Life Insurance Quotes for over 60s

Life insurance, at this point, can benefit not only you, but your family most especially. Just think what great a burden can be taken from their shoulders when you have all the payment for the final expenses taken care of. By this, you will be able to help them adjust smoothly. Moreover, when you have life insurance at 60, you can also use this to leave something behind not only for your kids, but for your grandchildren as well.

How much will over 60 life insurance cost?

At 60 years of age, your insurance premiums will be more, than say – a 30 year old, but it is not that far out of reach. Not to mention a real necessity.

The table below shows prices for people aged 60 for a range of products reviewed by Rice Warner Actuaries. Quotes are based on annual premiums for non-smoking chartered accountants with $1,000,000 of life cover. You may feel that your current financial obligations would only required a portion of this level of cover.

(Copyright Rice Warner, 2008, Data last updated 01/01/2014)

• Health and Lifestyle. Two factors that will affect your premiums, no matter how old you are, and they are your health and your lifestyle. If you are smoker and have some health condition, it could also incur higher charges. However, this should not stop you from getting life insurance. There are still a lot policies which have competitive life insurance premiums for those who smoke and have health conditions.
• Gender. Gender also plays an important role in how much you will pay for cover. A 60-year old woman will pay one-third less in premiums than a 60-year old man. So if a 60-year old, healthy, non-smoking man and woman get a 10-year term life insurance policy worth $100,000, the man will have to pay $676 every year in premiums while the woman will only have to pay $449 every year (based on a rough calculation).
• Comparing different options can save you thousands. Shopping for life insurance can be tedious, but you can do it online. Enter your personal information – and obtain an online quote in minutes. You can also gain comparisons from several different companies, and add and eliminate benefits and options you might not want, or need.
• Find out what cover you need. If you don't have any life insurance in place, it can be difficult to know where to start, particularly with the many policies available on the Australian market. Before you start to compare policies you should understand the difference between direct and underwritten life insurance policies, as premiums can vary greatly.

Factors that affect how much life insurance for people over 60 will cost

There are many different aspects to life policies that can make them seemingly expensive if you don’t shop around and compare the best rates. To understand why this might be the case, there are a number of things related to the status of your life and health largely determine the premiums that you need to know, such as:

Level Premiums

These premium payments are calculated on an average over the life of your policy, making the payments stable and relatively unaffected. They seem to be higher at the beginning of your policy, when compared to stepped, however, they even out over the long term. The level premiums are predictable, and easy to budget around with no surprises. Even though they require a higher up-front payment, for the long term, they can save you money over the life of the policy.

Stepped Premiums

Stepped premiums are payments that start out low, based on your age, and when re-evaluated annually increases the premium as you age. This is a good option for younger people because the payments remain low at the onset and increase as you age. The stepped premiums are better for a short-term life insurance policy because near the end of the policy the premiums can get quite expensive.

Some other important things to keep in mind when looking for high levels of life insurance include:

• Life insurance and income protection insurance are two completely different types of insurance. Life insurance is meant to pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries should you die whilst the cover remains effective. Income protection insurance actually pays you while you are still alive but unable to attend work because of illness or injury. Although you remain alive you still need to earn an income while incapacitated otherwise your family would suffer the same financial fate as if you had died. For this reason they are both very important and valuable documents that will make hard times that much easier financially.
• The amount of premium you pay for either of these insurances will depend on your age and the amount of cover you require. It is often argued that the least amount of cover you need for adequate life insurance cover is five times your annual salary. This means that the amount your beneficiaries receive in the lump sum payment they receive on your death should be able to be invested and return a regular amount near what you were previously earning. For instance if you were earning a salary of $100,000 a year you will need to take a minimum $500,000 cover.
• If you have an independent income stream such as that coming from a business you are involved in you may take another approach. You can take out sufficient insurance to clear all your debts such as your mortgage, credit cards and any personal loans you may have. For instance, if you have a mortgage of $300,000, personal loans of $150,000 and credit card and funeral costs to cover, you will still require a life insurance cover of around $500,000.
• Your income protection insurance will return you up to 75% of your average annual salary in a monthly payment while you are unable to earn an income because of illness or injury. You will be able to choose when you want these benefits to start as well as how long you want them to be paid. Your decision, along with your age will determine the amount of premium you will be asked to pay.

Both level and stepped premiums are good options, but of course it depends on each individual situation. It is important to carefully assess your current financial situation and choose the most appropriate premium style that you afford, in the short or long run. Should you be wishing to have cover over the long term, level premiums will the more affordable option.

Just remember that when you have already found the life insurance policy you need, be sure that you understand the limitations of the policy before you affix your signature on the dotted line. If there are some parts that are not clear to you, ask for clarifications so you know what and what not to expect from your life insurance policy.

Life insurance maximum entry ages

Is it possible to get life insurance for over 60 with no medical?

All life insurance companies require applicants to declare any pre-existing medical conditions prior to taking out cover. Failure to do so may lead to the policy being rejected at claim time.

With the likelihood of conditions increasing in later years, most insurers will require applicants over 60 to submit a medical exam regardless of whether or not they declare they have a pre-existing condition. This is to account for the additional risk that they present to the insurer. If the applicant has a pre-existing condition, the insurer will generally either:

• Automatically cover the condition
• Cover the condition but apply a premium loading
• Adjust the policy so that any claim related to the condition is not covered
• Choose not to cover the applicant

If you have struggled in the past to find life insurance due to a pre-existing condition, you may wish to consider cover options that require very little or no medical underwriting whatsoever. These include:

• Funeral insurance
• Accident only life insurance