Best Life insurance for seniors — Good life insurance rates, reliable policy illustration,s and low policy expenses are all important for senior life insurance buyers.
To find the best senior life insurance, we evaluated companies based on their term life insurance rates and the quality of their cash life insurance products.
The Best Life Insurance for Seniors of 2023
Here are our top picks for the best senior life insurance policies:
- Penn Mutual
- Protective
- Equitable
- Pacific Life
- Transamerica
- Midland National
Penn Mutual
Penn Mutual can deliver quality life insurance at low costs for seniors for both term life and cash-value life insurance policies.
For older buyers of cash-value life insurance, Penn Mutual offers a great combination of financial strength, competitive internal policy costs, and reliable policy illustrations. For seniors, these qualities help maximize your death benefit for the premium you’re paying.
Pros and Cons
- Very competitive rates for seniors for term life insurance, but for its non-convertible policy.
- Many of Penn Mutual’s cash value policies are cost-competitive, so you can buy a higher death benefit for the money you’re paying.
- Penn Mutual has a good track record of strong financial strength, and the company’s investments have performed very well. This helps hold down costs for customers.
Cons
- Maximum issue age of 70 for its non-convertible term life insurance.
- Not all Penn Mutual permanent life insurance policies build cash value well early on, but this may not be important to senior buyers who are looking primarily for a death benefit to be paid out to beneficiaries.
Protective
Senior buyers of term life insurance will appreciate Protective’s low term life insurance rates.
Cash value life insurance buyers should consider Protective if they’re looking for low costs and reliable policy illustrations. The historical performance of Protective’s investments is also top-notch, which helps keep policy costs low.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Protective’s Classic Choice term life insurance rates for seniors are very competitive.
- You can renew Protective’s Classic Choice policy up to age 95 after your level term period ends.
- Protective’s cash value life insurance policies for seniors generally have low internal costs. This means more money can go toward your cash value and less for paying a company’s policy expenses.
- The company’s investments have performed very well over the years. This is a factor that has likely helped keep premiums and charges low.
Cons
Cash value accumulation during the early years of a policy may be slow. If faster cash value is important to you, make sure you examine the guaranteed parts of the policy illustration to see how fast your cash value will build.
Equitable
It’s hard to find a life insurance company with more reliable policy illustrations than Equitable. The company also offers low costs for many older ages and risk classes.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Good term life insurance rates for older buyers
- Equitable has a great track record for reliable policy illustrations for its cash-value products. This can give you some peace of mind that you’re less likely to have to pay additional premiums to keep your policy in force and that your cash value is less likely to tank unexpectedly (depending on your fund selection). This reliability also helps reduce the chances that you’ll be hit with higher internal costs down the road.
- The company’s internal policy costs on its cash value policies are generally low. This means more money toward your cash value and less to policy expenses.
Cons
The company’s financial strength ratings haven’t always been as high as its top competitors.
Pacific Life
Senior buyers of term life insurance should consider Pacific Life’s PL Promise Term policy because of its rates. This policy had the lowest average term life rates for 70-year-old buyers among the companies we analyzed.
Older buyers of cash value life insurance will appreciate Pacific Life’s solid investment performance, both of which help deliver lower premiums over time.
Pros and cons
- Superior rates for term life insurance for seniors
- You can renew Pacific Life’s PL Promise Term policy up to age 95 after your level term period ends.
- Policy illustrations for Pacific Life’s cash value policies tend to be reliable, so you’ll have a good projection of cash value gains over time.
Cons
The cost competitiveness of its cash value policies for seniors is OK, but some competitors deliver lower policy costs. Make sure you look at internal charges in the policy illustration.
Transamerica
Senior life insurance buyers who want term life should get quotes from Transamerica, as it offers great rates among the companies in our analysis.
Cash value life insurance buyers will appreciate Transamerica’s reliable policy illustrations. It earned top marks in this category.
Pros and cons
- Great term life insurance rates for older buyers
- You can renew Transamerica’s Trendsetter Super term life policy until age 100 if your level term period has ended.
- Customers can convert the Trendsetter Super term life policy to permanent life insurance up to age 75.
- Generally very reliable policy illustrations for cash value life insurance policyholders
Cons
- The company’s investments haven’t always performed very well, especially compared to top competitors. This can affect the premiums you’ll have to pay over time if you have a cash-value life insurance policy. The policy expenses passed on to customers have been higher for Transamerica customers compared to some top competitors. If you’re buying cash-value life insurance, make sure to check your policy illustration for the predicted internal costs and compare it to other companies.
Midland National
Midland National’s Premier Term policy deserves consideration for its ample living benefits. Term life insurance policyholders can get an accelerated death benefit after a diagnosis of a terminal illness, chronic illness, or critical illness.
Senior buyers of cash value life insurance should also take a look at Midland because of its low costs in its permanent life insurance products at older ages.
Pros and cons
- Ability to take money from your death benefit in cases of terminal illness, chronic illness, or critical illness with the Premier Term policy
- Very cost-competitive for older ages for cash value policies
- Pretty good reliability of its policy illustrations for cash value life insurance products
Cons
Term life insurance rates for older buyers are only so-so. You’ll want to price shop if you’re buying term life.
Types of Life Insurance Sold
- Term life
- Indexed universal life
- Variable universal life
- Life insurance riders available
- Children’s Insurance
- Waiver of Premium for Disability
Midland National Quick Facts
Year established: 1906
Headquarters: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
How to buy: Midland National’s life insurance policies can be purchased from independent financial professionals.
