Gleaner Life Insurance Society Company Review

When it comes to life insurance reviews, facts are more important than opinions. Unlike tech product reviews, which are filled with exciting shiny gadgets, life insurance is a pretty dry, boring, and to-the-point subject. I find it compelling to review only the facts and leave my opinions behind.

Today, in this Gleaner Life Insurance Society Company review, we discuss the company’s products and rates and compare it to the best in our industry to see if they deserve you as a client. Let’s get the facts!

Gleaner Life Insurance History

Gleaner Life was founded in 1894 as a not-for-profit fraternal, owned by its members. This means the insured become the participant owners of the company instead of Wall Street investors. Any profits made by Gleaner Life are retained within the company and shared with its members.

Gleaner Life continues today with the same values it inherited back in the days: benevolence, protection, and fraternity. Their site references a motto which they follow wholeheartedly: “Society members carry out these principles, guided and strengthened by their belief in God, the creator and preserver of the universe.”

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Gleaner Life Insurance Company Ratings

According to A.M. Best, a global rating agency which mainly focuses on the insurance industry, rates Gleaner Life Insurance Society with an “A- (Excellent)” rating with a “stable” outlook for 2018.

Products Offered by Gleaner Life Insurance

Gleaner Life sells annuities and life insurance products. In addition, they also have membership benefit products which allow its participants to enjoy shopping discounts, scholarship opportunities, and family events.

Gleaner Life insurance review, just like all our other life insurance reviews, will focus solely on the company’s life insurance products. It’s worth noting that Gleaner Life is only licensed to sell products in AZ, FL, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MO, NI, OH, TN, and VA.

Term Life Insurance

Level term life insurance is the most popular type of life insurance protection because it aims to safeguard your loved ones from financial devastation for a specific period of time. It’s also the simplest, most straightforward life insurance one can understand because there is no cash value accumulation or investment component baked into the policy, which sometimes baffles people.

Instead, you buy a particular length (also called term) 15, 20, 25, or 30 years during which time your death benefit and premiums remain fixed. If you die during that term, Gleaner Life will pay the face amount (life insurance death benefit).

If you outlive your term, you can drop the coverage, convert it to whole life before the age of 71, or renew it annually. Gleaner also offers an accelerated benefit rider at no additional cost, which allows the insured to receive up to 50% of the face value of life insurance up to $100,000.

All Gleaner term products come with two options:

• Ten-year guarantee: The premium payment is guaranteed for the first 10 years. This is how they justify giving you a lower premium.
• Full guarantee: This feature offers a level benefit term (which is what it should be!), that guarantees your premium to remain fixed for the whole term’s duration and not a portion of it.

Gleaner Life offers four types of term coverage:

1. Value Term: A traditional term life insurance provides an affordable solution for those who seek mortgage protection or income replacement.
2. Family Term: A unique approach to cover your family as one unit by offering a children’s term rider and other insured riders to cover your spouse.
3. Duration Term: This term coverage has the “ladder approach” which allows the policy’s death benefit to decrease over time.
4. Succession Term: Is geared towards business partners who need key person life insurance or buy-sell agreements.

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Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance provides protection for your loved ones for your entire lifetime. The premium and death benefit remain the same throughout your life with the added benefit of cash value accumulation on a tax-deferred basis. You can also expect to be paid dividends since Gleaner Life is a mutual company.

There are a few reasons to get permanent life insurance instead of term life insurance, for instance, estate tax planning or leaving a legacy. However, truth be told, most individuals find whole life to be an unaffordable and unnecessary option in most cases. Learn how much whole life insurance costs.

Here are the four types of whole life Gleaner offers:

1. Secure Life Plus: This a traditional whole life policy which allows the policy owner three ways to pay for it, a 10-year, 20-year, or up at the age of 100.
2. Endurance Life: Is a single premium life insurance which requires only one payment to have a paid-up policy.
3. Legacy Life: A permanent coverage that comes with the guaranteed insurability option (GIO), which allows you to keep purchasing life insurance without providing proof of insurability. You will need to keep buying every 36 months up to 15 additional coverages if you want to keep this option. Also note, this is a single-premium.
4. RMD Life: A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount of money you must begin withdrawing after the age of 70½ from your IRA or other qualified retirement accounts. Gleaner allows you to use that money to buy additional single-premium coverage from ages 70 to 80 without proof of insurability.

Strategic Choice Indexed Universal Life

Just when you thought you could purchase either term life or whole life insurance and inherit all the restrictiveness of high premiums or term periods, universal life insurance comes to your aid.

Universal life is the most flexible life insurance you can find. UL pays a guaranteed death benefit to your beneficiaries upon your death with the ability to have your cash value grow on a tax-deferred basis.

The best part is that UL allows the policy owner to adjust the death benefit amount (increase or decrease) as your life unfolds and to skip premiums if there is enough cash value in your account. Gleaner Life offers indexed universal life insurance (IUL) which has the same benefits as the traditional UL, but the cash value portion grows based on an index’s movement, without being invested directly in the market.

Indexed accounts earn interest annually based on the upward movement of the S&P 500 Index while offering downside security if the market goes south. If you choose to park your money in a fixed account, you will earn 2% per year.

Gleaner Life vs. Other Carriers’ Sample Monthly Rates

*All rates quoted on this page are for a super-preferred healthy individual who does not use tobacco. Monthly rates are updated as of Feb 2019 and are subject to underwriting approval.*

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Bottom Line

When it comes to Gleaner’s term life insurance, you have much better options with other insurers. I also don’t really embrace the 10-year guaranteed alternative which comes with all its level benefit term. They offer a 20-year term with only 10 years of guaranteed premium to save money. This makes no sense because if that were the case as a consumer, I would just buy a 10-year term.

The worst part is that none of those plans actually saves me any money. Check both rates on the table above. This is another example of why you should never buy life insurance by yourself, or from an agent who only represents one company. You would be better served to work with a broker. When it comes to their permanent coverage, I don’t have the rates to compare them to others, so you should call and get quotes first.

If you seek life insurance and don’t know where to start, we at Effortless Insurance can help. We work with more than 50 companies and have loyalty to none. Our commitment is to our clients by placing them with the right company for their needs and health history.

Enter your information on the form on the right-hand side to get the cheapest life insurance quotes.

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