Ameritas

• High Financial Strength Ratings
• Online Term Life Insurance Quote
• Whole Life Insurance Options
• Universal Life Insurance Options
• Work with an Independent Financial Professional

High Financial Strength Ratings

Ameritas has earned high financial strength ratings. These high ratings offer peace of mind that Ameritas manages its finances responsibly and will likely be able to make payments on claims. An insurer's financial stability is one of the most important parts of choosing a life insurer.

Online Term Life Insurance Quote

You can view online quotes for term life insurance after providing some demographic information like age and gender. Once you submit this information, Ameritas will show you how much the amount you want to purchase costs each month for different risk classes. This display range gives you a good sense of where your rate may fall when you apply and complete underwriting.

Some online quote sites require you to provide contact information before you can see quotes. Ameritas does not, which means you don't have to worry about getting sales calls and can do your research without worrying about sales pressure.

Ameritas offers term life policies designed for individuals and business owners. Both have 1-, 10-, 15-, 20-, and 30-year term options and allow you to convert the policy into a permanent one according to the policy terms. 

In most states, a terminal illness rider can be added to the policies at no additional cost. This rider allows you to receive part of the death benefit early if the insured is diagnosed with a terminal illness and meets the standards outlined in the policy.

You can also add the following riders to your policy: accidental death benefit, children's insurance, and a disability waiver of premium. An accidental death benefit rider provides an additional death benefit if the insured passed away in an accident. The children's insurance rider allows you to purchase term insurance for your children. The disability waiver of premium rider lets you maintain coverage without making premium payments if you become disabled.

Whole Life Insurance Options

Whole life insurance typically has the highest premiums. Premiums do not change over time. The cash value also has a guaranteed growth rate. 

Buying whole life insurance from a mutual company is a smart move because you can receive dividends to your policy. These dividends aren't guaranteed, but can offset some premium costs. If you purchase a whole life policy from a stock-owned insurer, the insurer has to answer to stockholders and dividends are paid to the stockholders, not policyholders.

Ameritas offers three whole life insurance policies: Access, Growth, and Value Plus. It's unclear from the information Ameritas provides online how these policies differ.

These policies offer living benefits and policy loans from the cash value. Living benefits allow you to receive part of the death benefit early if the insured has certain diagnoses, like a terminal illness.

Optional riders for these policies include accidental death benefit, children's life insurance, disability waiver of premium, flexible paid-up additions, and guaranteed insurability. The flexible paid-up additions rider allows you to purchase additional coverage without increasing your premium. The guaranteed insurability rider allows you to purchase additional insurance coverage within certain time frames without completing underwriting again.

Ameritas's Growth and Value Plus policies also have an optional level term rider. This rider lets you combine term and whole life insurance to make it easier to afford more coverage.

Universal Life Insurance Options

Universal life insurance is a permanent life insurance policy that accrues cash value through investments. As long as you make premium payments and your policy doesn't lapse, your coverage does not expire.

Universal life insurance offers flexibility with the ability to adjust premiums based on your goals. This flexibility is available because you assume more risk when investing your policy. There are several types of universal life insurance policies to accommodate different investment strategies. Ameritas offers universal, index universal, and variable universal life insurance policies.

Ameritas offers one universal life insurance policy: Value Plus. This policy includes living benefits and an income for life rider. The income for life rider allows you to use your policy for income if it meets IRS requirements. 

Optional riders for this policy include children's life insurance, accidental death benefit, guaranteed insurability, disability waiver of premium, and the ability to exchange your policy for a new policy insuring someone else. This last optional rider can be useful in business situations.

If you're looking for index universal life insurance, Ameritas has two policy options: Growth and Value Plus.

These policies offer a fixed account option for putting some or all of your cash value in. Its lowest rate is 2 percent. These policies have other features that protect the cash value: an index floor rate and guaranteed average of 4 percent returns over 10 years.

These policies also include living benefits, which allow you to access some of the death benefits early unders certain circumstances like a terminal illness diagnosis.

You can also customize these policies with the following riders: children's life insurance, accidental death benefit, guaranteed insurability, and a disability waiver of premium.

The Growth Index Universal Life policy includes a lifetime income rider that allows you to use your policy as income if it meets IRS guidelines. This rider can be added to the Value Plus Index Universal Life policy. The Value Plus Index Universal Life policy also includes a no lapse guarantee rider that protects your policy from lapsing due to a low cash value as long as premiums are paid. This no lapse guarantee lasts a set number of years and can be adjusted based on your goals and budget.

Ameritas also offers two variable universal life insurance policies: Performance II and Advisor II.

These policies permit policy loans and withdrawals from the cash value. Tax-free distributions are also allowed if your policy meets IRS requirements.

These policies have several different investment strategy options and investments can be controlled from your Ameritas portal. Before purchasing a variable universal life insurance policy, you can view the performance of these investments online. This transparency is helpful because it allows you to gauge how your policy would perform if you bought one.

These variable universal life insurance policies can be customized with the following riders: children's life insurance, accelerated death benefit, disability waiver of premium, and a no lapse rider to protect policy against loan utilization.

The Performance II policy includes a 10-year minimum no-lapse feature to protect the policy while it builds cash value. You can also customize the Performance II policy with a guaranteed insurability optional rider.

Work with an Independent Financial Professional

Through Ameritas's website, you can connect with an independent financial professional who can help you set financial goals and plan for the future. Professionals listed on Ameritas's website have high credentials, which means that they have the training and certifications to be effective in their career.

• No Final Expense Insurance

No Final Expense Insurance

While Ameritas has an excellent array of life insurance policies, it does not offer final expense insurance. Final expense insurance is a kind of whole life insurance that has lower coverage levels because it is designed to cover funeral expenses. If you want final expense insurance, you'll need to look at other companies.