Allow me to blow right by all of the internet clutter of $12 a month for $500,000 of life insurance. There is no question that those are low rates even though they are enticing unknowing young clients with prices for 10 year term insurance, a completely inappropriate recommendation at younger ages. But almost without fail they are not the best rates available. But to be blunt, at that level of money you’re not taking too bad a whacking even if they won’t quote you the best rate.
Where it really comes into play is when you have health issues, when you are not just deciding how many millions to buy at $12 a month per $500k, but how much if any you can fit into your budget. When you are struggling with obesity life insurance is no longer like the proverbial shooting fish in a barrel. Most companies end their interest in your insurance when BMI sneaks over the line from overweight into obesity. While insurance can still be purchased through some of the better companies up to a BMI of 50, needless to say it’s a little ways away from $12 a month. This is where an agent that knows obesity underwriting and has the patience to work to mold something that works in your budget is imperative.
When we’re over 50 or in my sad case, over 60, life insurance is no longer $12 for anything. That’s the bad news. The good news is that by our ripe old age we have a better sense of what we need and how to budget. By now a lot of our insurable needs have actually gone away even though they still show up for their birthdays and holidays and when they need more money than they think they can get over the phone. And the advertising has shifted. Somehow we are no longer included in the focus of those companies that will offer young people $12 insurance, although that is still where our best prices will come from. With the bulk of life insurance being purchased on line through mega agencies like Selectquote, while they would certainly like to cash in on the premium that us elderly generate, they are keenly aware of the difference in effort and underwriting time it takes to deal with someone whose primary health concern isn’t pimples and birth control.
So we are thrown into the bucket list bucket and start being courted by ‘final expense” life insurance companies. Technically if you die all expenses are final expenses but in the life insurance industry final expense is code for overpriced, under guaranteed old people products. So why are we suddenly dropped off the bus going to the best possible rates we can qualify for and left at the bus stop for final expense? Because it’s easy. Someone did a study and decided that the words “no exam” and “instant” appealed to older people looking or life insurance. When you look at a fully underwritten life insurance process with an exam, it’s hard to figure out why there is such a lure to those aspects of the application process, but something about being over 50 and life insurance being easy is pleasing to the senses. But that is the way advertising works. You want young clients you throw out $12 to entice them even though if they buy the appropriate product it will cost more than that. If you want middle age clients you tell them it’s easy even though it isn’t really hard.
Kind of strayed a bit. So much depends on the agent and the company or companies they represent. Whether you’re older, overweight or have survived a brush with melanoma, having the right life insurance agent who knows how to seek out the right company is essential. By the way, with melanoma 1. Low stage 0 or 1. 2. Single instance with good followup and no recurrence. 3. A minimal history of moles with dysplastic nevi or basal or squamous cell carcinoma. 4. No family history of death due to melanoma. If you have questions about whether your declined life insurance was appropriate or whether your agent really knows how to find the lowest possible rate given your situation, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.
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