Chris Kissell is a Denver-based writer and editor with work featured on U.S. News & World Report, MSN Money, Fox Business, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Money Talks News and more.
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.
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Our take: Ladder life insurance is affordable and the application process is quick. But what makes it actually stand out from its competitors is that it’s also climate-friendly. The company uses zero paper — that’s right, no trees are cut down to produce a policy. And the insurer takes it one step further and plants a tree for every policy it does issue.
Eco-friendly, affordable, and expedient — Insure.com found Ladder to be all three. Ladder’s flexible coverage becomes active almost immediately after approval, and its promise to be good for the environment includes planting a tree for every active policy. Another note: Ladder, along with Fabric, received the top Trustpilot customer experience rating of the online life insurance companies we reviewed.
Pros:
Cons:
Trustworthiness: The Better Business Bureau evaluates businesses on their behavior, trustworthiness, and performance. A business with a high ranking from the BBB can be trusted to meet its commitments. The BBB gives Ladder an A+.
Financial strength: A.M. Best evaluates a company’s financial health and its ability to meet its financial obligations. A.M. Best gives Ladder an A.
Customer experience: Trustpilot is an online platform for individuals to provide reviews of companies and their customer experience. Trustpilot gives Ladder a rating of 4.8 out of a possible 5. Scores as of October 4, 2022.
Additional product line details: Ladder only offers its individual term life insurance policy. You can get up to $3 million in coverage without taking a medical exam or doing any lab work. Additionally, coverage starts at just $5 a month (depending on your age and health).
For healthy non-smokers:
The following table shows Ladder’s monthly rates by age and gender for healthy non-smokers purchasing 20-year term policies. Note: Applicants age 55 who don’t smoke are only eligible for 10-year policies.
For smokers:
The following table shows Ladder’s monthly rates by age and gender for smokers purchasing 20-year term policies. Note: Applicants age 55 who smoke are only eligible for 10-year policies.
How its rates stack up:
The following table shows how Ladder’s monthly rates for a healthy 35-year-old compares with selected competitors for $500,000 in coverage for 20-year terms.
Company background: The company was founded in 2015 by Jamie Hale, his wife Laura and two tech veterans, Jeff Merkel and Jack Dubie. The company offers flexible life insurance that allows people to adjust their coverage up or down as their lives change – such as when a child is born, a house is bought or children age. The company calls this process “laddering.”
Interesting tidbit: The father of Jamie Hale, one of the company’s founders and its chief executive, died unexpectedly when Jamie was 11. Hale credits his father’s life insurance policy for sustaining the family financially.