The nature of arranging Minnesota Life Insurance Quotes can sometimes seem like a burden, and a bit of a chore. But the fact is that it is something that MUST be a priority for you to sort out, as it can end up being a lifeline for your family in the unfortunate event that anything happens to you.
I am going to talk about several different aspects of the process of getting life insurance in Minnesota in this article, as well as some background about Minnesota, details about Minnesota Insurance regulations and where to go to both for the best Minnesota Life Insurance Quotes, and other sites to visit if you would like even more information before getting your life cover arranged.
Firstly, let’s take a look at some background information about Minnesota and what makes it tick.
Minnesota – A Little Background…
Minnesota is home to some 5,303,925 people according to the 2010 US Census, and covers an area of 86,939 square metres. It is 21st biggest state in terms of population, and the 12th in terms of land area.
The Capital City of Minnesota is Saint Paul and the Census Bureau estimated it to have a population of 285,068 in 2010 (down on the 287,151 figure of 2000.)
A couple of the cultural highlights of Saint Paul are a Conservatory, Como Zoo and Japanese Gardens which attract a lot of visitors every year, and in terms of “Famous People Born in Saint Paul”, it is hard to top Charles M Schulz of Peanuts cartoon fame who was born here, and whose cartoon characters can be found depicted in statues throughout the city.
The largest city in Minnesota is Minneapolis which had a city population of 385,378 in 2009, and a metropolitan population of 3,269,814, and economically speaking is the powerhouse of the state.
Minnesota had a GDP of $267.1 billion in 2010, the 17th highest of the States in the US, and by way of comparison, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Venezuela ($285 billion), Greece ($305 billion) or Colombia ($283 billion) according to 2010 figures released by the International Monetary Fund. So, whilst Minnesota may only account for 1.84% of the Total US GDP figures of $14.65 trillion; you shouldn’t let that confuse you into thinking that Minnesota doesn’t pack a very significant economic punch. It does.
And in fact, in terms of national household income averages in the US, Minnesotans do fairly well in the North Star State, with the 12th highest average household income of $55,616 as compared to a National average household income across the United States of $50,221 in 2009.
Minnesota has changed economically from a state that was dependant on agriculture, faming and mining in the 19th century, to one today that is dominated by manufacturing, the retail trade, education and health services, and finance and insurance. In fact, according to the US Census data from 2000, only 2.6% of the state’s jobs were to be found in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting and mining; whilst 56.2% came from the four sectors I just mentioned.
Minnesota Life Insurance – The Facts…
There are 402 Minnesota Life Insurance Companies who are licensed to sell life insurance in Minnesota, and twelve of these are domiciled in the state in 2009. Additionally, purely in terms of jobs that life insurance accounts for in Minnesota, there are some 20,000 people who are directly employed by life insurance companies in Minnesota, and a further 32,000 non-insurance jobs which are supported by the life insurance industry.
The Minnesota Life Insurance Quotes that turned into actual policies in the state amounted to over 3 million individual Minnesota Life Insurance policies, with an average amount of $140,000 in life cover per policy holder; and a further $245 billion in Minnesota Group Life Insurance according to the American Council of Life Insurers.
In terms of the benefits that this ended up affording individual policy holders, there was $7 billion paid out in 2009 in the form of policy dividends, maturing endowments, surrender values and other payments to Minnesota residents, and annuity benefits paid of $1 billion in the same year.
Cumulatively of course, the life insurance companies are also continuing to reinvest the money that they collect from premiums, and so there is an estimated $75 billion invested in the economy of Minnesota by the life insurance companies.
The Top Ten Largest Life Insurance Companies in Minnesota
The Minnesota Insurance Department periodically publishes statistics for different types of insurance which show how much life insurance particular companies have in force at any one time, and the amount of life insurance premiums that they have written in the previous year.
On Feb 4th 2011 they released the figures for 2009 which I talk about below.
Here is a list of the Top 3 Domiciled Life Insurance Companies in Minnesota based on the amount of life insurance premiums written. (Figures in dollars) – (Remember, there are only 12 companies domiciled in Minnesota selling life insurance, and outside of these top three the next highest figure was only around 12 million)
1/ Minnesota Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 130,223,951
2/ Reliastar Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 97,111,258
3/ Riversource Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 62,032,076
If you then take a look at just the 412 Life Insurance Companies who operate in Minnesota (but are not domiciled in the state), then here is a list of the Top Ten Largest (Non-Domiciled) Life Insurance Companies in Minnesota based on the amount of life insurance premiums written (in dollars).
1/ Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (The)
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 242,857,236
2/ Pacific Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 154,028,604
3/ Lincoln National Life Insurance Company (The)
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 144,279,673
4/ Transamerica Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 142,810,191
5/ Prudential Insurance Company Of America
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 120,325,848
6/ John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A)
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 114,632,552
7/ State Farm Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 83,872,322
8/ American General Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 79,219,909
9/ Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 62,635,327
10/ Guardian Life Insurance Company Of America (The)
Minnesota Life Insurance Premiums – 58,535,645
Taken together you end up with this final list of the Top Ten Life Insurance Companies in Minnesota (both domiciled and non-domiciled - based on life insurance premiums written in the State in 2009).
1/ Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (The)
2/ Pacific Life Insurance Company
3/ Lincoln National Life Insurance Company (The)
4/ Transamerica Life Insurance Company
5/ Minnesota Life Insurance Company
6/ Prudential Insurance Company Of America
7/ John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A)
8/ Reliastar Life Insurance Company
9/ State Farm Life Insurance Company
10/ American General Life Insurance Company
One interesting thing to note about the amount of life insurance premiums written in Minnesota is how large even the ‘small’ life insurance companies in Minnesota are!
The top 136 non-domiciled life insurers who do business in the state ALL wrote more than a million dollars of life premiums in Minnesota, and the top 49 all wrote more than ten million dollars each. And as you can see from the figures above, the top ten all wrote more than $50 million each.
Quite a constrast to industries like motor manufacturing for example, where there a a few big players, but most of the companies are very small.
In the Life Insurance Business there are a lot of massive companies and lots of competition.
Minnesota Life Insurance Strategies, Tips and Thoughts To Getting Better Life Cover
Here are some strategies, tips and tricks to getting Life Insurance in Minnesota that really meets your needs.
1/ Have A Plan!
One of the key things that you MUST have with any type of insurance is the knowledge of exactly WHY you are buying it!
With something like car insurance this is quite clear cut, but with Minnesota Life Insurance things are a little hazier, because you won’t be around to see the effects, and hence may not always be as clear cut about what should happen to the money.
Hence it is important to sit down and think through what the money might be spent on. In practice this will usually end up being a longer list then you may at first realise.
In addition to immediate needs like funeral expenses and bills, you also need to consider whether your spouse would want to move home (perhaps to live nearer to parents), need to take time off work which would cost money, and that doesn’t even take account of loftier goals like paying for your children’s college tuition fees.
2/ Do Your Research!
Once you have thought through some of the different things that your dependants may need to spend the money on, then it is time to do some research as to the best solution that fulfils those needs.
In practice this really means that you should go and find some different Minnesota Life Insurance Quotes and see EXACTLY what is available.
Your research should take in several different factors:
Price
Amount of Cover for the Money
Scope of the Policy
Type of Policy i.e. Minnesota Term Life Insurance vs. Minnesota Whole Life Insurance
Possible Policy Exclusions (for example based on age or hobbies)
Reliability and Track Record of the Company Selling the Policy
Once you have weighed up those six different factors then it is time for step 3…
3/ Get the Life Insurance!
Once you have done all your due diligence and have arrived at a choice of policy then you should buy it as soon as possible.
The reality is that none of us knows when our number may be called, and so it is incumbent on you to protect your family as soon as possible.
Once you have your life insurance in place then you can to some extent relax, because at least then you know that you will have done everything in YOUR power to help.
Minnesota Life Insurance – The Details…
In terms of the legal situation surrounding the regulation of Life Insurance in Minnesota, then the legal framework for this is handled by The State Insurance Code of Minnesota.
You can find the detailed Minnesota Insurance Code here:
Clearly insurance regulations in any state will change over time. But nevertheless this should provide a good background to understanding Minnesota’s specific rules when it comes to Life Insurance.
Minnesota Life Insurance – Resources…
Minnesota Insurance
The Minnesota Insurance Department is responsible for regulating all types of insurance in Minnesota. They handle consumer enquiries, dealing with insurance companies in terms of enforcing regulations, and information for producers and adjusters.
Honestly, it’s not the most user friendly website in the world. But it does have lots of information if you care to spend the time to dig around a little.
Minnesota Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
In the event of there being an insurance company insolvency in Minnesota, then then Minnesota Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association is a statutory body set up to assist consumers and provide some levels of financial protection.
