Guardian Life At a Glance: Rates, Products and Reviews
Since 1860, Guardian Life Group has provided products like annuities and life insurance. With strong financial ratings, it offers policyholders options to protect investments from inflation, adjust payment start dates and withdraw funds early without penalties.
- Written by Anna Baluch
- Edited By
Michael Santiago, CRPC™
Michael Santiago, CRPC™
Senior Financial Editor
Michael Santiago, a senior financial editor, joined RetireGuide in 2023. With over 10 years of professional writing and editing experience, he brings a wealth of expertise in creating content for diverse industries, including travel and healthcare. Having traveled to more than 40 countries across five continents and lived in Europe and Asia for several years, Michael's global perspective enriches his work. He combines his strong writing skills, editorial judgment and passion for crafting accurate and engrossing content to enhance the user experience on RetireGuide.
Read More- Published: December 19, 2024
- Updated: January 2, 2025
- 6 min read time
- This page features 7 Cited Research Articles
- Impressive Stability: Guardian Life Group has served customers throughout the U.S. for more than 175 years.
- Unique Features: Many of Guardian Life’s annuities come with inflation protection, income start date adjustments, waivers and free withdrawals.
- Flexible Payouts: You may choose to collect your annuity payments monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually.
Company Overview
Headquartered in New York City and founded in 1860 by a group of immigrants, Guardian Life aims to “inspire well-being across mind, body, and wallet, and drive value beyond dividends.” The company offers a variety of annuity and retirement products as well as insurance. According to its 2023 fact sheet, Guardian manages $94.6 billion in assets and has an operating income of $2.0 billion.
Types of Annuities and Insurance Products Offered by Guardian Life Group
Guardian Life’s product lineup includes numerous types of annuities and insurance options. Here’s a closer look at what you can expect.
- Immediate Annuities
- Immediate annuities are different from traditional annuities that require you to invest for a number of years before you can collect income. Once you make a lump sum payment, Guardian’s immediate annuities will begin to pay you within a year. You can choose monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual payments.
- Fixed Deferred Annuities
- Fixed deferred annuities are long-term retirement vehicles that offer guaranteed income. WIth these products, Guardian Life will give you a guaranteed rate of return so you’ll know exactly how much you’ll receive in retirement. You may collect regular payments for a set period of time or for as long as you live. There’s also the option to provide your spouse with payments, even after you pass away.
- Fixed Index Annuities
- Fixed index annuities can allow you to generate guaranteed returns and grow your account. If you opt for a fixed Index annuity from Guardian Life, you won’t owe taxes until you withdraw the funds. Once the accumulation period is up, you may collect your funds in a lump sum, spread your payments out over a certain number of years or receive income payments for as long as you live.
- Variable Annuities
- Variable annuities can give you the chance to save and invest in the market simultaneously. Through a Guardian Life variable annuity, you can enjoy a steady retirement income and potentially grow your account’s value based on how your underlying investment performs. Your savings will be tax-deferred, meaning you won’t owe taxes until you withdraw the money.
- RILAs
- Registered-index linked annuities (RILAs) depend on market performance. You can choose an index and give your annuity the potential to grow. Since the value of Guardian Life RILAs accumulates tax-free, you won’t have to worry about taxes until you retire.
Learn More About Your Annuity Options
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Life Insurance Options
Guardian Life offers three main types of life insurance: term life insurance, whole life insurance and universal life insurance. While term life insurance lasts for a set period of time, such as 20 years, whole life insurance is permanent, meaning it’s guaranteed for the rest of your life. Universal life insurance also offers permanent protection but allows you to adjust your payments to accommodate changing circumstances.
Features and Benefits
Guardian’s features and benefits vary by product.
- Inflation Protection
- Through the cost-of-living adjustment, you can automatically boost your annuity payments by 1% to 5%. You can decide to include this feature when you finalize your annuity contract.
- Income Payment Flexibility
- It’s up to you how often you receive your annuity payments. Guardian Life offers monthly, quarterly, semiannually and annually options.
- Income Start Date Adjustment
- If you’d like, you can change the date you start to collect annuity payments one time. You may accelerate or defer it by up to five years from your original start date.
- Waivers
- Depending on the annuity, you may opt for a waiver to enhance its value. The terminal illness as well as nursing home and hospital waiver are two examples.
Current Fees and Charges
Guardian Life does impose fees on most of its products, including its annuities.
- Administrative Fees
- These charges are designed to cover the management of your annuity and may be a percentage of its value or flat annual amount.
- Surrender Fees
- Surrender fees, which might kick in if you withdraw funds from your annuity before the surrender period comes to an end may go up to 10% of its value.
- Mortality Fees
- Mortality fees help offset the cost of variable annuity guarantees and are typically between 0.25% to 1.75%.
Before you move forward with an annuity, make sure you read the fine print and understand all the fees involved. Also, do the math and determine how the fees may affect your retirement income.
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Financial Strength and Stability
Credit Ratings
Credit ratings are important because they indicate a company’s financial strength and stability. Fortunately, Guardian has earned high ratings from well-known third-party organizations.
| Rating Company | Credit Rating |
|---|---|
| AM Best | A++ (Superior) |
| S&P | A++ (Very Strong) |
| Moody’s | Aa1 (High Quality) |
Company Stability
Guardian Life has been in business for more than 175 years. In 2023, the company proudly paid out about $1.4 billion in dividends for 2024, accounting for the largest dividend payout in its history. As of December 2023, Guardian’s operating income exceeded $2 billion and the provider maintained over $11 billion in capital. These figures are impressive and should give you some reassurance that Guardian is a stable company.
Customer Experience and Satisfaction
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Complaint Index performs a yearly report to review client satisfaction in the insurance and annuity industries. As you can see from the table below, Guardian Life receives less complaints than the industry average for all types of insurance policies and individual annuities.
| Complaint Score | |
| All Policy Types | 0.67 |
| Individual Annuities | 0.00 |
In J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, Guardian ranked second with a score of 685 out of 1,000, just below State Farm.
Evaluating Guardian Life Group Products
If you’re wondering whether Guardian Life is worthwhile, it’s a good idea to compare its offerings to products from other reputable life and annuity companies. You might also benefit from a consultation with a financial advisor who can review your current situation and retirement goal to make some recommendations and guide you in the right direction.
Editor Norah Layne contributed to this article.
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- Published in AP News, Credit Karma, Fox Business, U.S. Chamber, Point.com, Newsweek, Insurify and Forbes
- Over a decade of professional writing experience in finance
- MBA with a focus on marketing from Roosevelt University
7 Cited Research Articles
- J.D. Power. (2024, October 10). J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study. Retrieved from https://www.jdpower.com/sites/default/files/
- Fidelity. (2024). Guardian Fixed Target Annuity℠. Retrieved from https://communications.fidelity.com/fili/docs/guardian-spda-factsheet.pdf
- NAIC. (2024). Consumer Insurance Search Results. Retrieved from https://content.naic.org/cis_refined_results
- Fidelity. (2023). Guardian SecureFuture Income AnnuitySM. Retrieved from https://communications.fidelity.com/fili/docs/guardian-dia-factsheet.pdf
- Guardian Life Group. (n.d.). Annuities for Retirement. Retrieved from https://www.guardianlife.com/annuities
- Guardian Life Group. (n.d.). Life Insurance. Retrieved from https://www.guardianlife.com/life-insurance
- Guardian Life Group. (n.d.). Guardian Life. Retrieved from https://www.guardianlife.com/
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