Life Insurance for 70 Year Old Man, Guide to Shopping

In this article we will look at what you need to know as a 70 year old man when shopping for life insurance.  The good news is that there are many options available to you. Having said that, there are some limitations on products that you can purchase at age 70 which we will explain in this article. 

The two most common types of life insurance products are term life and permanent (whole) life insurance.  The most common types of term life insurance are 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 year level term. The cost for coverage stays the same for the length of the term. At age 70, you actually cannot buy a 25 or 30 year term. Life insurance companies don’t offer it. However, if you are needing life insurance for more than 20 years you can certainly get it if you buy permanent insurance.

There are different types of permanent life insurance policies. Common types include whole life, universal life, indexed universal life, and guaranteed universal life (GUL).  For low cost permanent life insurance coverage we will usually recommend guaranteed universal life. Just like term life, as long as you continue to pay the premium your policy will stay in force.  

You can buy a guaranteed universal life (GUL) policy that will be guaranteed until you are 120 years old if you like. Some companies offer GUL policies with options to have the policy guaranteed to age 90, 95, 100, 105, and 110 as well. The longer your policy is guaranteed to stay in force for the more it will cost.

Sample Life Insurance Rates For A 70 Year Old Man

Below are some sample rates.

70 year old non smoking man in excellent health – $100,000 policy

10 year term – $86 monthly

15 year term – $120 monthly

20 year term – $205 monthly

GUL – guaranteed to age 110 – $275 monthly

70 year old non smoking man in average health – $100,000 policy

10 year term – $151 monthly

15 year term – $209 monthly

20 year term – $309 monthly

GUL – guaranteed to age 110 – $330 monthly

Should a 70 Year Old Man Buy Term or Permanent Life Insurance?  

The type of life insurance you should buy completely depends on why you need/want the coverage.  One product is not better than the other. It just comes down to which product is most appropriate for the reason you are wanting the coverage. 

Here’s an analogy.  Would it be better to drive a 16 wheel semi truck or is it better to drive a Family Sedan such as a Honda Accord?  Depends right?  

Are you moving across the country and need to bring all your furniture and everything else with you to your new home, or are you looking for a car for yourself and maybe your spouse to just get around day to day?  Neither one is better, but one is certainly more appropriate.

If your need for life insurance is temporary, then term life is the best option for you.  For instance, are you wanting to have your mortgage paid off if you were to pass away? Perhaps a 10 or 15 year term would be sufficient if either all or most of the mortgage will be paid down in 10 to 15 years.  If your need to have life insurance is truly temporary, then term life insurance is definitely the way to go.  

If your need for life insurance is not temporary, then permanent life insurance is the best solution. As an example, maybe you are wanting to create a legacy and pass money to your kids or grandkids when you pass away.  You wouldn’t want to buy a term life policy in this case. The simple reason is that nobody knows when they are going to pass away. Let’s say you bought a 20 year term policy. It would end when you’re 90. All the money that you paid for the life insurance would be gone if you outlive the policy.  Your money would have been wasted and your kids or grandkids would receive nothing. And at age 90 you can’t buy new life insurance.

Once you know the amount of life insurance you need, how long you it to last and the type that you need, the next step is to determine what insurance company to apply for coverage with.

Which Insurance Company Should You Apply For Coverage With?

Once again it depends. Every single life insurance company has different underwriting guidelines that they adhere to. For instance some insurance companies are more lenient when it comes to people that have had certain types of cancer. Others are more lenient when it comes to various heart issues. 

Other companies will give you a smoker rating even if you only smoke an occasional cigar where another company will approve you at non smoker rates.  In fact, with at least one company you could smoke cigars daily for example and they would still approve you for non smoker rates. Non smoker rates are a lot less than smoker rates.

Life insurance companies assess your health and lifestyle habits to make a determination as to whether they can approve your application for coverage.  If they can approve you they will approve you at a particular rate class. The rate class that you are approved for will determine how much you have to pay for coverage. 

These are the common rate classes that life insurance companies have:

Preferred Plus or Super Preferred (same thing, just a different name)

Preferred

Standard Plus

Standard

Table 1 to Table 8

Preferred plus is the best rate class you can be approved for.  If you are approved at preferred plus you will pay the lowest rate that the insurance company offers.  If approved at preferred you will have to pay the second best rates they offer and so on. For many companies a table 8 is the highest table rating they will approve somebody for.

A good experienced independent agent can help guide you in determining the best insurance company to submit your application to, and help ensure you get the coverage you need at the best rate possible.  

How Does The Application Process Work?

It all starts with the application.  With most insurance companies, we can do this by completing an application with you over the phone. Then we will email it to you for your electronic signature usually via docusign or alternative electronic signature process. You can sign the application on your computer or smartphone if you have one. There’s no paper that needs to be printed which makes it super easy.

The second step depends on what insurance company you are applying with, how much coverage, and the type of policy you are wanting.

If you are needing $40,000 or less of coverage you can purchase a whole life policy.  Typically, if you are approved you will be approved the same day. The insurance company will just review your application, and your prescription drug report to see which medications you have taken in the last several years. 

If you are needing from $50,000 to $150,000 you can get either a 10 or 15 year term policy with at least one company without having to do a medical exam.  They will review your application, check your prescription drug report as well as your DMV report. They will also consider other factors such as if you have any criminal history, bankruptcy’s, or participate in any dangerous sports.  Approval for coverage usually takes a week or less.  No medical exam life insurance can be nice for the convenience of not having to do an exam. The application process is much faster.

However, if you don’t mind the exam and you don’t mind waiting several weeks for your application to be approved then you may want to apply for coverage with a company that requires a medical exam. This is because you can get life insurance at much lower cost assuming of course that the results of your exam are good.

If you are wanting more than $150,000 of coverage, the insurance company will review everything mentioned above.  In addition, they will require a medical exam where an examiner comes to your house. The exam includes a blood draw and the collection of a urine sample. The exam typically takes about 20 to 25 minutes. Also, the insurance company will want to obtain your medical records. As a result this process takes much longer…typically takes about 4-8 weeks. It really depends on how long it takes for your doctor to release your medical records to the insurance company.  Some doctors move faster than others.  

What Should You Do Next?

Hopefully this article gave you a good idea as to what to expect when looking for life insurance.  If you have questions on anything and would like to discuss your life insurance needs, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We are here to help.

We specialize in helping seniors obtain affordable life insurance.  And we understand that life insurance can be confusing especially if you don’t deal with it all day every day like we do.  

Feel free to go ahead and run a quote here as well.

We look forward to an opportunity to help you obtain the coverage you are needing.