Nassau Financial Group life insurance

Overview

Nassau Financial Group is a Hartford, Connecticut, insurance and asset management company. Most consumers meet it because they own an older life insurance policy that Nassau acquired, not because they bought one from Nassau. It owns the former Phoenix Life Insurance Company, now Nassau Life Insurance Company, and services policies that began at Phoenix, at Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company and at Delaware Life Insurance Company of New York.

Its insurers file with the NAIC as the "GGC" group, after Golden Gate Capital, the San Francisco private equity firm that supplied Nassau's founding capital in 2015. The group ranked #76 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with about $262.4 million in premiums and a 0.17% market share. Those premiums come mainly from existing life policies. For new customers, Nassau today sells fixed indexed annuities, multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) and Medicare Supplement insurance, not life insurance.

Nassau reports $24.8 billion of assets under management, $1.6 billion of total adjusted capital and more than 350,000 policies and contracts as of June 30, 2026. Phil Gass is chairman and chief executive.

History

The Phoenix side of the business dates to 1851, when American Temperance Life Insurance Company was founded in Hartford to insure people who abstained from alcohol. It became Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1861 and opened coverage to everyone. Phoenix later claimed industry firsts such as lower premiums for women (1955) and nonsmoker discounts (1967). It absorbed Home Life Insurance Company of New York, and its headquarters at One American Row, finished in 1963, is known locally as the "boat building." Phoenix stopped being a mutual when it demutualized and went public in June 2001.

Nassau was founded in 2015. Its key acquisitions and changes:

• 2016: Bought The Phoenix Companies for about $217 million, completing the deal on June 20, 2016, along with Saybrus, Constitution Life and CorAmerica. Nassau put $100 million of new capital into Phoenix at closing.
• 2018: Renamed its insurers under the Nassau brand. Phoenix Life became Nassau Life Insurance Company. Nassau says only the name changed; policy terms stayed the same.
• 2020: Bought Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company, the U.S. life and annuity business of Foresters Financial, announced in October 2019.
• 2021–2024: Brought in outside investors, led by Wilton Re in 2021, followed by Fortress Investment Group in 2023 and Golub Capital in 2024. Sold Saybrus to AmeriLife in 2021.
• 2023: Acquired Delaware Life Insurance Company of New York, which was then merged into Nassau Life Insurance Company.

Pyramid Life and Constitution Life were renamed Nassau Life Insurance Company of Kansas and Nassau Life Insurance Company of Texas, and the Texas company was later merged into Nassau Life and Annuity Company.

Life insurance products

Nassau does not sell new life insurance. If you hold a policy with one of these names on it, Nassau is your insurer or servicer:

• Phoenix Life, Phoenix Mutual, Phoenix Home Life or Home Life of New York: now Nassau Life Insurance Company. Whole life policies bought before the June 2001 demutualization sit in a closed block and still earn dividends as participating policies. For 2026 Nassau kept that dividend scale unchanged, with an average dividend interest rate of 4.55%.
• Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company (FLIAC): service has its own line, 800-832-7783.
• Delaware Life Insurance Company of New York: merged into Nassau Life in 2023. Service is at 800-541-0171 and nyaccounts.nfg.com.
• Pyramid Life or Constitution Life: health and life policies are serviced at 800-999-2224.

PHL Variable is a separate case. PHL Variable Insurance Company was a Phoenix subsidiary that issued universal life, term and annuity products. It came to Nassau with the 2016 Phoenix purchase and is not part of the Nassau group today: it does not appear among the GGC group's member companies in the group's 2024 NAIC filing, and the Connecticut rehabilitator and the press describe Nassau and Golden Gate Capital as its former owners. On May 20, 2024, the Connecticut Insurance Department found PHL in hazardous financial condition, with a capital deficit of about $900 million, and placed it in court-supervised rehabilitation. A court moratorium since June 2024 limits most non-variable life death benefits to $300,000 and annuity benefits to $250,000 until the case is resolved. Any amount above those limits is tracked for later payment. On December 31, 2025, the rehabilitator reported that a plan to keep PHL operating was no longer feasible. A liquidation order would bring in the state guaranty associations to cover policyholders up to each state's limits. As of NOLHGA's July 15, 2026 update, PHL was still in rehabilitation and no liquidation order had been entered. In July 2026 Connecticut regulators said liquidation would likely slip to 2027.

If you own a PHL Variable policy, Nassau cannot service it. Call the PHL call center at 877-800-2445 (weekdays 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET) or the Connecticut Insurance Department at 800-203-3447. Read every notice and election package from the rehabilitator, and sign up for email updates on the department's PHL page. In most cases, keep paying premiums so coverage stays in force, and talk to the call center before you surrender or let a policy lapse. See what happens if your life insurance company fails and state life and health guaranty associations.

Other products

Nassau's current sales are retirement products from Nassau Life and Annuity Company: fixed indexed annuities (Nassau Growth Annuity, Nassau Bonus Annuity, Personal Income Annuity, Nassau Income Accelerator and others) and MYGAs (Nassau MYAnnuity, Nassau Simple Annuity). Nassau Life Insurance Company of Kansas sells Medicare Supplement insurance. In New York, annuities are issued by Nassau Life Insurance Company. The group also runs a Cayman Islands reinsurer, Nassau Re (Cayman), and Nassau Asset Management.

Buying and service

Annuities are sold through independent agents and marketing organizations. For existing policies, owners can register an online account to see daily values, update an address and chat with service staff. The Nassau Service Center for former Phoenix policies is 800-628-1936. Service forms and tax forms are on nfg.com. Policy changes such as withdrawals, cancellations or new banking details cannot be made through the website's message form and need a call to the service center.

Claims

Beneficiaries start a death claim by calling 800-814-3692. Nassau then sends a personalized claim packet. It asks for an original certified death certificate showing cause and manner of death; for benefits of $500,000 or less, a copy of a certified certificate may be accepted. A signed beneficiary statement is also required. Nassau says payment is usually made within 15 business days of receiving all requirements in good order. Beneficiaries can take a lump sum or leave the money in an interest-bearing "Concierge Account" with check writing, which is a kind of retained asset account. Claims on PHL Variable policies go through the PHL rehabilitation call center instead.

Ratings and reputation

As listed on Nassau's ratings page, its insurers are rated:

• AM Best: B++ (Good), February 27, 2026, stable outlook, for Nassau Life, Nassau Life and Annuity and Nassau Life of Kansas.
• Fitch: BBB+, July 2, 2026, stable outlook.
• S&P Global Ratings: BBB- (Good), July 7, 2025, stable outlook.
• KBRA: BBB+, September 25, 2026, positive outlook.

These ratings are below the A-range ratings held by most large life insurers. Nassau was not among the brands ranked in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.

Cost-of-insurance litigation. Phoenix raised cost of insurance charges on some universal life policies in 2010 and 2011. Investors who owned the policies sued in federal court in Manhattan. In September 2015 the court approved a class settlement valued at $134.8 million, including $40.5 million in cash and a five-year freeze on further cost-of-insurance increases. See cost-of-insurance lawsuits against life insurers: cases and outcomes.

PHL Variable lawsuits. On September 25, 2026, PHL policyholders sued Golden Gate Capital and Nassau in Connecticut federal court. They allege that PHL's assets were drained through investments in Nassau-managed products, fees and dividends, and more than $2.2 billion moved through captive reinsurance deals. Nassau called the claims "without merit." The Connecticut rehabilitator has also identified possible claims against PHL's former owners. None of these claims had been decided as of October 2026.

Who it suits

Nassau is mainly relevant to people who already own a policy it acquired. It also sells annuities and Medicare Supplement coverage to retirees through agents. Former Phoenix whole life owners still get dividends under the original 2001 demutualization plan. Anyone shopping for new life insurance has to buy elsewhere, and annuity buyers should weigh Nassau's B++ and BBB-range ratings and its private equity ownership against the rates it offers.

• Strengths: Continues to service and pay dividends on the Phoenix closed block; separate, published service lines for each acquired block; published claim steps with a 15-business-day payment target.
• Weaknesses: Sells no new life insurance; financial strength ratings below A-range peers; a former subsidiary, PHL Variable, is in rehabilitation, with policyholder lawsuits against Nassau and Golden Gate Capital pending; Phoenix's history of cost-of-insurance increases.

How to contact Nassau Financial Group