Life Insurance Options When 65 And Older

The kind of life insurance you can obtain past 65 is primarily contingent upon your health.

In my experience, I have found that most retirees over the age of 65 simply HAVE NO LIFE INSURANCE AT ALL. I have also found that most of the retirees that I have met could use and benefit from some form of life insurance. 

When it comes to purchasing life insurance in retirement (or for that matter, at any time), the questions you need to answer for yourself are:

1. How much do I need? Or, how much will my family/spouse/heirs need?
   • Do you simply need to cover your “final expenses”? Things like a burial plot, a funeral, and perhaps some bills.
   • Or, do you need to cover more needs your heirs will have after you pass away?
2. How long do I need to be covered for? 
   • Do you need to be covered the rest of your life, no matter how long you live?
   • Or, do you need to only be covered for a fixed period of time?
3. How is my health? Will you qualify for any policy, only some policies or perhaps none at all?

Once you answer those questions, we can better determine the right life insurance plan for you.

Options By Health Status

Good Health: You pretty much have all options available. For you, instead of getting a traditional Final Expense policy, you can consider:

• Term Life: If you only need a fixed period of time covered
• Whole Life: If you want to be covered the rest of your life
• Universal Life: Like a GUL (Guaranteed Universal Life) that can cover you up to age 125

With any of these, you can typically receive greater coverage than a traditional Final Expense policy and for less money.

Poor Health

• Final Expense (with minimal underwriting): Typically a Whole Life policy. Is a good option if you have health issues that prevent you from qualifying for another type of policy. There will be some basic health questions like height, weight, tobacco use, etc. Depending on your health, you will be offered a policy that pays the full death benefit from day 1…or only pays a portion of the death benefit if you pass away within a certain period of time, say 2-5 years. This is known as Graded Death Benefit. 
• Final Expense (guaranteed approval): None or very few health and medical questions asked. Regardless of your health, you can get a policy. 

For someone in poor health, the premiums will be considerably more and you must weigh the benefit. Consider contacting me to discuss.