Best Whole Life Insurance Companies of 2025
The right life insurance policy should align with your needs and budget. If term life insurance doesn’t quite offer the long-term protection you’re seeking, whole life insurance, also known as permanent life insurance, might be the answer.
While qualifying for whole life insurance involves more steps – medical exams and consistent premium payments, for example – the advantages are significant. Your policy never expires and often includes a cash value component. The top whole life insurance options not only provide financial security for your loved ones but can also be a powerful tool in your overall financial strategy. This guide evaluates several top whole life insurance policies based on their ability to support your financial needs during your life and provide for your beneficiaries after you’re gone.
Below are some of the best whole life insurance companies for the upcoming year.
- Best for customer satisfaction: State Farm Life Insurance
- Best for seniors: Prudential Life Insurance
- Best for accelerated death benefits: Columbus Life Insurance
- Best for dividends: MassMutual Life Insurance
- Best for military: USAA Life Insurance
- Best for no medical exam: Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance
- Best for investing: Allianz Life Insurance
- Best for people with HIV: Guardian Life Insurance
Company Reviews
State Farm: Best Whole Life Insurance for Customer Satisfaction
State Farm Life Insurance frequently leads in customer satisfaction. Clients commonly bundle auto, home, and other insurance products, often securing multi-policy discounts. Although State Farm agents focus exclusively on their own company’s policies, their extensive training enables them to apply all available discounts to ensure competitive premiums.
Like many modern insurers, State Farm now offers “living benefits.” Whole life policy options include single-premium, premiums payable to age 100, and premiums payable to a pre-determined point, granting buyers the chance to discuss customized benefits with a licensed agent.
Prudential: Best Whole Life Insurance for Seniors
Prudential Life Insurance is well-regarded for its strong financial stability, a characteristic that is reflected across its many insurance offerings. The Prudential VUL Protector, and similar Pruco Life of New Jersey plans, offer specialized life insurance planning for seniors. These policies feature fixed premiums and a lower-risk profile, which helps minimize potential losses.
Coverage is specifically tailored for senior applicants. Because the investments are less aggressive, policyholders won’t see the high gains associated with other investment plans.
Columbus Life: Best Whole Life Insurance for Accelerated Death Benefits
Columbus Life Insurance remains a major player in the overall life insurance marketplace. Accelerated death benefits, known as living benefits, are now a common feature of insurance policies, but Columbus Life remains on the forefront. Buyers can draw funds for immediate medical bills as well as other expenses. The lien method is used to easily show the impact of withdrawals.
Columbus Life enables term life insurance policies to be converted by those that qualify.
MassMutual: Best Whole Life Insurance for Dividends
MassMutual Life Insurance offers whole life insurance along with term and universal life options. A significant advantage of whole life policies is the cash value that accumulates over time, which can be borrowed against for a variety of financial goals, such as college funding or retirement income. Policyholders may also receive dividends, though these are not guaranteed. MassMutual has consistently paid its policyholders since 1869 and anticipates distributing $2.2 billion in dividends in 2024.
USAA Life Insurance: Best Whole Life Insurance for Military Members
USAA Life Insurance provides $400,000 in coverage, offered with the Servicemember’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) policy and available military personnel and reservists. USAA specializes in serving active-duty military members and provides additional life insurance choices for veterans. Applicants will undergo a medical exam.
Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance: Best Whole Life Insurance for No Medical Exam
Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance is well-known for its financial stability and provides various plans, including no-exam life insurance options. Some policies are as low as $2,000 for applicants between 50 and 75. Life insurance policies go up to $25,000.
Allianz Life Insurance: Best Whole Life Insurance for Investing
Allianz Life Insurance provides plans with high-value for tax-free payouts, and robust investment options, with some estimates suggesting a possible income increase of up to 20%. Furthermore, buyers can customize their life insurance plans with additional riders. Allianz is among the few companies offering life insurance policies for foreign nationals with H-1B visas.
Guardian Life Insurance: Best Whole Life Insurance for People with HIV
Guardian Life Insurance provides unique plans for high-risk groups, including people with HIV. Qualified applicants should be between 20 and 60 years old and in good health, and must be on antiretroviral therapy for a minimum of two years with positive lab results. Applicants cannot have AIDS-defining illnesses because of its careful underwriting process.
Types of Whole Life Insurance
The following are examples of the types of whole life insurance:
- Non-Participating Whole Life: This is the typical option for whole life insurance. It comes with fixed premiums and death benefits and has a predictable cash value growth trajectory.
- Participating Whole Life: This policy requires more active involvement from the policyholder. The accumulated cash value can be used for numerous purposes, such as earning dividends to increase your death benefit or offsetting premiums. These are often more expensive and more complex to manage.
- Limited-Pay Whole Life: Traditional whole life insurance has you pay payments until you die, but limited-pay has you pay for a specific period, like 10, 20, or 30 years. While you have ended your payments, the policy remains active. However, you will be tasked with higher premiums.
How to Choose a Whole Life Insurance Policy
When choosing a whole life insurance policy, consider the following:
- Policy Options: Find a company that offers the type of whole life policy that align with your objectives. Examine the riders offered, as these are important for reaching your goals.
- Cash Value Growth: Examine how your cash value accumulates and what you can do with it. Can you use the cash value to pay off your premium, take out a loan, or simply withdraw it?
- Dividend Payouts: Whole life policyholders can receive dividends from their insurance company depending on how well the company does. While not guaranteed, bigger providers have issued payouts since their forming.
- Obtain Quotes: Get as many quotes as possible to determine the policy that is right for you.
- Customer service: Make sure to research customer service team for ease of payouts.
- Work with an expert: Reach out to a trusted life insurance agent.
Why You Should Trust Us
Our reviews are centered on several crucial factors:
- Price: We look at affordability.
- Coverage: How much coverage can you qualify for?
- Performance: What kind of gains can you expect?
- Payouts: We examine the claims process, average processing time, and payment rate.
Evelyn He, Compliance and Operations Associate, Business Insider
