The Finance Blogger

We wanted to call this Baby boomer life assurance, but it turns out this is not something people search for. They are looking for over 50’s life assurance which roughly amounts to the same thing. We are going to focus on the baby boomers. We need to ask ourselves whether they really need to have life insurance or not.

In our previous post, “Do I need life insurance”, we listed some of the reasons why the average person may need to have life insurance. These same questions apply to people over 50. Also to baby boomers who are slightly older as a rule. The answers may be quite different since the 50’s are those transition years. This is when the children have finished school and are supporting themselves and unfortunately our parents have passed away.

Over 50’s Life Assurance

For example your only dependent may be your spouse, there are no education requirements and your mortgage is fully paid up. The only thing  you really need to be concerned about is making sure that your spouse has enough money to live comfortably after you are gone.

• How many dependents do you have
• How long will you need to support those dependents
• What about education requirements
• How much debt do you have
• What income level will remain from pensions, savings etc
• What will your burial costs be
• How long will your dependents live e.g. your spouse
• Will your estate owe substantial taxes
• How quickly will your assets be turned over to your dependents

Life Assurance for over 50 or over 60?

At 50 years of age, you probably still have kids in school since people had their children later in life as a rule and so they are dependents for a longer period of time. We all are living longer on average and we need to make sure that we have support for a spouse for a longer period of time. But once you reach 60 years of age, there are many changes in your lifestyle on average. We listed a few that will have an impact on your life assurance decision:

• You may be retired
• You and your spouse have a retirement income
• Your kids are now self-sufficient
• Hopefully you have few debts and have a mortgage free home, car etc
• Your dependents really only consist of yourself and your spouse

Do You Need Life Assurance

Depending on your answers to these statement, you may no longer need to have a lot of life assurance coverage whether you are 50 or 60 years of age.  The life assurance companies would like to sell you some of their products, but why do you really need to carry life insurance at this age when you have no dependents, you have sufficient savings and you have little debt.

The only thing you really need to be prepared for from an estate perspective is :

• Sufficient funds for your burial
• Enough funds for any debts that you may have
• Sufficient funds to support your surviving spouse

Other than that any proceeds from a life assurance package you purchase is just going to the estate and your heirs.

Support for Your Spouse

There is one huge item that we have yet to discuss. Canadians will know that their medical bills are taken care of by the government. They may have to pay for time in a nursing home and these costs can add up to large amounts. American on the other hand who do not have some form of medical coverage could find themselves with huge medical bills which could make life very difficult for a surviving spouse. this is were having both health insurance and life insurance may be something to consider.

If you want to make sure that your spouse gets some assistance in paying the medical bills and nursing home care, then life insurance to cover these kinds of bills is definitely worth while.

We would like to hear your comments on this issue and your thoughts about life assurance over 50 and whether you feel it is needed or not. Even the experts are welcome, since this question is very much of interest to millions of people who are over 50 or even in the class of people considered baby boomers!

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