Date: Wed 4 Apr 84 09:49:28-EST
From: CHESKO@CMU-CS-C.ARPA
Subject: Life Insurance
To: Lamb@CMU-CS-A.ARPA

Dave,

There are,as you know,a preponderence of life insurance companies.
Essentially,there are two types: Publically owned(i.e.,stockholders
own the company and it's traded on one of the markets) and mutuals.
The owners of the mutuals are in effect the policy holders. Removing
the profit incentive for the owners increases the rate of return 
available for the policy holders. Bests' Review (a trade publicatio
n in the L.I. business) annually rates the companies on a variety
of criteria. There are so many nuances that any one criteria does
not suffice for an adequate comparison.  The common wisdom is
that term is superior to whole life,because of the low returns
on whole life policies. This is true in most (>95%) cases,but
not all. According to any sources I have ever come across,especially
Bests' Review,Northwestern Mutual Life is the  "best" company
to deal with. Their agents are certified to write policies for
many other companies(sort of an independent agent),but they
do not allow representatives from other companies to sell
their products. For more information feel free to call me
at 3817. No,I'm not an agent.  If you  really want more
information a close friend of mine would be happy to spend
some time with you. His name is Paul Pigman,and his phone
number is 281-5540. I have known him for quite a long time
(pre-insurance days) and I assure you of his consummate
professionalism.

--Henry Chesko
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