Northwestern Mutual launches customizable life offering

Northwestern Mutual has announced the launch of a simplified, customizable life insurance offering, the Life Plus Series. The product line provides greater flexibility in an ever more complex planning environment, the company said.

“Clients face a myriad of challenges and goals – from retirement savings and college funding to long-term care and legacy planning,” said David Simbro, senior vice president of risk products at Northwestern Mutual. “Life insurance is a key element of comprehensive financial planning, so our goal was to help make this asset easier to understand and use, and more customizable, giving clients more ways to leverage it for their individual financial situations.”

The first product release is Whole Life Plus, which used a “building block” strategy to create customized coverage. Customization can include features such as:

• Blended term, offering immediate coverage at a lower cost and more whole life in the long run
• Accelerated care benefit, which helps cover potential future long-term care costs
• Waiver of premium, which waives a client’s life insurance payments while they are totally disabled

In addition to whole life, new universal life products will be launched later in the fall, Northwestern Mutual said.

“Decades of research and experience have given us a deep understanding of what people need to achieve financial security,” Simbro said. “We know there are significant benefits to having life insurance as part of a financial plan. It builds accumulated value that you can use for most anything, while protecting you and the people you love.”