How We Review Life Insurance Companies (2026 Methodology)

We review life insurance companies by checking the same six things for every company: how well the product fits a final expense need, how underwriting and waiting periods work, issue ages and coverage limits, financial strength ratings, complaint data from state regulators, and how clearly the company publishes its terms. Every fact comes from the company's own documents, a rating agency, or a regulator, and each one is dated. We don't give star ratings or scores, and no company pays to be reviewed.

This page explains each criterion, the sources we use, what we leave out, and how our service is paid for.

Who writes these reviews, and who are they for?

Our reviews are written for adults, mostly 45 to 85, who want a small permanent policy to cover a funeral, final bills, or a modest gift to family.

That focus shapes what we check. A company can be excellent for a 35-year-old buying a large term policy and still be a poor match for a 72-year-old with heart trouble who needs $10,000 of coverage. So we judge each company on its final expense and burial products, not its whole catalog. You can read more about the product itself in our guide to what final expense insurance is.

We're a matching service, not an insurer or an agency. Licensed agents we connect you with may offer policies from some of the companies we review.

What criteria do we use to review a company?

We use six criteria, and we check each one against a primary source.

Product fit for final expense

We start by asking whether the policy does the job most final expense buyers want. That usually means coverage that lasts for life, a premium that doesn't rise with age, and a face amount in the range of a funeral and final bills.

We note when a product is term coverage that ends at a set age, or when premiums can change. Neither is wrong, but you should know before you apply. Our guide to burial insurance vs. life insurance explains the difference in more detail.

Underwriting and waiting periods

We report exactly how the company decides who gets coverage and what the policy pays in the first years.

Simplified issue policies ask health questions and may offer full coverage from day one if you qualify. Guaranteed issue policies skip health questions, but many have a graded death benefit. That means if you die of natural causes in the first two years, your beneficiary may get back the premiums you paid plus some interest instead of the full amount. We quote the company's own terms, including the length of the waiting period, the refund formula, and whether accidental death is covered in full from the start. Our guide to guaranteed issue life insurance walks through how graded benefits work.

Issue ages and coverage limits

We list the ages and face amounts the company publishes, and we say when they vary by state.

Final expense products often limit both. A company might issue coverage only from age 50 to 80, or cap guaranteed issue coverage well below its simplified issue limit. If a figure comes from one state's filing or brochure, we say so.

How do we check financial strength?

We report each company's financial strength ratings with the rating agency's name and the date the rating was affirmed or changed.

A financial strength rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's ability to pay its obligations to policyholders. The Insurance Information Institute notes that five agencies rate insurers: AM Best, Fitch, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Moody's, and S&P. Each agency uses its own scale. For example, an A+ from AM Best is the next-to-top of its 15 categories, while an A+ from Fitch, Kroll, or S&P is their fifth-highest rating, and Moody's has no A+ at all.

Two habits guide how we report ratings:

• We name the exact company. Ratings apply to a specific legal insurer, not always to a whole brand. We report the rating for the company that actually issues the final expense policy.
• We date every rating. The Insurance Information Institute points out that agencies can announce rating changes on any day and suggests checking ratings from two or more agencies. We give the date so you know how fresh the figure is.

If a company doesn't publish a rating and we can't confirm one from an agency release, we say that rather than guess.

How do we use NAIC complaint data?

We report complaint data from the NAIC Consumer Insurance Search, with the year it covers.

The NAIC gathers closed, confirmed complaints from state insurance departments. You can search by company, state, and type of insurance for the past three years, according to the NAIC's guide to researching complaints.

The complaint index compares a company's share of complaints with its share of premiums. The Indiana Department of Insurance explains the scale this way:

We present the index neutrally. The NAIC cautions that an index can move because the whole market's complaints or premiums changed, not just the company's, and that you shouldn't choose an insurer on one factor alone. Small companies can also see big swings from a handful of complaints. So we treat complaint data as one input, next to the others.

What counts as transparency?

We consider a company transparent when a buyer can read the key terms before applying.

We look for published issue ages, coverage limits, waiting period terms, and exclusions on the company's own site or in a brochure. We note when these details are available only by phone or from an agent. When a product is sold with a published per-unit rate, we may quote it with a citation, since that's the company's own public price.

Reading terms before you sign matters. The NAIC advises not to sign an application until you've reviewed it carefully, and to ask which parts of a policy aren't guaranteed. After you buy, most states give you a short "free look" period to return a new policy for a refund; Washington, for instance, sets it at 10 days in its consumer guide to life insurance.

What don't we do?

We keep our reviews to facts that can be checked, and we skip anything that can't.

• No pay-for-placement. No company pays to be reviewed, to appear on a best-of page, or to be named in a category.
• No star ratings or numeric scores. A score can't capture that a two-year waiting period is a dealbreaker for one reader and a non-issue for another.
• No "#1 pick" without a reason. On best-of pages, we say a company is a strong option for a specific need and show the facts behind it.
• No invented experiences. We don't publish testimonials, customer stories, or claims about how fast a company pays unless the company or a regulator publishes that figure.
• No company endorsements. Naming a company doesn't mean it endorses us, and a review isn't a recommendation to buy.
• No price quotes we can't source. Your price depends on your age, health, state, and the amount you choose. We don't estimate company prices.

How do we make money?

We may be paid by the licensed insurance agents and agencies we connect you with. That's how the service and these reviews stay free for you.

That compensation doesn't decide which companies we review or what we say about them. It isn't added to your premium, because insurance companies set policy prices. For the full details, see how we make money and our editorial standards.

Because the agents we connect you with may offer policies from some of the companies we review, we suggest you use our reviews as a starting checklist. Ask any agent about the waiting period, the exact issuing company, and its ratings before you apply.

How can you use these reviews?

Use the reviews to narrow your list, then confirm the details for your own state.

1. Decide how much coverage you need. Our funeral cost calculator can help.
2. Be honest about your health. It determines whether simplified issue or guaranteed issue makes sense.
3. Compare two or three companies on waiting periods, age limits, and coverage caps.
4. Check financial strength ratings and NAIC complaint data yourself, using the sources on this page.
5. Read the policy and outline of coverage for your state before you sign.

You can browse all our company reviews, start with the best final expense insurance companies, or learn the basics on our final expense hub.

Our best-of guides

Each best-of guide applies these criteria to a specific group of buyers:

• Best final expense insurance companies
• Best life insurance for veterans
• Best Christian life insurance companies
• Best life insurance for truck drivers
• Best life insurance for nurses
• Best life insurance for blue-collar workers
• Best life insurance for the self-employed
• Best life insurance for diabetics
• Best IUL insurance companies
• Best mortgage protection insurance