American General Select-a-Term Review

While most other life insurance companies only offer 5 or 6 duration choices for term life insurance, American General’s Select-a-Term product offers policyholders 18 different term duration periods. This allows the ultimate in customization of your life insurance policy.  The Select-a-Term product from AIG  not only offers the customization of term durations, but it also offers a generous conversion feature that comes with a conversion credit in some cases.  All of these features from a financially stable company that has been around for over 150 years makes Select-a-Term an excellent option if you are looking for term life insurance.  Here is our review for AIG’s Select-a-Term product.

Select-a-Term Basics

The Select-a-Term product offers many duration options.  You can choose the following duration periods:

• 10 years of coverage
• 15 through 30 years of coverage
• 35 years of coverage

This allows the ultimate customization of duration for a term product.  For instance, let’s say you are 38 years old and want insurance until your planned retirement age of 65 which is 27 years from now. Normally, your only two choices would be to buy a 25 year policy and come up a few years short on your coverage goals or a 30 year policy and pay for an additional 3 years of coverage.  Select-a-Term allows you to choose a 27 year policy to fit your exact need.  You won’t have to worry about your insurance running out too early or having to pay for a policy that outlasts your need.

You can also choose a face amount as low as $50,000.  AIG also offers coverage without a medical exam for coverage of $100,000 or less.

Conversion Opportunities

Conversion OPtion – Select-a-Term offers full convertibility to a permanent life insurance policy up to the end of the level-premium period (or age 70 of the insured, whichever comes first). Extended conversion eligibility to the full suite of American General policies for the first 8 years for 10 year term durations, or the first 10 years for term durations of 15 years and greater.

Conversion Credit – If you convert your policy within 8 years for a 10 year term duration or within 10 years for term durations of 15 years  or longer, you will receive a conversion credit equal to the term policy’s annual premium. For example, if the annual premium is $1,000 for your term policy and you convert it to a permanent product, $1,000 will be credited toward the initial premium of your permanent product.

Riders That Can be Added to Your Policy

The Select-a –Term product offers several riders.  Some are free with the base policy and others are available for an additional cost.  They include:

• Accidental Death Benefit Rider – Adds additional death benefit if death results from accident.
• Child Rider – Pays death benefit to parent upon death of an insured child.
• Disability Income Rider – Can pay a monthly benefit to primary insured if unable to work due to covered illness.
• Terminal Illness Rider (no charge) – Provides acceleration of death benefit if insured has 12 months or less to live.
• Waiver of Premium Rider – Waives premiums for the base policy, and any attached riders, upon the total disability of the insured after a six-month waiting period.
• Select Income Rider – Provides supplemental term coverage on the life of the insured. Pays a monthly benefit to the beneficiary upon death of the base policy insured.  Death benefit from the rider will be paid monthly for either 60,120,180,240,300,360,420 or 480 months.

These are just simplified explanations of the riders available.  More detailed explanations are available upon request.

How Much Does Select-a-Term Cost?

Here are some sample rates below for male and female applicants for various durations.  The quotes are for male and female applicants who qualify for ‘Preferred Best Rates’ for $500,000 of coverage.

Male Rates

Female Rates

Is AIG a Good Company?

American General has been in business for over 160 years.  They offer life, accident & health and annuity insurance products. AIG is rated ‘Superior’ in terms of its financial strength according to A.M. Best.  All of the other ratings agencies  also consider AIG to be financially sound, placing an A rating on the company. AIG has over 13 million customers across all of their lines and all of their affiliated companies have collectively paid out over $38 billion in claims and benefits to their clients in the last 5 years.  They are 6 time winners of the Achievement in Customer Excellence (ACE) award from MarketTools, Inc., which recognizes outstanding achievement in customer excellence.

Conclusion

The premiums for American General Select-a-Term life insurance products are among the lowest in the industry. They are very efficient in their overall application and underwriting process.  Their financial strength, length of service and track record of paying out claims should make anyone considering any product from American General feel confident.  If you are looking for a simple term policy that allows for term customization, the Select-a-Term policy is an excellent choice.  If you are interested in a quote for a Select-a-Term product, please feel free to give us a call at (888)687-9444 or email us at info@archstoneagency.com.

Archstone Insurance Services, LLC is an independent agency that shops over 40 of the top life insurance carriers to provide huge savings on life insurance coverage for our clients.  We are happy to answer any questions you might have about any of the insurance products we offer, your planning needs or your existing coverage.  Feel free to call us directly at (888) 687-9444 or email us at info@archstoneagency.com.  You can also visit our website at www.archstoneinsurance.com.