Compare Massachusetts Mutual vs. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance

Both MassMutual and Northwestern Mutual are large, global financial institutions with considerable reach and reputation.

Customers purchasing life insurance policies through either can rely on rock solid financial ratings, which indicate a strong ability to pay claims into the future.

Both carriers have a similar reputation when it comes to customer satisfaction as well, holding similar NAIC complaint ratios and BBB grades.

Northwestern Mutual, however, has a slight edge when it comes to available riders and policy add-ons.

Life insurance is a changing industry in the digital age.

Where traditionally the business model consisted mainly of agents selling policies from multiple carriers for commission, customers are increasingly able to buy their policies directly from the provider online.

While many long standing providers are at least making part of the process digital, much the online landscape is dominated by newer carriers, many of whom are underwritten by larger and older financial firms.

These websites often offer a fully online process from quote to application to approval.

However, they tend to not feature the flexibility in policy offerings a customer would get with a traditional provider.

For example, many of the new players only offer basic term coverage, where a brick and mortar life insurance provider will be able to offer term, whole, universal, final expense, etc. 

Where older, more established organizations have the edge is definitely in the area of financial strength. And financial strength is crucial for all forms of insurance, but for life insurance it is probably the most important of all.

Customers purchasing life insurance policies must be confident that the company will be able to meet its financial obligations far into the future.

When it comes to term coverage, time periods generally range between 10-30 years. Term policies are most often purchased for income replacement. The breadwinner(s) of the family predict how long they will likely be required to provide, and calculate how much their loved ones would need to replace this should they suffer an untimely death.

Whole life insurance is an even longer prospect, as it will need to pay out regardless of age. Whole policies, which are more expensive, also can be used for investment or retirement income. 

Regardless of policy chosen, it is important to analyze the financial strength of a given provider in order to get a picture of how likely they will be able to meet future financial obligations.

In order to assess this we take a look at the financial strength ratings as determined by Standard and Poor's, Moody's, and A.M. Best. 

Both MassMutual and Northwestern Mutual have excellent financial strength ratings in terms of creditworthiness and claims paying ability. In fact, MassMutual only ranks slightly lower with Moody's, having a score of Aa2.

In order to rate customer experience and reputation, we are looking at several things including the NAIC complaint ratio, the BBB accreditation and grade, Trustpilot score, and other statistically significant online reviews from reputable sources. 

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is the regulatory body that gathers to set and enforce standards across the insurance industry in the areas of life, accident, health, property, and casualty.

It is a non-profit comprised of the head insurance commissioners of each state tasked with oversight and compliance. The NAIC compiles closed complaint information annually.

Each individual state agency voluntarily supplies the NAIC with it's closed complaints for any given company. The NAIC then gathers and codes the information, essentially comparing the number of complaints with company size and market share.

This produces a complaint score relative to the size of the company. The range is from 0.0 to 2.0 with 1.0 being the national average for complaints in a year.

Both MassMutual and Northwestern Mutual have fantastic NAIC complaint ratios considering their size. At .03 the score for both carriers falls well below the national average.

In terms of BBB grade both companies are also evenly matched, though neither is accredited. 

MassMutual and Northwestern both provide:

• term life insurance
• whole life insurance
• universal life insurance

MassMutual Life Insurance Policies

MassMutual also offers variable universal and final expense.

MassMutual terms range from 10-30 years for term policies, and also have key features like term to permanent conversion and guaranteed level premium.

Northwestern Life Insurance Policies

Northwestern goes a bit further in terms of policy options, also providing:

• guaranteed renewability
• waiver of premium
• accelerated death benefit

They are also less forthcoming about their term lengths, coverage amounts, and age range. 

Riders are additions to life insurance policies that can provide for certain life situations.

Both MassMutual and Northwestern feature disability income riders. This is a feature that pays a certain percentage of the face value of the policy, and also waives the monthly premium to make things easier on those who have suffered a disability.

After this, Northwestern Mutual has the edge when it comes to available riders, offering:

• guaranteed insurability rider
• child protection rider
• long-term-care rider