Getting Life Insurance After You Turn 65

Getting Life Insurance After You Turn 65

With age comes wisdom, and probably a lot of the financial stability that you have longed for throughout your life. Still, getting older means facing the fact that eventually the inevitable will happen. Naturally, you want to make sure that when you do pass away, that you can leave a strong financial legacy to your family. One way to ensure their continued comfort is with life insurance.

Still, getting life insurance later in life, particularly at the age of 65, can come with its hurdles. Age, health and other factors might limit your ability to qualify for or enroll in coverage. Still, it is completely possible to get adequate coverage, despite the extra steps you might have to take.

Age and Life Insurance Risks

All insurers want to know their risk of insuring individual customers. After all, their job is to pay customers money when they file a claim. The insurer wants to gauge the likelihood of that happening. Therefore, both your eligibility for and premium on any given insurance policy is going to vary based on the risk profile the insurer develops.

Usually, older people represent higher risks to insurance companies, for relatively straightforward reasons. Life insurance pays out when you die. Therefore, if you are older or have more significant health issues, then you are certainly more likely to die than someone 30 years younger.

As a result, as your age increases, life insurers will begin to view you as more of a risk. At this time, they might charge you more for your coverage, and many will even decline to insure you due to your advanced age. Nevertheless, older and retired individuals can still qualify for coverage. It just might take some extra work.

Finding the Right Coverage

Most older individuals, especially those who are retired or past the age of 65, can still benefit from life insurance. Therefore, it is almost never too late to consider buying a policy. Older people can usually qualify for both whole- and term-life policies, though there will often be limitations on the precise coverage they can get.

For example, some term-life policies have cut-off dates at age 75. A 65-year-old might therefore only qualify for a 10-year policy. Other policies might have medical exam requirements for enrollees, and an older individual with health conditions might not pass the test. Still, there are no-exam policies available.

Getting the right coverage will take coordination with your insurance agent. They can discuss your coverage options, help you choose benefits, and ultimately assist you in developing a tidy policy that will leave a neat sum to the survivors you love.