When you are looking for a life insurance company, the following are important to consider: financial strength ratings, price, and customer service.
You
might also want to take a look at the corporate structure of the
insurance company. Do you have voting rights in the company?
Would you share in any company surplus?
You can have voting rights, share in company surplus, or have no power at all. |
Most life insurance companies fall into one of three categories:
This is the most basic insurance company structure. Mutual insurance
customers actually own part of the company. The insurer's board of
directors and managers run the company "in trust" for policyholders.
Policyholders have the right to appoint the insurer's board of
directors, and the board of directors appoints the company's
management.
Additionally, most mutual insurance companies
pay dividends to policyholders, when the companies make enough money.
(For more on this, read The basics of insurance dividends.)
- Pros:
In essence, the purpose of a mutual insurance company is to provide
value to policyholders, says Brendan Bridgeland, director of the Center
for Insurance Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. You get cash
rewards in the form of dividends, as well as voting power. "The company
is basically run for [the policyholders'] benefit," says Bridgeland.
- Cons:
Policyholders might own the company, but it can be difficult for them
to exercise real power. Policyholders have power to appoint the board
of directors, but company bylaws sometimes make it difficult to oust a
member of the board of directors or to nominate someone else.
Stock insurance companies are publicly traded, meaning they are owned
entirely by stockholders. When a mutual company goes through
demutualization — the process of converting from a mutual company to a
stock company — policyholders have the option of receiving stock, cash,
or additional insurance coverage. Stock insurers offer these to
compensate policyholders for their ownership rights. (For more on this,
read What demutualization means for policyholders.)
Three other less common structures
Although
mutual, stock, and mutual holding companies are the big three in terms
of insurance company structures, there are three others.
Fraternal organizations
These
are mutual insurance companies in which you have to be a member of a
certain group or religion to join. For example, Lutheran Brotherhood
provides insurance and financial services to members of the Lutheran
faith. United Services Auto Association (USAA) sells auto insurance to
members of the military and their relatives. Some fraternal
organizations have opened up membership to outsiders.
Lloyd's Association
This
is a complex structure modeled after Lloyd's of London. This structure
consists of a number of different "syndicates" that specialize in
unique risks — anything from the hull of a ship to the legs of a
Hollywood actress.
Reciprocal Exchange
This
is an unincorporated association in which each policyholder insures the
other members within the organization. Thus, each policyholder serves
as the insurer and the insured. Policyholders receive profits and
losses in proportion to the amount of insurance they have. |
- Pros:
Simply put, if you're a policyholder who is also a stockholder, your
investment does well if the company does well. Stock insurers have a
tendency to run leaner operations, so policyholders could see benefits
in the form of lower rates.
- Cons:
Michael Snowdon, a faculty member at the College of Financial Planning
in Denver, says managers are working for shareholders rather than
strictly for policyholders, so there are times when the two interests
might conflict. For example, if a stock insurance company decides to
start selling policies for a very severe risk, such as earthquakes, it
will hurt the insurer's chances of fulfilling its obligations with
existing policyholders if a major earthquake hits.
Snowdon
also says if the stock price of an insurance company drops drastically,
it could have a negative effect on its financial strength, which is a
strong indicator of its ability to pay claims.
There are three basic elements in a mutual holding structure: A mutual
holding company, an intermediate stock holding company, and a stock
insurance company. A mutual holding company, which is entirely owned by
policyholders, owns the intermediate stock holding company. The
intermediate stock holding company, in turn, entirely controls the
stock insurance company, which actually sells insurance policies.
Intermediate
stock holding companies can issue stock to raise capital. If that
happens, the mutual holding company will always have majority control
of the intermediate stock holding company, usually just over 50
percent.
- Pros:
If a mutual holding company decides to sell stock in the intermediate
stock holding company, policyholders may get "subscription rights,"
which is the right to purchase stock at the initial public offering
(IPO) price. If a mutual holding company decides to demutualize into a
stock company, the mutual holding company will be dissolved, and
policyholders will receive stock.
- Cons:
Policyholders from a mutual company transforming into a mutual holding
company receive no compensation for their ownership rights unless the
company decides to demutualize into a stock company. If the mutual
holding company decides to demutualize and become a stock company,
policyholders would get only subscription rights, and not receive
compensation.
Policyholders still technically
"own" the mutual holding company. Like mutual companies, it is
difficult and unlikely they will exercise power. What's more,
policyholders do not receive any policy dividends or financial benefits
from the stock insurance company.
There
is no clear answer as to which insurance company structure is best.
James Hunt, a former insurance commissioner in Vermont who now runs a
life insurance evaluation service for the Consumer Federation of
America, says in general, mutual companies traditionally pay higher
interest on their whole life insurance policies. He says that's because
stock companies and mutual holding companies allocate surplus money to
stockholders or the companies' existing operations — not to
policyholders. Hunt’s life insurance evaluation web site is http://www.evaluatelifeinsurance.org.
Snowdon
says all companies are bound by law to fulfill their insurance
contracts — regardless of their corporate structure. "A stock company
or a mutual company both have to deal with consumers the same way,”
Snowdon says. "In the long run, you won't see a difference."
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