Ameriprise Financial

• Term Life
• Universal Life
• Variable Life
• Simple Application Process
• Advisors

Term Life

• Provides coverage for 10, 15, or 20 years
• Premiums do not increase the length of the initial term; if renewed after that, the premiums go up significantly each year
• Protection for one life
• Flexibility to convert to a permanent life policy in the first 5 years of the policy; no medical exams or requirements
• No cash value

Additional insurance riders are available, including a waiver of premium rider, accidental death benefit rider, and children's life insurance rider.

Universal Life

• Provides coverage for the lifetime of the policyholder
• Flexible death benefit and premium amounts
• Builds a cash value from index interest crediting with protection from negative market returns; guaranteed minimum fixed interest rate

Variable Universal Life

• Protection for the lifetime of the policyholder(s)
• Flexible death benefit and premium amounts
• Can be customized to each client's unique needs
• Cash value builds but is not guaranteed
• Several investment options available

Simply Application Process

Ameriprise offers RiverSource life insurance policies. RiverSource advertises a simple and convenient application process for potential customers. After the application is filled out, additional information may be needed depending on the type of product and amount of coverage. First, a medical interviewer will call the applicant for a 15- to 20-minute phone interview. The interviewer will ask about the applicant's medical history, income and current occupation, and current medications, etc. One that is done, a medical exam will most likely be scheduled. The examiner will measure the applicant's height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse; blood and urine samples may also be required. All the medical information and history stays confidential.

Advisors

Ameriprise offers all of their products and services through financial advisors, who make recommendations and help their customers find financial solutions and make informed decisions. As such, Ameriprise has more certified financial planner professional than any other financial services company. They are headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and have corporate offices throughout the United States and across the globe.

• Limited Online Information
• Overwhelming Options

Limited Online Information

Because Ameriprise uses financial advisors to handle all of their services, potential customers can only receive more information about Ameriprise's products by contacting a financial advisor in their area. Ameriprise does not even offer a general phone number or email address for inquiries; everything goes through the advisors. While this approach has several advantages-customers can have their individual financial needs considered and receive direct help and advice-it also has several drawbacks. Potential customers may not have enough information to know if it is worth the time and effort of reaching out, plus Ameriprise charges financial planning fees and brokerage fees. In addition, there are not FAQs pages for any of the life insurance policies on either the Ameriprise website or the RiverSource website. There are no side-by-side comparisons, either, and specific information about pricing, exclusions, fees, and additional riders is almost completely lacking. All of this information is available through contacting a financial advisor, however.

Overwhelming Options

The Ameriprise website is professional and clearly laid out; however, Ameriprise offers so many services and products that there is an overwhelming number of options within options. For example, the initial landing page for the Ameriprise life insurance products has general information about their life insurance policies but provides few details and sidebar links. In order to reach more comprehensive information, customers must link to the RiverSource website and from there, sort through the general overview page of their life insurance products, the overview pages for each type of life insurance policy, and then finally the individual pages for the specific insurance products. RiverSource does have an online quote calculator to give customers estimated pricing for term life insurance and their RiverSource TrioSource Universal Life Insurance. However, the tool does not appear to work effectively all of the time and may not produce any results.