When you buy life insurance it is very important to check the financial strength rating for the company.  It is often attractive to gravitate to the least expensive option for your life insurance.  I completely understand that and that is an important component, especially if you are buying term life.  The reason it is important to check the company’s rating is to make sure they will be able to pay a claim if it happened to arise.   With that being said there are a lot of very good company’s that also offer very inexpensive term insurance.   One good example is http://www.ING-usa.com which always has very competive rates and currently holds an A+ rating from AM Best for financial strength.

You should look for a minimum of an A rating when selecting a life insurance company.   The rating services that matter are AM Best, Fitch’s, Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s.   AM best has ratings that range from A++ to an F based upon the company’s financial strength and ability to pay claims.   Fitch’s assigns ratings from AAA to D, based on the company’s financial strength.  Moody’s goes from Aaa to C based on a company’s financial security and Standard and Poor’s goes from AAA to CC.   Ask your insurance consultant for financial ratings on the company’s that you are looking at to secure your family’s future.  A lot of company’s have recently seen a downgrade in their rating, based on the fact that they were heavily invested in sub-prime, etc.  Make sure you get the most recent rating and consider quality while you consider the price tag.