Pacific Life Insurance Review - Pricing, Ratings & Reliability

Who Is Pacific Life Insurance Company?

Pacific Life Insurance Company was founded as Pacific Mutual Life in 1868 by former California Governor Leland Stanford. Stanford also founded Stanford University seventeen years later in the memory of his son, Leland Jr.

When the university struggled to make ends meet after the former governor passed away, Leland Sr.’s wife, Jane, used the death benefit from his Pacific Life Insurance policy to keep the university open and pay professors.

Stanford University has since become one of the leading private universities in America, and the Pacific Life Insurance Company is a Fortune 500 Company. In 1972, the Pacific Life Insurance Company relocated their company headquarters to Newport Beach, California where they currently remain today.

Currently, Pacific Life controls more than $209 billion dollars in assets, 931,000 inforce clients, and 1.2 trillion dollars of coverage in force. They rank 10th for total life insurance sales in the U.S. and provide life insurance to more than half of the 100 largest companies in America. 

Financial Stability

Pacific Life is a highly-rated life insurance company that has a solid track record of paying its claims. In 1936, the company struggled through the Great Depression. In order to save the company and its policyholders, the insurance commissioner helped the company mutualize by encouraging policyholders to become partial owners.

As a mutually-owned company, Pacific Life currently holds more than 209 billion dollars in assets and they are considered financially stable by A.M. Best, Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s. Fitch and A.M. Best have assigned an “A+” rating to Pacific Life, and Moody’s has rated Pacific Life as an “Aa3” company.

Bottom Line:

These strong ratings indicate that the Pacific Life Insurance Company is a strong and stable company that ranks amongst the best insurers in the world. In its 150 plus year history, the company survived the Great Depression and remained stable throughout the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2021, Pacific Life was ranked 303 by Fortune 500. 

Products Offered

The Pacific Life Insurance Company offers a variety of annuities, insurance products, and mutual funds. They also specialize with life insurance products for employers and businesses. For individuals and small business owners, Pacific Life also offers term life insurance to qualifying applicants between the ages of 18 and 80.

In addition to term life insurance, Pacific Life is also a leading seller of life insurance with long term care benefits, indexed universal life insurance, and variable universal life insurance. In fact, according to Pacific Life’s website, they were the number one seller of IUL insurance in the United States last year.

Pacific Life has recently emerged as one of the industry leaders for affordable term life insurance after acquiring Genworth’s New Business Platform in June of 2016. After the acquisition, Pacific Life has focused on providing competitively-priced term life insurance policies to small business owners and families.

Underwriting Leniencies

To set themselves apart from their competition, the Pacific Life Insurance Company offers some underwriting leniencies that allow term life insurance applicants whose health issues typically qualify as a “standard” risk to be eligible for a “preferred” rate class. Pacific Life refers to these leniencies as “sweet spots” and some of them include:

1. Build or Body Mass Index

Pac Life offers extremely lenient build charts, especially for older applicants. As an example, an individual that is 5’10” and 65 years old could weigh up to 229 pounds and still qualify for preferred best rates. Below we’ve provided a small sample of Pacific Life build charts to illustrate their leniency.

Height and Weight Guidelines for Male & Female Applicants Age 65 to 80:

2.Total Cholesterol

Pacific Life will offer “preferred best” rates to qualifying applicants with a treated or untreated total cholesterol of 300 or less. Many well-known life insurance companies, such as State Farm, have a total cholesterol cut-off of 180 or less to qualify for their top rate class.

3. Blood Pressure Medications

Blood pressure medications will not prevent an otherwise healthy applicant from qualifying for a preferred best rate class with Pacific Life. If your blood pressure is 140/85 with or without medication, and you’re under 65, you could qualify for “preferred best” rates. If you 65 or older, a blood pressure reading of 145/90 or less won’t disqualify you from the top rate class.

4. Depression or Anxiety Medications

If you have been diagnosed with mild to moderate depression or anxiety, and you are prescribed two or less medications, you may qualify for the “preferred” rate class if your condition does not prevent you from working.

5. Sleep Apnea

If you have moderate to severe sleep apnea, you may qualify for “preferred” rates if you’ve been using your CPAP for at least two years.

Insider’s Tip:Life insurance companies may consider you “non-compliant” with your doctor’s orders if you do not use your CPAP nightly, so make sure you never miss a night, especially if your sleep apnea is moderate or severe.

6. Asthma

Have you been diagnosed with mild to moderate asthma and experience less than two attacks per week on average? You may qualify for “preferred” rates if you do not smoke and your asthma hasn’t required any recent hospitalizations.

7. Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Standard or better rates may be available to individuals with mild symptoms that have not used steroids for at least 5 years.

Evaluating Your Lifestyle Risk

In addition to reviewing your health, life insurance companies also evaluate your occupation and hobbies to determine your overall risk. In addition to their “sweet spots” for some health issues, Pacific Life is also extremely lenient with the following “high risk” hobbies and occupations:

• Recreational Scuba Divers

Some life insurance companies do not offer preferred best rates to applicants who dive deeper than 50 feet. With Pacific Life, you can dive up to 100 feet and still qualify for a “preferred” rate class.

• Foreign Travelers

Are you traveling out of the country for more than four weeks? Don’t worry, you may still be eligible for a “preferred” rate. In addition, unlike some companies, Pacific Life will not consider your past travels. So if you recently returned home from a “high-risk” location like the Gaza Strip, PacLife may be your company.

• Private Pilots

If you are instrument rated and flying recreationally for 26 to 150 hours per year, you may qualify for a “preferred” rate class. If you're flying more than 150 hours per year, or if you are a private pilot by trade, we recommend applying with a different company.

• Military Service Members

While many insurers automatically decline active members of the military, Pacific Life may be able to offer you additional coverage to supplement your SGLI policy. We always recommend purchasing the maximum amount of coverage that Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) will offer before buying additional coverage unless you are close to retiring or discharging.

• An Occasional Cigar

Pacific Life will not penalize cigar smokers who smoke up to 12 cigars per year if they test negative for nicotine during their free exam.

Insider’s Tip:Nicotine can stay in your system for up to 10 days so make sure you avoid smoking for at least one week prior to your exam. If you do end up with positive results, don’t worry, we still have a few companies that might offer you non-tobacco rates.

If you like to find out more about Pacific Life or obtain a free quote based on your unique health profile, please feel free to call us toll-free at 855-247-9555. Our agents have more than 100 collective years of experience and we work with 63 top-rate life insurance carriers.

Coverage for Business Owners

The Pacific Life Insurance Company focuses on providing affordable life insurance to individuals who need to protect their families and their businesses. Here are some situations where Pacific Life can offer term life insurance:

1. Loan Collateralization or Establishing a Line of Credit

Small Business Administration loans often require that the business owner obtain life insurance to collateralize or repay the balance of their loan if they pass away prior to the loan being paid back. In these situations, Pacific Life with allow the business owner to purchase a policy equal to the amount of their SBA loan or business loan.

2. Key Person Life Insurance

Would your business suffer financially if one of its owners or executives were to pass away? If so, your business may want to consider purchasing key person life insurance on your vital employees. Pacific Life will insure a qualifying key employee for up to 10 times their current annual wages. This money can then be used by the business to locate, train, and hire a replacement while covering any financial losses incurred.

3. Buy-Sell Agreements

Business owners often utilize buy-sell agreements to buy out a partner’s share from their family when they pass away. Pacific Life understands this need and offers term life insurance to fund these agreements. This prevents your surviving family members or your surviving partners’ family members from being involved with your business.

It also prevents your business from being forced to sell off assets or liquidate to buy-out a surviving family member’s share of the business. To learn more about buy-sell agreements, read this article, “The 10 Minute Executive Guide to Buy-Sell Agreement Life Insurance.”

Coverage for Seniors

Pacific Life offers as little as $50,000 of term life insurance to qualifying applicants between the ages of 18 and 80 which makes them a great company for some seniors who need a small amount of coverage. In addition, their rates are extremely competitive for applicants who are in fair or better health.

PacLife may also be your best option if you need a large amount of coverage. Here’s why:

Life insurance companies use an “income multiplier” to determine the amount of coverage you can qualify for. While most companies will offer you 30 times your income when you in your 30s and 40s, very few companies will offer you more than three to five times your income after the age of 65.

With Pacific Life, you qualify for 10 times your current before tax income until the age of 70. After the age of 70, you may still qualify for a large income multiplier depending on your individual need for the coverage. As a rule of thumb, it's always best to buy your coverage while you are still working, especially if you need a large amount of coverage.

In addition to providing large income multipliers, Pacific Life also offers more lenient underwriting guidelines for applicants who are 65 or older. Some of these leniencies include larger build limits and higher blood pressure limits for the preferred rate classes.

Overall, we believe that Pacific Life is an excellent fit for some seniors, especially those who are in average or better health and need a small amount of coverage. In the next section we’ve provided some sample rates by age to help you determine the cost of your coverage.

Sample Rates by Age

Pacific Life is one of the few companies that offers less than $100,000 of term life insurance, which sets them apart from their competition. To help you estimate the cost of your coverage, we’ve provided some sample rates for $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, and $500,000 of coverage for healthy non-smoking applicants between the ages of 20 and 80.

In these tables we've included sample rates for a 10-year term but Pacific Life also offers 15, 20, 25, and 30 year level terms which may be more ideal for your situation, especially if you have young children or a mortgage.

Sample Term Life Insurance Rates for a Female – 10 Year Level Term

Sample Term Life Insurance Rates for a Male – 10 Year Level Term

Overall, we give Pacific Life a 5 out of 5 star review for their “sweet spots” and underwriting leniencies, financial strength & stability, and affordability.

If you would like to obtain an accurate quote from Pacific Life or compare their rates to other top-rated insurers, please feel free to give us a call toll-free at 855-247-9555 or request an instant quote online here.

We Can Help!

Do you need help determining if the Pacific Life Insurance Company is right for you? We can impartially shop dozens of leading insurers to make sure you’re matched with the company that’s the most lenient for your specific health profile.

Our agency is owner-operated and our agents do not have sales quotas or numbers to meet, we’re here to help. We take our time with each potential client to make sure they understand all the options available to them.

By having access to each company’s guidelines, we can also help reduced your chances of being declined or overpaying for your coverage. In some situations, we’ve been able to save our clients up to 73% on the cost of their coverage just by applying with the right company.

There are dozens of life insurance carriers out there, some companies specialize with tobacco users, diabetics, cancer survivors, etc. By having an experienced agent help you compare your options, you can make sure you’re matched with the company that is the best fit for your individual needs and health profile.

Call us today 855-247-9555 or click the banner below for a free instant quote online.