Retirement Reasons for Updating Your Life Insurance At 55+

As you approach or begin retirement, there is much to look forward to for you and your spouse. The easing of stressful work, relaxation time, and enjoyment of things long put off may come to mind. Insuring replacement income for children, their education, and upbringing are gone. And life expectancy statistics put many years ahead of you to enjoy.

But, unfortunately, these statistics also imply that some will die early, with a probability that increases faster after age 55. If so, will a premature and unexpected death of you or your spouse leave the other financially strapped for rest of her (or his) life?

Beyond insuring for you and your spouse’s legacy to your children and final estate costs, there are five reasons to update your life insurance now to ensure your spouse the relaxing retirement that you are in the processes of creating. You may consider more life insurance…

  1. To cover an adult child that is now evidently having a hard time in life. This may be due to a mental or physical disability or a short coming that has appeared in his adult life.
  2. To cover the Social Security blackout period for your spouse. Social Security pays nothing from when the youngest child leaves high school until the surviving spouse applies for benefits based on the deceased spouse’s record (minimum age for eligibility is 60). You anticipated qualifying for a certain amount of social security benefits as part of your retirement income, but there will be no help during this “blackout period.”
  3. To offset the reduced benefits that you anticipated from Social Security and saving plans. As the main breadwinner with some high income years still left, you plan to contribute heavily to your qualified retirement plans. These years may also boost your social security benefits. Your early death will preclude that extra retirement income that you thought these savings and social security benefits would produce.
  4. To meet your commitments that relied on two incomes. Perhaps both spouses work in your family. You may have committed to mortgages, loans, or other obligations that depended on both your incomes. You need to ensure that at least the deceased spouse’s income is replaced to allow the surviving spouse to maintain those commitments.
  5. To create an emergency fund to handle both the first spouse’s death expenses and other unforeseen expenses that may come up in subsequent years.

Insuring for these needs will not only allow the surviving spouse to enjoy at least the income and asset benefits you anticipated for both of you, but also not undermine the legacy that you both wanted to leave to your children and charity.