Affordable Life Insurance over 50

Life insurance is generally fairly cheap and simple for young adults who are active and healthy. In fact, unless you have some health conditions that could impact your insurance rates, young adults can buy a million dollar term policy for about the price of a large pizza. In this article we will talk about affordable life insurance over 50.

Unfortunately, this is not true for adults who are over 50. In fact, there are many who refer to 50 something’s as seniors. In my humble opinion 50 something is a pretty long way from being a senior citizen and fortunately, group names don’t affect insurance rates, only your age, health, and death benefit does.

Realistically speaking, buying life insurance when you’re in your fifties is much different from buying it in your thirties. What does change, however, is the amount of life insurance you need.

For example, a lot of folks in their fifties are empty nesters and for many of them, their nest is paid off. This means that the amount of insurance they need to replace their income is considerably less than when they were in their thirties. Here, we’ll discuss affordable life insurance for people over 50. Notice I didn’t write “seniors over 50?”

How much does Affordable Life Insurance over 50 cost?

This is fairly simple, but we must remember that everybody is different. The first question that should be answered when you’re buying life insurance is simple; “how much do you need?” We recommend using an insurance need calculator because it will help you determine YOUR insurance needs based on YOUR circumstances.

Most life insurance calculators (free to use here) will take you through a series of questions about your expenses, your debt, your mortgage balance, college tuition for kids, and continued retirement planning for your spouse if you die.

It’s important to note, however, a life insurance calculator is used for determining your need for replacement income coverage and not for buying life insurance for a specific purchase like final expenses, mortgage protection, or other singular purposes.

In other words, you don’t need to bother with an insurance needs calculator when you know that you need a specific policy to pay off your mortgage if you die while still owing money on your home.

Here’s an example for Alan Jones, a 53-year-old head of household with grown children and a $40,000 mortgage balance:

As you can see, since Alan’s home is almost paid for and his children are on their own, and with his investments and current life insurance in place, Alan’s insurance needs are only $192,000. If we assume that Alan wants to leave each of his two children $100,000, his final insurance needs would be about $392,000.

Which type of Life Insurance Should I Buy?

The answer to this question depends on your age, your insurance needs, and your budget. Let’s take a look at Alan’s option based on the above listed insurance needs.

If Alan purchases permanent insurance like Universal Life, his premium would be in the neighborhood of $375 per month but what if he can’t afford that much premium?

Simple, Alan can buy a mixture of term insurance (temporary) and universal life (permanent) to obtain the amount of insurance he needs at a price he can afford.

Since Alan’s house will be paid off in 10 years, he certainly doesn’t need to insure the mortgage for the rest of his life. Also, Alan’s personal debts will be paid off within 10 years as well. We’ll also reduce his spouse’s living expenses since the mortgage and loans will be paid within 10 years. And remember, Alan already has $250,000 policy in force.

10-Year Term Policy with a $212,000 Death Benefit (mortgage balance, personal debt, spouse living expenses) $33.00 per month

Universal Life Insurance Policy with a $200,000 Death Benefit (covers the financial legacy for his children) $216.00 per month

By using Universal Life Insurance combined with Level Term Insurance, Alan can reduce his monthly insurance cost from $375 per month to $249 per month which saves him $1,512 per year for the rest of his life.

What if I want to just cover Final Expenses?

Final Expense Insurance is one of the most popular policies being sold today to adults over 50-years old. This type of policy is for covering final expenses like funeral and burial costs, (about $12,000) and unpaid medical bills or nursing home costs that were not paid by Medicare (typically about $5,000).

We have found that the most policies sold have a death benefit of about $20,000 so let’s see what the costs would be for a final expense insurance policy using whole life insurance.

Here are actual rates for a $20,000 Mutual of Omaha Final Expense policy for a healthy male and female non-smoker:

It’s important to note that most Final Expense Policies are whole life insurance and will contain all the benefits and guarantees that are provided by traditional whole life insurance policies:

• Coverage will be in force over the insured’s entire lifetime. Your company cannot cancel your policy for any reason other than non-payment.
• Premium payments will remain level for a lifetime and cannot be increased by the insurance company.
• Whole life insurance policies build cash value over time which can be accessed for any reason using policy loans, withdrawals, or policy surrender.

In Conclusion

Whether your insurance needs are for income replacement or final expense insurance, affordable life insurance for people over 50 is available. Take advantage of an experienced and reputable insurance agent to help you determine your need for life insurance, a recommended death benefit, and finding the best solution that will fit within your budget. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us.