With all the natural disasters lately, it's tougher to find a financially solid insurance company that your family can afford.

Yet, when considering insurance, the most important point to remember is to pick only from the most financially sound.

That's especially important nowadays when so many companies also are in the property and casualty business, and have been paying billions of dollars in claims due to natural disasters over the past couple of years.

A number of life insurance companies have gone belly-up in the last 15 years, and have had to be taken over by insurance regulators. Among the largest: Executive Life and Mutual Benefit Life......

There are several companies that evaluate the financial strength of life insurers. But only a small percentage of insurers carry the top financial strength ratings, according to the Insurance Forum, an Elletsville, Ind. newsletter.

For example:

A.M.Best (www.ambest.com) rates 1,501 life insurance companies, but only 4.5 percent, or 67 companies, carry the top A++ ratings. Another 259 companies or 17.3 percent are rated A+.

Standard & Poor's (www.standardandpoors.com) rates 658 life insurance companies, with 4.6 percent, or 30 firms, getting its top rating, AAA.

Moody's Investors Service (www.moodys.com) rates 320 life insurance companies, with 3.8 percent, or 12 firms, carrying Aaa ratings.

Fitch (www.fitchratings.com) rates 443 life insurance companies, with 5.4 percent, or 24 firms, getting its highest AAA rating.

The Insurance Forum did not include Weiss Research (www.weissratings.com) in its analysis of rating agencies. But the Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., firm rates approximately 1,700 life insurance companies. Its Web site lists five insurers with its top rating of A+ and 14 insurers with A ratings. That's a little more than 1 percent of all insurance companies the company tracks.

The strongest insurance companies rated A+ by Weiss include Teachers Insurance and Annuity, State Farm Life Insurance Co., Country Life Insurance Co., American Family Life Insurance Co. and American Fidelity Life Assurance Co.

The weakest, rated E by Weiss, include Texas International Life Insurance Co., North American Life Insurance Co. of Texas, Booker T. Washington Insurance Co., Key Life Insurance Co. and American Century Life Insurance Co.

Some experts recommend sticking with insurance companies that have the top ratings from A.M. Best and at least two other rating agencies for five or 10 years.

Have a large estate? In that case, it pays to do business with a couple of insurers. This way, you are diversified.

An independent insurance agent can help pick the most financially sound companies.

The big problem with top-rated insurance companies: They may be more expensive.

If that's the case, you may have to go with a company rated at least A by A.M. Best, AA by Standard & Poor's, AA by Fitch Ratings, Aaa3 by Moody's Investor Service and B by Weiss Research.

Just make sure the companies have carried these ratings for several years, have several billions of dollars in assets and have enough cash reserves to cover claims. You can get this information from A.M. Best Reports, available at your local library.

Buying insurance from a public company that issues stocks and bonds? You also can check the company's bond ratings by Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investor Service. The financially strongest bond issuers carry single A to triple A ratings.