Re-examine life insurance policies of elder clients
March 25, 2021
Statistics prove that more and more centenarians are being celebrated each year. What does that mean for life insurance? Well, it might mean that you should sit down with clients nearing this celebratory milestone, especially if their life insurance policy was issued before 2004.¹ Fifteen years ago, a vast majority of permanent life insurance policies were written to mature at age 95 or 100 rather than today’s standard of age 121.
Now is a great time to review your clients’ policies to ensure they won’t have any headaches from their life insurance policies when they should be focused on blowing out birthday candles. (If you don’t have clients who fit this profile or if you haven’t been selling life insurance that long, now is a great time to review the policies of your longest-standing clients, too.)
If you do have clients in their 90s whose policies are set to mature at age 95 or 100, here is a quick plan of action to ensure they continue to be covered.
- Research your clients’ needs. If you have notes about the reasons behind the purchase of their current policies, review those to get a better understanding of their long-term goals. If a client's certificate includes provisions for paid-up additions, this can also be an excellent foot in the door to discuss other life insurance needs, like estate planning and life insurance for children or grandchildren.
- Set up a meeting with each of your clients this might impact. Explain their plan along with changes designed to the majority of policies written within the past decade. Ask about their current financial situation and any changes to their financial goals (making reference to their past goals will show your client how much you value them).
- Re-evaluate the best plan for them. It might be helpful to compare a new policy with their current policy to let them see the differences. They might discover that an entirely new plan or additional coverage would best serve them.
- Consider all the pros and cons. Before you issue a new policy, make sure you and your client take all aspects into consideration like the current state of their health along with the repercussions of surrender changes.
By taking these proactive approaches to help your clients, you are showing them how valuable they are to you. This personal approach could mean referrals down the road.
¹ Williams, P. (2016, October). To age 100—and beyond! Life insurance for a lifetime. InsuranceNewsNet Magazine, pp. 42-43.