Best Life Insurance For 50 Year Old

The best life insurance for you to buy when you are 50 years old depends on the reason you are wanting to buy life insurance.  Let’s face it, life insurance is not something somebody typically buys unless they need it for some reason. I know you don’t want to think about it, but if you were to die tonight who would be the beneficiary, and what would they need to use the money for specifically?

Perhaps you have minor children, and you need life insurance that will stay in force until they are at least old enough to financially support themselves.  Perhaps at least until they graduate from college. In this case a shorter term policy such as a 10, 15, or 20 year term policy depending on the age of your kids would be sufficient.

Perhaps you own a business and need life insurance to fund a buy sell agreement or key person insurance policy.  Maybe you need to have a policy that you can collaterally assign all or a portion of for a business loan. Chances are you will only need life insurance that will stay in force for as long as you need to based on the terms of the loan.

Perhaps you got divorced, and per the terms of the divorce agreement there is a requirement that you obtain life insurance on yourself.

Perhaps you need life insurance that will be there at least until you retire to protect your spouse in case you aren’t alive and able to earn an income.  Then once you retire you may not need life insurance. Let’s say you plan to retire at 65 or 70…or maybe your the type that never really wants to retire, but you will at least be financially independent enough to the point that if you were to pass away, your spouse would still be ok.  Perhaps by that time you will have enough savings or other assets that your family could live on. Chances are a 15 or 20 year term would be the best product for you to get.  

These are just a few examples of why may need to buy life insurance.  Now let’s look at the options. The two major types are term life and permanent (whole) life.

Term Life Insurance Options for a 50 year old

The most common term life options include 10,15, 20, and 30 year level term.  Level term means that the premium stays level (meaning doesn’t change) for the length of the term.

The most affordable policy is a 10 year term because it covers you for the shortest period of time.  The longer your term policy covers you for the more it costs.  

Sample term life insurance rates for a 50 year old

50 year old non smoking man in great health – $500,000

10 year term – $42 monthly

15 year term – $56 monthly

20 year term – $72 monthly

30 year term – $128 monthly

50 year old non smoking man in average health – $500,000

10 year term – $83 monthly

15 year term – $106 monthly

20 year term – $134 monthly

30 year term – $245 monthly

50 year old non smoking woman in great health – $500,000

10 year term – $34 monthly

15 year term – $41 monthly

20 year term – $54 monthly

30 year term – $94 monthly

50 year old non smoking woman in average health – $500,000

10 year term – $62 monthly

15 year term – $80 monthly

20 year term – $99 monthly

30 year term – $178 monthly

Again, the longer the term covers you for the more it costs.  Make sure you buy just what you need. There’s no need for you to buy a 20 year term if all you need is a 10 year term.  Save the money.  

On the other hand, if you need coverage for 20 years don’t buy a 10 year term policy thinking that in 10 years you will just get another 10 year term policy.  If you truly can only afford the 10 year policy then certainly buy that. Otherwise don’t do it. It’s a risk you don’t want to take. Let us explain.

Let’s say you are a super healthy 50 year old woman and you need $500,000 of coverage for the next 20 years.  Let’s presume you would qualify for the best rates an insurance company offers. If you buy the 20 year term it will cost you $54 per month.  If instead you opt for the 10 year policy you’ll only pay $34 per month. Yes, you will save $18 per month, but you may end up really regretting it later on.

Let’s say you buy the 10 year term for $34 now and in 10 years from now you buy another 10 year term policy.  Presuming that rates stay exactly the same, which is highly unlikely (because they change from time), the cost of another 10 year policy 10 years from now would be $73 per month – and this assumes you could still qualify for the very best rates the insurance company offers.

If you bought the 20 year term policy you would have paid $54 per month for 20 years.  Total cost to you would be $12,960 over the course of 20 years.

If you bought the 10 year term policy and then a second 10 year term policy as described above the total cost to you over the course of 20 years is $12,840.

The total cost is almost identical.  However, if 10 years from now you could only qualify for average rates based on rates today it would cost you $132 per month.  That would mean that over the course of the same 20 year period the total cost of coverage would be $19,920.  

This is a big difference, but it’s not nearly as bad as it could be.  It’s also possible you could be approved at rates even worse than average for the second 10 years.  And in the worst case scenario you may not even be able to qualify for coverage. As healthy as you might be today, you never know how your health could change in the future. None of us do. And of course your health will directly affect your ability to obtain affordable life insurance coverage.

It’s really not worth trying to save a few dollars when you are talking about a life insurance policy that could mean the difference between whether or not your family is going to be financially ok or not.

Permanent Life (Whole Life) Insurance Options For A 50 Year Old

You may need coverage beyond 30 years.  If you are 50 years old and you buy a 30 year term policy you will be 80 years old at that time.  If you feel there will still be a need for you to have coverage for more than 30 years that’s when you will want to consider buying permanent life insurance instead.

Often times people will say Whole Life when they are referring to permanent life insurance.  In fact, whole life is just one type of permanent life insurance policy. Other common types include universal life, indexed life, and guaranteed universal life or GUL for short.

There are only two ways that anyone should buy permanent life insurance.  

One way is to pay the most you can into the policy with the least amount of death benefit possible.  I know this might sound strange if your not familiar with the concept. You’re thinking why would I ever want to do that?  Well, certain permanent policies can be designed to grow cash within the policy. To do it optimally you would want to pay the maximum that you are allowed to into the policy.  The policy would build cash value that grows without you having to pay taxes on the growth. Also, if you do it correctly, there are ways that you can access the money without having to pay income taxes.  These can be great plans for the right person in the right situation. Typically if you are over 55 or 60 these plans don’t make a lot of sense because the internal cost of insurance is too high. However, if you are under 55 years old it might be something to consider.

The most common way to buy permanent life insurance is to pay the least amount that you have to pay for the policy for the amount of the death benefit that you are needing.  This is pretty much just like term life insurance. However, this is for coverage that can last your entire life no matter how long you live. For low cost permanent life insurance we recommend guaranteed universal life (GUL).  A GUL can be set up to provide coverage until you are 121 years old.  

Many companies have GUL products that will allow you to pick the length of the guarantee.  You can buy a GUL that provides coverage until age 90, 95, 100, 105, 110 or any age in between.  Maybe you want coverage until you are 93 for whatever reason. You can do that.  

If you are 50 years old and buy a GUL that is guaranteed until you are 110 years old that would be kind of like buying a 60 year term policy.  Let us be clear though. GUL is not a term life policy. However, as long as you pay the required premium, your policy is guaranteed to stay in force until you are 110.  

Let’s look at some sample rates.

Sample rates for Guaranteed Universal Life (GUL) For a 50 year Old

50 year old non smoking man in great health – $500,000

To age 90 –   $368 monthly

To age 95 –   $386 monthly

To age 100 – $400 monthly

To age 105 – $410 monthly

To age 110 – $421 monthly

To age 121 – $471 monthly

50 year old non smoking man in average health – $500,000

To age 90 –   $485 monthly

To age 95 –   $505 monthly

To age 100 – $520 monthly

To age 105 – $532 monthly

To age 110 – $543 monthly

To age 121 – $594 monthly

50 year old non smoking woman in great health – $500,000

To age 90 –   $306 monthly 

To age 95 –   $322 monthly

To age 100 – $338 monthly

To age 105 – $343 monthly

To age 110 – $335 monthly

To age 121 – $410 monthly

50 year old non smoking woman in average health – $500,000

To age 90 –   $401 monthly

To age 95 –   $418 monthly

To age 100 – $431 monthly

To age 105 – $443 monthly

To age 110 – $456 monthly

To age 121 – $521 monthly

What’s The Next Step

Once you know the amount of coverage you need and for how long you need the coverage for the next step is to determine the best carrier to apply to.  Since every insurance company has different underwriting guidelines it’s important to make sure your application is submitted with the company that will look at your application most favorably.  

We can help you with all of these things.  Call us today. Chances are after reading this you have questions.  That’s what we are here for. We specialize in helping people over 50 secure the best life insurance coverage that is available for them.  

Also, if you’d like to run a free over 50 life insurance quote you can do that by clicking here.