Senior Products are Available Oct 23 '03 (Updated Jan 01 '04)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line Leave your loved ones something more lasting than an insurance check. One insurance agents opinion ;o) But most are too expensive; If you are shopping for life insurance after age 60 you've probably already discovered that most products whether they be Term or Whole Life are very expensive usually costing more than the benefit if you live to be 80 plus. I truly don't recommend purchasing Life Insurance at this age unless there is a real need. No I don't mean your gonna die soon so lets buy some life insurance need. Life insurance isn't gonna extend your life it's primary purpose is to protect those people you leave behind from financial hardship. If you do not have any dependents then the only other purpose for buying life insurance then would be to take care of final expenses. There are many companies today that offer this type of insurance to senior citizens. In fact they are specializing in Senior Products, beware of these, if you are in good health you may find standard Whole Life products cheeper than some senior term plans. If however you are in poor health and just want to cover final expenses finding affordable life insurance can be difficult but not impossible. Just be careful that you read your policy carefully or have some trusted advisor read it for you. Some of the policies I have seen are what is called a Graded Term Policy. It works like this; Example of a Graded Term Policy Say the face value is say $10,000.00 If you die in the first year it pays the beneficiary 25% of the face value or $2,500.00 If you die in the second year it pays the beneficiary 50% of the face value or $5,000.00 The third year is of course 75% or $7,500.00 The forth and all subsequent years your beneficiaries will get the full face value or $10,000.00. If you survive ten years your premiums will increase slightly depending on how old you were when you took out the policy this increase is usually $5.00 to $20.00 per year per thousand. Wow that's hard to understand so let me give a more practical example of how the increase is figured. If you have a $10.000.00 policy and your premium goes up $5.00 per $1000.00 that's 5 time 10 or $50.00 per year. Divided over 12 months the increase would work out to $4.17 a month. This is not too bad a deal usually the monthly premiums will be able to fit in the budget. This product may be the way to go it is usually a guaranteed issue unless you are in hospice care or are not expected to live for at least one year. On the other hand if you are going to live a long time this could get expensive. Due to advances in the medical field even with certain health risks many people are living longer. The average life expectancy is mid 80's and will probably increase over the next 20 years. So if you are 60 now and would pay $40.00/year or more for each $1000.00 of life insurance you could spend more on the coverage than your beneficiaries would receive. 1000/40 = 25 years if you are 60 now and live to be 85 then you will have spent as much for the policy as what it pays. The worst part is you have to keep paying to get even some of the money returned. If the policy lapses you lose it all. My Advice Age 60 is a little late to start planning your legacy, but not too late. The best thing you can leave your loved ones are good memories and sound financial advice, "Learn to save your money and stay away from easy credit." The bottom line if your just looking for something to take care of funeral expenses and haven't got enough cash to take care of it should you you die tomorrow then take out a small policy and match the funds in a separate interest bearing account. If you live ten years drop the policy and use the cash you saved for final expenses. If you pass before then, the policy will cover you and your beneficiaries will get your inheritance. If you are already financially stable then don't be concerned about it just set aside some funds and designate that for your funeral expenses. Remember: Having this taken care of will be a blessing to your loved ones when the time comes.

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