Securian Financial (Formerly Minnesota Life Insurance) Review 2020

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, not all companies are accepting new life insurance applications. For the latest information on how to cope with financial stress during this emergency, see NerdWallet’s financial guide to COVID-19.

Securian Financial, formerly Minnesota Life Insurance Co. in most states, provides life insurance and other products, such as annuities and investment services. The company was founded in 1880 and has more than $1 trillion in life insurance policies in force.

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Securian Financial life insurance

Securian Financial ranked No. 11 on NerdWallet’s list of the 20 best life insurance companies. NerdWallet evaluates the country’s largest life insurance companies based on financial strength, customer satisfaction and consumer complaints.

In addition to whole and term life insurance, Minnesota Life offers three types of universal life insurance policies. Universal life is a permanent policy with cash value that grows tax-deferred.

• Fixed universal life: The cash-value growth is tied to a fixed interest rate. It’s the least risky of the three universal life policies.
• Indexed universal life: The cash-value growth is tied to the performance of an index, such as the S&P 500. It offers the potential for greater returns than fixed universal life, but is less risky than variable universal life.
• Variable universal life: The cash-value growth is tied to investments chosen by the policyholder. It offers greater potential for returns than fixed or indexed universal life as well as greater risk, including the chance of losing cash value if the underlying investments perform poorly.

Some policies offer the option to use benefits before you die if you have a chronic illness or need long-term care.

In some states, Securian Financial also offers accidental death insurance, a type of life insurance that pays out only if your death is caused by an accident.

Securian Financial complaints and customer satisfaction

Over three years, Securian Financial has had fewer complaints to state regulators than expected for a company of its size, according to NerdWallet’s analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Securian Financial’s rating for overall customer satisfaction was below average in J.D. Power’s 2019 U.S. Life Insurance Study. The insurer ranked No. 18 overall out of 24 life insurance companies evaluated.

More about Securian Financial

Securian Financial offers other financial products in addition to life insurance:

• Accident, illness and supplemental hospital insurance.
• Annuities.
• Credit insurance.
• Gap insurance for vehicles.
• Investment and trust services.
• Financial planning.
• Workplace benefits.

Methodology: Insurer complaints

NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2016-2018. To assess how insurers compare to one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home and life insurance.