Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage Review
Established over 115 years ago, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has grown its footprint to over 85 million clients worldwide. It is currently ranked in the top 50 life insurance companies in the world. Here is our Allianz life insurance review.
As far as their financial products are concerned, Allianz has grown to take the number three spot for money management and ranks number two in diversified insurance products. Allianz offers a well-rounded portfolio of life insurance and fixed-indexed annuities. Allianz is recognized worldwide as a premier insurance and financial product provider.
As you read our article, remember that we can help you get started with your own Allianz IUL or annuity policy.
Allianz offers one of the best indexed universal life insurance products available today. For several years, the Allianz Life Pro + Advantage indexed universal life ranked 2nd in volume sold. Let’s get right to it. Our review will cover policy features, riders, pros and cons, and, of course, expenses.
Allianz Life offers only one life insurance policy, the Life Pro+ Advantage indexed universal life. A Fixed Index Universal Life policy allows the policyholder the flexibility to change premiums and coverage to accommodate life events that almost everyone will experience in their lifetime. First, we need to point out that Life Pro+ is life insurance. This policy is built for more cash growth and accumulation than death benefit.
Although Allianz offers only one IUL policy, they were recently ranked #2 in sales among their peers.
Allianz Life Insurance Company Ratings
 | Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America |
|---|---|
| Comdex Score: | 94 |
| A.M. Best Rating: | A+ (Superior) |
| Standard and Poors: | AA (Very Strong) |
| Year Established: | 1896 |
| Top Products: | Life Pro+ IUL |
| Allianz Life 5701 Golden Hills Drive Minneapolis, MN 55416 | Website and phone: www.allianzlife.com 800-950-5872 |
Allianz Life Pro+ Flexibility
Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage provides death benefit protection, tax-deferred accumulation, and flexible premiums that adapt to your changing needs. This makes it suitable for various financial strategies, from implementing retirement income, to business planning and estate planning
Access to Cash Value
Allianz Life Policyholders have several options for accessing the policy’s cash value. There are indexed and fixed-interest loans available as well as partial withdrawals without incurring surrender charges
The Chronic Illness Accelerated Death Benefit Rider also allows you access to cash. In the event of an insured’s chronic illness, the owner of the policy can access a portion of the policy’s death benefit. There is no additional cost for this rider unless it is used.
Allianz Life Underwriting
Allianz Life policies are available to ages 0 to 80. They offer a risk-class upgrade underwriting program that automatically upgrades your rate class from standard to preferred plus nontobacco. If you are a tobacco user and receive standard tobacco, you will be upgraded to preferred tobacco.
There is also a table upgrade that places table-rated cases up to table 2 to standard.
Allianz Index Allocations available
Life Pro+ Advantage offers many index allocation options from which to choose. The insurer tracks these index options, and then, according to the crediting method, if there is indexed interest due to you, it is credited to your policy’s cash account on your policy anniversary. The accounts you can choose to allocate your funds are as follows:
| Available index selections for Life Pro+ Advantage | |
|---|---|
| Select Index Allocations – 40% Multiplier Bonus 1% Asset Charge | Illustrated Rate |
| Blended Index Annual PTP | 5.12 |
| Bloomberg US Dynanic Balance II ER PTP | 7.39 |
| PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER PTP | 7.39 |
| Bonused Index Allocations – 15% Multiplier Bonus No Additional Charge | Illustrated Rate |
| Blended Index annual point-to-point | 5.30 |
| Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index annual point-to-point | 7.39 |
| PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index annual point-to-point | 7.39 |
| Classic – 0.90% Guaranteed Bonus No Additional Charge | Illustrated Rate |
| Blended Index annual point-to-point | 5.21 |
| Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index annual point-to-point | 6.71 |
| PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index annual point-to-point | 6.71 |
| Standard Allocations – No Bonus No Additional Charge | Illustrated Rate |
| S&P 500® Index annual point-to-point | 7.39 |
| S&P 500® Index monthly sum | 7.09 |
| S&P 500® Index trigger method | 5.54 |
| Blended Index annual point-to-point | 6.56 |
| Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance II ER Index annual point-to-point | 7.39 |
| PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index annual point-to-point | 7.39 |
| Fixed Allocation (Current Crediting Rate: 4.25 %) | 5.30 |
| Above index allocations available as of 11/29/2023 |
Policyholders also have the option to allocate all or a portion of their cash value to a fixed interest allocation, which is currently credited at the rate of 5.30%. The policy also provides the flexibility for you to change your allocations each policy year and choose whether or not to participate in bonused index allocation, classic, or standard index allocation options.
Allianz Index Lock Feature
One very important feature of the Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage policy is the ability to lock in your return before the end of your index period. This could be useful when you have hit your index cap for the year. Assuming you hit your index cap midway through the year, you could lock in your rate and eliminate the risk of the market erasing your gains for the policy year.
Allianz Rate Lock
You can manually lock in your rate by logging into your Allianz portal. You can view the current year-to-date interest rate that will be credited to your policy. If you are satisfied with that rate, you can lock it in. Assume that we have illustrated your rate to be 6%, and the current rate is showing 8%, and we are only halfway into your policy year. You may want to lock it in now.
Allianz Auto Lock
You can also log in to your Allianz Life portal and choose the auto-lock feature. The auto-lock feature lets you set it to the rate you want to lock in. Your policy will automatically lock once the rate is met. Assume again we have illustrated your policy to credit 6% for the year. You can set up auto-lock to lock in your rate without having to log in and do it yourself.
Many of our clients choose Allianz Life simply for this ability to lock in a mid-year rate.
The example below shows how index lock can help enhance your policy performance.
Life Pro +Policy Riders
Many policy riders are available, and some are automatically included with Allianz Life Pro+:
- Loan Protection Rider – This rider offers protection from a policy lapse that could result from an unpaid policy loan. This important rider can be triggered if you are between 75 and 120 years old.
- Premium Deposit Fund Rider: This rider allows clients to make a lump-sum payment into a side account that will earn interest, which is then used to transfer annual premiums into the life insurance policy automatically.
- Waiver of New Charges Benefit – This rider allows the insurance company to waive surrender and expense charges and the Enhanced Liquidity Rider charges for any increased coverages in policy years eleven and later.
- Supplemental Term Rider – The insured may add a term rider to their policy, increasing the total death benefit. This term rider is convertible into the base coverage before ten years or age 75, whichever comes first.
- Child Term Rider – Allows insured to add term insurance protection for all children at least 15 days old to age 21. This rider is fully convertible to an Allianz IUL policy for the insured child.
- Waiver of Specified Premium Rider – If the insured is disabled for six months before turning age 65, Allianz will credit the policy in the amount the insured has specified. This amount can be as low as $25 per month and as high as $150,000 per policy year.
- Enhanced Liquidity Rider – This rider waives all surrender charges beginning the first day of coverage. This rider is typically used when using premium finance to pay the premiums on your policy.
Death Benefit Options
- Level Option – with the level option, the amount of the death benefit will remain level throughout the policy’s life.
- Increasing Option – When this option is chosen, the death benefit equals the base amount of coverage plus the accumulated cash value.
- Return of Premium – With the return of premium option, the death benefit equals a specified amount plus the sum of the payments that have been paid into the policy.
Allianz Life Pros and cons
Let’s wrap up our Allianz life insurance review. In general, we feel Allianz offers many advantages over other IUL companies.
Let’s start with the pros:
- The easy application process is done online through Apply Now. Uses electronic signatures
- Accelerated Underwriting: Ages 25-65 may qualify for up to $3 Million without an exam
- Low policy fees
- Fixed variable loan interest rate or no cost wash loans
- May be used for premium finance such as Kaizen or I.R.A. (Insured Retirement Advantage)
- Index Rate Lock (exclusive to Allianz)
- No cost Chronic and Terminal illness benefits
Now the Cons:
- It doesn’t offer a stand-alone term product
- No coverage for Critical illness
- No longer offers the survivorship IUL (joint policy)
- Policy costs are not waived during a chronic illness claim (this is minor but needed to be noted)
- If coverage has been recently applied for at another company, it does not qualify for accelerated underwriting
Watch our live presentation with Allianz Life explaining how the Life Pro+ works.
Frequently Asked Allianz Life Questions
Does Allianz have good financial ratings?
Allianz is one of the highly-rated companies. They are rated A+ with A.M. Best, the most well-known rating company.
Does Allianz offer optional riders with Indexed Universal Life Insurance?
Allianz understands that people have different needs that can change during an individual’s lifetime. To accommodate Allianz policyholders, the insurer offers various optional riders that allow the policyholder to customize their policy to meet their individual needs.
Can I choose from several indices if I buy IUL for Allianz?
Yes, there are several indices to choose from. Here are the most popular ones:
S&P 500
Bloomberg US Dynamic Balance Index II
PIMCO Tactical Balanced ER Index
Blended Index (contains a blend of five indexes)
