Life insurance can make sense whether you’re a parent of minor children or the child of an adult parent who needs a policy. A good policy for you can help cover your family's living costs, a mortgage, and educational expenses. It may even offer your children personal coverage they can carry into adulthood. Older parents may need life insurance to pay funeral expenses or to leave an inheritance.
Investopedia found to be the best life insurance for parents because it offers a wide variety 🎶of policy types and add-ons at affordable rates and has a good customer satisfaction record. But other companies on this list might be a better choice for you. We made this list after researching 45 life insurance companies on 70 criteria, including coverage, cost, online features, and customer satisfaction.
Best Life Insurance for Parents of 2025
- Best Overall, Best for Older Parents, Best for Education Expenses: 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Nationwide
- Most Affordable Term Life Insurance: 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Columbus Life
- Best Child Term Rider: 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Protective Life
- Best Whole Life: 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Lafayette Life
Best Overall, Best for Older Parents, Best for Education Expenses : Nationwide
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Nationwide
- Financial Strength Rating: A+
- Complaints: Much better than expected for company size
- Children’s Coverage: Child whole life, child term rider
Best Overall
Nationwide offers an impressive range of life insurance types, from term, whole, and universal to burial and child whole life policies. Many policies come with three 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:living benefit riders at no extra cost. And the financially strong company has a good record of pleasing customers. Those features helped it also top our lists for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best overall life insuranc🍌e companies and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best children’s life insurance.
Best for Education Expenses
If you want to use life insurance to save for education expenses, Nationwide offers high-growth options that build 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cash value quickly while providing insurance protection.
Best for Older Parents
Adult children looking to support their aging parents will find high coverage limits for Nationwide’s whole and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:no-medical-exam policies.
Widest selection of policy types we found
High coverage limits, including for n⛦o-exam po🤡licies
Three living benefits included in many policies
Great options for covering children
Solid customer satisfaction record
澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Whole life insurance does not earn dividends
澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Term life insurance only available to applicants age 70 and younger
No online claims option
Nationwide delivers for parents of all ages. It has no coverage limits for term, whole, or universal life insurance, and allows up to $5 million in coverage for policies that don’t require a medical checkup. Terminal illness, chronic illness, and critical illness ride🔥rs come free with many policies and allow you to tap into your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:death benefit if you get a serious illness. It even has a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:long-term care rider, which is rare.
The company has a solid track record of satisfying customers, with few complaints to state regulators and a fifth-place ranking out of 21 companies in the 2024 J.D. Power U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.
If you want to use permanent insurance to help build an education fund, Nationwide has v🌄ariable life and variable universal life insu🍌rance, which let you invest your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cash value (the savings component of permanent life insurance policies) in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:mutual funds or other financial instrumen💦ts. Although that means there is a risk of loss, it can also h♏elp you build savings faster than with other types of policies.
Nationwide also offers excellent whole life policies for applicants up to age 80 who want to leave an inheritance, and it has smaller 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:burial insurance policies for covering final expenses. These policies make sense for older parents in retirement. 🎃;
Finally, Nationwide was our pick for best children’s insurance thanks to an excellent children’s whole life policy with no coverage limit, and a child term rider that can be transferred at adulthood and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:converted to a permanent policy if so desired.
Nationwide does have a couple of small drawbacks. Its whole life policy does not earn 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:dividends, so cash value grows more slowly. And the company also only sells term coverage to applicants 70 and under. That could be an issue for older parents or grandparents who are still caring for children.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Nationwide was found🐷ed in 1926
Available Policy Types
- Term life
- Whole life
- Children’s whole life
- 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Universal life
- 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Indexed universal life
- 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Variable universal life
- 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Variable life
- No-medical exam life (term)
- Final expense
Available Riders
- Term conversion
- Child term
- Guaranteed insurability rider
- Waiver of premium
- Accidental death benefit
- Terminal illness
- Long-term care
- Chronic illness
- Critical illness
Most Affordable Term Life Insurance : Columbus Life
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Columbus Life Insurance Company
- Financial Strength Rating: A+
- Complaints: Much better than expected for company size
- Children’s Coverage: Child term rider
Columbus Life has the lowest average term life insurance premiums Investopedia found. It also inclu🃏des many extra rider benefits ꦛat no additional charge.
Best term life insurance premiums of 45 companies we researcജhe📖d
Three living benefits included in many policies
Term rider covers children until age 23
Good customer complaint record
Doesn’t offer whole life insurance
Term coverage minimum is $100,000
No online quotes or applications
If affordability is a priority, consider C🐎olumbus Life. The quotes🐓 Investopedia pulled for term life insurance showed the lowest premiums of all the insurers in our study.
You’ll get a lot for these low premiums. Like Nationwide, Columbus includes many riders at no extra charge, such as ✃early payoutওs for a terminal, critical, or chronic illness. Other insurers charge extra for these benefits.
You can insure your children up to age 23 using a child term insurance rider added to your own policy. Finally⭕, Columbus Life offers a spouse rider, which lets you cover your spouse 🐲as part of your policy for less money than buying a separate policy for them.
On the downside, Columbus Life does not sell 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:whole life or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:burial insurance policies, making it less suitable for older parents trying to leave an inheritance or cover final expenses. It also lacks online quotes or applications, meaning you’ll have to talk with an agent to sign up and get po♋licy information.
Finally, if you want a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:term life insurance policy, you must buy at least $100,000 of coverage. Otꦉher insurers (such as Mutual of Omaha and Lafayette) let you buy a policy as small as $25,000.
Columbus Life was f🥀ounded in 1906 and has its headquarters in Cincinnati.
Policy Types
- Term life
- Universal life
- Indexed universal life
- No-medical exam life (universal)
Riders
- Term conversion
- Child term
- Spouse
- Guaranteed insurability rider
- Waiver of premium
- Accidental death benefit
- Terminal illness
- Chronic illness
- Critical illness
Best Child Term Rider : Protective Life
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- Financial Strength Rating: A+
- Complaints: Better than expected for company size
- Children’s Coverage: Child term rider
Protect🔜ive Life’s child term rider stands out because it extends coverage for children until age 25 and offers two ways for them to take over coverage as adults𓆉. This allows you to cover your children now while making it easier for them to get life insurance later in life.
Rider covers children until age 25
Rid💮er can be transferred or converted on adulthood
Excellent selection of product types
Online quote and application available
Few riders included at no charge
A child term rider lets you cover your minor children as part of your life insurance policy. While most insurers stop coverage between ages 17 and 22, Protective’s offering covers them until they’re 25, well into adulthood. Before that time, you can transfer the coverage to your children or they can convert it to a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:permanent policy that la♔sts𝓡 their entire life—without having to take a medical exam.
♓Pro🧸tective Life also has great options for parents, with no coverage limits on its term, whole, and universal life insurance. Applications are available on the Protective website, and you can get a quote online for some policy types. The main drawback is that most riders, except a terminal illness add-on, cost extra.
The company has a superior fina🌃ncial strength rating and a better complaint record than expected for its size. Protective Life was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Birmingham, 💜Alabama.
Policy Types
- Term life
- Whole life
- Universal life
- Index universal life
- Variable universal life
Riders
- Term conversion
- Child term
- Guaranteed insurability rider
- Waiver of premium
- Accidental death benefit
- Terminal illness
- Chronic illness
Best Whole Life : Lafayette Life
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Lafayette Life Insurance
- Financial Strength Rating: A+
- Complaints: Much better than expected for company size
- Children’s Coverage: Child whole life, child term rider
Lafayette Life offers a wide variety of dividend-paying whole life policies that can be issued at birth or any age up to 85 with no coverage limits. That’s why we also named it the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best whole life insurance company. It’s ideal for parents who want guaranteed lifelong coverage for themsel♋ves or family members.
Wide select🥀ion of whole life p🍌roducts for applicants age 0 to 85
No maximum coverage limits for whole life
Three living benefits included in many policies
Whole life policies earn dividends
Excellent complaint record
Limited pol⛄icy types besides whole and term life insurance
No online quotes or applications
Child term rider only covers children to age 18
Lafayette excels at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:whole life insurance, which may be right for you, your children, or your older parents if you want a guaranteed death benefit with coverage that lasts until death. Lafayette’s eight variations of whole life allow you to customize coverage based on premiums, medical requirements, and cash value growth rate. You can buy as little as $3,000 in coverage and there is no upper limit, so you can adjust the level to🐬 fit your needs.
Lafayette Life also pays 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:dividends on whole life policies, meaning it shares profits with policyholders. As a result, your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cash value may grow faster than it would with competing plans that don’t pay dividends. Lafayette offers a wide selection of riders, including three free living benefits. And if you want to provide term life insurance coverage for your child, you can purchase Lafayette’s child term rider, which can be converted to a whole life policꩲy when they grow up. Just know that coverage only lasts until age 18, which is on the low side compa🍰red to competitors.
The company is less attractive for other policy types. It doesn’t offer universal, variable, or variable universal life. It does sell term life insurance, but you can’t get quotes or apply online. Talking to an agent may be important for complex whole life products, but many competitors offer on🦋line quotes and applications for term life insurance.
As with all the companies on this list, Lafayette Life has an A+ financial strength rating. And state regulators received far fewer complaints about the company than expected, given the company’s size. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lafayette Life was founded in 1905.
Policy Types
- Term life
- Whole life
- Children’s whole life
- No-medical-exam life (whole life)
- Final expense
Riders
- Term conversion
- Child term
- Guaranteed insurability rider
- Waiver of premium
- Accidental death benefit
- Terminal illness
- Chronic illness
- Critical illness
Why You Should Trust Us
Investopedia works on behalf of the consumer, not the insurance companies we review. For this list, we researched 45 companies, collecting data points related to dozens of criteria that are important when choosing life insurance. We used this data to review each company for fi🐬nancial stability, customer satisfaction, coverage options, cost, and other features to provide unbiased, comprehensive reviews that can help you make the right decision♏.
Investopedia lauꦯnched in 1999 and has been helping readers find the best life insurance companies since 2020. We are dedicated to helping๊ you find the right life insurance provider for your needs.
ജ How We Chose the Best L🍒ife Insurance Companies for Parents
Investopedia’s list of the best life insurance companies for parents is based on exhaustive research into 45 companies that met our minimum standard for financial strength, customer satisfaction, and online transparency. Investopedia stꦓaff researchers and editors conducted a consumer survey, consulted𒀰 licensed insurance agents, and pored over industry research to create a list of 70 criteria vital to choosing a life insurance company.
We then gathered 3,150 data points between May 20 and July 3, 2024, sourced from company webpages, media representatives, customer service calls, and rating agencies including 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:A.M. Best and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:National Association of Insuranc🍌e Commissioners. We combed through each company’s policy offerings, financial strength r🌊atings, customer complaint records, digital applicati💃on and policy management tools, and much more.
Finally, our editoria♐l and research teams created a quantitative model that scored each company based on seven major categories:
- Policy Types and features: 31%
- Riders: 16%
- Children’s coverage: 15%
- Cost: 10%
- Customer Satisfaction: 10%
- Financial Strength: 10%
- Application and Underwriting Features: 8%
For more information, read our full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:methodology explanation.
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Investopedia / Mira Norian
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