Taking out a life insurance policy is one of the fundamental, even essential aspects of long term financial planning. Life insurance cover offers you protection against risks posed by unforeseen accidents and even death so that one’s family or dependents are not suddenly deprived of a source of income.

In choosing the life insurance policy that works best for your specific needs, you would have to take life insurance quotes from many insurance agents.

While it would be hard to identify any one particular life insurance firm as the best, there are factors that you must weigh to arrive at your decision. Take into account the exact life insurance product that the company is offering, whether this product matched your current health status and long term needs, what are the financials involved in you taking out the life insurance policy. Health rate categories depend on an individual, his/her lifestyle, and health status. Life insurance policies come under two heads – mutual insurance and stock insurance. The former is owned by the policy holders while the stock holders own the latter.

It is possible to apply online to get life insurance with no medical exam. However, you are likely to receive the quote only if you fulfill all the necessary qualifying criteria.

Look at the financial standing of the insurance company based on credit rating issued by well-known credit rating agencies such as AM Best, Fitch and Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, and so on. Do not select an insurance company with a financial rating below a ‘B.’

Based on these criteria, some of the well known American insurance companies include AIG, Assure, Banner, MetLife, Prudential, Protective and Transamerica. These have a consistently high credit rating, and level of security is high.