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As your senior clients get ready for their retirement, are you making sure that they’re fully educated and aware of all of their possible options when it comes to building their retirement plan? It’s not simply enough to account their 401(k)s and IRAs and their Social Security compensation. In reality, many seniors build their plans without having a complete knowledge of their suite of options and available opportunities. When it comes to their life insurance policies, there’s a lot to consider.
For Married Retirees: Planning Individually
Because life insurance is meant to replace income for any dependents of the policy holder, it makes sense for married retirees to maintain life insurance policies in the event that one spouse passes away. However, you’d do well to create both joint and individual retirement budget plans to see if both spouses could maintain their lifestyles on their own. Consider each spouse’s pension plans and whether they would transfer over to the other if they would pass away. If they are able to maintain their lifestyles, life insurance isn’t going to be necessary, especially when you consider keeping the policy alive and making premium payments.
Adult Children Should Not Depend on Senior Insurance Benefits
What many seniors worry about when planning their retirement is how they’ll be able to provide and care for their family. This is often why senior retirees choose to maintain their life insurance policies in order to leave something behind for their children and/or grandchildren. Life insurance is meant to replace the income of the policy holder for those who are dependent on them when they pass away. Unless your senior clients have a unique situation in which their children are absolutely dependent on them and their income, they should not be held accountable for their adult children’s financial well-being. If their assets—like home and car—are paid off and their children are adults, they should re-evaluate their life insurance needs.
Sell an Unwanted or Unneeded Policy
If you and your clients have deemed any life insurance policies are unwanted or unnecessary, they may qualify to sell them to a second party buyer through a life settlement. Life settlements enable policy holders to relinquish the responsibility of keeping the policy alive while providing a larger buyout amount of money than the policy’s surrender value. In many cases, life settlements help seniors pad their available retirement funds. Some retirees may choose to sell a policy in order to make their financial situation easier.
Contact us today for more information about life settlements and how they work. You can also visit our Qualification Calculator to see if your client(s) qualify for a life settlement!
