Weiss' Top 3 Insurers You Can Trust With Your Family's Future

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Parents with small children who want to secure their financial futures. Husbands and wives looking to protect their spouses from ruin in the event of a catastrophe. Many Americans use life insurance to prepare for the unexpected.

But a policy won’t do your family any good if your insurer isn’t around to pay it off! So, naturally, you only want to deal with the best and most-secure company you can find.

Weiss Ratings understands this. And that's why we compiled a list of our top three life insurance companies.

The list is based on our proprietary screener technology. We analyzed companies that had a Weiss Safety Rating of at least “B” over the past five years, and that were licensed in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The three insurers at the top of our resulting list were:

Our first pick rates "excellent" in terms of liquidity, overall stability, operational trends and risk diversification.

1. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America (TIAA, Rated "A+"). This New York City-based life insurance company has been rated an "A+" since 2013. That's outstanding! It received a rating of "Excellent" in the subcategories of capitalization, profitability, liquidity and stability.

TIAA also received a "Good" score for investment safety, with its holdings consisting of 23.8% collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and structured securities … 42.5% of investment-grade bonds … 10.5% of mortgages in good standing … and 11.2% in investments in affiliates.

TIAA had $557 million in net income just last quarter, and $36.91 billion in capital.

The company's website is https://www.tiaa.org. Or you can reach a representative at (212) 490-9000.

2. New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC, Rated "A-"). New York Life has been rated an "A-" by Weiss Ratings since 2013, and the company currently has an "Excellent" rating in the categories of capitalization and profitability. It also has "Good" levels of liquidity, stability and investment safety.

NYLIC's holdings are broken out as follows: 17.4% in CMOs and structured securities … 45.6% in investment-grade bonds … 10.5% in mortgages in good standing … and 11.1% invested in their affiliates. They held $20.2 billion in capital in Q1 and earned $592 million in net income.

These attributes make New York Life more than deserving to be on this list. The company's website is http://www.newyorklife.com. Or you can reach a representative at (212) 576-7000.

3. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MMLIC, Rated "A-"). Springfield-based MassMutual has been rated an "A-" for five years now. It currently shows "Good" levels of profitability, capitalization, liquidity, stability and investment safety.

Their investments include CMOs and structured securities, which make up 8.59% of the portfolio … investment-grade bonds, which are 43.1% … mortgages in good standing, at 13.8% … and investments in affiliates of 15.6%.

MMLIC held $15.1 billion in capital and earned net premiums of $6 billion. From everything we are seeing, MMLIC looks like a great insurance company to be on our list.

The company's website is https://www.massmutual.com. Or you can reach a representative at (413) 788-8411.

Of course, if you would like to conduct your own screen of companies in the life insurance business, click this link here. It will take you to our website, where you can enter your own search criteria to identify the safest, soundest possible insurers that do business in your area.

Best,

Gavin Magor
Director, Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings LLC financial analyst Shane Moore contributed to this report.

About the Director of Research & Ratings

Gavin Magor directs a global team of research analysts and data scientists to ensure that the 53,000+ Weiss ratings continually meet the highest standards of independence and accuracy. He oversees 10 separate mathematical models, designed to evaluate stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, banks, insurance companies and more.

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