Nationwide Life Insurance Review: Top Products and Services

The company itself started off as the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation on December 17th, 1925 which incorporated the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company that was located in Columbus, Ohio. The first agents managed to recruit over 1,000 policyholders over the next four months and opened its doors to the general public on April 12, 1926.

Auto insurance was the first product that the company offered and it services were limited to Ohio farmers. However, by 1928 the company began its expansion into other states and by the 1930s had begun to underwrite for non-farmers who lived in small towns and large cities. During this time, the company began offering policies for fire insurance and expanded even further.

By 1955, the company which had changed its name to Farm Bureau Insurance changed it again to Nationwide Insurance and had expanded to the west coast as well as many other states. By 1965, the company had policyholders in 32 different states. Today, Nationwide Insurance is now in all 50 states and provides many different types of policies for their customers.

Nationwide has strong life insurance financial ratings from the top ratings agencies, including:

• A.M. Best rating: A+
• S&P rating: A+
• Moody's rating: A1

Consider term life insurance for mortgage protection, divorce life insurance, and SBA loans. You’ll find three types of term life policies that include the following;

• Guaranteed Term
• Mortgage Term
• Decreasing Term

Available for ages 18-70, you can purchase them in terms of 10, 15, 20 or 30 years and enjoy coverage that ranges from $100,000 up to $5 million.

In addition, there are riders available for the policies that include living or accelerated death benefits, child protection, spouse protection and the waiver of the premium on your policy.

Available term life insurance riders:

• Children’s Term Insurance rider
• Spouse rider
• Waiver of Premium Disability rider
• Accelerated Death Benefit rider

You can purchase whole life insurance policies from 18 to 80 years old with a minimum death benefit of just $10,000. Whole life policies are a contract with you and the insurer that provides specific guarantees not found in other types of coverage. Whole life guarantees include a guaranteed death benefit, guaranteed cash value growth and guaranteed fixed premiums.

Nationwide whole life offers participating policyholders dividends. Dividends can be used for any number of things but the typical use is for purchasing paid up additions, which increase the cash value and death benefit of the policy.

In addition to all the great benefits listed above, there are a number of life insurance riders as well:

• Accidental Death Benefit
• Child Protection
• Disability
• Guaranteed Insurance
• Accelerated or Living Death Benefit
• No Lapse Guarantee
• Spouse Protection

Consider whole or universal life insurance for estate planning or business succession planning, such as funding a buy-sell agreement.

Universal life insurance is a flexible permanent coverage option that allows premium payments to increase or decrease, assuming you have enough cash value in your policy to meet your monthly premium charge.

In addition, the death benefit can be raised or lowered, so you have the ability to tailor your policy to new life circumstances without having to get an entirely new policy.

The GUL insurance is available for ages 18 to 85 and offers a minimal death benefit of $100,000. The policy includes a guaranteed interest rate of 3% over the course of the policy and the riders are the same as with whole life with these additions;

• Guaranteed Minimum Cash Value
• Long-Term Care
• Over Loan Protection
• Waiver of Premium

Variable life insurance (VUL) is permanent coverage that builds cash value.

However, it is different from whole life and guaranteed universal life in one distinct way, the variable part of the policy refers to the ability to use the policy's cash value to invest in sub-accounts that are similar to mutual funds.

And unlike GUL and Whole Life, there is no guaranteed cash value. Since the policy invests in equity funds, it has the potential for large gains, and large losses. Investing is risky and you can lose all your cash value, including principal.

Linked benefit long term care insurance combined with a fixed premium universal life policy available for ages 40-75. You can choose single premium universal life, a 5 year payment plan, or a 10 year payment plan.

YourLife CareMatters snapshot:

• Available for ages 40-75
• Cash indemnity plan which does not require you submit monthly bills or receipts.
• LTC coverage with fixed premiums guaranteed to never increase.
• Premiums paid in go either towards long term care or to the death benefit of the policy.
• An optional LTC extension of benefits rider provides additional benefits once the total amount of benefits available under the LTC rider have been used.
• Up to 7 years benefit period available.
• Flexible care options that allow the insured to pay family or friends for in home care.
• 90 day elimination period.
• Inflation protection rider provides 3% simple or 5% compound growth.
• Discount for couples are available.

Interested in seeing how Nationwide Long Term Care Life Insurance stacks up against the competition? Please give us a call today and speak to an experienced long term care life insurance agent.

Nationwide is one of a handful of group short term disability insurance companies in the U.S. There are two main types of disability insurance, short and long term.

If you suffer from an injury or illness that is not work related, worker's compensation will not help. That is where short term disability insurance shines. The policy provides financial relief during a difficult time to help you get over the hump, while you rehab so you can get back to your job. If you are out for an extended period of time, you may need to consider long term disability insurance.

Having short term disability coverage through your employer is great, but what if you become totally disabled and cannot return to work for months, or even years? Private long term disability income insurance can help meet your financial needs and keep you out of bankruptcy.

Don't be left unprotected. You can check out our disability insurance resource guide for more.

All in all, Nationwide does offer a broad amount of life insurance choices, but just how effective are they in terms of what they can offer you and your family?

As you may have read in other Nationwide Life Insurance Company reviews, Nationwide Insurance does offer strong life insurance policies that provide good protection, reasonable premiums and a number of different riders to help meet your specific needs.

Solid Ratings: Nationwide has built up a reputation of being very solid and dependable when it comes to all of their insurance which includes their life policies.

Good Rates: Nationwide offers low, affordable rates for most of their policies, riders and benefits which makes them a good investment for their whole life insurance in particular. Plus, their term life offers very low rates as well.

Longevity: One aspect of life insurance that many people overlook is the longevity of the company holding the policy. Nationwide has been around for about 90 years and looks to be strong enough to go for another 90 years which means you can rest assured that the company will still be around so your policy will stay in effect.

Nationwide Insurance is a fantastic life insurance company and should be considered on anyone's short list of companies to consider when purchasing life insurance.

That said however, Nationwide Life is not always a perfect provider as there are other companies that do offer better pricing for their policies on certain face amounts and term lengths.

Also, Nationwide Life might not be the best choice if you have certain pre-exisitng conditions, such as life insurance for diabetics.

For this reason, it may be beneficial to explore all of your options prior to applying for coverage.