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The more useful question is not simply how much over 50 life insurance costs. You need to compare how much you will pay each month with how much the policy will eventually pay to your family.
With this type of cover, you will often choose how much you are comfortable paying each month and the insurer will calculate how much life cover that premium can provide. Your age has a major effect on the amount you receive. Some insurers also take your smoking status into account.
Minimum premiums for over 50s policies from major UK insurers are often around £5 a month, although some start lower or higher. Aviva, for example, currently allows customers to choose premiums between £5 and £100 a month. Legal and General also advertises premiums starting from £5, depending on age and smoking status.
How much is over 50 life insurance per month?
A monthly budget of £10, £20, £30 or more can potentially be used to buy over 50s life insurance.
The amount you choose to pay affects the amount of cover you receive.
For example, paying £30 a month would normally provide a larger cash payout than paying £10 a month if everything else about the applicant and policy were the same.
There is no universal amount of cover that £20 a month will buy because insurers calculate their policies differently.
Your age when the policy starts is particularly important.
A 52 year old and a 72 year old paying the same monthly premium are unlikely to receive the same amount of cover. The younger person would normally receive the larger payout because the insurer expects premiums to be paid for longer before a claim is made.
MoneyHelper confirms that the older you are when taking out an over 50s policy, the higher the monthly premium is likely to be for the same payout.
Examples of what over 50 life insurance can cost
Examples published by Legal and General show how age, smoking and monthly premiums can translate into different levels of cover under its over 50s plan.
These are examples from one insurer rather than prices that apply across the whole market.
Legal and General's prices may have changed since these figures were published. It pays the full cash sum once the plan has been in force for one year, or earlier if death is the result of an accident. Its smoking status covers tobacco, e-cigarette or nicotine replacement use in the past 12 months. The adviser we introduce you to may not offer this plan. The examples illustrate why comparing the payout as well as the monthly premium matters.
A £20 monthly premium does not have a fixed value across every insurer or every customer.
You need an actual quote to know what your age and circumstances will buy.
Why does age affect the cost?
Over 50s life insurance is normally designed to pay a cash sum when you die, provided the policy conditions are met.
Someone taking out a policy at 55 could potentially pay premiums for several decades.
Someone taking out a policy at 80 is statistically more likely to make a claim sooner.
The insurer accounts for this when deciding how much cover it can provide for a particular premium.
This means you will generally get more cover for the same monthly payment if you take out the policy at a younger age.
For example, imagine two people each have a budget of £25 a month.
The 55 year old would generally be offered a higher insured amount because the insurer expects that person to make more monthly payments before a claim becomes likely.
The exact difference depends on the insurer.
Does your health affect the price?
With traditional guaranteed acceptance over 50s life insurance, your health will normally not be assessed in the same way it is with standard life insurance.
You usually do not need to answer detailed medical questions or undergo a medical examination.
This is one of the main features of the product.
Someone with an existing health condition can therefore potentially pay the same premium as someone of the same age under the same policy structure, although other information used by the insurer can still affect the cover offered.
This is very different from medically underwritten life insurance.
With standard life insurance, the insurer can ask about your medical history, height, weight, medication, family medical history and lifestyle. Your answers can affect the premium or whether cover is offered.
Guaranteed acceptance removes much of that individual health assessment.
The trade off is that the amount of cover provided by an over 50s plan can be considerably lower than the amount available through medically underwritten insurance.
Does smoking make over 50 life insurance more expensive?
It can.
Some over 50s insurers take smoking or nicotine use into account even though they do not ask detailed medical questions.
Legal and General, for example, states that the amount of cover available under its current over 50s policy depends partly on age and smoking status.
Aviva also uses age and smoking status in its over 50s cover calculator.
This means two people of the same age paying the same premium could potentially receive different amounts of cover if one smokes and the other does not.
Insurer definitions also matter.
Smoking may include cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. Some insurers can also ask about vaping or nicotine products.
Answer any questions accurately according to the wording used by the insurer.
Are over 50 life insurance premiums fixed?
Many over 50s plans use fixed monthly premiums.
If you take out a policy at £20 a month and the premium is fixed, the insurer does not increase that £20 simply because you become older.
MoneyHelper describes over 50s plans as generally involving a fixed monthly premium, with payments continuing for life or until the age specified in the policy.
This makes the monthly cost straightforward to budget for.
However, a fixed premium does not mean you will always pay the same total amount into the policy.
The total depends on how long you continue making payments.
The monthly cost stays the same, but the total can become substantial over a long period.
How long do you pay for over 50 life insurance?
This depends on the policy.
Some insurers stop collecting premiums once you reach a specified age. Others limit the number of years for which you have to make payments.
For example, Aviva currently states that premiums on its over 50s policy stop after 30 years or from the policy anniversary after your 90th birthday, whichever comes first. The cover then continues until death.
Legal and General currently states that premiums on its over 50s plan stop at age 90 while the cover continues for life.
These are individual insurer terms and should not be assumed to apply to every policy. Naming an insurer here does not mean its over 50s plan is available through the adviser we introduce you to.
Before taking out cover, check exactly when your payments stop.
This can be just as important as the monthly premium itself.
Can you pay more in premiums than the policy pays out?
Yes.
This is one of the biggest points to understand before buying over 50 life insurance.
Suppose your policy pays £5,000 when you die.
You pay £25 a month.
That costs £300 a year.
After 10 years, you have paid £3,000.
After 15 years, you have paid £4,500.
After 17 years, you have paid £5,100.
At that point you have paid more into the policy than the £5,000 insured amount.
You may then continue paying depending on the terms of the policy.
At £25 a month, you would have paid more than the £5,000 payout after 17 years.
Illustration only, not a quote. The cover your premium buys depends on your age, smoking status and the insurer. Some policies stop taking premiums after a set number of years or at a certain age.
MoneyHelper specifically warns that someone with an over 50s policy can end up paying more in premiums than their family eventually receives.
This does not mean the insurer should return everything you have paid. Life insurance is insurance rather than a savings account.
If the insured person died much earlier, the reverse could happen.
Someone might pay £25 a month for only a few years before a valid claim results in a payout worth several thousand pounds.
The uncertainty around when a claim will happen is part of what you are insuring against.
How can you work out the true cost of a policy?
Look beyond the advertised monthly price.
A £10 policy sounds cheaper than a £25 policy, but that tells you very little by itself.
You need to know what each policy pays.
Suppose one insurer offers you £4,500 of cover for £20 a month and another offers £5,500 for the same £20.
The monthly cost is identical, but the second quote provides £1,000 more cover.
You should then check the policy conditions to make sure you are comparing similar products.
- Your monthly premium
- The insured amount
- How long premiums are payable
- The waiting period before full cover applies
- What happens if you stop paying
- Whether the payout is fixed
- Whether any additional benefits are included
Looking at these together gives you a much better idea of value than simply finding the lowest advertised monthly premium.
Does £10 a month provide enough cover?
That depends on what you want the money to achieve.
If you simply want to leave a small amount of money behind, a relatively low premium may be enough for your objective.
If you want the policy to pay a large debt, replace income or leave a substantial inheritance, a typical guaranteed acceptance over 50s policy may not provide enough cover.
Start with the reason you want life insurance.
If you want to contribute towards funeral costs, think about how much you want the policy to contribute.
If you want to leave £10,000 to your children, compare quotes based on obtaining around that amount rather than choosing an arbitrary monthly premium.
If you need £100,000 or more to protect a mortgage or financially support a partner, standard life insurance may be more appropriate to investigate.
Over 50s life insurance is generally intended to provide a relatively modest lump sum.
Is £20 or £30 a month good value?
There is no useful way to answer this from the premium alone.
A £30 monthly policy could represent better value than a £20 policy if it provides substantially more cover.
Equally, £30 a month could be poor value for a particular person if they could obtain much more cover through medically underwritten life insurance.
The relationship between premium and payout matters.
For example, paying £30 a month costs £360 a year.
If you are likely to maintain the policy for many years, even a modest difference in monthly price becomes significant.
Comparing insurers can therefore be worthwhile even when the difference looks small.
A difference of £5 a month equals £60 a year and £1,200 over 20 years.
Why can standard life insurance cost less for more cover?
Guaranteed acceptance sounds attractive because you do not normally need to disclose detailed medical information.
But the insurer is accepting customers without knowing as much about their individual health risk.
That uncertainty is built into how the product is priced.
With medically underwritten life insurance, the insurer collects more information about you and can price the policy according to the risk it believes you represent.
Someone in their 50s or 60s who is able to obtain standard life insurance could potentially receive a much larger amount of cover for their money.
Even people with medical conditions can sometimes obtain medically underwritten cover.
A diagnosis does not automatically mean you will be refused.
MoneyHelper recommends comparing over 50s insurance with regular life insurance and notes that ordinary life insurance may sometimes be cheaper even for someone with an existing medical condition.
This comparison is particularly important if the amount of cover matters more to you than avoiding medical questions.
Does the payout increase as living costs rise?
Many over 50s policies pay a fixed cash amount.
If you buy £5,000 of cover today and the insured amount is fixed, it could still be £5,000 when you die many years from now.
The numerical amount has not changed, but what £5,000 can buy may have fallen.
MoneyHelper identifies this as a potential drawback because a fixed payout does not keep pace with rising prices.
This is particularly relevant for people buying over 50s cover primarily to contribute towards future funeral costs.
A policy could remain active for 20 or 30 years.
You should therefore look at the future usefulness of the payout as well as what the premium costs today.
Is cheaper over 50 life insurance always better?
No.
The cheapest premium usually means less cover.
What matters is getting an appropriate amount of cover for a monthly cost you can comfortably maintain.
Stopping payments can have serious consequences.
If a policy lapses because premiums are not paid, you could lose the cover after paying premiums for years and may receive nothing back.
It is better to choose a sustainable premium than commit to an amount that becomes difficult to afford.
Compare the policy based on both affordability and what it provides.
How much should you spend?
Start with what you want the policy to achieve rather than picking a monthly figure first.
- 1Decide roughly how much money you would like to leave.
- 2Then find out what it costs to obtain that level of cover.
- 3If the premium is too high, you can consider reducing the insured amount or looking at other types of life insurance.
If you are only looking for a small contribution towards final expenses, a modest monthly premium may be sufficient.
If you want to leave a meaningful financial legacy, clear debts or provide substantial financial support to your family, you may need to look beyond guaranteed acceptance over 50s cover.
Compare the total policy, not just the advertised price
Advertisements showing cover from £5 a month can be useful for understanding the minimum available premium, but they do not tell you what you personally will receive for £5.
The amount of cover is what matters.
Two insurers can take the same monthly payment and offer different insured amounts.
They can also have different payment periods and policy conditions.
How much will I pay?
How much will my family receive?
What conditions apply before that money is paid?
If you know those three things, you can make a much more meaningful comparison.
Getting an over 50 life insurance quote
The only reliable way to find out how much over 50 life insurance will cost for you is to compare actual quotes using your age and circumstances.
Speak to a qualified UK life insurance adviser who can compare options available through their panel. 50Life.co.uk can introduce you to an adviser and does not itself give personalised advice.
An adviser can discuss how much you want to leave behind, what you can comfortably afford each month and whether guaranteed acceptance cover or another type of life insurance could be suitable to consider.
This can be particularly useful if you are comparing a small guaranteed acceptance policy with medically underwritten cover.
The lowest monthly premium is not necessarily the best outcome.
The aim is to find cover that provides an appropriate payout at a cost you can realistically maintain.
