A closer look at Brighthouse Financial
Who is Brighthouse Financial best for?
If you’re looking for term life insurance with affordable rates and a fast and easy application process, Brighthouse Financial is an excellent pick. It offers very affordable premiums and a convenient no-medical-exam option for people between the ages of 25 and 50 who don't smoke. It’s also great if you’re interested in combining your life insurance policy with long-term care.
What makes Brighthouse Financial unique?
Many life insurance companies require a medical exam as part of the application process, but Brighthouse Financial is one of the few that lets many people skip the medical exam. In fact, Brighthouse Financial is our pick for the best overall no-medical-exam life insurance. And as noted above, it offers some of the most affordable rates on the market.
Who should consider a different life insurance company?
If you live in New York, California, Illinois, Louisiana, or Maine, you won’t be able to purchase Brighthouse SimplySelect®. If you’re looking for whole life insurance, Brighthouse Financial only offers it as a conversion option for their term life policies. And if you need more than $3 million in coverage, see our picks for the best life insurance companies for high-net-worth individuals.
Brighthouse Financial life insurance rates
The chart below shows average monthly premium prices for a 20-year term life insurance policy with $500,000 in coverage for non-smokers in a Preferred health classification; quotes are based on the Policygenius Life Insurance Price Index methodology.
Age / Sex | Brighthouse Financial average | Industry average |
25-year-old female | $19.19 | $21.08 |
25-year-old male | $24.32 | $26.90 |
35-year-old female | $22.70 | $25.58 |
35-year-old male | $26.45 | $30.34 |
45-year-old female | $43.77 | $47.86 |
45-year-old male | $56.30 | $60.76 |
Brighthouse Financial’s history, reputation, and social responsibility
In 2017, MetLife spun off its U.S. retail division — the part of the company that sold life insurance to individual Americans. As a result, many of the spinoff’s senior leaders are former MetLife employees, including President and CEO Eric T. Steigerwalt. These leaders named the new company Brighthouse Financial as a nod to its guiding principles of “simplicity and transparency.” [1]
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Brighthouse Financial became a Fortune 500 company in 2019, and is one of the largest life insurance companies in the U.S., with more than 1,500 employees and 2 million customers. [2]
Judging from its inaugural corporate sustainability report, Brighthouse Financial is clearly dedicated to making a large Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact in the future. In 2020, it established an Office of Sustainability, and named David Ward its Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO).
In 2021, Brighthouse Financial adopted a new ESG investment policy, began excluding “certain issuers and industries” from its portfolio that were inconsistent with sustainability efforts (including fossil fuel exposure), and launched a $100 million investment target toward “women and minority-focused alternative investment funds over the next three years.” [3]