Types

• MetLife offers several standard life insurance policies. The foundation of its life insurance portfolio is the L-98 whole life policy. MetLife's other standard policies include a fixed universal life insurance policy, a variable universal life insurance policy and term life insurance.
  
  

Function

• The whole life policy offered by MetLife is a dividend-paying policy that builds cash value and guarantees the death benefit of the policy. Unlike many other whole life policies, MetLife's whole life policy offers another investment component. Premiums and dividends can be invested into mutual fund subaccounts. Any money invested into these accounts is not guaranteed. However, the policy maintains a guaranteed cash value account that grows every year. This effectively makes the L-98 a hybrid policy. MetLife's universal and variable universal life function similar to other universal life insurance policies on the market. Premiums are paid to the policy and invested into a fixed account for fixed universal life, or mutual funds for variable universal life. Death benefits are not guaranteed unless a secondary guarantee rider is attached to the fixed universal life policy, but are projected to extend to age 120. MetLife's term life policies vary by state and may extend for up to 30 years. They provide temporary insurance protection for the length of the term.
  
  

Significance

• MetLife originally started as a mutual life insurance company, which is why its whole life policy continues to pay dividends. However, because MetLife is a stock insurance company, as of October 2010, dividends may not be as much as under a mutual arrangement. This is because MetLife must generate profits for shareholders who are not necessarily policyholders.
  
  

Benefits

• The benefit of buying MetLife's standard policies is that you have a wide range of choices and flexibility in the type of policy you purchase. MetLife is one of the few stock companies that pay a dividend to its whole life policy. But because it is a stock company, it also has the financial resources to develop strong universal life insurance product offerings. MetLife is also one of the oldest life insurance companies with strong financial ratings, making it a stable company with which to do business. MetLife's whole life and variable universal life insurance are also suitable for supplemental retirement income planning. These contracts build strong cash value savings that can be used for any purpose during your lifetime.
  
  

Considerations

• Make sure that you understand what your life insurance needs are before buying a policy from MetLife. While the company offers a strong and diverse product portfolio, buying the wrong type of insurance is still possible. For long-term life insurance needs where death benefits are a primary concern, consider the fixed universal life insurance with a secondary guarantee rider. This policy design focuses on death-benefit guarantees to age 120. For supplemental retirement benefits using a life insurance policy, consider MetLife's cash value insurance policies. For temporary coverage, mortgages or other loans, consider a term life policy.