Gerber Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Review
Expert Review Of Gerber Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance
Reviewed by
Jim Tobin, CFP®
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Are you looking for a detailed review of guaranteed burial insurance policies from Gerber? You’ve come to the right place! In this review, we’ll take a detailed look at the firm’s history, its offerings, financial ratings, pricing, underwriting niches, and other alternatives.
We’ve only awarded Gerber Life a grand total of 2.5 stars. But they’re a terrific insurance carrier, no doubt? So, what’s wrong?
Although the product is solid for what it is, guaranteed burial insurance products are only used when you have no other options left. We couldn’t bring ourselves to give this product more than 2.5 stars, when we know for a fact that you have better policies available to you.
Gerber also offers other insurance policies, including traditional whole life and term insurance policies. But as we at Life Insurance Help Desk concentrate more on final expense policies, we’ll only discuss two products here. The first is its guaranteed issue burial insurance policy and the second is the Gerber grow-up plan, which is a major hit among the aging grandparent population.
Gerber Guaranteed Burial Insurance
Any senior citizen between the age of 50 and 80 is eligible for a guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance policy from Gerber. These policies have a cash value buildup feature along with level premiums. Do note that death benefits are limited to $5,000 – $25,000. Apart from that, you’ll also need to go through a 2-year waiting period before you purchase this policy. In case your death takes place before the waiting period is over, your beneficiaries won’t be eligible for the death benefits – they will only be paid the total of all paid-up premiums with an interest component of 10%. For example, if the cause of death is a medical issue or a heart condition, the insurance payout is unlikely to be anything substantial.
All guaranteed acceptance policies come with restricted death benefits and waiting periods. But Gerber offers better premium conditions compared to other insurers operating in this niche. However, their guaranteed acceptance policies are also more expensive, when compared against other similar policies as Gerber does not collect any health information from their applicants, thus causing them to classify all applicants as high-risk candidates by default. Go for this insurance policy only if you’re someone with a serious pre-existing health condition such as kidney failure or are unable to carry out daily living activities on your own.
Rates for Gerber Guaranteed Issue Policies are available right Here
Guaranteed Acceptance Dismemberment & Accidental Death Insurance
Accidental and dismemberment death insurance offers several benefits in the event of an accidental death or a severe disability due to an accident. These policies are also less expensive when weighed against regular life insurance plans as the chances of dying due to an accident are statistically low (Accident-related deaths are only 5% of all recorded deaths).
The dismemberment and accidental death insurance policy from Gerber Life has comparatively low premiums when taking similar offerings from other insurers into consideration. Their AD&D insurance policy comes with a guaranteed acceptance clause, which means that no health questionnaires or medical examinations need to be completed. Your age does not dictate the premium rates either. However, death benefits happen to be restricted to a maximum of $100,000. These policies are only available for those between the age of 19 – 69.
After taking the severity of your accident-related injuries into consideration, Gerber Life will pay out a certain amount after completing a standard process used for all their AD&D insurance policies. Here’s the complete breakdown:
If the insured person passes away, their beneficiaries will be paid full death benefits based on the policy value.
If the insured person loses 1 foot, 1 eye, or 1 foot, they will be paid 50% of the policy’s death benefits.
If the insured person loses 1 limb AND 1 eye, or 2 limbs, or 2 eyes, they will be paid 100% of the policy’s death benefits.
Do remember that motion, speech, and hearing disabilities are not covered under Gerber’s AD&D insurance products. If you require broader insurance coverage terms, there are many other insurers who offer comprehensive coverage including all these disabilities and more.
Gerber Life Grow-Up Plan
You can purchase this whole life insurance policy for your kids or grandkids between the ages of 14 days – 14 years. This policy happens to be a regular whole life insurance policy that comes with a cash value buildup and level premiums. But there are certain differences that need to be noted.
Grow-up Plan insurance policies can only be purchased with a value between $5,000 – $50,000. However, the death benefits offered by the policy increase 2x times when they turn 18. For instance, a $25,000 policy will be valued at $50,000 upon turning 18, without any premium hikes.
The parent or grandparent is the policy owner until the child turns 21, after which the child becomes the policy owner. They enjoy the right to purchase additional insurance coverage without any health assessments.
The cash value buildup in the Grow-Up policy happens at guaranteed rates. This means that the cash value of the policy in 25 years will be either equal to or more than the total value of premiums paid so far. But since child life insurance plans tend to be inexpensive, the cash value is unlikely to go up to a significant amount. Additionally, Grow-up insurance plans and whole life insurance policies are similar in that both of them require 3 – 4 years before they build up a tangible cash value. As a result, surrendering your policy during the initial years is a losing proposition and makes no financial sense.
Gerber Grow-up policies require decades before the cash value buildup becomes a sizable amount. Although they may double in size, the death benefits are still too low for most adults. The primary reason to get the Gerber Life Grow-Up Plan is to gain access to the burial insurance death benefits, which would prove sufficient enough to cover therapy and funeral costs in the event of the child passing away early. But if you’re entirely after this form of coverage for your kids, you might be better off by adding a child rider to your personal life insurance plan. A child rider costs less and will have all your kids covered with a single premium. That’s a significantly better deal since with Grow-up policies, you need to purchase an individual policy for every kid you have.
Young Adult Plan from Gerber Life
Gerber Life’s Grow-Up Plan and Young Adult Plan are quite similar in design. The latter can be purchased for teens between the ages of 15 – 17. It’s the pricing that makes the biggest difference, with the Young Adult Plan being more expensive than the Grow-Up Plan.
Payments To Gerber Life
Premium payments can be made directly to the company either by using the check facility or by using Gerber’s official Internet portal. Many insurance firms are allowing people to make direct payments via their checking or savings accounts as well. Gerber offers this option and also accepts credit card payments. If you have enabled automatic billing, you can receive reasonable discounts on your premium payments for certain products too.
Customer Complaints & Reviews Regarding Gerber Life
he NAIC has a favorable opinion of Gerber due to its amazing complaint record. But that’s not to say there aren’t any complaints against it. But most of them generally stem from the fact that beneficiaries don’t realize that premature death before the 2-year waiting period is completed negates their eligibility to receive full death benefits.
To keep yourself protected against such confusion, we advise you to go through all the requirements and clauses in the policy documents before you make a decision.
Your Next Step
Thank you for using the Life Insurance Help Desk to research Gerber guaranteed Issue life insurance as well as the Grow up plan and A,D&D policies.
Here at Life Insurance Help Desk, we’ve been helping people find the right insurance policies for themselves for the last few decades. Reach out to us via email or call for a quick chat with us regarding what you’re looking for!
