Insurance Company Listings and Ratings Guide for Insurance Agents and Brokers

Here is the most recent revised version of the best insurance company lists. These are compiled in a top 100 ratings guide format. The listings are in alphabetical order to help insurance agents and brokers locate an insurer. Find out how your opinion compares. How can you rate an insurance company? I’ll briefly mention the various ways, I’ll show you the method I use for this article and why.

BY NUMBER OF AGENTS

This ratings guide listing method evaluates the insurer against the large number of insurance agents and brokers currently licensed and under contract. with carrier I feel this review is useless for a multitude of reasons. First, there are a number of professional health and life insurance agencies that have thousands of representatives. However, of these, up to 80% of total agents are relatively new to trying to establish credibility in the industry. Four years from now, only 6% of many insurance company agencies will maintain enough production to remain career representatives.

Additionally, my findings uncover the inaccuracy of this method due to the license renewal process that state insurance departments impose on the insurer. Most state departments of insurance submit renewal report forms annually. There is a fee that each renewed ins agent must pay. What makes it difficult is the variation of different paperwork procedures by individual states to weed out non-active ins representatives. The paperwork consists of expensive and time consuming forms and procedures for the insurance company to make any changes. Renewing all sales reps is usually cheaper and is therefore the route the insurer usually takes. This also gives the insurance company bragging rights about how many salespeople write for them.

Personally, I was listed on state insurance department records as a licensee for 11 years after writing my last case.

INSURANCE CO FINANCIAL RANKING LISTS

There are four or five major independent firms that use this underwriting rating of a company based on a multitude of financial factors. A lot has to do with projecting the financial stability of the insurer. This is accomplished by closely analyzing past and present financial history. Covers the performance of the insurer’s investments and the rate of return. An insurance assessment also takes into consideration the amount of cash available and how much is in reserve to pay present and future claims.

There is a consensus among life insurance association members that the highest rated insurers are the best of the bunch. However, association members represent less than 12% of the total producer base. The other agents and insurance brokers, (the majority), do not agree that these are always the best for the needs of their clients. Logic tells you that a newer quality insurer doesn’t have a track record for starting in the top positions. In my situation, customers bought what I presented to them. Almost half of the time it was NOT the highest rated company by rating firms. However, I sold the client what his emotional needs demanded. Many insurance companies of the past with top 100 rankings later failed financially, and still do so frequently in today’s world.

BY RANKING OF PREMIUMS COLLECTED

This is a very common type of insurance company listing and rating to produce. Insurance companies are ranked by the total number of premiums they collected that year. It seems pretty unfair to mix annuity premiums with all the dollars collected. Producers know that a $20,000 annuity is easier to sell than a $20,000 premium term insurance policy. The other flaw I find with using total premiums collected is who actually contributed a portion of the premiums collected. With some companies, a huge amount of these premiums were not collected by the average seller. Many institutional buyers directly purchased millions of dollars in annuity premiums.

FOR IMPORTANT QUALIFICATIONS FOR LIFE AND HEALTH SELLERS

This is my way. As fair and balanced from a sales rep perspective as possible. Premiums are collected from the 1,500,000 agents who try to make a living selling insurance policies in this industry. Often these sales are made one by one. Additionally, of these 450,000 independent brokers, semi-independent agents, and some career representatives write, according to the company, 50% to 100% of that co-insurance business.

This ranking method is enforced because I believe the insurance company listing is intended to be a beneficial directory. One that independent brokers, semi-independent reps, and some career reps can turn to. This is a guide directory for other insurers you may consider writing production for.

The list of insurance companies and the Top 100 ratings guide are deliberately placed in alphabetical order rather than by premium or financial data. You may not completely agree with the listing, because we have left in some companies with a high percentage of businesses sold in annuities and investment products.

In the eyes of a typical health and life broker, this guide to health and life insurance companies is as accurate as possible.

1.Aetna 2. AIG Life Insurance Company** 3. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America 4. American Family Life Assurance Co of Columbus 5. American Fidelity Assurance Company 6. American General Life and Accident INS Co** 7.American General Life Insurance Company** 8. American Income 9. American Memorial 10. American National Life 11. Americo Financial Life and Annuity 12. Anthem Blue Cross 13 Aurora National Assurance 14 Aviva Life and Annuity Company 15. AXA Equitable 16. Bankers Life and Casualty Company 17. Banner 18 Beneficial Life 19. CM Life Ins 20. Colonial Life & Accident 21. Columbus Life 22. Conseco Life 23. Farmers New World 24. First-Penn Pacific 25. Forethought 26. General American 27. Genworth 28. Gerber 29. Great American 30 Great-West Life & Annuity 31. Guardian 32. Hartford Life and Accident Ins Company 33. Hartford 34. Homesteaders 35. Indianapolis Life 36. ING 37. Jackson National 38. John Hancock 39. John Hancock Life Insurance Company USA 40. Kansas City Life 41.. Lafayette 42.. Liberty Life Assurance Co of Boston 43.. Liberty National 44.. Life Ins Company of North America 45. Life Ins Company of the Southwest 46. Life Investors Ins Co of America 47. Lincoln Benefit 48 Inheritance Lincoln 49. National Lincoln 50. Massachusetts ts Mutual 51. Metropolitan 52. Midland National 53. Minnesota Life 54. Monumental Life 55. MONY – America 56. MONY – New York 57. National Guardian 58. National Life 59. New England Life 60. New York Life Ins and Annuity Corporation 61. New York Life 62. North American Co for Life & Health Ins. 63. Northwestern Mutual 64. Ohio National Life 65. OM Financial 66. Pacific Life 67. Penn Mutual 68. Phoenix Life Ins 69. Primerica 70. Principal 71. Protective 72. Provident Life and Accident 73. Pruco 74. Prudential – America 75 Reassure America 76. Reliance Standard 77. ReliaStar 78. Riversource 79. Security Life of Denver and 80. Standard 81. Stonebridge 82. Sun Life and Health 83. Sunset 84. Surety 85. Symetra 86. Transamerica 87. Western Transamerica 88. Trustmark 89. US Financial 90. Union Central 91. Union Security 92. United Healthcare 93. United Ins Company of America 94. United Investors 95. United of Omaha 96. United States Life 97. Unum 98. West Coast 99. Western and Southern Life 100. Western Reserve Life Assurance Co of Ohio Note: Sagicor Life, Foresters, and Illinois Mutual should appear on the bottom 3 lists, replacing companies listed above as #6, #2, and #7.

**AIG Life Insurance Company, American General Life, American General Life and Casualty Comments

This group of companies USED to be one of the highest rated and highest premium generating insurance companies in the United States. Still, after two massive federal bailouts, the future is uncertain. Therefore, AIG Life is no longer serving to be on this guide top 100 list.

GUIDE TO QUESTIONABLE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LISTINGS

The following lists of insurance companies could often be included in different types of some of the top 100 life insurance company rankings. YEAH you were evaluating the written premiums. Sometimes the premiums consist of substantial amounts of annuity premiums. Insurers where a large portion of sales do not come from representatives and salespeople would also be included. Instead, it is written by independent stock brokerage firms and brokers of variable investment contracts that are not governed by insurance departments. In other cases, the products may be targeted strictly at teachers, the military, or credit unions. In a couple of cases, there are companies with pending litigation. Below is a representation of this combination of insurers:

1. Cuna Mutual 2. Genworth Life and Annuity 3. Harford Life and Annuity and 4. John Hancock Variable Life 5. Mayflower National 6. Metlife – Connecticut 7. Metlife Investors USA 8. MML Bay State 9. Nationwide 10. Nationwide Life & Annuity 11. NYLife of AZ 12. PHL Variable 13. Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada 14. Teachers Ins and Annuity Assoc of America 15. USAA 16. Shenandoah — financial hardship

There are a total of more than 600 “active” licensed life/health companies in every state in the United States. However, some are not currently writing new business. Also, there are many assets in only one or a few states, so you will find them missing from the lists of major insurance companies. Most states have an actual count of 220 to 330 home life and health offices currently accepting new cases from licensed agents and brokers.

The advisor’s prediction. If I choose from the vendor list above, Foresters would be my first choice as the next rising star. Its innovative niche products are beginning to create high demand. Also look at Genworth, its stock value has skyrocketed and the company adapts very well to market opportunities.