If consumers go by price, simplicity and ease, term insurance would win the Term vs. Perm Debate that has been going on for decades. What’s not to love about term insurance?

Term insurance premiums have become very affordable thanks to the highly competitive market. For example, a $100,000 20-year level premium term policy may cost as little as $150 per year or a total of $3,000.

Term insurance products also offer consumers something permanent insurance can’t: the convenience of shopping for and buying a policy any day and time through the Internet. One online term insurance quote
provider claims a database of complete information on hundreds of policy variations from top insurance companies. Once a product has been selected, the online processing of some term insurance policy can be completed in just 15 minutes.

Can permanent insurance products compete or are they destined for extinction?

Some experts believe permanent life insurance is here to stay because it provides solutions for complex situations term insurance cannot meet. One such circumstance involves estate planning.

The role of permanent insurance in estate planning is something term Insurance can never duplicate. Permanent insurance is widely viewed by financial planners as a very efficient and useful component of estate planning.

Through an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT), permanent life insurance reduces the impact of estate and gift taxes. The ILIT becomes the beneficiary of a permanent life insurance. Because the death benefit
proceeds belong to the ILIT and not the insured, it increases the size of the estate without increasing estate taxes. The death benefit can also be used be used to pay off tax obligations. In addition, permanent life insurance, through the ILIT provides liquidity without selling non-liquid estate assets.

Some may argue that the role of permanent life insurance may soon be greatly diminished if the lawmakers decide to permanently abolish estate tax in 2011. But the fate of this bill remains uncertain.

Previous efforts to do away with the estate tax have all failed. Its repeal is expected to deprave the federal government of about $1 trillion over 10 years yet it benefits only a very small portion of the population according to those who argue against its abolition.

Still others are predicting that, even if the estate tax is not repealed permanently, its post-2010 bite would be so greatly reduced that special tax shields would no longer be necessary. But CBS News reported that
three of the leading presidential candidates from the Democratic Party promised to raise the estate tax under their watch.

As such many financial planners believe that the best defense against the estate tax is to assume that it will be a permanent fixture rather than hoping for the best and doing nothing to protect estates.

For example, Dick and Jane, a married couple, have a net estate of $2 million broken down into the following:

• Real estate valued at $500,000
• Personal property valued at $150,000
• Miscellaneous cash and investment accounts valued at $350,000
• IRA accounts valued at $1,000,000

Instead of purchasing a permanent life insurance for the purpose of establishing an ILIT, the couple relied on wills leaving all assets to the surviving spouse or children.

Dick and Jane die in 2011 when the estate tax was reinstated, as is with no changes, after its temporary repeal in 2010. Dick died first and left everything to Jane and no estate taxes were triggered. When Jane died shortly after her estate uses the $1 million exemption on the $2 million estate. The estate tax bill on the other $1 million is $435,000.

Since the late couple’s miscellaneous investment accounts is only $350,000, the heirs need to raise $85,000 within nine months after their mother’s death. The tax-deferred IRA accounts can cover the cost of the entire estate tax bill but this would produce an income tax event. Real estate can be sold to generate additional funds necessary but given the limited time the heirs have, they may have to settle for less than the optimal market price.

Supposed Dick and Jane both owned life insurance valued at $500,000 each. Without estate planning, the policies would add $1,000,000 in the estate and an additional $500,000 in estate taxes for the heirs to pay.

Dick and Jane could have invested in permanent life insurance and established two ILITs that divide the $2 million estate into two trusts of $1 million each. At Dick’s death, his trust could have claimed the $1 million exemption. At Jane’s death, her trust could use her $1 million exemption. That would leave the heirs with zero estate tax due and no complicated financial decisions to make.

If Dick and Jane had transferred their life insurance policies to the ILIT at least three years before their deaths, the insurance proceeds would not be considered part of their estate and save the heirs $500,000.00 in taxes. By making the ILIT the beneficiary of their policy and their children the beneficiary of the ILIT, the heirs get an additional $950,000.

Until providers can make a term insurance product that can duplicate those results – and unless the permanent repeal of the estate tax has been guaranteed – permanent life insurance will always have a place in this world where nothing is certain but death and taxes.

DATELINE: WASHINGTON Jan. 28

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ — During one of the most unsettled periods in recent financial history, author and investment guru John E. Girouard ( http://www.johngirouard.com/ ) is warning people to think twice before moving their money into bank CDs and money market funds.

He says the ultimate bomb shelter during scary financial times is your grandparents’ life insurance, called participating or mutual whole life, which dominated the industry until falling out of favor in the late 1970s, but is now coming back into style.

“Few people know that the life insurance industry was one of the few economic sectors to survive the Great Depression intact. It was one investment that kept its promises,” says Girouard.

Buying a policy from a mutually-owned company, you become an owner instead of a customer. “It’s like becoming your own bank,” notes Girouard. Mutual life premiums accumulate cash value that earns untaxed interest, and policyholders can borrow against it, no questions asked. Mutual whole life policies have recently been earning around 6 percent and carry ironclad guarantees: your cash value and the death benefit are secure. Some policies even include disability benefits.

Girouard observes that corporations for years have been buying mutual insurance policies on their employees’ lives as a way of stashing corporate cash in an untaxed vehicle they can draw down on a moment’s notice.

“My phone and those of America’s nearly 300,000 investment advisors are ringing off the hook. The question on everyone’s lips: ‘Where do I stash my money when nothing looks good?’” Girouard says. Bank CDs help people sleep better, “but low interest rates, inflation and taxes steadily erode buying power so people actually lose money instead of protecting it.”

“Investing is a three legged stool,” Girouard says. “One leg is the money you need to live on, one leg is the money you invest for growth, and one leg is the bomb shelter you can retreat to when you can’t sleep because the rest of the world seems to be falling apart.” He says most investment advisers don’t understand how mutual whole life policies work, and don’t offer them to clients “because they aren’t sexy or new.”

John E. Girouard is author of “The Ten Truths of Wealth Creation” and founder of the Institute for Whole Life Insurance: ‘The Investment Bomb Shelter for Scary Times’
http://www.insurancenewsnet.com
Financial Independence ( http://www.independenceinstitute.com/ ).
Web site: http://www.johngirouard.com/ http://www.independenceinstitute.com/
SOURCE John E. Girouard http://www.prnewswire.com
Copyright © 2008 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Whole Story of Whole Life

Introduction

Whole life is the most versatile financial instrument ever devised for the protection of families and businesses and the creation and enhancement of wealth. To appreciate the great value of this type of life insurance protection this paper explores how it works, its uses, its benefits and the options you have in structuring a contract to meet your specific needs, and why Guardian is the company of choice.

“Whole life provides lifetime insurance protection with significant guarantees and tax benefits…”

___________________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW. . .

Walt Disney, unable to land a substantial bank loan,
used the cash value from his whole life policy to build
a sprawling theme park that is now known to the
world as “the happiest place on earth.”

Chapter 1

How Does
Whole Life Work?

Whole life is an insurance policy that provides lifetime insurance protection with significant guarantees and tax benefits for the policy owner. These guarantees can be viewed as either rates or values. When actuaries design a whole life policy, they begin by determining what rates are going to be guaranteed. Once the guaranteed rates have been set, they are used to determine policy premiums and values. Guaranteed rates and values are based upon conservative assumptions. A mutual life insurance company, such as Guardian, will then adjust these rates and values to current conditions through the mechanism of a non-guaranteed dividend. Because life insurance is seen as beneficial to the welfare of society, significant tax benefits have been given to it that are not found in other financial instruments.

What Are the Guaranteed Rates?
A whole life policy is built upon a foundation of three guaranteed rates:

• The guaranteed mortality rate – this guarantee comes from the 2001 CSO table, a table of guaranteed mortality rates that are required by insurance regulations.
• The guaranteed interest rate – this rate for Guardian policies is 4.0% for the entire life of the policy.
• The guaranteed expense factor – an allocation for expense that is covered in guaranteed values.

What Are the Guaranteed Values?
The three guaranteed rates are combined in an actuarial formula that results in three guaranteed values, and it is this trio of guaranteed features that sets whole life policies apart from all other types of financial instruments. Whole life insurance has:

• A Guaranteed Level Premium – The annual premium is contractually guaranteed to never change.
• A Guaranteed Death Benefit – The level death benefit is contractually guaranteed never to go down.
• A Guaranteed Cash Value – The contractually guaranteed cash value grows each year until it is equal to the face amount of the policy at a specified age, usually age 121.
  (Prior to the 2001 CSO table, it was age 100.)

The graph below illustrates the guaranteed values of a whole life insurance policy without any dividend values. The Guaranteed Death Benefit of $500,000 is a combination of Guaranteed Cash Value and Guaranteed Net Amount at Risk.¹ Year by year the Guaranteed Cash Value increases until it is equal to the face amount of the policy at age 121.

¹ Net Amount at Risk is the difference between the policy death benefit and the cash value.

$500,000 Whole Life Insurance Guaranteed Values —
Base Policy Guaranteed Cash Value and
Guaranteed Net Amount at Risk —
Male Age 35 – $6,165 Annual Premiums

Whole Life Insurance Guaranteed Values —Base Policy Guaranteed Cash Value

Dividends
Whole life offers the ability to provide value in excess of its guarantees through dividends. Dividends are paid to the policyholders if declared by the Board of Directors. When dividends are declared they have three components:

• The insurance company’s investment rate of return in excess of the guaranteed return promised in the policy;
• Mortality experience which is better than that which is guaranteed in the policy; and
• Expenses of policy administration which are less than the cost guaranteed in the policy.

The graph on the next page illustrates how a whole life policy can grow in value with paid-up-additional insurance purchased with dividends.

What Are My Dividend Options?
Diverse policy owners have different needs. Whole life offers a variety of dividend options to choose from, in order to customize your coverage so that it’s right for you. The dividend option may be changed year by year to address your needs as they change over your lifetime.

• By far the most widely selected dividend option is to apply dividends to purchase Paid-Up- Additions (PUA). A Paid-Up-Addition is guaranteed permanent paid-up participating life insurance. This option provides you with a growing cash value and death benefit that is guaranteed once purchased. Under this option, each year as dividends are declared, more and more PUAs are purchased which in turn earn their own dividends. Over time, the accumulation of PUAs will offset the effects of inflation by providing a greater level of death benefit protection and accumulated cash values.
• Dividends may be paid to you in cash.
• Dividends may be used to reduce your premium.
• Additional term insurance may be purchased with your dividends.
• Dividends may be allowed to accumulate with interest.
• Dividends may be used to pay back an existing loan on a policy.

The following graph illustrates how the death benefit of a whole life policy can grow in value with Paid-Up-Additional Insurance purchased by dividends.

Base Policy Death Benefit and
Paid-Up-Additions Death Benefit —
$500,000 Base Policy
Male Age 35 – $6,165 Annual Premium

Whole Life Base Policy Death Benefit

The graph below illustrates the four elements of a whole life policy:

• The base policy guaranteed cash value;
• The base policy net amount at risk;
• The paid-up-addition cash value; and
• The paid-up-addition net amount at risk.

These four elements constitute the total death benefit of a whole life policy.

Policy Elements – Whole Life With Dividends
Purchasing Paid-Up-Additions
$500,000 Base Policy —
Male Age 35 – $6,165 Annual Premium*

Policy Elements – Whole Life Insurance With Dividends

Taxation Protection

Because of the contribution that life insurance makes to the welfare of society by providing protection for surviving family members, it has been vested with the following significant tax benefits:

• Income-tax-free death benefits.
• Tax-deferred build up of cash values inside of the life policy.
• Access to policy values on a tax-favored basis.
  • The cash values of life insurance policies may generally be accessed on a tax-favored basis by the withdrawal of dividends or through policy loans.
  • Withdrawal of dividends from a life insurance policy is permitted on a First-In First-Out Basis (FIFO). This means that the first dividends paid out to the policy owner are considered a return of cost basis.²
  • All of a policy’s cash value may be borrowed from a policy without the triggering of income tax on any gain that has been borrowed from the policy.

² Cost Basis is the investment that is made in a life insurance policy. The formula for cost basis is the aggregate amount of premium paid on a base contract and permanent benefits under the contract, or other consideration paid for the contract minus the aggregate amount received under the contract, to the extent such amount was excluded from gross income.

“Human life value is the most valuable asset

of a family or business …”

___________________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW. . .

in 1913, the United States Congress gave special tax
treatment to whole life insurance as an incentive for
individuals and business owners who were expected
to take more responsibility for their financial futures.
Those same unique tax benefits remain in place for
investors today.

Chapter 2:
What are the Different Uses
for Whole Life?

Whole life insurance provides a means by which families and businesses may enjoy the benefit of their human life value when it is threatened by loss.

Human Life Value Protection

Property values, whether they exist in the context of a family or a business, are in fact the result of human effort. Human life value is clearly seen in a family whenever income is earned to provide for that family’s economic needs. Human life value is clearly seen in a business where a key person is often identified as a significant contributor to revenue and earnings.

Whole life insurance provides a means by which an individual may insure their human life value.

Solomon Huebner defines Human Life Value as the capitalized monetary worth of the earning capacity resulting from the economic forces that are incorporated within our being: namely, our character and health, our education, training, and experience, our personality and industry, our creative power, and our driving force to realize the economic images of the mind.³

Most people see the importance of insuring the value of property such as their home or car for its replacement value and are able to do so with their casualty insurance. The human life value of an individual, which is by far the most valuable asset of a family or business, is also insurable for its replacement value on a permanent basis with whole life insurance. Whole life insurance provides an affordable, effective way of permanently indemnifying a family or business against the loss of its most valuable asset.

There are many benefits that a family may enjoy from the production of income, such as the purchase of a home, rearing and education of children and the enjoyment of life.

The indemnification of the breadwinners in a family will ensure that these benefits will continue to the survivors in the event of death.

³ S.S. Huebner, The Economics of Life Insurance, page 5, (Executive Asset Mgmt. 3rd ed. 1996) (1927)

Family Protection

The death benefits of life insurance can assure the economic continuity of a family at a time when it is faced with the greatest of all possible traumas, the death of a beloved father, mother, husband or wife. Whole life insurance can also assure financial stability through the funding of:

• Mortgage protection;
• Education funding; and
• Income needs.

Business Protection

Businesses face special insurance funding needs in order to provide a business continuity plan that will protect the owners in the event of death. Whole life insurance is ideally suited to provide the capital needed to adequately buy the interest of a deceased owner and indemnify the business against the loss of the services, expertise and skill of a key person. Life insurance is ideally suited to address four major areas of business planning:

• The funding of buy-sell agreements and stock redemption plans;
• Funding of supplemental retirement programs;
• Key person indemnification, and
• The payment of loans and mortgages.

Estate Planning

Planning for the orderly transfer of property at death can minimize taxes and provide for heirs in a way that will reflect an individual’s desires. Whole life insurance plays a key role in providing for loved ones by offering:

• Adequate liquidity to pay estate and inheritance taxes;
• Assets to generate income for a surviving spouse andchildren;
• Estate equalization among heirs, and
• Funding for special needs children.

Asset Maximization

One of the unique benefits of whole life insurance is the way that it enhances the value of other assets in your estate. The presence of guaranteed whole life insurance gives the owner the ability to use estate assets in ways that would not be possible if the insurance did not exist. Whole life is the “permission slip” that may enable you to maximize retirement income and your personal net worth. For example:

• The Power to Consume – The presence of whole life insurance in your estate will allow other assets to produce greater income by providing access to the principal as well as interest as a source of income. Life insurance gives the owner the power to consume assets that would otherwise have to be managed in an ultra-conservative fashion in order to preserve the principal and the income stream it produces.
• Pension Maximization – Most retirees will select a joint and 50% survivor annuity as the retirement income option on their pension plan. The cost of selecting this option is a lower retirement income, as much as 15%, followed by an income to the surviving spouse of 50% of the lowered retirement income. The presence of permanent whole life insurance may enable a retiree to take a much higher retirement income in the form of a single life annuity because the insurance benefits will be available to a surviving spouse as a future source of income.
• Charitable Remainder Trust – The cost of successfully building a business or managing a personal investment portfolio is often measured by the enormous capital gains tax that must be paid when a business owner looks to sell a business interest or portfolio holdings in order to fund retirement income. Often financial success brings with it a desire to express benevolence towards those charitable causes that are of particular interest. With a charitable remainder trust, these two seemingly diverse needs and desires can meet in a plan that provides:
  • A lifetime income for a benevolent donor;
  • A substantial bequest to a charity of choice;
  • Avoidance of the capital gains tax; and
  • Significant income tax deductions.

“Instantly with the payment of the first premium, Guardian sets aside…
the entire death benefit for your family.”

___________________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW. . .

estate taxes can wipe out the accrued value of
retirement accounts, real estate and businesses
by forcing beneficiaries to liquidate assets.
Whole life’s income-tax-free, guaranteed death
benefit can cover the bill and protect the wealth
a policyholder has worked to accumulate.

Chapter 3:

What Are the Benefits of
Whole Life Insurance?

The Protection of an
Instant Permanent Estate

Instantly with the payment of the first premium, Guardian sets aside the entire death benefit for your family. Whole life insurance provides a guaranteed death benefit for the entire life of the insured.

Disability Protection

Life insurance is uniquely different from all forms of savings and investment vehicles such as bank accounts, IRAs, 401(k) accounts, mutual funds, and brokerage accounts because it can continue to grow even if you are disabled. Disability usually brings with it the strain of reduced income, increased expenses and dissolution of existing savings and investment. The Waiver of Premium Rider guarantees that if disabled, you will not lose the umbrella of financial protection provided by a whole life insurance policy. The policy will continue to provide death benefit protection, the cash values will continue to grow and dividends will continue to be paid just as they would if you had not been disabled.

Liability Protection

In many states the benefits of life insurance are protected from the claims of creditors. If your state provides this legal protection, the cash values and death benefit of a whole life policy will be protected from lawsuits that can claim other assets such as bank accounts, mutual funds and brokerage accounts.

Distribution Like a Will

Life insurance is distributed like a will in that you specify who and how much of the benefit will be distributed to each beneficiary. Unlike a will, however, life insurance has the added benefit of privacy. Wills once probated become public documents. The beneficiary distribution of life insurance is a private, contractual agreement between the policy owner and insurance company that passes outside of a will and thus provides privacy for the beneficiary.

Tax-free death benefit

The death benefits of life insurance policies are free from all federal income taxes. The enormous value of this benefit must not be underestimated, especially in light of constantly growing government expenditures and taxes.

Tax-deferred growth

The growth of cash value inside of the life insurance policy is deferred from taxation while the funds remain in the policy. This is yet another wealth protecting benefit for families and businesses provided by whole life insurance.

Tax-favorable access to policy
cash values through withdrawals
of dividends

During the insured’s life, cash values can be accessed under favorable FIFO (First-In-First-Out) tax rules. This means that dividend withdrawals are tax free up to the amount cumulatively paid in premiums.

Tax-favorable access to policy
cash values through policy loans

During the insured’s life, loans taken against a life insurance policy will not trigger a taxable event even though the policy may have a large gain in excess of premiums paid.

Self-funding

You have the option of having the policy pay for itself over time by applying dividends to pay premiums. This feature may be invoked or changed at any time to meet the changing circumstances of your life.

Ability to invest cash value in
growth securities

Policy values are always available via a policy loan and may be used for a variety of reasons including investment in growth securities.

Ability to pay itself back from
anticipated earnings

Once a policy loan has been taken, the annual dividend can be used to help pay back a policy loan.

You can make direct loans to
yourself for any reason

Cash values can be accessed on a demand basis via a policy loan at any time and for any reason without the application and approval process that is required for consumer or business loans. Whole life insurance can then free a policyholder from reliance upon commercial lenders and high interest rates.

Collateral for a loan from a bank

A whole life insurance policy may be used as collateral to obtain a loan from a bank at favorable interest rates. The ability to either borrow directly from the insurance company or from a bank gives the owner of a whole life insurance policy significant flexibility when there is a need to access policy values.

Flexible loan repayment terms

Life insurance policy loans are flexible to the extent that they do not need to be paid back unless you decide to pay them back. Once a loan is taken out on a policy it can be paid back at the option and discretion of the policy owner. When a policy loan is paid back, there will be a commensurate increase in the death benefit of the policy which may be re-borrowed at a future date or paid out to the beneficiary.

Death benefit increase

When dividends are used to purchase paid-up-additions, death benefits will grow, helping offset the eroding effects of inflation. Once a dividend has purchased paid-up-additions, the additional death benefit and cash value of the paid-up-additional insurance is guaranteed.

Text

“The guaranteed level premium structure gives
peace of mind…”

___________________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW. . .

the cash value accumulating inside a whole life
contract can act as a “second emergency fund” to
help cover retirement, medical expenses, long-term
care, a down payment on a house, or other needs.⁴

Chapter 4:

What Types of Whole Life
Insurance Are Available?

There are several types of whole life insurance which are designed to provide flexibility and options in the structuring of an insurance program:

Level Premium Whole Life

This is the most popular type of whole life insurance and it is offered with a guaranteed level premium to either age 95, 99 or 120. The level premium structure makes the policy ideally designed to provide affordable lifetime insurance coverage. As policy owner, the guaranteed level premium structure gives you peace of mind, because regardless of what happens in a volatile world, your premium will not change.

Limited Payment Whole Life

This type of policy has a fixed level premium like a Fixed Premium Whole Life policy but the premium is only payable for a fixed period of time. The most popular plans are Life Paid-Up at Age 65 and 20 Payment Life. The advantage of these limited payment policies is that they are guaranteed to be paid-up at the end of the payment period. Thus they allow valuable insurance coverage to continue for the insured’s entire life
without any payment required at later ages and throughout retirement.

Graded Premium Whole Life

This type of policy starts out with a low initial premium which increases incrementally for a period of years. This type of policy is well suited for those who have a growing income and a desire to purchase valuable permanent coverage with an affordable premium.

⁴ From National Underwriter article by Warren S. Hersch.

“The guaranteed level premium structure gives
peace of mind…”

___________________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW. . .

in addition to acting as a crucial retirement
supplement and during a time of increasing life
expectancy rates, many whole life policies now
come with accelerated death benefit riders that
pay out part of the death benefit for those in
need of long term care.

Chapter 5:

What Options Does Guardian
Whole Life Insurance Give You?

Whole life insurance as offered by Guardian has many riders that may be added to a policy in order to customize the coverage for your specific needs. Some of the more popular riders are:

Waiver of Premium protects you in the event of disability by paying the premium. Because the premium will be paid, cash values will continue to build, dividends will continue to be paid and the financial security afforded by a whole life policy will permanently stand as a sentinel protecting you and your family.

Enhanced Accelerated Benefit Rider allows you to accelerate the benefits of a whole life policy for chronic and terminal illnesses. In the event that you become chronically ill, a portion of a policy’s death benefits may be accelerated during your lifetime if you are permanently unable to perform two out of six Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) or if you become permanently cognitively impaired.

Enhanced Guaranteed Insurability Option (EGIO) gives the owner the right to purchase additional insurance on the insured’s life without evidence of insurability. There are up to eight option dates on the anniversaries nearest the insured’s 25th, 28th, 31st, 34th, 37th, 40th, 43rd, 46th, 49th, 52nd, 55th, and 58th birthdays and/or upon marriage, the birth or adoption of a child. The EGIO option becomes all the more valuable in the event of disability.

An insured who is disabled and has their premium waived under the Waiver of Premium rider may exercise the EGIO rider on the option dates and Guardian will pay the premium on the new policy as well as on any existing policy(s) that have the Waiver of Premium rider.

Enhanced Paid-Up-Additions Rider gives the owner the right to purchase paid-up participating insurance on the owner’s life. The real benefit of this rider is that it gives premium flexibility so that you may add varying amounts of premium to a whole life policy. The greater the premium paid into a policy the greater will be the protection afforded by the policy, the greater will be the guaranteed cash value, and the
greater will be the tax deferred accumulation of cash values and dividends.

Renewable Term Rider purchases ten-year renewable and convertible level term insurance.

Accidental Death Benefit can be added to a policy to provide an additional death benefit in the event death occurs by accidental bodily injury. The benefit will be doubled if the injury is sustained while being a passenger in a public conveyance.

“Guardian is committed to its status as a mutual life insurance company and is here to provide…
now and far into the future.”

___________________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW. . .

Walt Disney, unable to land a substantial bank loan,
used the cash value from his whole life policy to build
a sprawling theme park that is now known to the
world as “the happiest place on earth.

Chapter 6:

Why Guardian?

Quality Company

Guardian is recognized by all the major rating agencies as a company that provides superior financial strength. The following table shows Guardian’s ratings from each of the five major rating agencies. The number to the right of each rating shows the rank of the rating out of the total number of possible ratings for each agency.

Guardian Ratings

Mutual Company

Guardian is proud to be one of the few remaining major mutual insurance companies in the nation. We are owned by our policyholders who share directly in our annual earnings. We have no stockholders expecting dividends, immediate returns or short-term growth. Guardian has no stock and thus no stock options exercisable by senior management that can sap away the financial vitality of the company. Guardian is committed to its status as a mutual life insurance company and is here to provide policyholder insurance needs, now and far into the future.

Solid History

Founded in 1860, we have paid out dividends to our policyholders every year since 1865. As a mutual company we have been able to provide one of the lowest net costs on ordinary life coverage year after year, while still retaining a solid financial position.

Concluding Note

The protection and wealth-enhancing benefits of whole life insurance make it the most comprehensive financial tool available today. Its great value is enhanced by its flexibility, which enables it to be customized for a variety of consumer needs. Premium flexibility is provided by premium and dividend options. The loan feature and the ability to withdraw dividends provides readily available liquid assets. Together, the guaranteed cash value, guaranteed death benefit and guaranteed premium provide a solid foundation for financial protection and the building of wealth in a turbulent and uncertain world.

“The Whole Story of Whole Life” revised 2008, Clifford P. Kitchen, CLU, ChFC, CFP, CFA, MSFS
Copyright © 2003-2008 by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, a New York Corporation

The Guardian Life Insurance
Company of America
7 Hanover Square
New York, NY 10004-4025
www.GuardianLife.com