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Allianz Life Insurance currently only offers one policy type — a fixed index universal life (FIUL) insurance policy called the Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage plan. While this plan is not for everyone, it's worth considering if you're looking for low-risk, tax-advantaged growth opportunities within your life insurance policy. Business Insider's personal finance team compared Allianz to the the best life insurance companies. We found it to have limited options with some standout features.
Introduction to Allianz Life Insurance
Founded in 1896 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Allianz Life Insurance is part of Allianz SE, a global financial services group based in Germany. Allianz offers a wie variety of insurance offerings, primarily for businesses. Though, Allianz Life Insurance offers fixed index universal life insurance nationwide, except in New York.
The maximum coverage limit for Allianz's fixed index universal life policy is $65 million, which is much higher than what most other insurers provide. Plus, you can customize your policy with seven different riders. However, because Allianz only offers fixed index universal life policy and not term, whole, or traditional universal life insurance, it's not the best fit if you're looking for a company that offers a comprehensive suite of life insurance products to choose from.
Allianz Life Insurance Plans Available
Unlike other companies in the life insurance space that offer a wide range of life insurance products, Allianz only provides fixed index universal life insurance, which is a type of permanent life insurance where the cash value gains are tied to a stock market index, such as the S&P 500. Cash value is the portion of a permanent life insurance policy that earns interest and can be accessed while you're alive.
The FIUL insurance at Allianz is available to anyone 80 or younger. The minimum death benefit amount is $100,000, and the maximum is $65 million.
Allianz Fixed Index Universal Life Explained
Allianz's fixed index universal life policy, which they call the Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage plan, allows you to build cash value based on the performance of a stock market index without actually investing in the market. Allianz has several index options you can choose from including the S&P 500, PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index, Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index, and a blended index.
If the interest goes up, you're credited with interest. And once your index is credited, it can't be lost due to a drop in the index. This is because policyholders are typically safeguarded by something called "the floor," which is usually set at 0%. In other words, even if your index lost 10%, you'll be protected from losses since 0% will be credited and not -10%.
With this insurance plan, you can also choose to earn a fixed interest rate, which credits your policy daily at a single predictable rate. And as long as your FIUL policy has enough cash value, you can take loans or withdrawals from it to pay for any major expenses like college tuition or medical bills. Of course, Allianz also provides a death benefit that's income-tax-free to your beneficiaries after you pass away.
What makes Allianz stand out is they allow you to lock in an index value once at any point during the crediting period. Once locked, you can guarantee your rate of return during that crediting period, no matter what happens in the market afterward. These can be activated manually or automatically, once the value reaches a target percentage you designate.
If you're looking for a life insurance company that offers a comprehensive suite of products, including whole, term, and no medical exam policies, Allianz may not be the best fit. However, if you want to take advantage of the larger gains offered by market indexes without actually investing in the market, the FIUL at Allianz may fit your needs.
Additional Coverage Options Offered by Allianz Life Insurance (Riders)
Allianz lets you customize your FIUL policy with several riders, including the following:
- Child term rider. Adds term insurance to your coverage to insure your children who are between 15 days old and 21 years old.
- Loan protection rider. Protects your policy from lapsing due to an outstanding life insurance loan.
- Enhanced liquidity rider. Waives a percentage of the policy's surrender charges.
- Premium deposit fund rider. Deposits a lump sum of money where amounts are deducted to pay annual planned premiums.
- Supplemental term rider. Adds extra term insurance to your policy.
- Waiver of new charges benefit. Waives all fees associated with coverage increases in years 11 and beyond,
- Waiver of specified premium rider. Allows you to select an amount of specified premium to be waived if you become disabled.
How Much Does Allianz Life Insurance Cost?
Here's everything you need to know about the cost of Allianz's life insurance policy and the factors that may affect your premium.
Factors Affecting Allianz Life Insurance Premiums
According to Allianz, your premium is based on your age, gender, risk class, death benefit amount, and any riders you choose to add to the policy, but it's never less than $25 per month or $300 a year.
Allianz's risk classes include:
- Non-tobacco (ages 18–80): Preferred Plus, Preferred, Standard
- Tobacco (ages 18–75): Preferred Tobacco, Standard Tobacco
- Juvenile (ages 0–17)
Allianz Life Insurance Quotes
Unfortunately, Allianz doesn't offer online quotes for its policies, so you'll need to contact an insurance agent to find out how much you'd pay in premiums. However, assuming you're a non-smoker with excellent health looking for $250,000 in coverage, you can expect indexed universal life policies to cost anywhere from around $70 to $700, depending on your age. The older you are and the higher the coverage amount, the more expensive your policy will be.
How to Purchase and Manage an Allianz Policy
Before buying a life insurance policy from Allianz, use their online calculator to get a personalized estimate of how much coverage you need. Once you've decided that Allianz is the right fit, you can purchase their FIUL insurance policy by contacting a life insurance agent.
Note that FIUL requires qualification through health and financial underwriting, so be prepared to take a medical exam.
After submitting your application, wait for Allianz to respond. If your application is denied, contact your insurance agent to find out the reason. In most cases, it could be due to having a chronic illness, a poor lifestyle, or simply providing insufficient information.
How to File a Claim With Allianz Life Insurance
Filing a claim with Allianz is pretty straightforward. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do so.
- Answer a few questions about the insured. To initiate the claims process, you'll answer a few questions in this online form, including the name of the insured, their date of birth and death, and the policy number.
- Return the claim form packet to Allianz. After the first step is complete, Allianz will mail you a claim form packet with contract-specific information that must be completed and returned to them.
- Wait for approval. Once you've completed the claim form packet and sent it back to Allianz, they'll evaluate your claim within 10 business days.
Allianz Life Insurance Customer Service and Support Experience
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)'s Complaint Index, Allianz has received fewer customer complaints than other companies with a similar size. The NAIC gives companies with more complaints than expected an index above 1.0 and those with fewer complaints than expected an index below 1.0. Allianz's complaint index was 0.28 in 2023, indicating that customer satisfaction isn't a problem for the company.
Allianz has only received four reviews on Trustpilot, so their 2.6 out of 5 rating most likely does not fully capture the overall customer sentiment. Their Better Business Bureau profile has 14 reviews averaging 1.21 out of five stars, but you should also take these numbers with a grain of salt due to the small sample size. Still, it's worth mentioning that most of the negative reviews were concerns about poor customer service and delays in receiving death benefits.
Allianz Life Insurance vs. Its Competitors
Though Allianz's fixed index universal life policy comes with many perks, it's not for everyone. Check out these alternatives that may be a better fit for you.
Allianz Life Insurance vs. Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance
Mutual of Omaha is among the best universal life insurance companies, particularly known for its indexed universal life insurance. The main difference between Allianz and Mutual of Omaha is that Mutual of Omaha doesn't have an index lock feature and doesn't give you the option to opt for a fixed interest rate. However, both of Mutual of Omaha's IUL policies—Life Protection Advantage and Income Advantage — include living benefits for terminal and chronic illnesses.
Both Allianz and Mutual of Omaha don't allow you to get quotes or purchase the policy online. Instead, you'll have to contact an agent and answer a few questions to initiate the application process.
Read our Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance review.
Allianz Life Insurance vs. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance
If you want to directly invest your cash value into securities and not tie it to a stock market index's performance, you may want to go for Northwestern Mutual instead of Allianz. The company offers variable universal life (VUL) policies, which are permanent life insurance policies with an investing component. With this policy, you can directly invest your cash value in a wide range of mutual-fund-like subaccounts. You can choose from 40 different investment funds or select pre-packed solutions.
Unlike Allianz, Northwestern Mutual offers various other life insurance products, including term and whole life insurance, giving you the flexibility to choose the coverage that best suits your needs.
Read our Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance review.
Allianz vs. New York Life Insurance
Both Allianz and New York Life Insurance have strong financial ratings from AM Best, though New York Life has a slight edge with an A++ financial strength rating compared to Allianz's A+. When it comes to product variety, New York Life Insurance takes the cake since the company offers term, whole, universal, and variable universal life policies, while Allianz only specializes in fixed index universal life. However, if you're specifically looking for FIUL policies, you'll want to go with Allianz since New York Life Insurance doesn't offer this option.
Neither company offers online quotes, which can be a turnoff if you're looking for a streamlined insurance purchasing process.
Read our New York Life Insurance review.
Allianz Life Insurance FAQs
No, Allianz does not offer term life insurance. If you're interested in term life insurance, consider checking out other life insurance companies like Lemonade Life Insurance or State Farm Life Insurance. You can also find options with our guide on the best cheap life insurance companies.
The difference between indexed universal life and variable universal life is that a indexed universal life insurance doesn't invest your cash value directly in the market while variable universal life insurance puts your cash value directly in a mutual fund-like account. As a result, variable life insurance has a greater potential return but increases your exposure to risk.
To file a claim with Allianz, you'll need to fill out an online form. Once you've completed the form and provided proof of death and other requested information, the company will evaluate your claim within 10 business days or within applicable state requirements.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Allianz Life Insurance
We reviewed Allianz Life Insurance based on our life insurance rating methodology, which considers the company and policies themselves, but also considers external metrics like the NAIC complaint index and third-party sites like Trustpilot and Better Business Bureau. We also compared Allianz Life Insurance with other popular life insurance companies, including those listed in the comparison section.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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