Do I Need Affordable Life Insurance in Retirement?

Yes, you do as Death comes carrying an invoice.

Here on the Kapiti Coast there is a high population of retired people. Very active, enjoying the sun, sea, beaches and everything that life in Kapiti brings. Outside the office in Paraparaumu it’s always busy with ‘boomers’ enjoying the shops and cafés. So why do they need affordable life insurance in their retirement with mortgage paid, kids independent, pension and savings to live on and a house to downsize? Why should you act now to have a life insurance policy in retirement?

Simply put, death and terminal illness are expensive, regardless what age the reaper arrives he will come carrying a scythe in one hand and an invoice in the other. What expenses will Life Insurance cover, isn’t it just for a funeral? Well let’s see …

Wait … Before we start, the cover can be linked to inflation to protect its worth, so when I discuss costs in today’s prices there is no need to compensate for inflation.

1 – There will be that funeral to pay for

Currently, we are not allowed to ‘just chuck you on the scrap heap’, no matter how much you say that you don’t care. The funeral is for the ones you leave behind anyway. The coffin and a nice service currently costs around $15,000. If you want any special requests you’ll need to take that into account too.

2- Gather the Clan

I’m sure you like to spend your last days with your family. Death is rarely sudden and you may have children or grandchildren to see one last time. Money being available for their travel could make this possible. A family of 4 coming from the UK can cost $10,000 or $2,000 from Australia.

3 – Keep the Estate Running

If you are single it could be essential the family has money to keep the estate going until settlement without being out of pocket with lawyer fees, insurance, rates, estate agent fees, power bills, car costs, etc. It would be sensible to have 12 months of expenses, this could mount up to tens of thousands of dollars.

4- Survivor Support

If you are in a relationship, the survivor will need money for some of these on going expenses too. How much is your plan going to cost? Will there be estate agent fees, lawyer costs, are there any debts to be paid? It’s a difficult amount to gauge and it could be thousands of unexpected dollars.

5- What’s Left On The Bucket List?

People are vital well into their retirement and a terminal illness claim would allow a few more ticks on the bucket list. You want to stay in a top hotel, take a cruise, go parachuting, the list is endless, as is the price tag. It would be great to have the money without having to dip into savings.

6- Terminal Illness Can Be Expensive

In the event of Terminal illness and palliative at home care there could be a need for nurses, unfunded medications, as well as domestic help of all and any kind. These costs can mount quickly and if they come from savings, a survivor could be left in a poor financial state. Extra money would be very useful at this time.

7- Leave a little something

Do you want to leave a little extra? The survivor may get everything but do you want to leave something extra? A gift for the grand-kids, a memorial bench in your favourite spot, an endowment to a cherished cause, a donation to the SPCA? How much would you leave?

It All Adds Up

Is $100,000 of Life Insurance enough for all these eventualities? Perhaps not, you can apply for more if you need to.

If you are worried about the increasing cost of the premium heading into retirement, don’t. We can fix the price now making life insurance affordable into retirement. The chart below shows the difference in premium for a male fixing the price at age 39.

Over the life of the policy it would save about $69,500. Not that many would keep a policy costing $243 a month after retiring, however $0.83 a day is affordable, even on a pension.

It really is a no brainer to protect your estate to the age of 80 for such a small fee. The earlier a policy is leveled the cheaper it will be.

Get in touch today to find out how much cover you need and how to level your Life insurance.