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Guardian Life Insurance Review 2024
Assistant Assigning Editor | Life insurance, disability insurance, health care
Katia Iervasi is an assistant assigning editor at NerdWallet. An insurance authority, she previously spent over six years covering insurance topics as a writer, where she loved untangling complicated topics and answering readers’ burning money questions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication and has studied writing, fact-checking and editing with Poynter. Her writing and analysis has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, Yahoo, Entrepreneur, Best Company and FT Advisor. Originally from Sydney, Australia, Katia currently lives in New York City.
Assigning Editor
Erica Corbin is a former assigning editor at NerdWallet. Erica joined NerdWallet in 2020 as an assistant assigning editor at large. In 2023, she was promoted to assigning editor and helped lead the credit cards vertical at NerdWallet Canada. She previously wrote and edited content at companies such as GOBankingRates and Nasdaq. Her work has been syndicated to USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN and more.
Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or click to take an action on their website. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.
Guardian Life
5.0
on Nerdwallet
Financial strength ratingThese ratings indicate an insurer’s ability to pay future claims.
Online purchaseThis indicates whether the company offers a way to apply for and purchase policies entirely online.
NAIC complaintsRatings are based on complaints to state regulators relative to a company’s size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC.
Policies offeredTerm policies last a set number of years, while permanent policies typically last a lifetime. No-exam policies don’t require a medical exam.
Pros
- Drew significantly fewer complaints to state regulators than expected for a company its size.
- Offers unique coverage options, such as survivorship insurance and policies for HIV-positive applicants.
Cons
- Minimal policy details on the site.
on Nerdwallet
Guardian Life
5.0
Financial strength ratingThese ratings indicate an insurer’s ability to pay future claims.
Online purchaseThis indicates whether the company offers a way to apply for and purchase policies entirely online.
NAIC complaintsRatings are based on complaints to state regulators relative to a company’s size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC.
Policies offeredTerm policies last a set number of years, while permanent policies typically last a lifetime. No-exam policies don’t require a medical exam.
Pros
- Drew significantly fewer complaints to state regulators than expected for a company its size.
- Offers unique coverage options, such as survivorship insurance and policies for HIV-positive applicants.
Cons
- Minimal policy details on the site.
In our life insurance reviews, our editorial team considers the customer and the insurer. These are some of the factors we take into account:
Policies offered. There are many types of life insurance on the market, and they fall into three key categories:
Term life insurance offers temporary coverage and a guaranteed payout if the policyholder dies during the term.
Permanent life insurance typically lasts a lifetime and builds cash value that can be borrowed against in the future.
No-exam life insurance issues coverage without the need for a medical exam.
Financial strength. We use AM Best ratings to confirm an insurer’s long-term financial stability and ability to pay claims. For life insurance, NerdWallet typically recommends considering insurers with ratings of A- or higher. Here’s the breakdown:
Exceptional: A+, A++.
Strong: A-, A.
Moderate: B, B+.
Complaints. These ratings are based on complaints to state regulators relative to a company’s size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The best life insurance companies have fewer than the expected number of complaints.
Buy online. This indicates whether an insurer allows you to apply for and buy a policy completely online.
Dive deeper: Ratings methodology for life insurance
Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is a mutual insurance company, meaning it’s owned by its policyholders. Customers who buy whole life insurance can share in annual dividends. The company has paid dividends every year since 1868, and will pay out $1.4 billion to policyholders in 2024
» MORE: Compare life insurance quotes
Guardian Life insurance rating
5.0
NerdWallet ratingGuardian Life earned 5 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account consumer experience, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings.
Based on these ratings, Guardian Life is among NerdWallet’s best life insurance companies.
Guardian Life insurance policies
Life insurance options from Guardian Life include:
Term life insurance. Guardian Life offers policies with terms of 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. You can get an estimated quote for term life insurance on the company’s website, but you must contact a company advisor to buy a policy.
Permanent life insurance: Guardian Life offers universal life insurance and whole life insurance, including a whole life survivorship policy called Guardian EstateGuard. Survivorship life insurance covers two people — typically a married couple — on one policy. The death benefit is paid to the beneficiary after the second person dies. With the EstateGuard policy, the cash value increases after the first person dies. Another unique feature is that policyholders can add more coverage in the early years of the policy.
Guardian Life insurance policies for people living with HIV
Guardian Life offers both term and whole life policies to healthy HIV-positive applicants with a coverage limit up to $10 million. Applicants must meet several requirements to qualify, including being:
Between 20 and 65 years old.
On highly active antiretroviral therapy for two or more years with favorable lab results.
Free of any AIDS-defining illnesses.
Under the care of a doctor specializing in HIV.
Guardian life insurance rates
Below are monthly rates for a 20-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy from Guardian. These are sample rates for a nonsmoking man and woman in excellent health — the final quote you’re offered will depend on factors like your age, health, lifestyle, occupation and driving record.
Age | Monthly rate - man | Monthly rate - woman |
|---|---|---|
20 | $22.32 | $18.02 |
30 | $23.17 | $18.45 |
40 | $31.33 | $26.18 |
50 | $75.96 | $58.37 |
60 | $235.18 | $154.93 |
Source: Direct from insurer. Rates reflect the super preferred class and were generated on 1/31/24. | ||
Guardian Life insurance customer complaints and satisfaction
Over three years, Guardian Life has drawn far fewer complaints to state regulators than expected for a company of its size, according to a NerdWallet analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Guardian Life ranked No. 12 out of 22 companies in J.D. Power's 2023 U.S. Life Insurance Study for overall customer satisfaction
What it’s like to apply for a policy with Guardian
To apply for coverage with Guardian, you’ll need to connect with a local agent.
You can start the process on the company’s website by getting a term life insurance quote without sharing your name or contact information. You’ll need to enter your gender, whether or not you smoke, your age and your annual income. From there, an interactive quote calculator allows you to see monthly estimates for different term lengths and coverage amounts.
Screenshot captured by NerdWallet’s editorial team on July 18, 2024.
Once you’ve seen your quote and adjusted the term length and death benefit amount to your liking, you’ll need to share your contact details so a representative can reach out to you.
Guardian doesn’t provide quotes for whole life insurance policies online. Instead, there’s an online search tool to help you find an agency in your area. Alternatively, you can fill out a contact form on the website to have an agent contact you.
Screenshot captured by NerdWallet’s editorial team on July 18, 2024.
How Guardian’s customer experience stacks up
Guardian’s website has comprehensive pages about term, whole and universal life insurance, including coverage details, product comparisons and frequently asked questions.
While there is no online chat feature on the website, you can get information from a live representative by phone during business hours.
When we called the personal life insurance number, we were in touch with a human within two minutes. The representative was ready to help current policyholders, but told us they’d need to connect us with an agency in our area to apply for coverage. They gave us the contact information for a local company where we could purchase a Guardian plan. Although we weren’t able to apply for coverage by phone, the Guardian representative answered our questions about life insurance term lengths and rider availability.
Guardian’s mobile app is available in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. On the app, you can see your account details and benefits and make payments. While the star ratings for the app are above 4 out of 5, some Apple users said they were unable to make or set up payments in the app, and some Android users reported trouble logging in or accessing their accounts on the app.
More about Guardian Life insurance
In addition to life insurance, Guardian offers other financial products and services, including:
Disability income insurance.
Annuities.
Wealth management and investments.
Individual dental and vision insurance.
Critical illness and accident insurance.
Workplace benefits.
How to contact Guardian
Guardian can be reached by:
Phone: Call 1-888-482-7342 Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
Email: No general customer service email available. If you already have coverage with Guardian, email [email protected] for assistance with your account or policy.
Live chat: Not available.
Life insurance buying guide
Before you start comparing companies, choose the type of life insurance you want, such as term or whole life. Decide which life insurance riders, if any, you want the policy to include. Calculate how much life insurance you need and how long you want the coverage to last. Check that the insurers you’re considering offer the coverage you’re looking for.
When comparing rates, be sure the quotes are for the same amount of coverage over the same period of time. It’s also important to make sure the policy’s medical requirements match your needs. For example, if you want to skip the life insurance medical exam but don’t mind answering health questions, confirm that the application process for each policy you're comparing aligns with that.
Price may not be the biggest driver behind your decision to buy. Look at the number of consumer complaints each company receives, as high numbers can be a red flag about the quality of service.
For more guidance, see our life insurance buying guide.
Methodology
Life insurance ratings methodology
NerdWallet’s life insurance ratings are based on consumer experience, complaint index scores from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for individual life insurance, and weighted averages of financial strength ratings, which indicate a company’s ability to pay future claims. Within the consumer experience category, we consider ease of communication and website transparency, which looks at the depth of policy details available online. To calculate each insurer’s rating, we adjusted the scores to a curved 5-point scale.
These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
Insurer complaints methodology
NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2020-2022. To assess how insurers compare with 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. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home (including renters and condo) and life insurance.