New York Life Insurance Review | 2024 (2024)

New York Life has been insuring Americans for more than 175 years and is one of the most recognizable insurance providers in the U.S. The company maintains a stellar financial strength rating with each major credit rating agency, including an A++ rating from AM Best and an A++ rating from Standard & Poors. These are the highest possible financial strength ratings, showing that NYL is well positioned to pay out death benefits and disability payouts.

Offering many popular life insurance products with different plans and riders for each, New York Life is ideal for people who have complex needs and who may require a consultation with an insurance expert to find the right policy. It’s headquartered in New York City but serves the entire U.S.

The company isn’t an insurer that focuses on online quotes or five-minute evaluations. Instead, it offers customizable policies tailored to each policyholder. While this may not be the perfect choice for those looking for quick coverage, it can be ideal for people who want a more personalized buying experience.

While some life insurance providers specialize in one or two policy types, New York Life has the resources and experience to offer four different policies. This makes it one of the best life insurance companies in terms of variety. Current offerings include term life, whole life, universal life and variable universal life insurance policies.

Life insurance can achieve objectives beyond providing a death benefit to surviving family members. It has tax advantages and may include a savings or investing component if you’re shopping beyond term life insurance policies. A New York Life policy can also come with a range of add-ons that customize your coverage.

In the next sections, we’ll give details on each of New York Life’s major policy types, who they best suit and how the policies differ from the competition.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is the most popular and straightforward life insurance coverage. Term life policies have a set duration of coverage (the policy term), with premium payments rising as the term goes on. Most insurers offer a maximum 30-year term, which will come with higher premiums than the standard 10-year term. If the policyholder dies during the term, beneficiaries receive a cash death benefit.

New York Life has three options for term coverage, but if the term policy ends, the company can convert some policies into a whole life policy:

• Million Plus Level Term 10: This policy gives coverage of more than $1 million for a 10-year term. Policyholders can convert this type of policy to a permanent policy within the first five years if a permanent coverage makes more sense.
• Level Premium Convertible Term 10-20: This is a traditional term policy with locked-in coverage amounts for either 10 or 20 years. After the initial term ends, premiums escalate annually.
• Yearly Convertible Term: This policy has premiums that start low but increase year-to-year.

New York Life offers a few optional riders to supplement its term life policies. These include:

• A spouse’s paid-up insurance purchase option, which allows your spouse to use the proceeds from your policy to get paid-up life insurance without a medical exam.
• A disability insurance rider, which covers your premiums if you become disabled.
• A living benefits rider, which lets you use a portion of your death benefit ahead of time for medical treatment if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Read more: Top recommended term life insurance policies

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance policies are the most popular permanent coverage options, providing a savings vehicle along with the cash value of the policy. The savings aspect allows the policy to increase in value over time.

New York Life has two whole life options. A perk of whole life policies is the opportunity to earn an annual dividend. And while dividends aren’t guaranteed, New York Life has paid a dividend to policyholders every year since 1854.

Whole life policies from New York Life can be traditional policies with set monthly premiums or custom policies in which you set your payment duration. With a custom policy, you can pay for the entirety of your policy within a set time. You can pay it off in as little as five years by accelerating your payment amounts.

As with term policies, you can supplement New York Life’s whole life coverage with rider options. The same disability and living benefits rider options apply, as do riders that cover the ability to add more coverage, chronic care coverage and accidental death insurance.

Read more: Top recommended whole life insurance policies

Universal Life Insurance

Think of universal life coverage as an in-between point for term and whole life policies. You can get longer coverage than a term policy and at a lower cost than a whole life policy. That’s because universal coverage doesn’t build cash value as quickly. If you just want to make sure your family is covered in the long run, a universal life policy might be the solution.

Similar to whole life options, New York Life’s universal coverage comes with a standard option and a custom option. You can customize the standard universal life policy, which will accumulate cash value over time. The custom option is more similar to a term policy, except that the end date will vary by policyholder preference. It won’t accumulate cash value, but you will be able to set a premium and be guaranteed a death benefit for as long as you choose.

With universal policies, most of the riders focus on death benefits and value in relation to the policy face value and/or cash value. There is also a money-back option, which reimburses you a percentage of your premium if you cancel your coverage.

Variable Universal Life Insurance

Combining investing with life insurance, a variable universal life policy holds advantages for people who are not only looking to provide security to their loved ones but also want to grow their wealth and add a different product to their portfolio. Common investments include mutual funds, annuities and government-backed bonds.

While some life insurance providers require policyholders to take minimum annual distributions, New York Life does not. This means your policy can grow in value until you need it. Gains in the market grow until you withdraw them — and beneficiaries don’t have to pay taxes when they receive cash benefits.

Because this is an investment and a life insurance policy, it does carry a risk of loss. Anyone considering a variable policy should be comfortable with their ability to invest and have trust in their policy provider or financial advisor.

One of the most important considerations when shopping for life insurance is the monthly premium amount. While it’s important to have sufficient coverage, it’s possible to over-insure yourself and cut into your normal financial planning.

New York Life has wide variability in pricing for its policies and riders. It doesn’t provide quotes online, which makes the shopping process with New York Life longer than with other insurers. New York Life forgoes an online shopping tool because its policies are so customizable. In addition, its policies are more expensive than online-only competitors.

Cost of Term Life Insurance

New York Life forgoes an online shopping tool, so you are not able to get a quote online.

When you meet with a New York Life agent, you can select your ideal coverage amount and term, usually one that coincides with a major life event like a mortgage payoff. Your quote will depend on the policy amount and term, plus your age, health status, income and other life factors.

Cost of Permanent Life Insurance

Permanent life insurance provides an upgrade in value, but premiums are higher, too. Premium rates are usually locked in for life, so you can plan around it and be assured your loved ones will receive a death benefit.

With that assurance comes more cost, and an article featured on the NYL website shows a whole life policy for a 35-year-old male with no riders and a coverage amount of $250,000 will cost roughly $275 a month. While permanent life insurance policies are expensive, to some buyers, the savings component of the policy makes up for the higher price.

New York Life mixed customer satisfaction, despite its long history in the insurance industry. On the Better Business Bureau, reviews of New York Life insurance policies are largely negative. While customers who recommend New York Life detailed an easy buying process and kind representatives, some customers reported a lack of communication with the insurer’s agents.

“Great work. Easy to use their online services. Find the right agent for you.” — Ewan K., Trustpilot

“They do a great job, my agent is always on top of it. He reviews my policy yearly, and he saved me a lot of tax money by opening [an] IRA which put me in the lower tax bracket. Didn’t even know that was a thing.” — “NewLordsAct again,” Trustpilot

“New York Life does everything within their power NOT to pay your claim, that is how they make their money. Getting hold of a representative takes hours on hold and the questions are usually quite simple, like ‘has my doctor sent in the paperwork for my claim’ or ‘when will my claim be considered.’ It’s a nightmare and it’s supposed to be…” — John M., BBB

“I agree, they are useless. Inept people and [the management] never returns calls. Totally give the run around and pass the buck…” — Rachel G., BBB

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If you are looking for a stable insurance company, New York Life’s more than 175 years of experience and expert insurance agents provide a wealth of security and expertise for your life insurance policy.

With options for term life, whole life, universal life and variable universal life policies and extensive rider options, you can build a solid policy for your needs with New York Life. While it likely won’t be the choice for the most cost-conscious customers or people who prefer an online-only experience, New York Life offers great personalized long-term planning solutions.

Methodology: Our System for Rating Life Insurance Companies

Our team researches and ranks life insurance companies using an in-depth scoring system that considers the factors most important to consumers like you. Our analysis includes a comprehensive review of each provider we feature based on available coverage, customizability, availability, customer service and company reputation. Here are the factors we take into consideration when rating life insurance providers:

• Brand trust (40%): Life insurance payouts can exceed $100,000 or more, which makes choosing a reputable and trustworthy insurance provider important. To assess brand trust, we use J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction surveys, AM Best credit rating scores and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index. The higher a company scores in each area, the more points it receives.
• Coverage (33%): The more policy options a life insurance company offers, the more opportunities you have to obtain the right coverage for your specific needs. For this reason, we give companies the most points for offering multiple types of life insurance, including various term, permanent and no-exam options.
• Availability and ease of use (19%): Since life insurance coverage options can be complex, we consider the ways a customer can reach a company — and how easy communication is. For this category, we research how many communication channels a company offers for general customer support, claims processing and the application process. Companies earn the most points for offering various ways to interact with an agent, both in-person and online.
• Riders (8%): Companies offering various life insurance riders or endorsem*nts allow policyholders to better customize their coverage. In this category, we determine how many riders a company offers and award the most points to providers with more than 10 options.