Late Life Insurance
Everyone knows that the average age of the population is getting older. People are living longer due to better living conditions, generally better diet (though perhaps not for much longer) and better health care. Accordingly, life insurance companies are looking at increasingly long term policies, with the potential for enormous payouts that have been steadily accumulated over the decades. In an ever-developing market they are also looking at capturing the older niche market, and developing products to cater for an aging population and their specific life insurance needs.
The policies that are generally offered to senior applicants tend to have a low to moderate face value, and they tend to be whole life insurance policies, there is not much point, after all, having a temporary life insurance policy when you are moving into your later years.
As these policies carry a certain amount of risk with them, they sometimes carry caveats, such as the implication that the policy must be used to pay for the expenses that occur at the end of someone’s life. This, however, is based on relatively difficult legal grounding and the money from the policy therefore can be spent on just about everything.
As with any other insurance, in any demographic there is more than one type of insurance, usually carrying more than one type of name. Another policy tailored for the senior market, though available at any age, is known as Pre-paid insurance. This type of insurance is specifically designed to cover certain expenses when the insured person dies. It tends to involve a pre-signed agreement for a funded funeral arrangement with a specific funeral home and the money that is in the policy is then partially put forwards to pay for the expenses. The outstanding money, as with most life insurance, then goes to the beneficiary of the policy.
It is not uncommon for these policies to be assigned to trust funds rather than held by the individual themselves. As a whole life policy always has a cash value component, and often a loan provision, it can be considered an asset, therefore assigning the policy to a trust fund means that it can no longer be considered an asset for that individual, and this carries certain taxation and other benefit advantages.
Life insurance policies aimed for senior citizens can have very different premiums to those tailored for younger people and there are a number of different ways of making sure the money in the policy goes as far as possible. As with shopping for any other type of insurance, it’s worth getting several quotes before you commit to a policy.
Try some established providers, such as Legal & General, for a competitive quote on life insurance.
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