isn’t directly invested; rather, it’s credited gains (but not losses) based on the performance of the index it’s tied to. 

Penn Mutual offers two IUL policies:

Accumulation Builder Flex Indexed Universal Life (IUL) : When a universal life policy is pegged to a financial indicator (e.g., a stock, bond, or interest rate), it is said to be indexed universal life insurance. This policy from Penn Mutual is tied to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. It features five indexed account options, including a high-capped and uncapped option, plus a fixed account. Its guaranteed minimum floor is 1%.

Survivorship Plus Select IUL: This policy provides coverage for two people and benefits to beneficiaries when the last insured person dies. This policy is tied to the S&P 500 and/or the S&P Global Broad Market index. Five indexed account options are available. The plan features a 1% floor and guaranteed policy enhancement at age 51 or year 11 of the policy, whichever comes later. It includes a standard 20-year no-lapse guarantee and up to 13 riders to enhance value, including an extended no-lapse rider.

Available Riders

Riders are provisions in an insurance policy that extend protection or provide additional coverage to a plan. While most riders are elective and require an additional payment on top of the regular premium, some are offered free of charge depending on the policy type, such as Penn Mutual’s Chronic Illness Accelerated Benefit.

Several of Penn Mutual’s riders are described below:

Guaranteed Increase Option

Penn Mutual’s guaranteed insurability rider allows the policyholder to increase coverage without taking a medical exam. The rider is available to be exercised at ages 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43 and 46; or if you get married or have a child (including legal adoption). You must be 40 or younger to add this rider.

Children’s Term Insurance Rider

This rider pays a benefit up to $25,000 upon the death of a child of a policyholder. It can be added for children up to age 17, and coverage stays in force until age 23. There is only one charge applied regardless of how many children you have. Each child can convert this term coverage to permanent life insurance on the policy anniversary nearest their 23rd birthday. 

Disability Waiver of Premium Rider

Penn Mutual offers more than one waiver of premium rider for disability. Each waives premium charges if you become disabled, provided a four-month waiting period is met. 

Accelerated Death Benefit (Terminal Illness Rider)

Penn Mutual’s terminal illness rider is triggered when policyholders have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and have 12 months or less to live. The amount is paid as a lump sum and cannot exceed 50% of the face amount of the policy or $250,000, whichever is less. Some Penn Mutual policies offer this rider at no additional cost.

Chronic Illness Accelerated Benefit

Similar to but distinct from the terminal illness benefit, the chronic illness benefit allows policyholders diagnosed with a long-term, chronic illness to access part of their death benefit while still living, regardless of their life expectancy. It’s triggered if you can’t perform at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) or suffer a severe cognitive impairment for at least 90 days. Most Penn Mutual permanent policies automatically include this benefit.

Accidental Death Benefit Rider

Not to be confused with an accelerated death benefit, the accidental death benefit rider extends life insurance benefits to include an extra lump-sum amount if death of the insured is the direct result of an accident. The payment is determined by the amount of the policy’s coverage and the rider.

Customer Service

The Penn Mutual website may be accessed any time at pennmutual.com. A client service hotline (800-523-0650) is available Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time. Customers can contact its support team 24 hours a day at [email protected]. Policyholders are able to manage their accounts or file claims online. 

Price

Penn Mutual offers some very affordable term policies. In our review of quotes from 32 life insurance companies, for males and females in excellent health, across three different age groups, Penn Mutual ranked fourth for cheapest term coverage for each age group and overall. It’s important to note, however, that of Penn Mutual’s two available term policies, its nonconvertible policies are the ones that have the cheapest coverage. Convertible policies may cost more.

Who Is Penn Mutual Best For?

If you don’t mind getting in touch with an agent for a quote and policy information, Penn Mutual is a solid choice to consider. Its wide range of products, policy perks, and no-exam options make it suitable for a wide swath of applicants. Most notable are its long history of dividend payments and ultra high-coverage no-medical-exam life insurance. In other words, if you want a multi-million-dollar dividend-paying policy and would prefer to avoid an exam, Penn Mutual could be the company for you. 

At the other end of the spectrum, there are also a lot of reasons to love its term policies, including long-lasting conversion options, the ability to convert to any available permanent product, and the price. 

But if you just can’t stomach a company that isn’t willing to provide policy details or a term quote on its consumer-facing website, you may want to check out our list of the best term life insurance companies to find those features.

Our Methodology: How We Life Insurance Carriers

We designed a comprehensive ranking methodology based on consumer priorities and life insurance company fundamentals to rank more than 90 insurers across five general categories: financial stability, customer satisfaction, product and feature variety, the overall buying experience, and cost.

In order to do this, we collected over 5,000 data points and scored each company based on 55 metrics. We grouped metrics by category to see how insurers performed in each; we then weighted category scores to determine how companies performed overall.

To learn more, read our full Life Insurance Methodology.