New York Life touts itself in its advertising as "The Company You Keep". The slogan obviously has a few meanings that show it as a strong, viable company for now and the future. That slogan fits perfectly as the company has had few if any crises, or controversies in it's history. New York Life's reputation as a life and long-term care insurer, and annuity provider is rock solid.
Evidence of this was illustrated in February 2011 when New York Life was named the insurance industry's 2010 Customer Loyalty Engagement First Place Winner. This award recognizes the brand best able to engage consumers and create loyal customers.
New York Life Innovations
One major reason why New York Life has the stellar reputation over its 160 year history is because of its history of forward-thinking customer service, product development, and integrity. Below is a list from its website:
- Unsurpassed Financial Strength 1847 - New York Life declares the first cash dividend ever paid to policyowners in America. As a mutual insurer, New York Life is operated and maintained for the benefit of policyowners. And virtually every year since its inception, New York Life has declared dividends to those policyowners — over $41 billion in total through 2008. In 2007, New York Life made the highest total dividends distribution in our history — approximately $1.64 billion.
- 1899 - New York Life becomes the first American life insurance company to publish a detailed financial report for its policyowners.
- 1894 - New York Life becomes the first United States company to issue life insurance to women at the same rates as men.
- 1896 - New York Life becomes the first company to insure people with physical impairments or hazardous occupations by using a scientific basis to evaluate people with substandard risks, New York Life was able to issue policies to people previously considered uninsurable. This innovation — praised by experts at the time as the single greatest advancement in life insurance — enabled millions of people (who in the past would have been declined) to qualify for life insurance and protect their families' financial future.
- 1860 - New York Life becomes the first company to issue policies containing a "non-forfeiture option." Before any state law required it, New York Life developed the non-forfeiture option, which formed the foundation of guaranteed cash values found in policies today.
- 1892 - New York Life becomes the first major company to issue policies with an incontestable clause. To give policyowners even more peace of mind, New York Life sets a time limit on the insurer's right to dispute a policy's validity based on material misstatements made in the application.
- 1920 - New York Life becomes the first company to issue a policy with a disability benefit that presumes total disability to be permanent after a predetermined number of months.
- 1892 - New York Life becomes the first insurer to organize a Branch Office System to provide the highest possible level of service to our expanding customer base.
- 1989 - New York Life becomes the first insurer to require continuing education for its agents.
Life Insurance Products
Term, Whole, Universal, and Variable
Annuity Products
Lifetime In come Annuity, Deferred Annuities, Fixed Interest Deferred Annuities, Variable Deferred Annuities, Complete Access Variable Annuity, Flexible Premium Variable Annuity, Premier Variable Annuity, and Premier Plus Variable Annuity
Long-term Care Insurance Products
New York Life in early February announced that its LTCSelect Premier long-term care insurance product will pay a dividend to policyholders this year. This is the seventh consecutive year that the insurer has paid a long-term care insurance dividend.
New York Life’s long-term care insurance sales increased 12% in 2010, and the company’s sales in December 2010 were the highest monthly sales on record.
Financial Health
According to its website New York Life has bounced back from the industry downturn that occurred in 2007. In 2008, operating revenues increased $1 billion over 2007, to $14 billion. Operating earnings totaled nearly $1.3 billion, surpassing 2007’s record-setting results. Given the state of the markets in 2008, this represents a very impressive follow-up to two prior years of strong double-digit earnings growth.
2008 was a disastrous year for much of the financial services industry but New York Life did exceptionally well. The company cites the "regulations that govern (our) business. These regulations spell out, for example, the amount of financial reserves insurers must hold and the types of investment risks that insurers can take."
