The main purpose of a life insurance policy is to provide your partner or family with a lump sum of cash upon your death. More and more people are considering taking out a policy in later life to help cover the costs of funeral arrangements or just to leave a lump sum for a partner.
When you take out an over 60 life insurance policy you will be committing to pay monthly premiums in order to receive a sum assured at the end of the life of the policy. Generally you will need to pay 2 years worth of premiums before a valid claim can be made, this is generally a clause in all life insurance policies. The only exclusion from this is accidental death where the policy will pay out under the 2 year limit.
Many of us want to be able to plan for our future and making provisions for our family after our death is just one way we can soften the blow of the inevitable. As with many types of insurance the lower the risk to the insurer the lower the cost of the premiums to you. The older you are the more you will likely have to pay in premiums to result in the same sum assured at the end of the cover.
So what about your health, how is a policy affected by certain health conditions? You will have to declare any pre-existing conditions that you have, failure to do so could result in your insurer not paying out. Although many insurers do not require you to take a medical you do need to notify them of any changes in your health or condition. Check carefully on any policy you are considering for exclusions, reasons for non-payment in the event of a claim.
Check the type of policy that you are buying, in the UK there are usually two types of policy, fixed term life insurance policy and whole life cover. The difference between the two are that the fixed term covers a fixed period of time where as the whole of life policy covers you for all of your life.
