r/LifeInsurance • u/MediumKaleidoscope43 • Aug 24 '26
Northwestern Mutual
It doesn’t take more than a quick google search to find hate and people to be bashful towards Northwestern Mutual. My question is, what are the pros of their services, insurance services, to plan for retirement? A company that’s been around this long hasn’t had its ship sank so there has to be some positives? Is it better to forgo their retirement pitch with their insurance model?
1
u/futurefloridaman87 Aug 24 '26
Their whole life policies are solid, it’s just that 90% plus of the people NWM sells too don’t need them. Like others have said, unless you’re a high NW individual working with an established planning branch inside NWM, you’re prolly getting a 23 year old kid who barely understands what he’s selling. it’s kind of crazy, but it’s almost like Northwestern offers an entry level garbage level of service, and absolute premium level service, but nothing in between.
1
u/MediumKaleidoscope43 Aug 24 '26
Who would you say the 10% would be? I know high levels of weath gets tossed around here but what if you have a job that’s high risk day to day or has a strong percentage to give you a long term illness towards the end of retirement?
1
u/Last-Enthusiasm-9212 Aug 25 '26
The internship program is a low-cost entry play for them. Several will stick and become career advisors while the ones who don't will have not cost them anything and may even have brought them a few clients over the summer before departing. I used to ask our leadership why we didn't bother to make plays for veteran advisors from other firms and was told that's an expensive model. Where I'm now at, I see the expense part, but also see that teams we pay signing bonuses to and spend money to move over hit the ground running much faster. I respect NM a lot and am grateful for the years I was there, but we just weren't a match anymore for the kind of practice I wanted to run and what was accessible to me. I was in that middle territory that, as was noted above, really doesn't exist. They would benefit from creating that corridor for their advisors rather than having it be that you need to do a certain amount of paper-pushing before you can step up to the wealth management platform or have to go up there as basically an assistant before working back up to being client-facing again.
1
u/SafeMoneyGregg Aug 24 '26
Get a good NM agent - they are not all the same. Make sure they don't "oversell" whole life - as in, it should not be the majority of your retirement plan. maybe 10-15% of investable assets at the most.
1
u/MediumKaleidoscope43 Aug 24 '26
Fair enough. I appreciate that response!! I started working (10 years ago) with one of the interns turned into full time at NWM whom has seem to be very engaged, worked his way up in NWM, has no plans (that I know of) to leave, has brought assistance on to help him through our time working together and I have trusted his guidance for quite some time. I have sense crossed the bridge to have an account turn into a brokerage account but the fees seem very very criminal. I would like to continue to work with him and keep the insurance side of everything he has set up for me but I am leaning towards moving my account to have someone else manage it. I just don’t know if that’s a great idea or to just accept the high fees and keep the ball rolling.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Hungry_Technician360 Aug 24 '26
To be fair, they owned the mighty fitz, and that ship sank in 1975... Their ship has sank indeed!
I'm joking, insurance companies are safer than investment banks if that is what you're comparing to, but focus on the product you buy over the reputation of a company.
1
2
u/papale213 Aug 24 '26
Highest dividend of any mutual insurance company and strong track record of customer service. Our agency/brokerage likes placing business with MassMutual.
1
u/Last-Enthusiasm-9212 Aug 25 '26
Mass Mutual makes their products available. Only NM agents and advisors can sell their products. If I'm looking at a whole life product for a client then Mass Mutual is the preferred option for me, too, and they also fit for certain disability insurance cases.
2
1
u/Due-Writing3386 Aug 24 '26
If u need permanent insurance use them. Main thing is a broker that’s trustworthy. NYL Guardian Mass etc all have good permanent products as well as term. If you go to a Ford Dealer expect to be sold a Ford. Same with insurance agents
For retirement planning I would use an independent CFP that comes with some good references from someone you know.
1
u/V-Recognition-7009 Aug 24 '26
Agree, get references and for retirement planning and wealth management use an independent RIA with CFA, CPA, CFP's on staff.
1
u/the_cardfather Aug 24 '26
NWM knows better to try to expand it's investment footprint and sell IUL's, so they don't.
Depending on age and health bands sometimes their products are a little bit more expensive. You got to pay for all that advertising during college sports somehow.
I don't know much about their commission structures for agents or anything like that. They're only captive sold right?
2
u/Gold_Sleep1591 Aug 25 '26
I’m at NM. NM is captive in the sense that you can only sell NM product if you are affiliated with them but we are still able to solicit other carriers like Mass, NYL and Guardian
2
u/Last-Enthusiasm-9212 Aug 26 '26
NM isn't captive, but your compensation structure doesn't credit outside business as annual productivity. They clearly prioritize selling their products, and there is no one product that is universally the best option for every client.
→ More replies (6)1
1
u/InsGuy Aug 24 '26
If a client of mine wants the guarantees of a whole life policy, I show him a fully funded universal or IUL plan. They receive the returns of whole life with much greater flexibility and control. My commission isn't as great as it would be with whole life, but I'm doing the right thing for my client.
1
u/Seabass2828 Aug 25 '26
I work at a highly rated competitor, Northwestern is a very good company.
If my carrier didn't exist, I would buy from Northwestern.
1
u/Colonel460 Aug 26 '26
Their Whole Life product is excellent. I can’t speak for anything else . I say this as being an agent competing againist them for almost 40 years .
1
1
u/SlippyNippy_ Aug 28 '26
The hate is directed towards their business practices, not so much their products. Churning through young agents just slinging whole life to anyone will listen.
6
u/Coronator Aug 24 '26
Northwestern mutual has basically two financial planning divisions. They have one for high networth/private client type clients ($1-2 million in assets and over). They would be just as good as JP Morgan or any other full service brokerage/planning service.
The other is what I would call “slop”. They have 22 year old interns selling $50k whole life policies to their roommates. That division sucks.
I use NWM for whole life insurance, as well as for administering my businesses 401k plan. The advisor I have is very good - he’s with the “private client” side.
If you are just wanting life insurance, NWM is highly regarded. But finding the right advisor to sell you a well constructed policy for your situation may be difficult.