All Life Insurance Tips - what term life insurance policy should I get for a 60 yr old man?

what term life insurance policy should I get for a 60 yr old man?

My father is 60, smoker and taking Zocor. Normal weight. The quotes I have seen for a 10 yr term for $150,000 are $180 a month. Does that seem right? Anyone know a cheaper one? Basically I inherit the house while my relative gets the cash, so it's all fair. I would make the payments and leave my relative as the beneficiary. Thanks the reason I have to get the life ins is because he is leaving me the swanky $400K California home. Meanwhile I have to give my sister $150K in cash to make it even (per my father). Since I don't have that kind of cash (I'm 35) I need life ins now in case he passes away this decade. My father wants me to take out a 2nd mtg upon his death, but I told him that would add $700 monthly to the existing mortgage payment for 30 years (I pay that too) so I'd rather pay $200 for 15 years now. Oh and he's on board. He knows I would have to sell the house to pay off my sister, so this is the only way to have the cash. All good answers! I will probably get a 15 year term and worry about what I'll do if he lives to be 75. in the history of may family 1 male lived past 70. that's why I think if I insure him till 75 I'l be fine. The L.A. house is worth $400K but we owe $80K. I'll have no problem paying the mtg and bills, since I do it now. However if he died tomorrow, and I owed my sis $150K, I'd be screwed and have to sell. All the answers are taking into account that he'll live past 75 and I should save the money instead, but I'm worried about him getting by a bus tomorrow and me having to sell the house. I don;t want the cash, I want to keep the house. I graduated high school from that house :)

Public Comments

That's about right, but why would you want insurance on your father at his age since you don't depend on his income for support? You can't get Level Term past age 70, and he could live 20-30 more years. You would be better served to put that money into a mutual fund every month. Also, the insurance company is going to go over that application with a fine tooth comb at the time of death if within the ten years. They are very, very good at finding health or lifestyle issues which were not disclosed, and thus they deny the payout.
Why does he need life insurance? The most common reason to purchase life insurance to protect the income stream for surviving beneficiaries. If nobody is dependent upon your father's income, it doesn't make much sense to purchase life insurance.
Consider a 20 year term, or a policy that lets you renew at the current rate. Your father could well live to be 100, but if he keeps smoking, the odds are that he will not make it to 80. His chances of living until 70 are fairly good, If you have to renew in 10 years, the rate will be higher. Insurance policies are designed to spread risk, yours as well as the insurance company's. The rates are set so that if your father lives a "normal" lifespan, the insurance company comes out ahead. You might consider that the insurance company may want your father to take a physical for a $150K policy. Make sure your father is on board for this, it could be an ugly suprise to find you are planning on his demise. If you deposit $180 dollars every month into a bank account earning 1.5%, in 20 years it will be worth $50K. No physical required, and it does not depend on whether your dad lives or dies. Grandpa
I can think of few reasons for a person of this age to have term coverage. Most scenarios requiring life insurance for someone in or near retirement call for the policy to be in force upon death, nor matter how far away that might be. This being the case, permanent coverage is the only option. ADDED: Your added information confirms my comments. If the insurance lapses before your father's death, your whole situation unravels. You MUST have permanent coverage; term is not an option.
Zocor should only be taken by someone whose cholesterol is high enough that smoking could cause a fatal heart attack. If his cholesterol is that high and he smokes, then it would be stupid for an insurance company to offer him a policy, at any price. More importantly, if his cholesterol is that high, you should get him to quit smoking, wait a year, and then buy a much less expensive nonsmoker policy.
with a cholesterol history, likely anything that is related to it will be excluded. and if he is not the sole bread winner, then it does not really make sense to buy life insurance. it should be channelled to some mutual funds instead and ensure that he has a good hospitalisation and surgery coverage though anything related to cholesterol will also likely be excluded. if he already has such coverage, please make sure that the policy continues.
A one year term would be cheaper - but the price is only guaranteed for one year. If you're looking for insurance for a 60 year old, at the same price as a 30 year old, it doesn't exist.
It's your father who needs to make any insurance decision since his concurrence will be required.
Answer to your question is yes and no. The problem with life insurance is the quotes are meaningless to an extent since they are predicated on the health of the insured and. I am a life agent and I ran your dad for 10 yr term a select smoker the cost is $1,573.50 a year and if he is rated at the lowest rating- smoker it is $2,834.50. The thing with term is find the cheapest priced insurer, since you cannot know the health class. So if you are getting a quote from the best priced insurer, odds are you wont over spend. We sourced Ohio National they have the lowest or the near lowest cost for term. It is who we sell. The next thought is why you are buying the coverage? If you can predict that your Dad will die before the 10 yrs are up, odds are the insurer will not take him. So you could spend based on the cheapest quote above $15,735 for something that likely will not pay off. Even as a smoker he will likely make it past 70. My recommendation is look at 15 yr and 20 yr. I found 15 yr again select smoker $2,282.50 a yr. Also you want the term insurance that has the best convertibility options. Meaning if you Dad became gravely ill in the 9th year you want to convert the policy to universal life or whole life which can be cheaper than what the premium would be in the 11th year of the 10 yr term policy. Hope this helps William D. Dyer www.hcpnational.com
Dear Me, WAIT--you say that you're paying for your father's existing 30-year mortgage? How long have you been doing that? Has your father taken your expenses for the home into consideration? Are you also paying for the property taxes, the gas/electric, the maintenance and the gardener? Are you keeping records of all your expenses? ...and how much money is still owed to the mortgage company for this $400,000 home? How much has been paid off? ...and what makes you so sure that the home is worth $400K on today's market? Given the market crash, it might have dropped in value. It's worth looking into, although depending on when it was assessed it may have gone up in value. A risk. Look at the other houses in the neighborhood. What are they selling for? Are there homes in foreclosure in your neighborhood now? I know that CA is one of the states with the highest foreclosure rates, depending on where you are. My family went through something similar when my father-in-law died. He had 4 children and wanted the money to be divided equally among them. The youngest brother, however, wanted to own the father's home which meant he had to buy out the other siblings (I'm sure that that's what you're talking about here). The other siblings asked the real estate assessor to 'lowball' the property value as much as possible, which I think the assessor did as much as he could, although they have their reputations to think of--but I think my father-in-law's property dropped further in value, because this was right around the crash time when things were up in the air and the market just plain froze up. So, all in all, it's possible that the house would have sold for LESS if it had been put on the market--meaning that the younger brother may have paid more for it than an outsider would have. It was a unique home, so we'll never know the answer to that.... But personally, if I were you I'd forget about this life insurance thing and just start saving hard if you want the house. HOWEVER, are you sure you can afford living there anyway, with the taxes and maintenance, etc.? No matter how much you love the home, is it worth the risk of losing it because you couldn't really afford a $400,000 home in the first place? Another thought--if it's a big house, then you might be able to rent a room to someone to help bring in income for it. I know lots of people who have done this. Just some ideas, but I'd like to hear more details about your situation.
You might be better off investing and trying to improve your dad's health. Get his to stop smoking and that would improve his chances of living. Good Luck.