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Buying Life Insurance in Your 50s

Researcher & Writer
November 26, 2019

This article is intended to provide those who are in their 50s with the know how they’ll need to fortify their family and legacy with the absolute best life insurance coverage available in the marketplace!

As someone in their 50s, you might also be interested in how life insurance can benefit your estate plan or simply trying to provide for your family's basic needs.

Therefore, whether you currently have life insurance coverage in place and are simply considering purchasing some additional coverage, or you're just beginning to look for your first life insurance policy, the information you’ll find below will certainly provide you with what you’ll need to know so that you’ll be sure to get the right type of life insurance coverage---because the time to buy life insurance coverage in your 50s is now!

6 Reasons Why Buying Life Insurance In Your 50s is so Important

 1. Price

Of all factors dealing with the price of life insurance the most crucial factor is age. And unfortunately, once you hit your 50’s the price for your life insurance is going to increase dramatically from year to year. The good news is, if you are relatively healthy, a million dollar life insurance policy is still within reach.

And for the primary breadwinner of the household and/or for a business owner, getting life insurance now can be a huge cost savings. What better way to save on life insurance than by buying it today while you are still relatively young and healthy?

For example, it’s not uncommon for a 55 year old in perfect health to have to pay nearly 50% more for their insurance than a 50 year old would! This same age difference during you’re 40’s would only result in a 33% price increase.

So you can see that for every year that you wait to purchase your life insurance in your 50s, regardless of your health, you’re going to be paying more!

2. You're Not Getting Any Younger!

Now they say that 50 is the new 30, and for many of us it’s true, but let’s also be realistic.  Most 30 year olds aren’t necessarily going to be worried about the cholesterol count, and most 30 year olds probably haven’t had a serious discussion with their doctor about getting a prostate exam… RIGHT?!

Which means that even though you as an applicant looking to purchase life insurance in your 50's may not be worried about having:
- High blood pressure,
- High cholesterol,
- Elevated blood sugars, (see diabetic life insurance)
- Etc, etc…

Your agent who knows that little things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and elevated blood sugars, could have some serious effects on your life insurance application and should be trying to determine which life insurance company is going to give you the best chances for success!

3. Knowledge is Everything!

For many people, it’s not until they reach 50 that they really begin to understand the importance of life insurance. During one’s 50s is usually when one has:
- Matured in their career,
- Is facing the realities of just how much it cost to put a child through college,
-Has taken on a mortgage or two, and
-Will usually have acquired some serious debt.

We’ve also probably begun to have friends and family who are beginning to show signs of their age!  You may have even noticed that you find yourself paying more and more attention to some of those “non-stop”, prescription medication commercials!

Now the good news is that with age, also comes wisdom. For example, just think about how much $100,000 seemed like when you were young.  Now think for a moment, how long would $100,000 last for your family if you died today?

And if you died tomorrow, how much would your family need to get by? Or better yet, thrive?

Would you need to:

  • Replace an income?
  • Pay off a mortgage?
  • Cover school tuition?
  • Or just take care of medical bills/final expenses?

Typically, these are easier questions to answer for someone in their 50’s then they are for someone much younger that may not own a home, have a family or have developed a career. Regardless of the reason you are looking for life insurance in your 50s, choices are the key to finding the lowest priced policy.

4. Choices, Choices, and more Choices!

When it comes time to purchase life insurance during your 50s its nice to know that you’ll have choices. In fact what many people don’t realize is that, as you age, many of the very popular term life insurance options, specifically no medical exam term life insurance, will disappear. This is why it’s important to not only to have an idea of how much insurance you need today, but also what you’ll need in 10, 20, or 30 years from today.

The real answer to this question will always be, it depends. The factors that determine which company you should choose include:

Chances are, if you find yourself speaking with a life insurance agent that doesn’t ask you these types of questions, you’re either:

  • Not going to get an accurate quote. Which unfortunately happens all the time especially if the agent that you’re working with has certain sales quotas he or she must meet each month… AKA, call center agents.
  • Or, it might also be the case that your agent is what is call a “Captive Agent” meaning that they can only write life insurance policies with one or two companies. If this is the case, knowing all the answers to these questions up front may not make a big difference because they only have one or two options to begin with!

5. Conversion Option—What Does that Mean?

Another great thing about buying life insurance in your 50's, prior to being diagnosed with any serious medical conditions, is the “Conversion Option”!

Now while not something that most people consider when initially looking for a life insurance policy for their family, purchasing a term life insurance policy with a conversion option should be something that everyone should take seriously.

Fortunately, nearly every life insurance policy that we offer here at TermLife2Go has an option to convert a term life insurance policy to a permanent policy before the policy ends or by age 70. So if you choose to go the cheaper route and buy term life insurance, you can always convert the policy to a permanent policy and keep the coverage for the rest of your life. However, you convert the insurance at the rate class you originally qualified at.

What that means is that if you are 65 years old and have cancer but originally qualified at a preferred plus rate class, you will be able to convert your policy at a preferred plus rate class despite the fact that you have cancer. That means you are essentially buying life insurance now as a protection that you can choose to utilize down the road if necessary. At the same time you are paying lower premiums for term than you would for whole life insurance. That is a great way to save on life insurance in your 50s!

6. Accelerated Death Benefit

The majority of the companies we review offer an accelerated death benefit. What that means for you is this: if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and given 12 months or less to live, you can take up to 50% of your life insurance death benefit. That means if you have $500,000 of life insurance, you can take a check for $250,000 to pay for final expenses, burial plans, or simply a trip around the world---your choice!

What it means for your loved ones is you have the ability to prepare them for life without you.

After all…

Who wouldn’t want to purchase a 100 million dollar term or whole life insurance policy on ourselves so that our loved ones will be forever taken care of should we pass away too soon, but when it comes down to choosing a place to live over an excessive life insurance policy, well it’s pretty obvious what most people are going to choose!

Visit our Life Insurance Quotes page to get started.

But what happens if you get sick but don’t die?

Would your family’s financial future still be protected?  Probably not.  This is why we like to encourage folks to also take a look at some of our other articles that discuss other “types” of insurance policies as well so that regardless of what happens in the future, your family will be well prepared:

Written by
TermLife2Go
We are a team of life insurance experts with the simple mission of helping you find the best coverage for your unique situation. We research, review, and rank life insurance companies to make that process easier.