Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance
With a Guaranteed Issue life insurance policy, you do not have to answer medical questions which is not the case with other life insurance policies. Everyone medically qualifies and your age is possibly the only reason you may not qualify. This life insurance policy will pay your outstanding medical expenses, funeral costs, and your unpaid bills.
How To Get Life Insurance If Youre Over 60
Shawn Plummer
CEO, The Annuity Expert
Youre lucky if youre over 60 and looking for life insurance. However, there are plenty of companies that offer policies to seniors, and you may be able to find a policy that fits your needs and budget. This guide will discuss the different life insurance policies available to seniors and the factors you should consider when choosing a policy. We will also provide tips on getting seniors the best life insurance rates. So if youre ready to find coverage, keep reading!
How Much Is Life Insurance For A 60 Year Old
The cost of your life insurance plan doesnt only depend on your age. Its also affected by the amount of cover you need, the length of time the policy lasts and whether you’re a smoker.
You won’t need to have a medical check or give any details about your medical history to take out an over 50s life insurance plan, which can make it a much more affordable option when you’re in your 60s.
The average cost of an over 50s life insurance plan for someone in their 60s with £4,000-£5,000 whole-of-life cover is £21.42 a month.
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Best Whole Life Insurance For Seniors: Massmutual
MassMutual
Policygenius rating
Our proprietary rating methodology takes multiple factors into account, including customer satisfaction, cost, financial strength, and policy offerings. See the “methodology” section for more details.
AM Best rating
A.M. Best is a global credit rating agency that scores the financial strength of insurance companies on a scale from A++ to D .
Cost
Using a mix of internal and external rate data, we grade the cost of each insurance company’s premiums on a scale from least expensive to most expensive .
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No option to skip the medical exam
For seniors in good health seeking more than $50,000 of whole life coverage, MassMutual is a reputable company that pays higher dividends to its cash value policyholders than most of its competitors.
How To Find The Right Life Insurance Company
At this point, you should know how much coverage you need and the type of policy you are looking for. The next step is to find the right company.
We always recommend getting quotes from multiple life insurance carriers so you can compare and find the best rate. You can use our quote comparison tool to do this easily.
When it comes to choosing the best life insurance company, it is important to consider the following factors:
- Financial Rating this ensures the company is financially stable.
- Claims Payout similar to financial rating, you want to make sure they pay out on their claims.
- Policies Available do they have the type of policy that is best for you?
- Rates are their rates competitive with other companies?
- Policy Riders do they have options to add riders on your policy? Not everyone will need this.
- Conversion Options do you have the option to convert your term policy to a whole life policy? Not applicable for everyone.
All of these factors make a difference when choosing the best life insurance coverage for seniors over 60. You want a company that has a combination of all these factors. The lowest life insurance rates may not always be the best policy for your specific needs.
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Are There Life Insurance Policies Designed Specifically For Seniors
These two policy types are especially for senior life insurance buyers:
Guaranteed issue life insurance. These policies are offered with the promise that you cant be turned down and wont be asked any health questions. The trade-off is that maximum coverage amounts tend to be small, and if you die in the first two or three years after purchase your beneficiaries wont get the full death benefit. This is known as a graded death benefit,
Guaranteed issue life insurance is also pricey for the amount of insurance youre getting, but its designed for seniors who have health issues.
Burial insurance. Also known as final expense insurance, burial insurance is available only in small amounts and is designed for seniors in poor health and with limited budgets. Its meant to cover a funeral and final expenses.
Is Guaranteed Issue The Best Type Of Life Insurance For Seniors
Guaranteed Issue life insurance, for many seniors, is the best policy to go with. One, its much easier to get vs other kinds of life insurance. If you have medical issues or a preexisting health condition, you can still qualify for this policy quite easily because there are no health questions.
Important! There are 2 major things to point out with Guaranteed Issue life insurance policies.
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Life Insurance For Senior Veterans
All veterans who were enrolled in the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance plan during their service have the option to convert this life insurance policy into Veterans’ Group Life Insurance when they return from duty. This can be a good option early in your life. However, once you age into your senior years, you would be able to get better rates through other types of life insurance.
For example, for a 60-year-old male enrolled in the VGLI program with $400,000 in coverage, the monthly premium is $432, which is $226 more than a similar policy offered by Prudential. For this reason, if you are a veteran who recently turned 60 or are entering your older years, we recommend looking into an affordable term life insurance policy.
Life Insurance For Income Protection
You may still be working when entering your 60s, and if you don’t have life insurance, then purchasing a policy to support those that rely on your income could be a great decision. The best life insurance option would be to buy a term policy that would cover the years that you are working. By aligning life insurance with your working years, you would protect your income so that any loved ones would still be able to receive compensation.
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Aig: Best Final Expense Insurance
AIG offers final expense insurance, which is whole life insurance designed to deal with end-of-life costs, including funeral expenses. These policies offer lower amounts of coverage, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, with chronic and terminal illness accelerated death benefits as part of the policies at no additional charge. No medical exams are required for anyone under 80 years old, and coverage is available for those up to 100 years old.
Term life insurance is available with 18 term lengths, with a maximum of 35 years. AIG’s Quality of Life policies include living benefits, which allow you to access up to 50% of the death benefit to pay for medical care for a chronic or terminal illness. The living benefits are included for free other insurers often impose a surcharge for these benefits.
AIG, however, doesn’t get great reviews for customer service. It also provides only limited death benefits for the first two years with the policy for deaths resulting from anything other than accidents.
Can A 60 Year Old Get Whole Life Insurance
A few companies offer accelerated underwriting to applicants up to 60 or 65 years old, for $1 million or more in coverage. But others may cap no-medical-exam life insurance for $1 million at age 50. If you need a larger death benefit, you’ll probably need to take an exam if you’re in your 50s or older.
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Term Life Whole Life And Guaranteed Acceptance Whole Life Methodology
While researching the best insurance companies with the best deals for seniors over 60, we took a couple of things into consideration.
We examined the financial strength ratings, their rates for older adults with and without health issues, company history, online reviews, customer satisfaction results, and customer complaint records stored with the BBB.
Then, we selected 10 life insurance companies for seniors over 60 that offered a good deal.
Lastly, always remember that it is always better to have life insurance than nothing. If your elderly parents dont want to get a policy, convince them.
Why Should I Get Over 60s Life Insurance
Those in their 60s may still be in full-time employment and beginning to think about providing for their retirement. If you are over 60, you may want life insurance to cover the income you would have contributed to your family, to pay-off remaining mortgage payments, to help towards care costs or any other costs of living when you’re no longer around.
Thats not the only reason people opt for this type of insurance though. Outstanding credit card bills or other minor debts might be covered by a payout, taking the financial responsibility off your loved ones.
An important advantage of the Post Office Over 50s Life Insurance is that you pay premiums for a specific length of time, but the policy runs until you die even if that happens many years after you have completed your premium payments. Given the average size of over 50s and over 60s life insurance payouts, they are usually taken out to contribute towards funeral costs.
Fundamentally, this type of policy offers peace of mind. Provided you maintain your premiums, you will know the size of the payout your loved ones will receive. Knowing that it is impossible to outlive the term of your policy will also give you reassurance that your family may have some financial strain lifted when you pass away.
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Life Insurance For Those Over Age 60
Individuals 60 years of age and older may be experiencing life changes such as retirement and decreased living expenses. If you already have a term life insurance policy, which is good for only a specified length of time, you may consider switching to a permanent policy for a different amount of coverage.
Best Types Of Life Insurance Policies For Seniors
The best type of policy for people over 60 comes down to your health, budget and if you need a policy that lasts your entire life or just to cover you for a specified number of years.
Term life insurance is best for healthy seniors
This type of policy is generally the most affordable and offers coverage for a set period of time like 10 or 15 years. Youll be able to buy higher coverage amounts with a term policy compared to a final expense or guaranteed issue permanent life policy.
But, it requires a medical exam, so if youre not in the best health your rates are higher. Fred Hoffman, CoFounder of Seniors Life Insurance Finder, talked with Finder about term life insurance for people in their 60s.
Simply said, you only have one more chance in your 60s to acquire term life insurance. At this age, rates are still quite low, and you may still select a 10-year, 15-year, or 20-year term life insurance. But, this applies only when you are in a good shape. You may not be eligible for a term policy if you have an incurable illness or are not in excellent health.
Fred Hoffman, Senior Life Insurance Finder
Permanent life is best for seniors who need life-long coverage
A permanent policy lasts your entire life, and builds cash value over time. However, most permanent policies come with a higher monthly rate than term policies.
No-exam policies are best if you dont qualify for traditional insurance
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Life Insurance For Outstanding Debts
Even at an older age, you may not have paid off all outstanding debt in your life for example, a mortgage that you are close to finishing but still have some payments to make. If you were to pass away without life insurance, your dependents would be responsible for the remaining mortgage payments if they intend to keep your home. Instead, a life insurance death benefit can provide valuable coverage to pay off these outstanding obligations.
In this case, if you qualify, get a term life insurance policy that would cover the sum of your outstanding debts. The term policy would require you to take a medical exam, but you would be able to lock in cheaper premiums for the remainder of your life.
However, if you are sick, elderly or not in excellent health, a guaranteed whole life insurance policy would make the most sense. This type of life insurance has more expensive monthly premiums along with a typical maximum face value of $25,000 in coverage, but would be issued on a guaranteed basis. This means that you would not be denied coverage due to pre-existing illnesses, which can be a valuable policy feature for seniors.
How To Choose The Right Life Insurance Company
The best life insurance companies offer the type of policy you need at a price you can afford and meet the following criteria: An A or above rating from AM Best, few customer complaints, the policy features you want, and a manageable application process.
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Life Insurance Policies For Seniors
When selecting life insurance at any stage in life, it’s important to keep in mind the many factors involved, such as age, financial goals and overall health. If the insurance company considers you a higher risk based on health conditions and lifestyle factors, you could be rejected. So you should consider these variables when reviewing the policies available.
Over 60s Life Insurance
With people living longer* and many more people understanding the need for life insurance, over 60s life insurance may become an important choice.
There are a few milestone birthdays that may remind us of the need for life insurance, and a 60th is certainly high among them. But that doesnt mean to say that 60-year-olds are considered old. Given advances in medical science people are living longer and longer*.
While few providers offer specialist life insurance for people over 60s, most have an over 50s policy that may tempt you when you reach the big six-o.
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What Is The Best Life Insurance For Seniors
The best life insurance for seniors will often depend on the reason for life insurance. You are still able to secure term life insurance in your 60s and 70s. Your goal might simply be to provide income replacement in the short term before you retire.
However, your situation might be financially more complicated than that. You may need life insurance for estate planning. This is where permanent life insurance such as Whole Life or Guaranteed Universal Life insurance may be more appropriate. For example, a guaranteed universal life insurance to age 100 policy will provide coverage from now to age 100.
Can You Get Guaranteed Whole Life Insurance For Seniors
As you enter retirement, you may find yourself thinking more about the future of your family. Whether you already have a policy in place or youre shopping for your first plan, whole life insurance for seniors over 60 is available and can help give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your family will not be left with bills after you pass. While many plans do not grant the same coverage as the fully underwritten policies you can purchase when you are younger, they still offer significant benefits. The guarantees of life insurance are based solely on the claims-paying ability of the issuer. Guarantees remain in place as long as all premiums are paid.
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Pros And Cons Of Buying Life Insurance As A Senior
The pros to buying life insurance as a senior are similar to buying life insurance at other stages of life youll have peace of mind knowing your financial obligations are covered and your loved ones wont struggle financially in your absence. Seniors likely need less coverage than younger adults who are just starting their families. On the other hand, life insurance premiums increase every year we age at the time of application, so its increasingly more expensive to buy life insurance the older you get.