Life Expectancy

Life expectancy is the major factor influencing senior life insurance premiums. Life insurance company actuaries determine these factors and incorporate them into their policies. The U.S. government also produces information, including the following data which is based on actual death certificates.

If you were born in 1950, your life expectancy at birth was only 68 years. Compare this with someone born in 2004. His or her life expectancy is 78 years. If you were born in 1950 and live to age 65, your life expectancy increases to 79. Life expectancy varies by sex and race; the above numbers are averages over the entire population. For example, if you are a male born in 1950, your life expectancy at age 65 will be 78. If you are a female born in 1950, your life expectancy at age 65 will be 80.

If you are retired or planning to retire soon, you should consider the implications of this retirement planning article. We found it fascinating and decided to run some case studies of our own. The bottom line is that if you have a life insurance policy and live to the age of 70, your life insurance policy is a very valuable asset!

There are reasons for this senior life settlement market, but first let's run some numbers. Keep in mind that, due to life expectancy, the older you are when you acquire a life insurance policy, the higher your premium will be. So, if you have decided to acquire life insurance, purchase your policy right away to achieve the lowest premium.

For our case study, we will use a male in the best underwriting class acquiring a $250,000 permanent policy at age 70. His intention is to keep the policy until he dies, so that he can leave the gift of $250,000 to his children. The lowest premium for our case study happens to be from Genworth Life Insurance Company for $6,402 per year.

Let's calculate our case study's investment payout. If he lives to age 80, he will have invested $64,020 in his policy and his children will receive $250,000. His return on investment is $185,980. If he lives to age 90, his return will be $121,960 ($128,040 invested and his children will receive $250,000). In fact, unless he lives to age 109, our case study's children are guaranteed to receive a payout larger than he has invested. If you would like us to run your information through our computer and calculate your personal return on investment, just follow this link and complete the request form:

Senior Life Insurance