How Old Is Too Old For Life Insurance?
If an older person is lucky enough to have held onto a permanent life insurance policy, like universal or whole life, they get to keep it as long as it stays in force! However, a lot of us purchased term life insurance when we were younger, of we were covered on the job, and now find that we are older and have outlived our coverage!
I have some good news though. Actuaries, who are these people who are paid to figure these things out, figure that our odds of living longer are better than they were a decade ago. That means that insurers are more willing to extend policies to people in middle age, and even people in retirement years! Even better, rates have dropped over the last decade. If you havent compared premiums for a few years, it might be time to do it again. You can find lots of different types of life insurance for older people that can fit into many people’s budgets.
Evaluate Your Life Insurance Needs
You may also be able to use another tactic to reduce your premiums, even if you already have a policy. Let us say you are 20 years into a 30 year term policy. In our example, let us say you purchased a $500,000 face value then because you wanted to make sure your home mortgage could be paid off and your kids could get educated if they lost your income.
But now, 20 years later, that home mortgage is gone and your kids have already finished college. You also have some savings, are approaching retirement, and would like to reduce your bills. Wait. You don’t need a half million dollars worth of coverage any more. Besides, you plan to live more than 10 more years and doubt anybody will collect the death benefit anyway.
If you do a life insurance need evaluation, you may find that a $100,000 policy would be plenty. Or maybe you want to consider buying a smaller face value whole life insurance policy to cover final expenses. You could be pleasantly surprised to find very affordable premiums. By buying the life insurance you need, you could save money on premiums.
Join the forum discussion on this post
Related posts:
I have been told by a broker who specializes in tough cases, that almost anybody can be covered if they are willing to pay the premiums. Some older people have reasons that they are willing to pay – and some should look for alternatives.
Anyway, here is a growing guide – http://www.over50web.net/lifeinsurance/index.html
It has topics on finding policies for people in midlife, senior years, etc.
Another category of people who might want life insurance are business owners or people with substantial estates. Since these people have needs that require more planning, they should usually consult with professionals or specialists in insurance-related law, accounting or estate planning because legal business agreements or trust documents may need to be drawn-up