When you’re going through the process of creating a financial plan, there is a good chance that you may need to include life insurance.
This is because life insurance proceeds can be used by survivors for many different things, such as paying off debts, and/or continuing to pay their everyday living expenses.
Having these funds available can also help those you care about to avoid financial hardship – at an already difficult time in their lives.
Nationwide Life Insurance Review
Before you purchase a life insurance policy, there are some items that are important to keep in mind, such as ensuring that you are going with the right type of coverage, as well as the proper amount of death benefit protection.
The History of Nationwide Life Insurance Company
Nationwide considers itself to be much more than just another large company that sells insurance and financial products. There are several ways they stand out from other big companies like Protective.
Rather, this company is in the business of solving its customers’ problems.
The company has more than 92 years in the insurance and financial services industry, starting out as a small mutual auto insurer, and today growing into one of the largest insurance and financial services entities in the world.
In the company’s early days, it worked closely with Farm Bureaus that sponsored Nationwide. (There are still nine Farm Bureaus that continue to promote Nationwide now). In fact, the original company name was The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.
From its headquarters in the state of Ohio, the company began to expand over time, initially moving into West Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, Vermont, and Maryland.
Throughout the years, the company grew and expanded via mergers and acquisitions, as well as additional product sales. And, by 1997, Nationwide Financial became a publicly traded company. Just a short decade later, Nationwide Bank opened to the public.
Nationwide Life Insurance Company Review
Today, Nationwide has more than $158 billion in statutory assets. Nationwide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company – which is still essentially owned by its policyholders.
The company is also ranked on the Fortune 100 list – and it offers a wide range of products and services to its customers, including life and commercial insurance, property and casualty insurance lines, and investments such as annuities and mutual funds.
The company also makes a charitable donation and volunteerism high on its priority list, providing more than $127 million to the United Way, and supporting the American Red Cross with blood donations.
Over the past several years, Nationwide has run a popular advertising campaign, often featuring celebrities such as Peyton Manning, with the memorable jingle, “Nationwide is on your side.”
Nationwide Financial Scores
Because of its strong and stable financial status, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, and Nationwide Life Insurance Company (as well as Nationwide Life and Annuity Company) all received great ratings from the rating agencies.
All of these company subsidiaries are rated (as of April 2016) as a(n):
- A+ from A.M. Best Company
- A+ from Standard & Poor’s
- A1 from Moody’s
- A+ from Better Business Bureau
Life Insurance Products Offered By Nationwide
Nationwide offers an assortment of life insurance coverage options to choose from – which can be extremely helpful for its clients in matching up their protection needs with available offerings.
These options include:
- Term Life Insurance
- Whole Life Insurance
- Universal Life Insurance
- Variable Life Insurance
Term life insurance offers basically one thing: death benefit protection only.
Term life insurance is considered to be the most basic, simple life insurance alternative in the marketplace. Due to its basic structure, term life is also very affordable – particularly for those who are in good shape at the time they apply for a policy.
As its name implies, term life insurance is purchased for a certain time period, or term, such as ten years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, or even for 30 years. Should the insured die while a term life insurance policy is in force, a named beneficiary (or beneficiaries) will receive a death benefit that is free of income taxation.
Nationwide offers the Nationwide YourLife Guaranteed Level term life insurance policy. If you decide that you want to have permanent life insurance coverage in the future, you have an option to convert to this type of policy without having to prove evidence of insurability.
There are also several different riders that are available to add to the Nationwide YourLife Guaranteed Level term life insurance plan. These include the following:
- Accelerated Death Benefit Rider- The Accelerated Death Benefit Rider allows the policyholder to get a cash advance on the death benefit when he/she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, such as cancer. This money may be used to pay for medical expenses, as well as for any other need that the policyholder sees fit. When the insured passes away, the policy beneficiary (or beneficiaries) will receive any funds that are remaining.
- Premium Waiver Rider- If the insured becomes disabled, then a Premium Waiver Rider will credit a monthly premium to the policy after a six-month waiting period. (It is important to note that there is a maximum premium amount that the Premium Waiver rider will pay. This amount is based on the amount of the insurance policy. Also, the rider may end when the policy expires, or when the insured reaches a certain age.)
- Children’s Term Insurance Rider- The Children’s Term Rider pays a life insurance death benefit if any of the insured’s children pass away. This includes biological children of the insured, as well as step-children and legally adopted children who are at least 15 days old and are named in the policy application. Children who are adopted after the policy has been issued will also be covered by this protection.
- Spouse Rider- The Spouse Rider provides level term life insurance on the spouse of the insured. This rider can be converted over to its whole life insurance policy at certain times or when the insured’s spouse reaches a certain age.
Nationwide’s permanent life insurance policy options include whole life, universal life, and variable life. Whole life is the most common type of permanent life insurance that is available in the market.
With this type of policy, the amount of the premium payment will stay the same throughout the lifetime of the plan, and the amount of the death benefit will not increase.
Nationwide offers the Nationwide YourLife WL whole life insurance policy. There are two premium payment options for this plan. These include the following:
- WL 100- With the WL 100 premium payment option, the premiums will remain the same until the insured reaches age 100. At that time, no more premiums will be due.
- 20 Pay WL- With the 20 Pay WL, the premiums will be the same for 20 years. At that point, the policy is considered to be paid up, and premiums are no longer required.
Nationwide’s universal life insurance plans also offer death benefit coverage, as well as cash value.
Nationwide offers a wide array of regular and indexed universal life insurance policy options, such as the:
- Nationwide YourLife Indexed UL Accumulator
- Nationwide YourLife Indexed UL Protector
- Nationwide YourLife Indexed UL
- Nationwide YourLife SUL ll
- Nationwide YourLife Current Assumption UL
- Nationwide YourLife No-Lapse Guarantee UL
There are also several variable universal life insurance policy options offered through Nationwide. With this type of coverage, you will be protected with a death benefit. The cash value component’s return is based on the performance of underlying equities – typically mutual funds.
The variable universal life insurance available through Nationwide Life include the following:
- Nationwide YourLife Protection VUL
- Nationwide YourLife Accumulation VUL
- Nationwide YourLife Survivorship VUL
Other Products and Services from Nationwide
The company also has a myriad of other coverage and accumulation products as well. These include:
- Auto Insurance
- Homeowners Insurance
- Motorcycle Insurance
- Renters Insurance
- Condo Insurance
- Small Business Insurance
- Identity Theft Coverage
- Travel Insurance
- Personal Umbrella Insurance
- Pet Insurance
- Accident Medical Insurance
- Farm Insurance
- Wedding Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Legal Plans
- Retirement Annuities
- Mutual Funds
- Retirement Plans (including 401k, 403b, and 457 plans)
- Auto Loans
- Checking Accounts
- Mortgage Loans
- Savings Accounts
- Home Equity Lines of Credit
- CDs
- Credit Cards
Final Thoughts on Nationwide
If you still have questions, please feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, especially as it pertains to the life insurance products from Nationwide.
We’re here to help you find the best-suited, cheapest option which fully meets your needs.
