How To Get Life Insurance Policy For Seniors Over 75

Life insurance plays a different role in every stage of life. Younger adults who purchase life insurance typically have dependents in mind who would need continued financial support in the event that something happened to them. Later in life, seniors may look into Life Insurance Policy For Seniors Over 75 for an entirely different set of reasons, which include covering funeral expenses and outstanding debt, such as potential medical bills from a terminal illness. A funeral can cost anywhere from $5,000 (with cremation) to over $9,000 (with burial); life insurance is a good way to ensure that this financial burden doesn’t fall on surviving family members.

Can you get life insurance if you are 75 years old?

While you must be 75 or younger to sign up, coverage can extend until age 90 depending on which policy term you choose. Term life insurance policies get more expensive as the applicant grows older, so it’s hard to find an affordable policy for seniors over 65.

Should a 75 year old buy life insurance?

While term life insurance is the most common life insurance on the market today, it is not the best option for seniors over the age of 75. When you obtain the term life insurance policy at 75 years old, you will inevitably pay a premium that will increase dramatically over the next 10 years.

Why Do Seniors Over 75 Need Life Insurance?

Life insurance may seem valueless if you don’t do in-depth research. For your financial state, you must have life insurance. The day to day living expense is increasing too fast.

American family expenses are around $7000 per month on average. This means there is a lot of financial pressure on an average American to make ends meet and give a quality life to their loved ones.

Can you imagine what will happen to your family after your death? As a responsible person, you must do something for your family’s financial security. Although it is late, you should have life insurance.

Here are some of the reasons that cause people over 75 years of age to invest in life insurance policies:

1: Rising Funeral and Burial Expenses: Besides funeral expenses, the burial expense is also increasing too rapidly. Nowadays, hardly a burial package is available at less than $10,000. People always want to stay financially independent because they don’t want to become a burden to the family.

Especially when it comes to senior citizens, the feeling of being a “burden” to their own children is very common. They spend their lives playing the role of being a “provider” in the family, which they want to sustain for their whole life.

Buying life insurance policy helps them in retaining their pride even after their death. Burial and funeral expenses get covered in the life insurance scheme.

2: Paying Off the Debts: There may be some pending mortgage or other debts that must be paid! Elderly people have a keen desire to arrange for everything so that their family can pay easily for them. The debts can be in various forms, such as pending medical bills, piled up home rent, monthly loan installments, etc.

For a senior citizen, the sources of income get limited too. Life insurance over 75 is helpful in this case because it will save your family from the burden of paying the debts.

Also, you will play the role of a significant contributing member of the society that will help you in living a confident and contented life.

3: Sharing Gifts and Love: As people grow in age, they want to share their experiences and love with the younger generation. Their desire to give gifts to their younger children mostly gets suppressed due to a lack of funds and fear of the future.

If you own a life insurance policy, you feel secure for the future. This will help you in keeping aside a relevant sum of money for buying gifts for your children from time to time.

Also, you can always put aside a crucial part of your insurance lump sum to be given away to charity or cause after your death.

4: Securing the Future of Their Life Partner or Other Dependents: It is one of the crucial most reasons for senior citizens to buy a life insurance policy. They want to get life insurance to secure the future of their dependent loved ones after their own death.

The post-death benefits from the life insurance policy claim help the dependent survivors to lead a life of comfort and self-reliance.

Now since we have discussed the need for senior citizens to have a life insurance policy, let us discuss what options are available for seniors over 75 in the life insurance field.

Life Insurance Options for Seniors Over 75

It is crucial to understand the various available insurance options for you when you reach such an age.

In this part, you will learn of multiple life covers you can go for with details of how they work, benefits, obligations, and why you should consider each of them.

1: Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is a type of cover that is designed to cover you for a specific period of time hence the name term.

As a result, the cover is only active within that specified time. Term policies work by allowing you to get death benefits in case you die within the term indicated in the policy.

In cases where you die past the agreed time, then you do not get any benefits from the protection.

Taking a term life insurance policy is not a case any different from all others in terms of requirements. Any insurance company will require you to meet standard requirements.

Several factors will also be considered when offering you the cover. Such things will include health, age, lifestyle, among others. However, term life insurance is the cheapest when compared to other cases.

For seniors over 75 years old, many insurance companies will allow you to take a term life cover of around 20 years.

At this age, you do not see yourself being alive past 20 years, and then it is an excellent option to work with. You will leave your dependents with some benefits.

Pros

  • More affordable than other types of insurance policies.
  • You do not have to pay premiums for the rest of your life.
  • Suitable for people who do not have a long time to live.
  • Low premiums.

Cons

  • No benefit in case you die outside the specified time.

2: Whole Life Insurance

As the name suggests, it is a type of life insurance that will work for the rest of your life.

How whole life insurance works

When you take the policy, you attain protection for the rest of your life until you die. However, one condition is that you must be paying your premiums throughout to keep the policy active.

Whole life insurance is a good option in many circumstances. If you think you may live longer than you can predict even at over 75 years old, then this is the best option to go for. You are sure that you will get the death benefit irrespective of when you die.

Whole life cover, unlike term life insurance, you will be required to pay the premiums continuously for the rest of your life. As a result, this makes it more expensive as compared to other options such as term life cover.

Whenever you intend to take a full life cover, you have to consider several factors to make sure that it will work for you.  The first and most crucial thing is that you have to evaluate your ability to pay the premiums for the rest of your life.

For a senior above age 75, it may not be the most appropriate option unless you have huge financial obligations that you would like to take care of when you die. If you are having lots of debts, it is an excellent choice to make to help you settle the debts when you are gone.

Pros

  • There are death benefits.
  • Whole life insurance comes with a cash value you can utilize.

Cons

  • You must be prepared to pay premiums for the rest of your life.

3: Modified Whole Life Insurance

Many people end up confusing whole life insurance with a modified whole life insurance policy. However, here is what you need to know about the modified whole life insurance policy and how it works.

Modified whole life cover is almost the same as a whole life insurance cover in several ways. It works by offering life protection for the rest of life.

However, as the name suggests, it comes with modified terms of the agreement. In many cases, there are modified premiums.

For modified whole life protection, you will find out that you can pay low premiums at the beginning of the policy, and they can increase with time.

Many companies will allow you to discuss with them how you want to pay your premiums based on your abilities.

However, in many cases, you will be able to pay low premiums during the first 5 or 10 years, and they will start increasing after that period.

 For modified whole life protection, the benefits you get are after your death as long as you have been paying your premiums. The only difference you find between a whole life cover and a modified one is being able to alter the premiums.

Pros

  • Ability to modify premiums.
  • You can pay low premiums during the first few years.
  • It covers the rest of your life.

Cons

  • You are required to pay premiums for the rest of your life.
  • Premiums increase later in life.

Before you buy

When deciding what type of life insurance to buy, first consider your financial goals and how much cash you’ll need to accomplish them. For example, a term life policy could cover mortgage payments or other outstanding debts that would become the responsibility of others when you die. If your goal is to pay for funeral expenses, you might consider a small whole life policy or pre-need insurance, as the death benefit pays out regardless of when you die. Or maybe you want to leave a sizable inheritance to your loved ones with a guaranteed universal life policy.

Before buying a policy:

  1. Shop around and compare monthly premiums and death benefit coverage to ensure you’re getting the best policy for your budget and financial goals.
  2. Work with a fee-only financial advisor to make sure you are getting the best policy for your situation, especially if you plan to purchase life insurance with an investment component.
  3. Before you buy any policy, be sure to read the fine print carefully to note important details, such as which causes of death aren’t covered and what will happen if you can’t pay premiums.

Determining if you need a rider

Riders are options that can be added to a life insurance policy, typically for an extra cost. Riders vary by company and policy, but include:

  • Accelerated death benefit, where a portion of the death benefit amount is paid out early if you’re diagnosed with certain health conditions and need medical care or nursing home care.
  • Long-term care riders, which cover the cost of an in-home care provider or nursing home.
  • Child riders, which provide smaller death benefits for young children or grandchildren of the policyholder, should they die during the policy period.

How To Get Life Insurance Policy For Seniors Over 75

So, finally, it is your time to take the decision. It is too late to purchase life insurance, but you can do it now.

If you would have bought life insurance when you were 30 or 40, you would get a much better policy. No more thinking, request for free quotes right now as many as you can.

1: Take Quotes and Compare: The best way is to collect information from all the relevant sources around you and do the homework. You can sit back and decide which insurance policy suits best to your needs and pockets.

Being a senior citizen, you have to make sure that you save enough for your medical bills and other redundant expenses as the sources of income get limited at this age. If that is not the criterion with you, go ahead and buy a policy with maximum benefits.

2: Use the Internet to Your Aid: The Internet has become a great medium for imparting useful information in any dimension. You can sit back at home and search through various insurance company websites.

It will give you wholesome information with a transparent approach to each and every policy and pertaining clauses.

Seek help from the forums on various sites that solve the queries of people about insurance policies. These forums are really helpful in finding meaningful answers as people with personal experiences in the same field answer them for you.

3: Give a Call to the Insurance Agent: Once you have finalized 2-3 options for buying an insurance policy, give a call to a local insurance agent.

Insurance agents are the representative of the companies to help the customers in purchasing insurance policies. You can take personal consultation and seek their help in doing the documentation work on your behalf.

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