Standard Insurance Company writes group life on a scale that dwarfs its individual business, so the odds are high that your Standard term coverage is a certificate under an employer’s or association’s master policy rather than a contract you own. That single fact reorganizes everything. A certificate holder does not own an asset that can be transferred. What a certificate holder owns is a set of rights – to keep the coverage under a waiver provision, to port it, or to convert it – and each of those rights has a deadline that runs in weeks, not years.
There is a second feature of group life that catches retirees off guard and that has nothing to do with selling anything: the reducing schedule. Most group plans automatically cut the death benefit at stated ages, commonly to 65 percent at age 65 and 50 percent at age 70, with coverage terminating entirely at retirement or at a stated age. People discover this after the reduction has already happened. Reading your own schedule before a birthday is worth more than any market analysis. Below is how to find every one of these provisions and what to do with each answer.
In This Article
- Who The Standard is, and which entity holds your coverage
- Find your reducing schedule before your next birthday
- Waiver of premium: the provision disability carriers actually use
- Portability and conversion are not the same right
- What is realistically saleable, and what is not
- The written request that gets you real answers
- Frequently Asked Questions
Who The Standard is, and which entity holds your coverage
Standard Insurance Company began in Portland as Oregon Life Insurance Company in 1906 and adopted its current name in 1946. It is domiciled in Oregon and regulated by the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation within the Department of Consumer and Business Services. New York business is written through a separate licensed entity, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York.
The holding company, StanCorp Financial Group, was created when the mutual converted to stock form and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999. In 2015 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company of Japan agreed to acquire StanCorp for approximately $5 billion, closing in March 2016. In December 2024 Meiji Yasuda announced an agreement to acquire Legal & General’s US protection business, comprising Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York, and stated its intention to combine that business with The Standard. If your term coverage was issued by Banner Life or William Penn it is an individually owned contract with its own conversion terms – see our page on Banner Life term policies – and you should confirm the current servicing company in writing rather than assume.
A word on names. Several unrelated insurers use “Standard” in their legal names, including Standard Life and Accident Insurance Company, a Texas-domiciled company with no connection to Standard Insurance Company of Oregon. Read the full legal name on your certificate or contract before calling anyone.
Find your reducing schedule before your next birthday
Group life plans almost universally contain an age reduction schedule, and it is the provision that quietly removes the most coverage. A typical schedule reduces the benefit to 65 percent of the original amount at age 65, to 50 percent at age 70, and sometimes to 35 percent at 75, with termination at retirement or at a stated maximum age. Supplemental and spouse coverage often reduce on their own separate schedule.
Two things follow from that. First, the number in your head is probably not the number in force – check the benefits booklet or your annual benefits statement for the current amount. Second, the reduction is usually a qualifying event for conversion of the reduced portion, meaning you may be entitled to convert the amount you just lost into an individual permanent policy without evidence of insurability. That right is time-limited and rarely mentioned in the letter announcing the reduction.
Public sector and association plans are worth extra attention because The Standard administers a great deal of that business – state employee plans, education association plans, and professional association programs. Coverage under those arrangements can continue into retirement on different terms than a corporate plan, and the plan document controls. Our pages on group life after retirement and union and association life insurance cover the variations.
Waiver of premium: the provision disability carriers actually use
The Standard is a disability specialist, and its group life plans commonly include a life waiver of premium provision. If an insured employee becomes totally disabled before a stated age – often 60 – and remains disabled through an elimination period, the life coverage continues in force with no further premium, sometimes at the amount in effect on the date of disability, sometimes on a reducing basis.
Three consequences matter. Coverage you assumed ended when you stopped working may still be in force, which is worth confirming before anyone buys replacement insurance. Waiver approval requires ongoing proof of continued disability, and coverage terminates if that proof lapses or if the definition is no longer met. And when waiver ends – because of recovery, or because of an age limit in the plan – a conversion right typically opens for a short window at that moment.
If you or a family member is on waiver, request a written statement from the insurer confirming the amount currently in force, the basis of continuation, the date waiver is scheduled to end, and the conversion rights available at that point. A disabled insured with continued group coverage and an approaching waiver termination is one of the few situations where a conversion decision is genuinely urgent.
| Right | What it gives you | Typical deadline | Creates a saleable asset? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life waiver of premium | Coverage continues with no premium while totally disabled | Claim filed within the plan’s stated period | No, but it preserves the death benefit |
| Portability | Term coverage continues under a separate group policy | Usually 31 days after coverage ends | No – it is still term coverage that ends |
| Conversion | An individual permanent policy you own, no health questions | Usually 31 days after coverage ends | Possibly, if age, size and health align |
| Conversion of a reduced amount | Convert the portion lost to an age reduction | Short window from the reduction date | Possibly, on the same conditions |
| Doing nothing | Coverage ends | Not applicable | No |
Portability and conversion are not the same right
When group coverage ends, most plans offer two distinct continuation options and people routinely choose the wrong one.
- Portability continues term coverage under a separate group portability policy. Premium is usually lower than conversion, evidence of insurability may or may not be required depending on the plan, and there is typically an age limit past which portability is unavailable. The result is still term coverage that will end, so it does not create a saleable asset.
- Conversion exchanges the ending group coverage for an individual permanent policy issued by the insurer, with no evidence of insurability. The premium is high because conversion rates are not competitively underwritten and the insurer must accept everyone. The result is a contract you own outright, which is the only version of this that can ever have secondary market value.
The conversion application and first premium are typically due within 31 days of the date coverage ends. That is the deadline that governs almost every one of these files. Some plans and some states extend it where required notice was not given, but that is a remedy after the fact rather than something to rely on. Our pages on how group life conversion works, the window at retirement, and what happens to employer coverage after a layoff cover the timing in each situation.
Ask whether partial conversion is allowed. Converting $100,000 of a $400,000 certificate produces a manageable premium and a face amount that still clears most buyers’ working minimums, and it is very often the right size.
What is realistically saleable, and what is not
A group term certificate is not saleable. You do not own the master policy, the coverage terminates on events outside your control, and there is nothing an investor can acquire and maintain. Any party who offers to buy your group certificate is describing a transaction that does not exist.
An individually owned term policy is saleable only while the conversion privilege is alive, because a buyer needs a contract that will still be in force at death. Once the conversion window closes, the policy has essentially no market value regardless of face amount or the insured’s age. The single narrow exception is a documented terminal or severely advanced illness where the death benefit is expected within the remaining level period, which can occasionally support a viatical purchase. It requires medical records and a life expectancy report and it is uncommon.
Where conversion is available and the insured’s health has declined materially since the coverage began, the sequence is: convert first at an amount you can actually carry, then evaluate. Converting on the assumption a sale will follow is a mistake, because no sale is guaranteed and the premium obligation is real from day one. Our page on converting term and then selling lays out the order and the common errors, and selling a term life policy covers the general mechanics.
The written request that gets you real answers
Send one message to the plan administrator or the insurer with numbered questions, and keep the reply. Ask for: the current death benefit amount in force today; the full age reduction schedule and the next reduction date; whether the recent or upcoming reduction creates a conversion right on the reduced portion; the date group coverage terminates on retirement or separation; the exact deadline to apply for conversion and for portability; the conversion premium at the full amount and at fifty percent; whether partial conversion is permitted and in what increments; and whether any life waiver of premium is in effect and when it ends.
Those eight answers resolve nearly every question people bring to us about group life. Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state. What we offer is an educational free policy review: send the certificate or policy cover page and we will tell you whether the coverage is group or individual, which deadlines appear to apply, and whether any secondary market path is realistic – including when the honest answer is that there is none and the useful move is a conversion decision instead. Call (305) 209-7183. Nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice.
If you also hold permanent coverage from this carrier, the analysis starts from cash value rather than conversion – see our page on The Standard whole life.
Frequently Asked Questions
My death benefit dropped and nobody told me. What happened?
Almost certainly an age reduction schedule in the group plan. Most plans cut the benefit at stated ages, commonly to 65 percent at age 65 and 50 percent at age 70, with supplemental and spouse coverage often reducing separately. Check the benefits booklet for the exact schedule and the next reduction date, and ask whether the reduction creates a conversion right on the portion you lost.
What is the difference between portability and conversion?
Portability continues term coverage under a separate group policy, usually at a lower premium but with an age limit, and it produces coverage that still ends. Conversion exchanges the ending coverage for an individual permanent policy you own outright, with no evidence of insurability but at a high premium. Only conversion creates a contract that could ever have secondary market value.
How long do I have to convert after leaving my employer?
Typically 31 days from the date group coverage ends, with both the application and the first premium due inside that window. Some plans and some states extend the period where required notice was not provided, but that is a remedy rather than a plan. Ask the administrator in writing for the exact termination date and the exact conversion deadline, and keep the response.
I am on disability. Is my life coverage still in force?
Possibly. Group life plans commonly include a waiver of premium provision that continues coverage without premium for an insured who became totally disabled before a stated age and satisfied an elimination period. Approval requires ongoing proof of continued disability, and a conversion window usually opens when waiver ends. Request written confirmation of the amount in force and the scheduled waiver end date.
Can I sell my group life certificate?
No. A certificate documents participation under a master policy owned by your employer, association or plan trust. You do not own a transferable contract, and the coverage terminates on events outside your control, so there is nothing for an investor to acquire and keep in force. The only path that can produce a saleable asset is conversion to an individually owned permanent policy.
Does Pine Lake Life Solutions buy term policies?
No. Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state. We provide an educational free policy review. Send the certificate or policy cover page and we will identify whether your coverage is group or individual, what deadlines apply, and whether any market path exists – including when the useful decision is about conversion rather than a sale. Call (305) 209-7183.
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Related Reading
- Sell Group Life After Retirement
- Retiring Group Life Conversion Window
- What Is Group Life Conversion
- Laid Off Employer Life Insurance
- Teachers Union Life Insurance
- Sell Term Life Policy
- Convert Term Then Sell
- Sell My Banner Life Term Life Policy
- Sell My The Standard Whole Life Policy
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.