Survey methodology
An online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults was commissioned by Forbes Advisor and conducted by market research company OnePoll, in accordance with the Market Research Society’s code of conduct. Data was collected between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7, 2022. The margin of error is +/- 2.2 points with 95% confidence. This survey was overseen by the OnePoll research team, which is a member of the MRS and has corporate membership with the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). For a complete survey methodology, including geographic and demographic sample sizes, contact pr@forbesadvisor.com.
Ratings methodology
For our Forbes Advisor ratings we analyzed cash value policies using data provided by Veralytic, an independent publisher of life insurance research and analytics. Veralytic maintains a database of thousands of life insurance products and measures the competitiveness of each product.
Factors scored were: financial strength, the reliability of policy illustrations, the historical performance of the company’s investments, access to cash value and cost competitiveness.
1. Cost competitiveness (30% of score): This measures the level of premiums and internal policy charges, including the cost of insurance, fixed administration expenses and cash value-based wrap fees.
2. Reliability of policy illustrations (25% of score): When you could be holding on to a policy for decades and counting on cash value to accumulate, you want to avoid surprises. This factor measures the reliability over time of the company’s illustrations.
3. Access to cash value (10% of score): This measure evaluates the liquidity of cash value and a policyholder’s access to it. Some policies will build cash value better in the early years, and with other companies you may be waiting several years before you have meaningful cash value within a policy. Generally speaking, the higher the liquidity, particularly in early policy years, the better—but some insurers charge more for greater liquidity, so consider the possible tradeoff.
4. Historical performance (25% of score): This measures whether the historical performance of the company’s investments that fuel cash value growth are superior to other companies’ comparable products.
5. Financial strength (10% of score): This measure incorporates the insurer’s financial strength ratings from four major ratings agencies. Financial strength is particularly important when you’re relying on a company to be able to pay claims for many decades.
Data on life insurance riders and products sold was also supplied by Veralytic.
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