Penn Mutual Life Insurance Review 2023

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Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of insurance products and analyzes thousands of data points to help you find the best product for your situation. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.

• 25 life insurance companies evaluated.
• 5 levels of fact checking.
• 3 levels of editorial review.

Is Penn Mutual life insurance good?

Yes, Penn Mutual life insurance can provide good coverage to individuals shopping for various types of life insurance, including term life, whole life and universal life insurance. Penn Mutual earns 4.5 stars in our best life insurance companies rating, thanks in part to its reliable historical portfolio performance.  It also earns a top spot in our best life insurance for seniors rating. 

Penn Mutual offers both convertible and non-convertible life insurance policies, meaning you can opt for term coverage with the option to convert it to a permanent life insurance policy before the term ends.  

The life insurance company also offers cash value life insurance, a type of permanent life insurance policy that includes a cash value component. Its long-term portfolio performance is strong and internal fees low, a combination that can be beneficial for cash value growth.

During our Penn Mutual life insurance review, we also collected data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). This data revealed that Penn Mutual has a low number of complaints to state insurance departments, which can indicate satisfaction among policyholders. 

Life insurance products offered by Penn Mutual

Penn Mutual offers a wide variety of life insurance products, including: 

Penn Mutual term life insurance

Penn Mutual offers a Guaranteed Convertible Term life insurance policy in 10-, 15-, 20- and 30-year terms. The term length you qualify for can depend on your age (20 to 69) and tobacco use. 

At a minimum, this policy offers $250,000 in life insurance coverage. The policy can be converted to permanent life insurance with level premiums before age 70. During the first five years after conversion, you’re covered by a chronic illness rider. 

Penn Mutual’s Protection Non-Convertible Term policy is available to buyers up to age 70 but cannot be converted to permanent coverage later. 

Penn Mutual whole life insurance

Guaranteed Whole Life II is Penn Mutual’s whole life insurance option. This policy is available to buyers up to age 85 and offers a guaranteed death benefit up to age 121. 

Minimum coverage starts at $50,000 for buyers up to age 70 and increases to $100,000 if you’re buying a new policy at age 71 or older. Numerous riders are available to enhance your coverage. 

Penn Mutual also offers a survivorship whole life insurance policy. Survivorship policies cover two individuals, such as two spouses, but only pay out the death benefit after the second insured dies.  For instance, if a husband and wife take out a survivorship policy and name their child as the beneficiary, the beneficiary won’t receive the death benefit until both parents have passed. 

Penn Mutual indexed universal life insurance

Indexed universal life (IUL) insurance accumulates cash value based on the performance of an underlying stock market index. You can use that cash value to pay premiums or borrow against it by taking out a loan. 

Penn Mutual offers the Accumulation Builder Flex policy for people who are interested in indexed universal life insurance coverage. Cash value is tied to the S&P 500 index, but you can also select a fixed-rate account that earns 2% if you’d like more predictability when it comes to growth. 

Coverage starts at $50,000 or $100,000, depending on your age and the rate class you qualify for. 

A survivorship indexed universal life insurance policy is also available. 

Penn Mutual guaranteed universal life insurance

Guaranteed universal life (GUL) insurance allows for flexible premiums and some cash value accumulation. Of the different universal life insurance options out there, GUL usually has the cheapest premiums. 

Penn Mutual offers a Guaranteed Protection Universal Life policy to buyers up to age 85. Minimum face values for coverage start at $50,000 and there’s a no-lapse guarantee that covers you up to age 121. 

This policy does build cash value, with a minimum guaranteed annual interest rate of 2%. In addition to built-in riders, you can add riders to customize the policy to your needs. 

Penn Mutual variable universal life insurance

Variable universal life (VUL) insurance is another permanent life insurance option that accumulates a cash value. Instead of an index or fixed account, you can choose investments from different sub-accounts. 

Penn Mutual’s Diversified Advantage VUL is available to buyers up to age 85, with minimum coverage starting at $50,000. There are 29 variable investment options, but you can also choose from three indexed options or one fixed account. 

In terms of customization, there are more than a dozen riders you can add to the policy. Overall, it’s one of the most flexible policies that Penn Mutual offers. 

Penn Mutual life insurance rates

Life insurance premiums are determined by a number of factors, including your age, gender, lifestyle and overall health. A term life policy may be best if you’re looking for the most affordable coverage option and you don’t necessarily need something permanent.

Here’s how Penn Mutual’s term life insurance rates compare to other top insurers.

Average cost of a $250,000, 20-year term life insurance policy, by company

Life insurance riders available

A life insurance rider is optional coverage you can include to expand your policy benefits. Some riders may be built into your policy automatically, while others may need to be purchased separately. 

Penn Mutual offers a variety of riders, though options may vary by individual policy type. These include:

• Accidental death benefit rider. 
• Accelerated permanent paid-up additions rider. 
• Children’s term insurance rider. 
• Chronic illness rider. 
• Disability completion benefit rider. 
• Early/enhanced cash value rider. 
• Estate protection rider. 
• Guaranteed insurability rider. 
• Lapse protection rider. 
• Overloan protection benefit rider.
• Surrender value enhancement rider (return of premium).
• Terminal illness accelerated death benefit rider. 
• Waiver of monthly deduction rider. 
• Waiver of premium rider. 
• Waiver of surrender charges rider. 

Other products offered by Penn Mutual

In addition to multiple life insurance policies, Penn Mutual also offers

• Variable annuities.
• Fixed annuities.
• Immediate annuities.

Penn Mutual life insurance reviews

In addition to policy options and cost, it’s also important to consider an insurer’s reputation when choosing where to buy life insurance. 

Our analysis of NAIC data found that the level of consumer complaints for Penn Mutual was very low. That means that are very few complaints to state insurance departments about Penn Mutual, which can indicate a general level of satisfaction among customers.

If you’re considering a Penn Mutual life insurance policy, take time to read reviews by insurance experts as well as existing or past customers, such as friends, family or colleagues who may have had a Penn Mutual life insurance policy. 

Methodology

To determine the best life insurance companies, our life insurance experts evaluated 25 of the top life insurance companies that offer coverage in the United States.

Each life insurance company included in our evaluation had the opportunity to earn up to 100 points, based on the following factors:

Term life insurance rates: 35 points. Since term life insurance is often the most affordable coverage option, we evaluated rates for both 30- and 40-year-old males and females, for term lengths of 10, 20 and 30 years and coverage amounts of $250,000, $500,000, $1 million and $2 million.

Cost competitiveness of cash value policies: 15 points. Most permanent life insurance policies have a cash value component, but not all are created equal. We looked at internal policy costs, such as administrative fees and policy charges, to determine the competitiveness of permanent life policies offered by insurance companies in our review.

Historical performance: 15 points. The growth of cash value policies depends on several factors, including the historic performance of an insurance company’s investments. Our analysis took into account this metric to determine how an insurance company’s performance and therefore cash growth potential compared to others.

Complaints: 10 points. Life insurance claims are often filed during what may be an extraordinarily difficult time during a beneficiary’s life. As such, the customer experience is an important factor when identifying the best life insurance companies. To determine which companies offer the best service, we analyzed complaints submitted to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Reliability of policy illustrations: 10 points. When you purchase a permanent life insurance policy, the insurer should provide an illustration to show how the cash value is projected to grow over time. This is particularly important if you’re relying on your policy cash value as part of your retirement planning. We evaluated the accuracy of each insurer’s policy illustration to determine which companies provided the most reliable outlooks.

Financial strength: 5 points. There are four major rating agencies — AM Best, Fitch, Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s — that evaluate an insurer’s financial strength, a factor that indicates an insurer’s ability to pay out a claim years from now. We took this into consideration to account for the likelihood an insurance company is able to claim obligations.

Access to cash value: 5 points. Cash value policies grow at different rates, and we factored the liquidity of a cash value policy into our analysis. Some policies have a cash value that grows faster in the early years. Others have slower cash value growth in the early years, and policyholders must wait a significant period of time before having access to a sizable cash value.

Term life conversion availability: 5 points. Some companies allow policyholders to convert their term coverage to a permanent life insurance policy. We factored this in to help those considering term life insurance policies identify companies that provide this option.

To evaluate life insurance companies, we used data provided by Veralytic, an independent publisher of life insurance research and analytics, and AccuQuote, a national online insurance agency.

Why some companies didn’t make the cut

Of the 25 insurance companies we evaluated, only eight made our list of the best life insurance companies. Companies with high policy rates, growth-prohibitive internal costs or a poor historic performance were less likely to make our list. The same is true for companies that did not provide reliable policy illustrations for permanent life insurance policies or had a high number of consumer complaints.