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Ethos Life Insurance Review
By Michelle Lambright Black MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Ethos could be a solid option for individuals who are looking for various types of life insurance. This online marketplace focuses on providing a user-friendly application process that you can use to search for whole life insurance, term life insurance, and no-medical-exam life insurance policies.
Eligible applicants between the ages of 66 and 85 will automatically qualify for a guaranteed-issue whole life insurance policy. Applicants aged 20 to 65 can apply online (with no medical exam or blood test) to see if they qualify for a range of term life coverage options.
Table of contents
- Ethos life insurance overview
- Ethos life insurance products
- Ethos customer satisfaction
- Ethos vs. the competition
- Ethos life insurance FAQs
- How we evaluated Ethos life insurance
- Summary of Miami Herald’s Ethos life insurance review
Ethos life insurance overview
Ethos Life Insurance has been in business since 2016 when Peter Colis and Lingke Wang created the company. The pair founded Ethos after bonding over negative personal experiences they had when purchasing life insurance in the past.
Ethos does not underwrite insurance policies itself. Instead, it’s an insurance marketplace that connects customers with its highly-rated life insurance partners through a user-friendly online application process. If you’re shopping around for the best life insurance rates available—a wise practice—Ethos can help simplify the comparison process.
Many people are able to qualify for Ethos life insurance policies with no medical exam and no blood test requirements. Yet some individuals may be ineligible for different types of coverage, including New York residents and people in certain age groups.
Ethos life insurance products
Ethos helps people find three types of life insurance coverage—term life insurance, whole life insurance, and no-medical-exam life insurance. Coverage is available through Ethos’s life insurance partners which include Legal & General America, Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., TruStage Financial Group, Inc., Senior Life Insurance Company and Mutual of Omaha.
Below is an overview of each type of life insurance policy available, along with key details about each option and its eligibility requirements.
What Ethos offers
- Term life insurance: Ethos offers fully underwritten term life insurance policies through several established life insurance companies. These policies provide life insurance coverage for a period of 10 to 30 years with coverage amounts ranging from $20,000 to $2 million.The application process for a term life policy takes place online. According to Ethos,
its insurance agents are available to answer questions over the phone and do not work on commission. Ethos claims that this model protects customers from unethical upselling tactics
Only applicants between the ages of 20 and 65 are eligible for this type of life insurance through Ethos. Furthermore, the company says policies that require a full underwriting process tend to work best for individuals in good health who desire higher death benefits and don’t mind a longer application.
- Whole life insurance: The Ethos platform also offers whole life insurance through various insurance carriers. Whole life insurance policies are permanent, meaning that as long as you remain current on your premiums, the coverage will last for the remainder of your life. (Note: this feature is one of the key differences between term vs. whole life insurance.)The policy limits of whole life insurance policies offered through Ethos range from $1,000 to $30,000. The company guarantees approval to eligible applicants between the ages of 66 and 85 regardless of medical history. (New York residents, however, cannot take advantage of this offer.)Policyholders will pay the same premium for the rest of their lives. And if you live to the age of 100, coverage will continue with no additional premium requirements.
It’s helpful to know that the rate of your monthly premium will never increase. However, whole life insurance policies are notorious for featuring much higher premiums compared with term life insurance options. So they may not be affordable for every budget.
- Life insurance with no medical exam: Individuals who are interested in no-medical exam life insurance may be eligible for one of two different types of coverage through the Ethos platform. The type of life insurance you may qualify for with Ethos depends in large part upon your age.Many people (outside the state of New York) who are 66 to 85 years old may qualify for no-medical-exam whole life insurance through Ethos. Applicants between 20 to 65 years old may be eligible for term life insurance (featuring a 10-30 year term) without a medical exam. The company notes that people with certain pre-existing conditions might not qualify for all available life insurance options.Coverage limits and premiums can vary based on individual circumstances. However, eligible customers may be able to choose between $20,000 to $2 million in life insurance protection.
Ethos life insurance coverage
Life insurance policies: Coverage: Term duration: Issue ages:
Term life insurance $20K–$2 million 10-30 years 20-65
Whole life insurance $1K–$30K Permanent 66-85
no medical exam $20K-$2 million 10 years-permanent 20-85
Ethos customer satisfaction
No business in the insurance industry or elsewhere has a flawless track record where customer satisfaction is concerned. But Ethos performs well in this department. Here’s what past customers had to say about their experiences with the online life insurance agency.
Customer reviews
Ethos has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and 4.82 out of 5 stars from customer reviews on the same platform. The company has only had seven BBB customer complaints in the last three years.
On Trustpilot, Ethos has a rating of 4.7 stars. Out of 590 reviews, 82% of customers gave Ethos a 5-star rating.
Ethos also has a 4.7 star rating on Google. The company has received 818 customer reviews on the platform, the vast majority of which are 5-star reviews.
Ethos vs. the competition
Before you choose a life insurance policy, it’s wise to research multiple options. Here’s how Ethos compares to its competition.
| Ethos | Ladder | Geico | |
| A.M. Best rating* | N/A | N/A | N/A (for life insurance) |
| Types of insurance | Term life insurance
Whole life insurance No-exam life insurance |
Term life insurance
No-exam term life insurance |
Term life insurance
Whole life insurance Universal life insurance No-exam life insurance |
| Coverage | $20K to $2 million | $100,000 to $3 million
Up to $8 million with a medical exam |
$5,000 to $25 million |
*The companies above are insurance brokers and marketplaces, not life insurance providers. Therefore, they do not have A.M. Best ratings as life insurance companies. (Geico has an A++ financial strength rating from A.M. Best for other insurance services the company offers.)
Ethos life insurance cost vs. the competition
It’s important to get quotes from multiple life insurance providers when you’re comparing coverage options. The cost of life insurance premiums may vary widely based on the type of coverage you’re seeking, term lengths, desired payout, your age, credit score, health history, and other factors.
For example, a 40-year-old male (non-smoker in good health) may qualify for a 20-year term life insurance policy with $1 million of coverage for $2,172 per year. That same man would pay $2,508 per year for coverage if he waited until he was 42 to apply.
With Ladder (a competitor of Ethos), a man in his 30’s might pay $365 to $730 per year for $500,000 of coverage through a 20-year term life insurance policy. Yet those rates could change drastically depending on health and other details. (See our full Ladder life insurance review here.)
Ethos life insurance FAQs
How we evaluated Ethos life insurance
We considered many details during our review of Ethos and its life insurance coverage options. Below are some of the factors that influenced our evaluation of the company and the services it provides.
- Types of coverage offered
- Available coverage amounts
- Ease of application process
- Company reputation
Summary of Miami Herald’s Ethos life insurance review
The Ethos life insurance marketplace can simplify the process of finding affordable term and whole life insurance plans for many individuals. The company makes it easy to apply online for coverage and many applicants do not need to complete a medical exam to qualify for coverage.
Of course, it’s always wise to take the time to shop around before taking out a new insurance policy. When you compare life insurance quotes from Ethos and other life insurance providers, you can make sure you find the best life insurance available for your particular situation.
Michelle Lambright Black is a nationally recognized credit expert with two decades of experience. Founder of CreditWriter.com, Michelle's work has been published thousands of times by FICO, Experian, Forbes, Bankrate, MarketWatch, Parents, U.S. News & World Report, and many more.