Age 69 - Life Insurance Recommendations

Turning 70

September 23, 2011

4:07 PM

Age 69, Age 70, Burial insurance, Conversion, Estate Planning, Final expenses, guaranteed universal life, In your 70's, Seniors, Term Life Insurance, Whole Life

About to turn 70? Just turned 70? 70 is a very good milestone to finalize life insurance planning.

Current policy owners

Term policy holders: Health not what it used to be? Many term policies allow conversion to permanent to age 70, and the definition of age 70 usually is nearest attained age, meaning up to age 70 1/2. There is no health evaluation for conversion. Any agent can help on conversion. Please contact me for details.

Permanent policy holders: is it really permanent? Do not assume your coverage will last a lifetime. Most permanent policies sold over the last 30 years are universal life (UL), not whole life. UL’s are tricky depending on their structure and cash value. A great many will lapse for insufficient cash value. Conduct a policy review to evaluate how long your policy is projected to last. Request an in force illustration from your carrier. It may be a better deal to replace your current coverage by transferring the cash value into a new plan that has lifetime guarantees. Regardless, keep in mind cash value can be used to offset your premium payments. This may be an appropriate strategy depending on the amount of cash value, and is often the best way to wind down the policy for those in failing health.

New coverage Available at most health levels. You’d be surprised.

The best is called guaranteed universal life. Premiums and coverage are locked in for life, to age 121, with a lapse protection guarantee. Click here for age 70 quotes for $25,000 to $5,000,000 in coverage, or refer the right hand side of my website for quotes.

Final Expenses (Burial Insurance) $3,000 to $25,000

Guaranteed universal life. There are also small whole life plans.

Estate Planning $25,000 to $5,000,000

Guaranteed Universal Life. Companies are very competitive and willing to write coverage for people in their 70’s.

Term life insurance is not a good choice. Term is less expensive because you will probably outlive it. If you need term life insurance, to pay off a debt or other obligations, I strongly recommend Genworth’s Term UL, because it automatically converts over to Universal life insurance to age 105 at a fixed rate.

Image source: Wikipedia Commons

Couple considers life insurance as estate plan for children

by Sean Drummey

June 6, 2011

3:56 PM

Leave a comment on Couple considers life insurance as estate plan for children

Age 69, Age 70, In your 60's, In your 70's, Survivorship Life Insurance, Survivorship Universal Life

A couple nearly 70 years old and in good health asked a newspaper financial columnist if it was too good to be true that a $200,000 life insurance policy could provide an $800,000 tax free benefit for their children.

Well, $800,000 sounds like a bit of a stretch, especially if you want to play it safe with a guaranteed policy. Hovever, the general concept is valid.

They are talking here about a survivorship universal life policy, called a SUL or second-to-die. And they’re probably talking about the $200,000 as a single pay, one single lump sum payment with no further premiums. The columnist gave a fairly good answer, and warned about guaranteed and non guaranteed elements. Well, that’s a traditional SUL, and to get anywhere near $800k with a $200k single pay, you’d have to look at a SUL.

There is also Guaranteed SUL, of G-SUL. The benefit won’t be as high, but it’s guaranteed to age 120, so you don’t have to worry about the policy’s performance or outliving your policy.

Here’s what a Guaranteed SUL looks life for someone in “good” health. Two rate classes, preferred and Non-Smoker Plus, with Prudential are health rates that mean good. Prudential is generally the strongest carrier right now for G-SUL, but you would have to compare rate given the couple’s health factors.

Continue reading “Couple considers life insurance as estate plan for children” →

Permanent life insurance more suitable for seniors than term

by Sean Drummey

June 6, 2011

12:50 PM

Leave a comment on Permanent life insurance more suitable for seniors than term

Age 60, Age 61, Age 62, Age 63, Age 65, Age 66, Age 67, Age 68, Age 69, Age 70, Age 71, Age 72, In your 70's, In your 80's, Product

Over the last few days, I compared life insurance websites for seniors in ages 60 through age 72 by Google searching life insurance and adding an age, “life insurance age 68” for example. It’s misleading for those in their 60’s and 70’s to see at the top of Google’s list websites with term life insurance given such prominence. Term is not usually the right product for seniors. The primary purposes of term are to replace lost income or settle an outstanding debt like a mortgage. Sure if you have less than 10 years to go on a mortgage, term life insurance might make sense. I would surmise term gets promoted and sold simple because it’s less expensive. But if one buys term in your 60’s or 70’s, chances are you will outlive your term, and then you’ve paid all that premium for nothing. Even if you take the best term out there, Genworth, and have the option to convert to a fixed rate universal life, you have to pay higher premiums as your age goes up.

For the majority of people in their 60’s and 70’s permanent life insurance is the most suitable coverage. If at all healthy, guaranteed universal life insurance is the best. Coverage starts at a $25,000 benefit amount, and premiums are affordable. North American has an excellent G-UL right now. There are also small whole life policies, called simplified issue because there is only a short questionnaire and no blood term. Coverage starts at a $2,000 a $3,000 benefit amount. Either choice is better than term because it’s fixed rate coverage for life.