Let me offer you a brief profile of Standard Life insurance plans as a beginning to a short series of insurance company reviews. In particular, I will talk about the company’s Universal Life and Term Life plans.

The Universal Life plan:
Standard Life’s Universal Life plan is accessible to applicants up to the age of 80. Their Universal Life plan, traded as Perspecta, offers flexible premiums, multiple death benefit and cost of insurance options.

Your premiums are going to be invested in managed accounts, indexed accounts, term deposits and an account with daily compounded interest. The plan also features an Account Optimizer and Shelter Optimizer that help safeguard the investment’s tax-exempt status. When the plan matures, so-called client bonus payments kick in to augment cash accumulation even more.

You can add the following riders (and more) to the plan: 10 and 20-year term riders which are convertible and renewable, children’s term riders, critical illness riders for adults, as well as children, accidental death benefit, guaranteed insurability benefit and a benefit which relieves you from paying premiums in case of a disability.

It is unfortunate, Standard Life insurance (which used to have industry-leading rates on their Universal Life plan) came with an increase in its rates in 2005. Because of that, certain age groups may be inclined to go to other providers because of this rate increase. This, however, is balanced by their preferred rates, available to clients with superior personal and family health history.

As an illustration, a 45-year-old non-smoker male applicant applying for $250~000 of Universal Life coverage will pay a minimum premium (i.e., the premium to keep the plan alive) of $211.95 monthly.

Term Life:
Standard Life, like other providers, offers the standard 10- and 20-year term plans dubbed Term 10 and Term 20 respectively. Applicants can sign up for the Term 10 plan at any time between age 18 and 70, Term 20 ends at 65. Both policies can be renewed up to age 85 and the insured is allowed to convert them as long as they are 65 or younger. The plans also let you to add a wide selection of riders, like was the case with Universal Life (mentioned above).

A prospective applicant can also opt for an individual or first-to-die benefit (e.g. with a spouse).
As in Universal Life, if you and your family are lucky to have a good health history, you may qualify for preferred rates for the Term plans. Better yet, if your health is superb, you could be eligible for a super preferred rate. There’s an important limitation though – face amounts for term life plans start at as much as $100~000. If you haven’t got enough discretionary income, this minor fact may become an issue.