Top 10 Best Infinite Banking Companies [High Cash Value Life Insurance] – I&E | Whole Life & Infinite Banking Strategies (2024)

Imagine having a financial tool that acts as your personal bank, grows tax-free, and builds generational wealth. That’s the power of the Infinite Banking Concept® (IBC), also known as Becoming Your Own Banker©, Bank On Yourself©, or Cash Flow Banking. But here’s the catch: not all insurance companies are created equal when it comes to IBC.

At Insurance & Estates, we frequently hear from people who are sold on the IBC idea but stumped on how to get started. The roadblock? Finding the right insurance expert and, crucially, selecting the best life insurance company for their needs.

Here’s what you need to know: The foundation of IBC is a dividend-paying whole life insurance policy from a top-tier mutual insurance company. These policies aren’t just about life insurance – they’re powerful financial tools that create a “personal banking system.” By using your policy’s cash value as collateral, you can fund purchases and investments that you’d typically finance through a traditional bank.

The magic happens when you cut out the middleman (goodbye, banks!) and funnel all your financial transactions through your IBC policy. Instead of paying interest to banks, you’re paying it to yourself, creating a powerful cycle of wealth accumulation. It’s like having a turbo-charged savings account that also protects your family’s financial future.

But if you want IBC success, you don’t want just any whole life policy. That’s why choosing the right company is crucial. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the top contenders in the infinite banking arena, helping you make an informed decision to kickstart your journey to financial freedom.

Ready to discover which companies lead the pack in the infinite banking world? Let’s dive in.

Now, in this article we are going to do our best to provide you with 10 solid and highly rated life insurance companies that offer high cash value life insurance. Just know that the best life insurance companies for infinite banking actually offer much more. You see, the best infinite banking whole life insurance companies we use provide riders on their policies that are ideal for IBC use and also have a proven track record of long-term success and stability.

IBC Webinars

If you are new to Infinite Banking, we recommend you check out the following webinar to help you get better acquainted with IBC and learn why so many people are becoming their own banker.

Top 10 Best IBC Companies Criteria

Before we jump right into the companies themselves, let’s look at our reasoning behind the top 10 list. We have certain criteria for Infinite Banking and we want to share it with you.

Keep in mind that ultimately the success or failure of a given methodology will come down to execution. You can have the perfect product, but if you fail to implement it, you won’t see the results you anticipated.

In other words, the best microphone in the world can’t make you into a phenomenal singer. It takes diligent, disciplined practice to get good at something.

Having said all that, it is important to note that there are companies out there that are not ideal for Infinite Banking, so it pays to know who is and who is not.

Do you recommend IULs for IBC?

Whether or not you should use indexed universal life insurance for infinite banking is a great question and it is difficult to answer because the answer ultimately depends on the client. Most people looking into infinite banking have read Nash’s book and prefer whole life for IBC.

But there are people who are not “purists” when it comes to IBC and they want to see what the best company will be, whether it is whole life or indexed universal life.

Often we will still recommend whole life for the unique benefits it offers vs IULs, such as fixed costs and guaranteed growth. However, it is certainly possible that the long term growth of indexed universal life could be superior to whole life.

In the end, it really comes down to each individual’s preference. And the good news is many of the companies listed here in our top 10 also offer excellent indexed universal life insurance policies.

Simply a Guide

And finally, we want to say that this list is to be used only as a guide, and ideally only as a starting point in conversing with a qualified representative that is familiar with these companies and the concept.

Life insurance requires underwriting, which means that not all people are treated the same. For example, if you’re a smoker or have a history of cancer in your family, you will have less options than those with ideal health. So even though we provide this list as our top 10 companies for Infinite Banking, we know that your top 10 companies may differ because of your unique situation.

Needless to say, our top 10 companies all provide cash value life insurance, and they also provide policies that are meant to maximize cash value growth and accumulation.

Ultimately we hope this guide provides a glimpse of what to look for when shopping for an Infinite Banking policy.

Criteria 1 – Mutual Company vs. Stock Company

According to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, when you’re searching for cash value life insurance, a mutual company is your best bet.

The reason a mutual life insurance company is ideal for you, as opposed to a stock company, is that you become “members” of the mutual company. As members, you “participate” in the insurance company’s investment gains.

As participants, you, the policyholders in a mutual company, receive “dividends” on the cash value of your policies. These dividends are considered a return of premium, not income, so they are tax-free for you.

Just to clarify, the dividend is considered a return of overpaid premium (this represents the profit the company made throughout the year, and it goes back to you, the policyholders). In a stock company, much of the profits would go to the shareholders, not to you, the policyholders.

Furthermore, mutual life insurance companies tend to focus on long-term growth and stability.

In contrast, stock companies must appease both long-term policyholders like yourselves and meet the short-term goals of stockholders, creating somewhat of a conflict of interest.

Due to these key advantages, you might tend to prefer mutual companies in your search for top Infinite Banking life insurance companies.

Another reason why a mutual life insurance company is ideal for our purposes is because excess profits are NOT used for purposes that do not benefit the policy holders – for things like large executive bonuses.

The largest mutual life insurers have an AA+ rating. In contrast, the largest stock (i.e. public) companies have ratings that are two tierslower with an AA- rating.

From 2008 to 2014, publicly traded insurers increased life insurance assets 1.9% a year on average, while during the same time frame mutual life insurers averaged 6.6%. Source.

Criteria 2 – Performance History

(cash value accumulation, loan rates, dividend payments)

Whole life insurance cash value growth is crucial for you in the Infinite Banking Concept because this cash value serves as the fund for all your banking needs. Without a significant cash pool, your banking options become severely limited.

Participating Life Insurance

Remember, dividends are not guaranteed, a point often highlighted by critics of participating whole life insurance.

The top 10 Infinite Banking life insurance companies you consider should have a consistent record of paying dividends. This consistency is crucial for a reliable expectation of enhanced cash value growth.

Though dividends aren’t guaranteed, the participating whole life insurance companies you might choose for Infinite Banking have historically shown a strong capability to continue paying dividends through various economic conditions, including the Great Depression and the Great Recession.

Loan Rates

Life insurance loan rates are also vital in your Infinite Banking strategy. In designing your Infinite Banking whole life insurance policy, you must carefully consider the cost of loans against the ongoing dividend rates. The aim here is often to maintain a favorable “arbitrage”.

Your focus should be on selecting top whole life insurance companies known for building cash value and ensuring ongoing growth, regardless of any loans against the life insurance. This approach allows for leverage and multiple levels of wealth building. Therefore, a company’s history with loan interest rates becomes significantly important for you.

Criteria 3 – Stability

(company history, reliability)

Your top choices for Infinite Banking life insurance companies should have a proven history of stability, as this is crucial for establishing your own banking system and meeting your financial needs.

Therefore, your focus should be on well-established mutual whole life insurance companies that demonstrate robust financial health and possess high credit ratings.

We used A.M. Best’s ratings as a standard for comparison among these companies. Additionally, consulting Standard & Poor’s ratings can provide you with further insights.

Criteria 4 – Flexibility

(products, design, convertibility, options for paid up additions)

Simply put, you’ll find that some companies offer more flexibility than others in terms of premium design and “paid up additions” (which means adding cash value to your policy), allowing you to structure a policy that aligns with your goals.

For our purposes, flexibility refers to both the availability of various products, flexibility in allowing for paid up additions, AND other ways of accommodating those seeking to maximize cash value accumulation.

Flexibility is critical for those that are interested in Infinite Banking because there are a variety of strategies for maximizing growth and funding your banking needs.

Some companies offer one way to bank via your policy, so the agents may tell you that it’s “perfect” for Infinite Banking. But in reality, they are forcing you to bank in a confined space – something that might be a serious hindrance down the road.

Criteria 5 – Overall Suitability

(for strategic purposes, infinite banking, conduit wealth building)

The suitability of a given company for Infinite Banking is based on the criteria mentioned above as well as the training and education of the agents and home office.

Companies that have been given training in the infinite banking concept are easier to communicate with when you’re attempting something you haven’t done before in the infinite banking sphere.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning that our top Infinite Banking companies are all licensed to offer its whole life insurance policies in at least 40 of the 50 states.

A Few Notes on Direct vs. Non-Direct Recognition

This distinction refers to whether policy loans will negatively impact the dividend rate paid on the policy cash value. Obviously taking policy loans are a major aspect of the policy growth in the infinite banking world. It simply means that the policy will continue to perform normally. This includes the payment of dividends at FULL rates, regardless of the amount of policy loans owed.

Although non-direct recognition companies tend to hold great reverence in the Infinite Banking world as opposed to direct recognition companies, we’ve found that many direct recognition companies have a record of solid performance EVEN where Infinite Banking strategies are used.

(Just to repeat in case you didn’t catch it above, our top 10 companies are ranked above but they appear below in alphabetical order)

Ameritas

Ameritas has been around since 1887, making the company over 134 years old. .

Ameritas is a financially strong company and maintains an A rating with A.M. Best.

The company practices direct recognition, and has a long history of paying dividends to eligible policyholders.

Ameritas Growth Whole Life is limited pay life insurance that allows the policy to be fully funded in 10 years. You can add a flexible paid up rider to rapidly increase cash value growth.

And like many of the companies in this list, the whole life policy also has living benefits that allows you to access a portion of your policy’s death benefit for terminal, chronic or critical illness.

For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking insurance companies, please stop by our Ameritas Life Insurance review.

Foresters

Foresters Financial offers one of the only participating no medical exam whole life insurance policies in the industry. You can get up to $400,000 20-Pay or Paid-Up at 100 whole life insurance without an exam.

Foresters Financial is proud of their A rating with A.M. Best and they are an innovator in the world of life insurance underwriting. With a guaranteed insurability rider option, we recommend considering this optionwhile shopping for a company.

Foresters has a strong dividend history. The dividend interest rate has remained above 6% for the past 13 years (8.6% dividend in 2005), and was at 6.2% for 2016.

For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking life insurance companies, please stop by our Foresters Financial review.

Guardian

Guardian is a top rated company (A++ superior Best, AA+ – second highest among 22 ratings by S&P), and also direct recognition, but one that is committed to the concept of treating whole life insurance as an asset.

Theypromote a type of Infinite Banking strategy among their agents. And even though they are a direct recognition company, it hasn’t negatively impacted policy performance in most cases.

When it comes to accumulating cash value, Guardian’s 10 pay limited pay life insurance product, when structured properly, is apparently their strongest offering (blended with paid up additions).

One word of caution, watch their career agents closely if you choose to work with them. The career agents have a tendency to prefer the less advantageous Guardian L-99 product.

It is worth pointing out that Guardian also has excellent customer service ratings. They also get extramarks for flexibilitydue to the variety of options for premium payment models.

The Guardian’s 2020 dividend interest rate is 5.65%. For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking insurance companies, please check out our Guardian Life review.

Lafayette Life

Lafayette Life is a non-direct recognition company that has captured a good segment of the infinite banking zealots.

We believe this company’s popularity stems from its non-direct recognition status, sound business rating (A+ Best, AA second highest rating out of 22 by S&P) and excellent track record.

Standard & Poor’s gave the following as a reason for their rating:

• Very strong financial security characteristics

For us, this company doesn’t stand out with any specific product or service offering, we’re somewhat neutral. Lafayette Life’s dividend rate was unchanged at 5.10% for 2016.

For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking insurance companies, please stop by our Lafayette Life review.

Mutual

We are naming this company simply “Mutual” as they shy away from being associated with the infinite banking concept because there are people out there that try and pitch infinite banking without talking about life insurance.

Mutual is a juggernaut in the whole life insurance market and sits among the top choices for all kinds of reasons which include cash value accumulation and wealth building.

Mutual is a mutual company that is continuously among the top performers in the critical category of the history of payment of dividends.

They offer an excellent model for paid up additions and their 10 pay product is tremendouslyeffective at maximizing cash value growth.

Mutual has won the coveted A.M. Best rating of A++ Superior, and a AA+ rating from S&P, and makes the cut as an overall suitable whole life insurance product for anything from wealth building to obtaining a permanent death benefit for family security.

Mutual Trust Life

Mutual Trust Life Insurance, aka MTL Insurance Company, aka Mutual Trust Financial Group, aka “The Whole Life Company”®, was founded in 1904 as a mutual insurance company.

In 2015, Mutual Trust became part of Pan American Life Insurance Group, which deals in insurance and financial services.

MTL knows IBC, having designed a proprietary dividend option geared towards the idea of maximum cash value accumulation.

The Maximum Accumulation Dividend® option works in tandem with the Flex Pay Paid-Up Additions Rider orAnnual Premium Paid-Up Additional Insurance Rider, providing maximum cash value accumulation on a continual basis, while avoiding a modified endowment contract.

We at I&E believe this is a great company. However, if we had one negative to speak of it would be the lower ratings it has received in contrast to its peers. MTL has a Comdex ranking of 78, which reflects a lower overall financial rating vs the competition. As of January 2020, MTL has an A rating from A.M. Best and an A rating from Fitch.

For more on this member of our top IBC companies list, please visit our Mutual Trust Life Insurance review.

National Life Group

With an A.M. Best rating of A, an A+ for S&P and a Comdex ranking of 80, National Life Group (NLG), aka National Life VT, aka Life Insurance of the Southwest, is a mutual insurance company offering competitive dividends among its peers.

Accelerated benefits for both chronic illness and terminal illness are available.

For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking insurance companies, please check out our review of National Life Group review.

OneAmerica

One America is a good mutual company (A+ rating with A.M. Best) and also made our top 10 list because it is a “non-direct recognition” company that offers tremendous flexibility with its paid up additions rider option for their whole life policy. One America offers whole life insurance through American United Life, “AUL.”

OneAmerica offers what is called a declining paid up additions load. This just means that folks can slowly decrease the amount of paid up additions being paid. However, this can come back to haunt you if people decrease the paid up addition too much. By doing so, it can undermine their strategy for growing the cash value.

Indexed Dividend Crediting Option (IDO) Rider – Legacy and Legacy 121 policyholders can participate in market moves earning up to double their dividend, without sacrificing whole life guarantees.

For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking insurance companies, please check out our OneAmerica review

Penn Mutual

PennMutual is another excellentmutual company (A+ by A.M. Best) and gets very high marks in a number of areas.

Penn Mutual’s Standard & Poor’s rating is A+, which is the fifth highest of 21, and they highlighted the following reasons for their rating:

• Very strong financial risk profile
• Very strong capital adequacy
• Strong business profile

They are a direct recognition company, and yet their track record of policy performance for cash accumulation is exceptional.

They ALSO score among the highest on our list for flexibility in paid up additions payment options.

Another excitingthing about this company is that their sales data reveals a large following of independent brokers. This is in contrast to some of our other choices who operate largely through a captive sales force.

Penn Mutual’s dividend rate has stayed level or increased every year since the 2008 financial crisis.

For 2020, Penn Mutual is expected to payout a dividend of $100 million with a dividend rate of 6.10%.

For more on this member of our top 10 Infinite Banking life insurance companies, please check out Penn Mutual review.

Security Mutual Life

Security Mutual Life is a non-direct recognition company that offers participating whole life insurance focused on personal banking strategies, such as the infinite banking concept.

SML has an A- rating from A.M. Best, which is the 4th highest rating of 15 offered by Best Company.

Security Mutual Life offers four different types of whole life insurance policies as part of its Security Designer WL4U product line, which include:

• WL4U LP121
• WL4U LP100
• WL4U LP65
• WL4U 10Pay

The most popular product for personal banking is the WL4U LP 100. This is a whole life insurance policy that is payable to age 100. Among the many riders offered are a Chronic Illness Benefit, Enhanced Paid-Up Additions rider, and a 5-year Own Occupation Disability Waiver of Premium rider.

For more on this top infinite banking company, please see our Security Mutual Life review.

Whose Missing?

Ohio National

Ohio National was once a part of our top 10 but it is no longer a solid mutual company that we would recommend when practicing infinite banking. Although it gained high recognition as a strong contender for offering policies that foster cash accumulation, due to the company “de-mutualizing” we can no longer offer it as an option in good faith.

And although it is a non-direct recognition company, recently they’ve been edged out by our other choices for a few additional reasons. They seem to lack some flexibility for paid up additions.

Another apparent issue is that, similar to Guardian, many of the agents promote certain whole life products that may not be idealfor cash accumulation as some of their other products.

For more, please visit our Ohio National review.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while we’ve shared our insights on the top Infinite Banking companies, the key to your success lies in partnering with a seasoned professional. The real game-changer is finding a veteran life insurance agent who not only understands the intricacies of these policies but also has the patience to address all your questions and concerns.

At Insurance and Estate Strategies, our Pro Client Guides are more than just agents – they’re dedicated partners in your financial journey. They bring years of experience in helping clients like you qualify for and maximize the benefits of Infinite Banking policies.

Why settle for a one-size-fits-all approach when you can have a customized strategy tailored to your unique financial goals? Our Pro Client team is ready and eager to guide you through every step of the process, ensuring you feel confident and informed before making any decisions.

So, what are you waiting for? Take the first step towards financial empowerment today by scheduling an appointment and letting us show you how powerful this strategy is using your own numbers