Symetra Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance Reviews
Have you heard of Symetra? While Symetra may not be a familiar name, they are one of the top life insurance companies available to shoppers. Is Symetra the best life insurance company for you? We hope to answer that question with our Symetra Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance Reviews. We hope it helps you understand their strengths and weakness so you can make an informed decision before you buy. Symetra’s guaranteed universal life (GUL) product is called the UL-G.
What company is the best?
Are you just looking for the best Guaranteed Universal Life insurance companies? We reviewed the top rated GUL companies right here.
This review is just one of many GUL reviews found on our website. We have a large series of reviews for the best rated companies that offer guaranteed universal life insurance. To learn more about GUL products (also known as Term to 100 or Lifetime Term) please read an overview of GUL here.
Symetra Review
Review Summary
Symetra is well known in the financial and insurance industry, but they are also highly regarded as an upstanding corporation. Symetra contributed to more than 890 charitable organizations in 2015 alone across the United States.
About Symetra
Although you probably haven’t heard of Symetra, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look at them as a strong life insurance company. Did you know that there are hundreds of companies in the market? Most of the ones you’ve heard of like John Hancock and Prudential have spent millions of advertising dollars to be “popular”.
Symetra got their start in 1957 and have good financial ratings from all the major rating agencies. Symetra is actually a subsidiary of one Japan’s biggest life insurance companies called Sumitomo Life. With their home base in Bellevue, Washington- Symetra has over $42 billion dollars in assets and more than 2 million customers. Symetra offers life insurance as well as employee benefits and retirement products
Symetra Financial Ratings
Financial Strength Ratings
- AM Best: A
- Moody's: A
- Standard & Poor's: A
- Fitch: A
How to choose? If you’re comparing companies & looking to choose from two carriers, one rated A+ and one rated A++, either one is likely to be there when you need it. However, if you’re picking carriers that are rated B+ and A+, financial strength could factor in your buying decision. Try to avoid companies that 1 or more financial agencies rate as potentially vulnerable.
Symetra GUL Products
Symetra offers life insurance shoppers a guaranteed universal life insurance policy (GUL) called the UL-G. Let’s look more closely at the Symetra UL-G policy.
Symetra UL-G
Issue Ages
Ages 16-85
Minimum Benefit Amount
$100,000
Coverage Lengths
Ages 95, 100, and 121
Maximum Benefit Amount
Over $10,000,000
Guaranteed Universal Life (GUL) is a type of universal life insurance- but doesn’t have the market risks of UL.
Your premiums remain the same with GUL just like term life. With a GUL, you get coverage with a “no-lapse” guarantee. This means that if you pay your insurance premiums, you’ll always be covered. GUL is not made for cash value and it resembles and functions similarly to term life insurance. Term life insurance only covers you for a set number of years. GUL covers you to a specific age such as: Age 90, 95, 100, 110, or 121.
>>Read more about getting coverage to specific ages like:
Symetra Life Insurance Quotes and Rates
Now let’s look at how much the Symetra UL-G may cost you. Below are some sample monthly rates for a healthy non smoking 46 year old man.
| Death Benefit | to Age 90 | to Age 100 | to Age 120 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | $78.72 | $79.66 | $85.96 |
| $500,000 | $285.70 | $290.30 | $321.85 |
| $750,000 | $428.55 | $435.45 | $482.78 |
Will Symetra offer you the best rates?
Will Symetra or some other company like American National or Banner Life get you the best deal? If you want to make sure you’re getting the best life insurance policy available, here’s what you need to do…
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Steps to get an accurate quote
Advantages
- Benefits
Competitive Pricing
Symetra’s life insurance rates for their UL-G guaranteed universal life product is competively priced. Symetra typically ranks somewhere in the top three for a variety of age and gender niches.
Free Riders
Symetra provides several life insurance riders for free.
Disadvantages
- Drawbacks
One of Many
Symetra is just one of many life insurance companies in the market. They don’t offer every option and they aren’t always priced the best. Depending on your health and age- another carrier may give you a better deal.
Additional Cost
Some of Symetra’s riders are an additional cost.
Health Class Ratings
Life insurance classifications are important because they affect your premium and what you’ll ultimately pay for your policy. The better your health class rating, the lower your premium will be with. All companies (including Symetra) classify you differently.
Symetra Health Classes:
- Preferred Best
- Preferred
- Standard Plus
- Standard
- Substandard
- Non Tobacco & Tobacco
Underwriting Information
Not all life insurance companies will look at you the same. Symetra and every other company has their own underwriting guidelines. Here are Symetra’s underwriting strengths and weaknesses:
Life insurance underwriting is the process of a company looking at the level of risk you present to the insurer. Once they can determine your risk level- they can decide the cost of the premium for you. This is similar to how a car insurance company will ask you if you have had any previous moving violations, accidents, DUI or license suspensions before providing you your final rate.
Learn more: Underwriting
Underwriting Strengths
These conditions typically get a better rating compared to the competition:
- Preferred best with no more than 2 moving violations in past three years and no DUI in the past 10 years.
- May qualify for Standard plus rate class after 1 year of no tobacco use compared to typical industry practice of a standard rate class.
- BMI / Height & weight build chart is a bit more forgiving & offers a better chance of best rate class for shoppers with larger builds.
- Cholesterol levels and super preferred for shoppers with a ratio of 4.5 and total cholesterol less than 300.
- Peferred Best is possible with a maximum Blood pressure of 135/85 (ages 20–50) and 140/90 for ages 51+.
Underwriting Weaknesses
These conditions may get a better rating with another carrier:
- Some family history conditions may not be a good fit with Symetra.
Life Insurance Riders
Let’s look at what life insurance riders are available with Symetra’s guaranteed universal life insurance policy.
No Additional Cost
- Chronic Illness Plus Rider
- Charitable Giving Benefit
- Terminal Illness Rider
Additional Cost
- Return of Premium Rider
- Additional Term Rider
- Accidental Death Benefit Rider
Life insurance riders are some additional benefits that can be added to a life insurance policy. Some riders are included for free and some are an additional cost. These riders provide you the ability to increase or limit the insurance coverage of your policy. Not all companies offer every rider.
Learn more: Life Insurance Riders
Symetra Life Insurance Riders Explained
- Chronic Illness Rider: With Symetra’s chronic illness rider, you may get up to 50% of your life insurance policy’s death benefit. There is a $500,000 cap on this rider. So if you have a $2 million policy, you could get a maximum of $500,000. To qualify, it needs to be determined that you were unable to perform 2 out of 6 ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) over the past year from a licensed health care practitioner. You can also qualify if you have a cognition impairment that is significant.
- Charitable Giving Benefit – Symetra allows you to distribute 1% of your life insurance policies death benefit to policy owner’s favorite charity.
- Terminal Illness Rider: With Symetra’s terminal illness rider, you can get up to 75% of your life insurance policy’s face amount. There is a cap of $500,000 and a doctor needs to certify you. Your physician will have to certify that you have a terminal illness with less than a year to live.
- Return of Premium Rider (ROP): Symetra’s ROP rider does exactly as it says; Returns your premiums that you’ve paid. They will return your premiums if you no longer are in need of coverage at the end of your 20th or 25th year of your policy. This opportunity doesn’t last forever. You will have to decide within 90 days after Symetra sends you notification.
- Additional Term Rider: This rider by Symetra is free and you’re able to choose it at anytime. This rider simply adds an additional 20 year term life insurance to your guaranteed universal life policy.
- Accidental Death Benefit: This free rider from Symetra can give you an extra death benefit of $250,000 (or up to 3xs of your policy’s benefit amount- whatever is less) if the insured happens to die from an accident.
How to buy the best Guaranteed Universal Life policy?
We cannot stress enough the importance of using an independent life insurance agent to help you choose the right GUL product at the most affordable price possible.
Independent life insurance agents have access to multiple companies. We know which life insurers offer the best rates when it comes to buying guaranteed universal life insurance.
We hope this article gives you a good overview of guaranteed universal life insurance. GUL policies are a great solution for many shoppers that can provide protection for your loved ones.
Final thoughts
Shop around and use a licensed agent. We’d love to help you find the best coverage available. We’re a licensed life insurance broker who represents dozens of life insurance companies. We help our customers pick the best life insurance carrier and options that’s right for them. We do not push any companies because we have access to all the top life insurance carriers. We don’t try to put shoppers into a plan that is not suitable for their goals and needs. Our number one concern is our clients and future policyholders.
We offer you free life insurance consultations and work with you to understand your goals and then help you with an appropriate recommendation. So, what are you waiting for? Contact us today or visit our Life Insurance Quotes page and see how we can help you!
