Last Updated: November 2020
Life insurance is important for everyone, but for very different reasons depending on your age. Whatever the reason you’re interested in life insurance, it will provide financial relief when you pass away.
Life insurance for 48-year-olds is typically purchased to secure a future for one’s family. Below we will cover the reasons someone at age 48 might buy life insurance, the types of life insurance to buy at 48, and show you rates for your age.
- Why Do I Need Life Insurance at Age 48?
- Sample Rates: The Cost of Life Insurance for 48-Year-Olds
- The Best Life Insurance Companies at Age 48
- Types of Life Insurance Policies for 48-Year-Olds
- How Age Impacts Life Insurance Rates at Age 48
- How Health Impacts Life Insurance Rates at Age 48
- How to Choose the Best Life Insurance Policy as a 48-Year-Old
- Finding the Best Life Insurance Rate for 48-Year-Olds
Life Insurance is Boring. Let’s Get To The Root Of It! Here are the key takeaways…
Life insurance for 48-year-olds is very affordable and can be a wise financial step. A 48-year-old male can find a $100,000, 20-year term policy for as low as $22 a month. A female can find the same policy for $18 a month. Consider your family’s needs and compare rates with top companies before purchasing a policy.
Why Do I Need Life Insurance at Age 48?
At this age, there are many reasons why you would need to obtain a new life insurance policy.
- You may have taken out a policy when you were younger and it has expired. Now you need to consider whether you want another term policy or whether you want a permanent policy.
- You could be starting a new business and have recently taken out a business loan. To protect your business partners you might take out a new policy so that your business partner can buy out your shares of the company in the event that you passed away unexpectedly. You can also set up your life insurance policy to cover the length of the business loan you still have to repay.
- You may have older parents who need nursing home facilities or home-based care. As your parents become dependent upon you in their older age you may need to set up a permanent policy so that they have the money necessary to cover any costs in the event that you pass away before them.
- If you are a stay at home parent, life insurance can cover the costs of services that you currently do for free for your home or your children. Term policies are also great for this because they can cover what years your children have left at home.
- If you are a divorced parent you might need to cover support payments to your children or ex-spouse which you can do with a term life insurance policy that is concurrent with the number of years you have left in payments.
- If you are a parent with a special needs child, life insurance can give your child the financial support they require in the event that you pass away. Permanent policies are best here because they remain in effect for your entire life.
- If you still have a mortgage to cover, you can prevent your family from having to uproot and move with a term policy that matches the years left on your mortgage.
- If you have co-signed debt such as a student loan or credit card, you can set up a term policy to coincide with the number of years left on the payment.
- If you have amassed a fortune and are now a high net worth individual, you can set up money to pay for your estate taxes with a permanent plan.
- If you want to provide your children with an inheritance, a permanent plan will be there for them when you pass away.
- As a business owner, you might want to allow your partners to buy your shares if you pass away, or have the money to pay off a business loan. You can do this with a term or permanent policy.
- If you are an investor and you want to supplement your retirement earnings with life insurance, you can use a permanent policy to build cash value.
- If you want to provide money for your final expenses, burial insurance policies can give families enough coverage to pay for burials.
Sample Rates: The Cost of Life Insurance for 48-Year-Olds
Below are charts for males and females at age 48 for different policy types.
Preferred Health Class Rates for Males
Below are some sample costs for a 48-year-old male who is a healthy non-smoker in the preferred health class:
| Policy Type | $100,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Year Term | $14 | $44 | $81 | $158 |
| 20 Year Term | $22 | $80 | $154 | $302 |
| 30 Year Term | $39 | $138 | $268 | $529 |
| Whole Life | $201 | $676 | $1,281 | $2,498 |
Preferred Health Class Rates for Females
Below are some sample costs for a 48-year-old female who is a healthy non-smoker in the preferred health class:
| Policy Type | $100,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Year Term | $12 | $35 | $66 | $124 |
| 20 Year Term | $18 | $59 | $109 | $216 |
| 30 Year Term | $31 | $103 | $201 | $399 |
| Whole Life | $162 | $480 | $890 | $1,750 |
Smoker Life Insurance Rates for Males
By comparison, below are some life insurance rates for 48-year-old male smokers:
| Policy Type | $100,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Year Term | $48 | $196 | $351 | $699 |
| 20 Year Term | $78 | $324 | $619 | $1,239 |
| 30 Year Term | $112 | $526 | $1,047 | $2,094 |
| Whole Life | $654 | $2,781 | $5,264 | $10,502 |
Smoker Rates for Females
By comparison, below are some life insurance rates for 48-year-old female smokers:
| Policy Type | $100,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Year Term | $39 | $145 | $271 | $540 |
| 20 Year Term | $60 | $237 | $456 | $910 |
| 30 Year Term | $91 | $395 | $772 | $1,545 |
| Whole Life | $546 | $2,152 | $4,056 | $8,059 |
The Best Life Insurance Companies at Age 48
While there are a lot of options out there for life insurance, generally, these are some of the best life insurance companies for 48-year-olds.
- Protective Life is best for term life insurance. They offer low rates and great options if your term coverage expires and you still need some coverage.
- Northwestern Mutual is our top pick for whole life insurance. They have a strong dividend performance for people in their 40’s.
- AIG life insurance is the best choice for high-risk life insurance for age 48. They have lower-priced policies for people with many unique high-risk medical conditions.
Types of Life Insurance Policies for 48-Year-Olds
At age 48, you still have access to the three main types of life insurance policies.
Term Life Insurance
These policies are set up for a specific length of time. These are designed to meet financial needs that are finite and have an expiration date. Somebody wanting to cover outstanding debt or provide money to dependent children until those children grow up would be better off with a term life insurance policy.
Permanent Life Insurance
These policies are in place for the rest of your life. There are many options within permanent policies. All options earn cash value but they are earned different amounts and are tied to different investment performances. Some are tied directly to the performance of the insurance company itself while others allow you the freedom and flexibility to invest how you see fit.
Burial Insurance
Burial, or final expense insurance is a facet of permanent policies, typically a whole policy, but it is designed for people who do not want to undergo a medical exam. The amount of coverage available is significantly less, typically no more than $25,000, and these are designed to cover your final expenses or burial costs only.
At this age, you may not yet qualify for burial insurance from most companies because the minimum age is 50. However, you can still get access to a Term Policy upwards of 30 years in length or any other permanent policy.
How Age Impacts Life Insurance Rates at Age 48
Well, consider this.
If a buyer is looking at 30, then decides to wait until their 40’s to purchase a life insurance policy, a standard 20-year term policy with $500,000 is going to cost an average of $100 more per year at age 40 than it would at age 30.
If that same buyer waits until age 50, the same 20-year term policy will triple in costs.
How Health Impacts Life Insurance Rates at Age 48
Your health plays a big role too.
A healthy male in his 40’s taking out a 20-year term policy for $500,000 would pay an average of $353 per month.
This chart below explains how different health conditions impact that average:
| Medical Condition | Average Costs |
|---|---|
| Obese but healthy | Average costs per month are 269% higher than a healthy person. |
| Overweight but healthy | Average costs are 17% higher than a healthy person. |
| High blood pressure, unmedicated | You will pay an average of 112% higher than a healthy person. |
| High blood pressure, medicated | You will pay the same as a healthy person, on average. |
| High cholesterol, unmedicated | You will pay an average of 71% more than a healthy person. |
| High cholesterol, medicated | You are going to pay 71% on average, higher than a healthy person. |
| High blood pressure, high cholesterol, obese | Average costs are 119% higher than a healthy person. |
| Heart disease treated recently | This typically results in a decline, but there are guaranteed policies that are better suited. |
| Heart disease, long-standing | This typically results in a decline, but there are guaranteed policies that are better suited. |
| Type 2 diabetes, recently diagnosed and not well controlled | This will increase costs 282% compared to a healthy person. |
| Type 2 diabetes, well-controlled | Prices will increase an average of 121% over what a healthy person would pay. |
| Family history of cancer | Your costs would increase 19% compared to the average healthy person of the same age. |
As you age, take into consideration these costs and the difference they will make in your premiums the longer you wait.
How to Choose the Best Life Insurance Policy as a 48-Year-Old
At 48 you still have many options for choosing a life insurance policy. Here is what you need to consider.
What Type of Policy do You Need?
At 48, your needs might be changing. You might be close to paying off a mortgage and in need of coverage for other things. When choosing your policy, take into consideration the riders, or features, that you want with your policy.
Permanent policies typically offer coverage starting from day one. This means that you can pass away at any time and your beneficiaries will receive the full death benefit.
Burial policies, by comparison, forgo the medical exam and exchange for a two-year graded death benefit. If you pass away within the first two years of your policy your family will only receive your premiums to date and on average 10% interest.
Do You Need Policy Riders?
There are typically accelerated death benefits built into the policies you take out. These allow you to use a portion of your death benefit prematurely in the event that you were diagnosed with a terminal or chronic illness.
The amount that you can be accelerated is contingent upon your diagnosis and the face amount of your policy. This total is taken from your death benefit with the remainder of the benefits still given to your beneficiaries when you pass.
Other features include disability income whereby you are afforded part of your death benefit prematurely in the event that you are disabled permanently or temporarily. More commonly, you are simply forgiven from any additional premium payments if you are disabled.
How Much Coverage Should You Get?
If you are married and your spouse does not have a policy you can typically add your spouse for less than it would cost to separate policies. Additionally, you can add coverage for children or grandchildren which expires once they reach adulthood.
Typically speaking these policies allow those children to convert the term coverage into another term or permanent policy at the expiration.
On that note, if you take out a Term Policy at this age when it expires you are typically able to convert it into a permanent or Term Policy again without undergoing any additional medical exams or another underwriting process.
Finding the Best Life Insurance Rates for 48-Year-Olds
Finding the best life insurance for 48-year-olds comes down to your ability to compare rates and policy options.
Obviously, you probably don’t have the time or the patience to compare life insurance policies all day, and even if you do, you may not know enough about life insurance to make the best decision for you and your family.
Don’t worry, that’s what we are here for.
Give us a call today to speak with an independent agent who represents dozens of the best life insurance companies for 48-year-olds, and who can help to understand your personal situation in order to find the best life insurance policy for you and your family.
Or, get started comparing life insurance rates for 48-year-olds instantly with our online quoting tool!
Compare the Best Life Insurance Rates for 48-Year-Olds
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I am 48yrs old. I am interested in life insurance. I have a mortgage that I owe 80,000, and I have a 16yr old daughter that will be attending college. Which insurance is best for my situation?
Rodney, just going off that information, I’d buy an $80,000 policy on a 10 year term. In 10 years your mortgage will be paid down enough and your daughter will be in the workforce and be able to make it if you weren’t around.
I am 48 years old with adult children and young grandchildren. should I get term or whole life insurance and how much?
It depends on a lot of things. For example – do you have any debts to pay off (mortgage, credit card etc)? Are any of your children dependent on you still (if so, get some term so you can afford a higher amount)? Or do you just want to cover burial costs and final expenses (then whole life would be better)? I would speak with one of our advisors so we can give you advice with what most of America is doing.