Life insurance is not appreciated as much as any other cover and it is common to see most people’s life uncovered. That’s because, life insurance was previously considered as a waste of money and it took decades to create awareness as much as today. Even then, most of them have no clue on what an insurance policy mean or the different types available, or even which suits them. It will not suffice if one has insurance policy because one should consider pre-and post death needs before signing up a policy.
For a person who needs insurance and cannot offered permanent life insurance due to high premium rates, can take up term policy. But, permanent life insurance policy will help a long way even if no death occurs.
In my opinion, people who have decided on taking up an insurance policy in later stage, after 45 years of life should go for permanent life insurance policy, specifically whole life policy. This is important because, an old person might require some amount of locked up (cash value locked as liquid asset) in case of an emergency. Though term life policy is inexpensive, whole life is a better choice.
All term life insurance policies come with a specific time frame within which if death occurs, sum assured will be paid up to the nominee. But, in case no death or permanent disability (where the policyholder losses capacity to earn money) occurs, not a single penny is paid. If the term of the policy has not been signed up for a longer tenure, one has to renew and often premiums increase and sometimes based on age, medical tests may be required to confirm insurability. Precisely, if a person falls ill or develops a disease it might be difficult to renew or premium might become unaffordable. One more drawback is that, term insurance policies can be renewed only till the insured reaches 75 years of age. In case of permanent life insurance, whole life is covered and in most cases, the insured can renew till 85 years of age and the invested amounts can be maintained in force till death.
Benefits for senior citizens:
- Savings to last in old age.
- In case of death of the insured, it will provide income to the spouse or any other beneficiary.
- Additional income line after retirement
- The cash value build-up can be used as liquid reserve and used during emergencies.