Phoenix Life Insurance Company Review

There are a lot of variables to consider when shopping for the right life insurance coverage for you and your family.

Not only do you need to look at the type and amount of coverage, but you also need to keep the provider’s financial strength, customer service, and overall reputation in mind.

Phoenix Life Insurance, who is now Nassau Life Insurance Company, is a popular provider with thousands of happy customers.

We’re here to help you decide if they are the best option for you.

Here’s our comprehensive Phoenix Life Insurance Company review so you can decide if they are the best choice for your needs and preferences.

Our Phoenix Life Insurance Company (Nassau Life Insurance) Review

There are three main things you need to know about Phoenix Life Insurance:

• Electronic application is simplified
• Offer a wide range of coverage options and features
• Great customer support

It’s important to point out, right from the get-go, despite all these positive highlights, Phoenix Life has been plagued with lackluster ratings the past several years.

For example, the A.M. Best rating is an indication of a company’s financial strength. Phoenix Life only has gone from a “B” to a “B+” rating from the institute in May of 2019.

However, Fitch has recently rated them a “BB+” which only confirms their current stature.

A “B+” rating doesn’t sound so bad right off the bat, but it certainly seems less than impressive when you consider the fact that’s the 6th best rating out of the 16 possible ratings from A.M. Best.

Standard and Poor’s has also rated Phoenix in June of 2019, who is technically Nassau Life Insurance Company, and gave them a “BB” which is a negative rating.

This is the 12th of 22 ratings, and is not a positive outlook.

What Phoenix Life is All About

Phoenix Life is a traditional life insurance provider with a long history in the industry.

They were founded all the way back in 1851. Ever since then, they’ve managed to offer a top-quality product backed up by exceptional customer service.

Customer service is the cornerstone of the Phoenix Life experience. All their representatives are friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. There’s someone available to speak with at almost all hours of the day, within normal hours.

Simply put, you’d be hard-pressed to find a life insurance company with greater emphasis on customer service as Phoenix Life.

In addition to their excellent customer service, Phoenix Life is known for their focus on the middle-income market.

Unlike other life insurance providers who focus on high earners in the high income market, the coverage and features offered by Phoenix Life are geared towards middle-earners.

Today, Phoenix Life Insurance is based out of Hartford, Connecticut with around 600 employees in their main office.

The relatively small size of the team helps Phoenix Life Insurance to still have a “small business atmosphere.”

What Makes Phoenix Life Unique

A unique aspect about Phoenix Life Insurance is the wide variety of life insurance coverage types and features they offer.

The different options enable them to, in a sense, customize the coverage they offer to each customer.

This means you can select the option which is best for your specific needs, straight from Phoenix Life. You don’t have to shop around at several different providers just to find suitable coverage.

Another benefit which stems from the variety of options they offer is the ability for customers to change coverage as needed.

Instead of making the switch to a new provider, you can simply switch to a different form of life insurance coverage within the Phoenix Life umbrella.

The three main types of life insurance coverage that Phoenix Life offers are:

• Whole Life Insurance – Guaranteed to stay in place for your entire life with a guaranteed death benefit as well as a cash value component.
• Universal Life Insurance – Similar to whole life, universal life is more flexible because you can decide whether your premium pays into your death benefit or cash value component.
• Indexed Universal Life Insurance – Offers a death benefit as well as a cash value component. The difference is the cash value component is tied to an index (like the S&P 500) rather than your premium.

Phoenix Life also provides a whole host of additional features. We discuss these in further detail later on in this review.

The Application Process

Phoenix Life Insurance makes the application process as easy as possible with a simplified, electronic application.

The entire application can be completed over the phone. You go through the entire application with the agent. The process takes roughly 10 to 15 minutes.

Once your application is filled out, you’ll be directed to an online page to enter your electronic signature. The application is complete after you sign.

That’s all there is to it!

The Phoenix Life application process is certainly much quicker (and easier) than a traditional paper application. In fact, it’s surprising any companies still require a paper application in today’s modern day and age.

Despite the speed and ease of use of the Phoenix Life application process, we’d like to see them make the entire application available online. Even though just a few carriers do this, like Haven Life, it should become the standard in time.

Also of note is a medical examination is not required for most people. The company doesn’t include such an examination in their main underwriting process.

Additional Features

Phoenix Life provides some additional features on top of their normal offerings:

• Personal Income Annuity – An indexed annuity to protect you from market losses.
• Personal Protection Choice – An indexed annuity to protect you from market losses with your choice of income.
• Personal Retirement Choice – A differed annuity perfect for tax-deferred long-term savings, such as saving for retirement.

These additional features are just a hint of what Phoenix Life has to offer, but they’re certainly the most popular for the majority of people.

What We Like About Phoenix Life

There’s a lot to like about Phoenix Life. Consider the top benefits to see if they are the right life insurance provider for you.

These top benefits include:

• Electronic application process
• No medical exam required
• History in the business (founded 1851)
• Multiple coverage types and plans
• Excellent customer service

Combine these benefits together, and it’s clear that Phoenix Life is a reputable life insurance provider who places a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction.

What We Don’t Like About Phoenix Life

The fact is, even the best companies have at least one or two negatives – Phoenix Life included.

The disadvantages of Phoenix Life are:

• Low financial strength rating
• Potential for 6 to 8 week underwriting process

Despite their relatively low A.M. Best rating for financial strength, Phoenix Life has never failed to fulfill its financial obligations to its customers. Still, this can be a large turn off for many customers, and we tend to agree in many situations.

Also, the 6 to 8 weeks for full underwriting is still fairly standard in the industry, especially for those companies that still use traditional applications.

However, most companies who provide “simplified, electronic” applications, like Phoenix Life, provide approval in less than 4 weeks – sometimes even within minutes.

Who is Phoenix Life Best for?

Thanks to their stellar reputation for excellent customer service, Phoenix Life is worth a look by anyone shopping for life insurance.

The life insurance policies Phoenix Life offers are great for those:

• Between 18 and 80 years old
• Interested in life insurance for themselves or their spouse
• Interested in coverage up to $400,000 (with no exam)

Phoenix Life is especially enticing for those that want a wide array of coverage options to choose from as well as those interested in life insurance without a medical exam.

Phoenix Life Customer Service

We’ve raved about it throughout this review already – so let’s cover Phoenix Life’s excellent customer service in more detail.

Simply put, Phoenix Life does customer service better than almost any other life insurance provider we’ve reviewed.

Live representatives are easy to get ahold of and are friendly, knowledgeable, and professional whether you’re a customer or someone just interested in the service.

It offers great peace of mind to select life insurance coverage from a company that you know you’ll be able to contact if the need arises.

The Verdict

The competition is fierce – but Phoenix Life Insurance manages to stick out from the rest of the pack for certain families.

They do this with their simple application, excellent customer service, and a wide range of coverage options and additional features.

Though Phoenix Life isn’t right for everyone, it’s certainly worth a look by most of those shopping for life insurance coverage.

As always, make sure you compare Phoenix to the other 50+ carriers we have reviewed.