Spend an afternoon in front of the TV and you’ll get your fill of life insurance plans aimed at the over 50’s. Some offer incredible incentives such as a nice pen or a clock! Top financial tip – if you want a nice pen or a clock go on Amazon and buy one – don’t be blinded by prospect of these free gifts.
It won’t surprise you to learn that you need to be over 50 to get an over 50’s life insurance policy but what will surprise you is that you don’t really need an over 50’s life insurance policy. Why? Well, it all depends on your circumstances and what you want the money to do when you die. The theory behind these types of policies is that the older we get the less financial dependents we have – which is true. So if you don’t have any financial dependents then you don’t really need over 50’s life insurance. However, what we all should consider is how much money do we need to pay such unavoidable costs as a funeral, solicitor fees and other such death associated costs. This is where over 50’s life insurance products come in.
In theory, you can have more than one over 50’s life cover plan. However, ask yourself why do want more than one, are you a free gift junkie?
The main benefit of taking out an over 50’s life insurance is that, like the daytime, adverts say, “acceptance is guaranteed” as most insurers will accept you regardless of your medical history and without any medical tests. Other benefits are the premiums are fixed for the duration of the policy, the policy can be written into trust (ask us about this) and some insurers will continue to insure for free should you live past a certain age.
Inflation can take its toll overtime on the pay-out. If we think about it 30 years ago the average house price was around £60,000 – today the average house price is a staggering £250,000. So when considering how much you want to leave when you’re 80 then think about the impact inflation has.
Another downside of over 50’s life cover is paying in more than you need. In other words, you should examine the amount you pay in and what you intend that money for. If you are young – in your 50’s – and it is just to cover funeral expenses, then consider looking at savings products as on average you’ll probably live for another 30 years or so. Also, unlike savings, there is no cash-in value for these types of policies.
