Senior Life Insurance
Until fairly recently the insurance market for seniors was extremely limited. Most of the large insurers failed to offer people over the age of 65 the same range of insurance products as they offered to younger clients. Thankfully this has now changed and when it comes to life insurance seniors have as many options as the rest of the population.
Two types of insurance life senior policies are much more common than the rest. This isn’t to say that there aren’t other options available though and a thorough search of the insurance market is always worth while.
Guaranteed Acceptance Policies
This type of senior life insurance is by far the most popular in the US. As the name suggests, acceptance is guaranteed and in the vast majority of cases a medical examination is not required. In fact most insurance companies don’t even ask you to fill in a health questionnaire or provide a family medical history.
This type of policy is generally available to people aged 50-80 although some states have a cut off age of 75. The monthly premiums you pay are fixed for the entirety of the policy and the amount you pay will determine the level of coverage/death benefit you receive. Most guaranteed acceptance policies have a 2 year clause though which states the following:
- If you die from accidental death in the first two years then your family/beneficiary will receive the full payout amount.
- If you die from any other cause within the first two years then a partial payout will be made depending on the amount of coverage initially purchased.
- If you die after the first two years of the policy then the full death benefit is paid, regardless of the cause of death.
This will obviously differ between individual policies but even so, it is a point to consider when choosing senior life insurance.
Single Payment Policies
This second popular type of life insurance for seniors involves making one large, single payment on the policy. This can be anything from $15,000 up to $1,000,000+ depending on how much wealth you have accumulated during your lifetime.
The amount you pay can easily double or even treble in value in a relatively short period of time, the total amount of which is then paid out after your death. When structured professionally, this type of senior life insurance can be paid to your beneficiaries as a tax free amount. It can also be free from estate tax.
As mentioned above there are other types of life insurance for seniors available on the market today. Those people looking for a policy should research all of the options open to them, just to make sure they get the best possible policy for their individual circumstances.