4 Best Children’s Life Insurance Companies for October 2025

Why You Should Trust Us

Investopedia analyzed 45 life insurance companies using key criteria like financial stability, customer satisfaction, coverage options, and cost. Investopedia was founded in 1999. We’ve provided unbiased life insurance reviews since 2020. Our team of editors and researchers independently reviews all products and services. While we may earn compensation from links in our articles, this doesn’t affect how we evaluate products, though it may influence their order in listings. We’re dedicated to helping you find the best life insurance company for your needs.

How Does Life Insurance For Children Work?

Life insurance for children is similar to life insurance for adults, but instead of the policyholder being the child, the policyholder is an adult, like a parent. By taking out a life insurance policy for your child, you can designate yourself as the beneficiary, which means you would receive the death benefit if they die. This death benefit can be used flexibly, whether it’s to pay for funeral expenses or make mortgage payments.

Typically, there are two ways to purchase life insurance for a child: You can buy a whole life insurance policy for them or you can add a child term rider to your existing life insurance policy. Some companies offer life insurance for children as young as 15 days old.

If you opt to purchase a whole life insurance policy for your child, they’ll have lifelong coverage, but these policies tend to offer lower coverage because, unlike adults, children don’t tend to have people relying on their income. 

Plus, whole life insurance policies offer fixed premiums for life, so you can lock in lower premiums while your child is young. The underwriting process is also typically less time-consuming and involved for children. While adults may have to complete a medical exam to qualify for life insurance, depending on the type of policy, this requirement is often waived for children. And once your child reaches a certain age, between the ages of 18 and 25, the policy may be transferred to your child. 

Whole life insurance policies also include cash value. This is a savings component that you—or your child, once they’re an adult–can borrow or withdraw money from. 

Purchasing a whole life insurance policy for your child, however, can be pricey—a more affordable option may be adding a child term rider to your existing life insurance policy, but these riders typically provide smaller payouts.

A rider is an add-on for an insurance policy that may include greater coverage or more benefits for an additional cost. With a child term rider, you’ll receive life insurance coverage for not just one child but multiple children. 

These policies provide temporary coverage, and once a child reaches the age limit, which can be up to age 26, their coverage will end. However, some policies are convertible, meaning your child will have the option of converting their policy into a permanent one without having to undergo a medical exam.

Pros & Cons of Life Insurance For Children

Pros Explained

• Can lock in more affordable premiums: By insuring your child when they’re young, you can qualify for cheaper premiums on whole life insurance policies. Plus, because children tend to be healthier, the underwriting process is less extensive—children usually aren’t required to undergo a medical exam. 
• Provides financial security: In the tragic scenario your child dies, having life insurance can ease the burden of having to pay for a funeral and could provide an additional financial cushion while you grieve.
• Cash value: Whole life insurance policies offer a fixed rate of return on cash value, and by establishing a policy for your child when they’re young, they’ll have years to accumulate cash value, which can be tapped later on.  

Cons Explained

• May end up paying premiums for years: By opening a whole life insurance policy for your child when they’re young, you can lock in lower premiums. But since these policies provide lifetime coverage, you and your child could end up paying premiums for decades. The amount spent on premiums could end up exceeding the death benefit.
• Other investments could offer greater returns: Although whole life insurance policies include cash value, investing money that you would have spent on life insurance premiums in a custodial brokerage account or 529 savings plan could offer you a better return. Since 1957, the annual average return for the S&P 500 has been roughly 10%. However, unlike a life insurance policy, stock market returns are not guaranteed.
• Lower coverage: Whether you opt for a children’s whole life insurance coverage or you add a child term rider on your existing policy, policies for children generally provide much lower coverage amounts.

How We Review the Best Life Insurance Companies for Children 

Investopedia’s list of the best life insurance companies for children is based on in-depth research into 45 insurers. We evaluated financial strength, customer complaints, policy options, digital tools, and more. 

To create our rankings, we combined the analysis of our editors and researchers, outreach to companies, and industry research. In March 2024, we surveyed 500 people who bought life insurance in the prior two years. Their responses helped shape our scoring system for our life insurance reviews.

We reviewed companies meeting our minimum standards for financial strength, customer satisfaction, and transparency, scoring them on 70 criteria. To score each company, we sorted these criteria into the most important categories for life insurance companies for children, and weighted them as follows:

• Policy Features and Riders: 80%
• Financial Stability: 10%
• Customer Satisfaction: 10%

For more information, read our full methodology explanation.