Foresters Life Insurance Company Review of 2024
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Leslie Kasperowicz
Farmers CSR for 4 Years
Leslie Kasperowicz holds a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Winnipeg. She spent several years as a Farmers Insurance CSR, gaining a solid understanding of insurance products including home, life, auto, and commercial and working directly with insurance customers to understand their needs. She has since used that knowledge in her more than ten years as a writer, largely in the insur...
Farmers CSR for 4 Years
UPDATED: Feb 21, 2024
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right life insurance coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident life insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one life insurance provider and cannot guarantee quotes from any single provider.
Our insurance industry partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from many different life insurance companies please enter your ZIP code on this page to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about life insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything life insurance-related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by life insurance experts.
UPDATED: Feb 21, 2024
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right life insurance coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident life insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one life insurance provider and cannot guarantee quotes from any single provider.
Our insurance industry partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from many different life insurance companies please enter your ZIP code on this page to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.
On This Page
- Foresters Life provides investments, savings, retirement planning, and life insurance needs to over three million customers and members.
- The company has assets totaling over $17.7 billion.
- The insurer has a A rating from A.M. Best and an A+ from the Better Business Bureau.
Foresters life insurance is one of the oldest life insurance companies you’ve never heard of. While their services aren’t for everyone, they are one of the best in their niches.
In our in-depth Foresters Financial life insurance review, you will learn about the history of the company, the positives, and negatives of the company, as well as details pertaining to the different types of life insurance coverage options they can offer.
Quick Note
Foresters are just one of over two dozen reputable life insurance companies offered through Top Quote Life Insurance. If you’re currently shopping for life insurance coverage please be sure to reach out to us for any assistance. We can help guide you with choosing an excellent company that will meet both your budget as well as life insurance goals.
Looking to compare life insurance prices? We can help. Enter your ZIP code to get free quotes from multiple insurers.
What is the history of Foresters Financial?
Foresters began as what is known in the United Kingdom as a friendly society, much like a fraternal organization that dates back to 1834. The organization originally operated under the name of the Ancient Order of Foresters and was located in Rochdale, England.
The members of the organization would come together to help provide social support and financial aid to each other should one of them fall ill or should a member pass away leaving their surviving family members in financial distress.
It wasn’t until 1874 when Foresters North American roots would begin. At this time Foresters would secede from the Ancient Order of Foresters and begin operating under the name of the Independent Order of Forester which we now refer to as Foresters Financial.
During this time the organization would spread gaining members from both Canada as well as the United States. During this time, the insurance company was at the forefront of society by accepting women as members as well as making sure the orphans of Foresters members were provided with benefits.
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Where is the Foresters Life Insurance Company today?
Today the company goes by the shortened name of Foresters Financial and operates throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The company currently provides investments, savings, retirement planning, and life insurance needs to over three million customers and members. Recently, Foresters Financial has reported assets totaling over $17.7 billion.
Their strong financial status and classification as a fraternal benefit society allow for the continued operation as a not-for-profit organization. Their goal continues to be to serve the needs of their members and their families by providing aid and benefits to their members.
Foresters Financial main headquarters is located in Toronto, Canada with additional U.S. offices located in Buffalo, New York, and Edison, New Jersey.
What is Foresters A.M. Best company rating?
Foresters life insurance company has earned, as well as, maintained an A rating from the professional rating agency A.M. Best for the past 18 years. This rating stands for excellent and marks the insurance company as a secure option for its ability to meet their claims-paying ability to their policyholders.
In addition to a strong A.M. Best Rating, Foresters also receives an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Does Foresters Life Insurance Company have a strong code of ethics?
Foresters live by a strong code of ethics that should provide both current and potential customers with peace of mind. Their top priority is to always conduct themselves in a manner that builds trust as well as protect their customers from increased costs that are associated with fraudulent activities.
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Is Foresters Life Insurance Company involved in any charity & volunteer work?
Foresters are very big on charitable and community volunteer work. The company has partnered with numerous national and local charitable organizations to help provide support to these organizations. Among the several different organizations, two of the largest that they work with is the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) and KaBOOM!
With Foresters Financial partnering with several national charitable organizations, it also provides an easy opportunity for policyholders to help participate in their community through volunteer work.
Are there membership benefits with Foresters’ policies?
Something that makes Foresters significantly different than the majority of other life insurance companies is how they refer to their policyholders as members. Throughout over two centuries, Foresters continues to pride themselves on being a fraternal benefit society and providing more than just a product, but also membership benefits to their members.
So when you purchase a life insurance policy with Foresters or any other service offered by Foresters you have access to several membership benefits.
Here is a short list of some of Foresters membership benefits:
- Grants & Scholarships
- Competitive Scholarships
- Emergency Assistance Program
- Foresters Community Grants Program
- Orphan Scholarships
- Well-being Benefits
- Community Volunteering Opportunities
- Volunteer Leadership Opportunities
Is there a Foresters Life Insurance Company website?
Foresters’ online website does a great job of providing a wealth of information on the different products they can offer. Not only do they do a good job explaining the products but they also offer an online pdf consumer brochure for most of their products.
Should you decide to purchase life insurance coverage or another product they offer, you will have access to their Client Access website and MyForesters website which is a separate website that contains all the available membership benefits and community volunteer events.
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What do online customer reviews say about the business?
For being in business for so long, the company has very few complaints compared to the number of clients they currently insure. This is partly because they focus on providing personalized service.
When reviewing some of the online complaints of past customers, it appears that there is a strong possibility that their agent who sold them their coverage did not do a good job explaining how it will work and perform.
Other customer complaints revolved around aggressive salespeople. This could be because the customer requested info through the companies online website and Foresters referred the customer to one of their branch offices that only sell Foresters.
Important: When shopping for life insurance try working with an independent life insurance agent who can offer you more than one company. Most independent life insurance offices can offer more than one company. You should never feel pressured into buying anything or from any one company.
What are the positives?
Having a policy with Foresters will make you feel like more than just another customer. You become a part of a community. Complimentary family events, volunteering, and community projects regularly happen for members who wish to take advantage of these programs.
Foresters life insurance reviews show that members appreciate the personal touch. Members enjoy access to legal advice, a toll-free financial helpline, and emergency grants.
What are the negatives?
You cannot find their rates or get a quote online through the Foresters website. If you choose to request a quote through the website it will direct you to call the nearest branch office.
This could be the reason why some customers have complained about aggressive salespeople.
Tip: Want to see Forester Financial life insurance rates now? Simply use the quoter shown on this page. This quoter will not only provide you with current up-to-date Forester life insurance rates but also the rates from over two dozen other highly competitive life insurance companies as well.
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What is Foresters Life Insurance coverage like?
Life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, and retirement products are all available with Foresters Financial. For this Foresters review, we are going to focus on their line of life insurance products.
- Term Life Insurance
- Term Life Insurance (No Medical Exam)
- Universal Life Insurance
- Universal Life Insurance (No Medical Exam)
- Final Expense Whole Life Insurance
What is Your Term (Term Life Insurance)?
Your Term is Foresters level premium term life insurance coverage. As with most term insurance coverage, premium payments are guaranteed to remain fixed for the entire duration of the contract length. With Your Term, you have the option to choose from a 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30-year contract length.
Term insurance does not accumulate any cash value as it is strictly death benefit protection. It is also the most affordable type of life insurance coverage and works in meeting most life insurance needs.
Read more: Top Life Insurance Company That Sells Term Life Insurance With a Rider
Your Term does offer a conversion option that allows for the term life insurance contract to be switched to a permanent life insurance policy as long as it is exercised within the policy guidelines.
Issue Ages:
- 10 Year Contract – Ages 18-80
- 15 Year Contract – Ages 18-70
- 20 Year Contract – Ages 18-65
- 25 Year Contract – Ages 18-60
- 30 Year Contract – Ages 18-55
Minimum Death Benefit: $50,000
Maximum Death Benefit: $1,000,000+
Included & Optional Policy Riders:
-
-
- Accelerated Death Benefit Rider – Chronic, Critical & Terminal (INCLUDED)
- Charity Benefit Provision (INCLUDED)
- Common Carrier Accidental Death Benefit Rider (INCLUDED)
- Family Health Benefit Rider (INCLUDED)
<li”>Accidental Death Rider
-
-
- Children’s Term Rider
- Disability Income Rider (Accident Only)
- Disability Income Rider (Accident & Sickness)
- Waiver of Premium Rider
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What is Your Term (No Medical Exam Option)?
Your Term is available in two versions which include a medical exam as well as a non-medical exam term option.
Choosing the option to skip the medical exam can be a faster way to be approved for coverage. In some cases, approval can be determined in as little as 10 minutes from the time the application is submitted. It should be noted that although this can happen it is not very common and generally takes one to two weeks or longer for qualifying applicants to be approved.
Your Term non-medical underwriting is available for coverage amounts up to $400,000. The best health classification will be a standard rating. This is also something to keep in mind especially if you are able to qualify for preferred rates should you take a medical exam.
The cost difference between a preferred rating and a standard rating can be quite significant. However, if you’re willing to pay a little extra for convenience and no exam, then this may be better for you.
Issue Ages:
- 10 Year Contract – Ages 18-80
- 15 Year Contract – Ages 18-70
- 20 Year Contract – Ages 18-65
- 25 Year Contract – Ages 18-60
- 30 Year Contract – Ages 18-55
Minimum Death Benefit: $50,000
Maximum Death Benefit: $400,000
*Applicants 56+ can apply for a maximum of $150,000 without a medical exam.
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What is Smart UL (Universal Life Insurance)?
Smart UL is Foresters flexible premium universal life insurance. Universal life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance coverage that has the potential to build up cash value based on an interest rate attached to the policy’s cash value account.
Smart UL offers a competitive non-guaranteed interest rate along with a guaranteed minimum interest rate of 2%. The cash value growth within a Forester Smart UL policy can be used to help make premium payments, withdrawn to supplement retirement income or borrowed against similar to a cash loan.
Although Foresters Smart UL is considered permanent life insurance it only offers a 10-year no-lapse guarantee. This means that if your cost of insurance changes in the first 10 years your premium is guaranteed not to change. However, after the tenth policy year should the cost of insurance increase, you may need to adjust premium payments in order for the coverage to stay active.
Issue Ages: 0-85
Minimum Death Benefit: $50,000
Maximum Death Benefit: $1,000,000+
Smart UL (No Medical Exam Option)
Similar to Your Term, Foresters Smart UL is also available in a no medical exam option. If no medical exam option is elected, the best health classification will be at the standard rate.
With Smart UL no-medical underwriting policy you can rest assured that your policy will still come with some great policy riders at no extra costs. These include:
Accelerated Death Benefit Rider: Can allow for a portion of the death benefit to be accelerated early due to a qualifying critical, chronic or terminal illness.
Common Carrier Accidental Death Rider: Can provide an extra benefit to your beneficiary if the insured’s death was a result of an accident or accidental injury while riding as a fare-paying passenger on a common carrier.
Family Health Benefit Rider: Can provide a payment to cover a health expense that has been the result of a certain natural disaster such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes.
Issue Ages:
- 0-15: $10,000 – $150,000
- 16-55: $25,000 – $400,000
- 56-75: $25,000 – $150,000
Optional Policy Riders:
- Accidental Death Rider
- Children’s Term Rider
- Guaranteed Purchase Option Rider
- Waiver of Monthly Deductions Rider
What is Advantage Plus (Whole Life Insurance)?
Advantage Plus is whole life insurance that provides a guaranteed death benefit, guaranteed cash values and a guaranteed fixed premium that will never increase.
One of the best benefits of Advantage Plus is that it is participating whole life insurance. Since it is a participating whole life insurance policy it has the ability to receive dividends.
Although dividends are never guaranteed, Foresters does have a very strong history of paying out a dividend to their policyholders. In the last 19 years, Foresters has paid a dividend interest rate of at least 6% or higher. For this reason, we have named Forester Financial a great option for whole life insurance.
Foresters Financial offers the following dividend options:
- Paid-up Additions (PUA)
- On deposit with interest
- To reduce premiums
- Paid in cash
In addition to great cash value potential, Advantage Plus offers several options as well as many included policy riders that can enhance the overall life insurance coverage. Advantage Plus is also available in shorter payment plans such as a 20 payment as well as paid up at age 100.
Issue Ages: 0-85
Minimum Death Benefit: $50,000
Maximum Death Benefit: $1,000,000+
Included & Optional Policy Riders:
- Accelerated Death Benefit Rider – Chronic, Critical & Terminal (INCLUDED)
- Charity Benefit Provision (INCLUDED)
- Common Carrier Accidental Death Benefit Rider (INCLUDED)
- Family Health Benefit Rider (INCLUDED)
- Accidental Death Rider
- Children’s Term Rider
- Disability Income Rider (Accident Only)
- Waiver of Premium Rider
Advantage Plus is also available without a medical exam up to $400,000. Same as the other no exam options, the best underwriting classification for this coverage will be at the standard rate.
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What is PlanRight (Final Expense Insurance)?
Foresters also offers a non-participating whole life insurance policy called PlanRight. Non-participating whole life insurance policies are not eligible to receive dividends, but they still have a guaranteed cash-value account.
PlanRight is designed to cover smaller expenses associated with death. An example of this would be funeral or burial costs. This coverage is ideal for seniors who do not require a lot of life insurance coverage and are looking for something permanent and affordable with an easy application process. Did we mention, there is not an exam required to apply for this coverage.
The entire application is rather simple and consists of general information about yourself along with some questions pertaining to your health history.
PlanRight is available in three different plans which consider a level benefit, graded benefit, and modified death benefit. The main difference between all three is how the death benefit is paid, should death occur.
LEVEL: The level death benefit plan will payout 100% of the death benefit as soon as the coverage is active. The maximum amount of coverage that can be purchased is up to $35,000.
GRADED: This plan pays out a limited death benefit for the first two years. In the first year, the death benefit is based on the greater of the sum of the total premiums paid plus 4.5% interest or 30% of the death benefit. In policy year two the death benefit is 70% of the death benefit. In policy year three an onward 100% of the death benefit will be paid out. The maximum amount of coverage that can be purchased is up to $20,000.
MODIFIED: This plan pays out a death benefit equal to all premiums paid plus 10% interest for the first two years. Beginning year three and onward, 100% of the death benefit will be paid. The maximum amount of coverage that can be purchased is up to $15,000.
Qualification on the different plan types is based on your answers to the health questions on the application along with some additional underwriting results.
Each PlanRight whole life insurance policy provides guaranteed life insurance coverage to age 121, a guaranteed fixed premium, and guaranteed cash value. The only difference between each plan is when and how the death benefit will be paid out if death occurs within the first two years.
Would you like to see a snippet of Foresters’ underwriting?
The below underwriting table is a small snippet of Foresters underwriting guidelines for the preferred and standard plus health class for tobacco use, cholesterol, and blood pressure.
There are several additional underwriting factors that will determine the final health classification and eligibility for life insurance coverage.
**This does not apply to PlanRight Whole Life Insurance**
Preferred Plus | Preferred | Standard Plus | |
---|---|---|---|
Tobacco Use | No nicotine use for 5 yrs. | No nicotine use for 3 yrs | No nicotine use for 1 yrs |
Cholesterol Level | <220 (No previous history of treatment or medication) | <230 (No previous history of treatment or medication) | <260 |
Cholesterol/HDL Ratio | <4.5 (No previous history of treatment or medication) | <5.0 (No previous history of treatment or medication) |
<6.5 |
Blood Pressure | <135/80 (No previous history of treatment or medication) |
<140/90 | <140/90 |
Does Foresters Have the Best Life Insurance?
Foresters offers a variety of different life insurance coverage options that can meet several life insurance needs. Their term coverage is priced very competitively and their final expense coverage often ranks within the top five when it comes to price.
Are they the best though?
No, not necessarily. When it comes to life insurance it really depends on the individual applying. There are many factors to consider when buying life insurance coverage such a death benefit amount, policy duration, health history, family history, type of coverage, and available policy riders (these are just a few things to consider).
Foresters life insurance can and will be ideal for many, but it is always best to work with an experienced life insurance agent. One that can shop your life insurance coverage with multiple carriers so that you are getting the best coverage at the best price.
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How do you get a Foresters Life Insurance quote?
If you’re interested in checking out some of Forester life insurance rates, please be sure to use the online quoter located throughout our website.
Simply enter a little information about yourself, the type of coverage, and the amount of coverage you are looking for. Within seconds a page of competitive rates will display.
How can Top Quote Life Insurance help?
Top Quote Life Insurance is an independent life insurance agency that is contracted with over two dozen life insurance companies that only have an A.M. Best Rating of A or higher.
We do not favor any one company over the other. Our goal is to provide our clients with a stress-free buying experience while helping them find the most affordable life insurance coverage with an excellent company while meeting their life insurance goals.
We hope you enjoyed our Foresters Life Insurance Company review. Please be sure to check out their rates and contact us know if we can help.
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Leslie Kasperowicz
Farmers CSR for 4 Years
Leslie Kasperowicz holds a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Winnipeg. She spent several years as a Farmers Insurance CSR, gaining a solid understanding of insurance products including home, life, auto, and commercial and working directly with insurance customers to understand their needs. She has since used that knowledge in her more than ten years as a writer, largely in the insur...
Farmers CSR for 4 Years
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about life insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything life insurance-related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by life insurance experts.