What Could Be a Good Age to Consider Life Insurance?

Many women in the UK often find themselves navigating different life stages, from starting a career or family to planning for later life. With each new chapter, financial responsibilities can shift and grow. Thinking about life insurance might feel like a big step, and a common question that often comes up is: “What is a good age to consider life insurance?”

At Polly, we believe that understanding life insurance and its potential benefits for your loved ones’ financial security is a proactive step, regardless of your current age. While there is no single “best” age, understanding how life insurance works and how it can help provide financial protection for your family can be truly empowering. This article aims to explore how different life stages might influence your considerations when thinking about life insurance.

Life Insurance: Understanding the Basics

Before diving into age-related considerations, it can be helpful to briefly understand what life insurance is designed to do. Essentially, life insurance is a type of financial protection insurance. If you have a policy and pass away during the policy term, it is designed to pay out a lump sum of money to your beneficiaries. This payout could offer financial support to your loved ones when they might need it most, helping them manage ongoing expenses, cover significant costs, or even maintain their lifestyle.

Polly offers different types of term life insurance, including level term, decreasing term, and increasing term policies.

• Level term life insurance (like our Polly Family Protection policy) means the amount of cover you select and your premiums typically stay the same throughout the policy term.
• Decreasing term life insurance is where the payout reduces over time, often linked to a mortgage.
• Increasing term life insurance is where the payout and premiums can increase over time to help counter inflation. Our aim at Polly is to help you understand how these different types of policies might fit your needs for financial protection.

Why Does Age Matter When Considering Life Insurance?

While there’s no magic number, your age can influence several aspects of life insurance:

• Premiums: Generally, the younger and healthier you are when you apply for life insurance, the lower your premiums could be. Insurers often see younger applicants as less risky, which can translate to more affordable monthly payments. As you get older, the risk of developing health conditions typically increases, which can lead to higher premiums.
• Health: Your current health status is a significant factor. If you develop certain health conditions later in life, this could affect your eligibility for some policies or lead to higher premiums.
• Financial Responsibilities: Your financial commitments often evolve with age. Younger individuals might be looking at student loans or starting a mortgage, while those in their 30s and 40s could be focused on childcare costs and family expenses. Later in life, the focus might shift to covering funeral costs or leaving an inheritance.

Life Stages and Life Insurance Considerations

Let’s explore how life insurance might fit into different phases of a woman’s life.

Your 20s: Laying the Foundations for Financial Protection

In your 20s, you might be just starting your career, perhaps renting, or even taking your first steps onto the property ladder. You might not have dependents yet, and the idea of life insurance might seem premature. However, this period can be a particularly strategic time to consider it.

• Potential for Lower Premiums: As mentioned, your 20s could be when you are at your healthiest, which might mean you could secure a competitive premium that remains fixed for the duration of a level term policy.
• Future Planning: Even without immediate dependents, if you have any debts (like student loans or a mortgage), life insurance could help ensure these are not passed on to family members should something happen to you.
• Early Family Planning: If starting a family is something you are thinking about, putting a life insurance policy in place early could provide a financial safety net for your future children.

Your 30s: Growing Responsibilities and Financial Commitments

For many women, their 30s can bring significant life changes, such as marriage, buying a home, and starting or expanding a family. With these milestones often come increased financial responsibilities.

• Protecting Your Family: If you have children, life insurance can be a core part of protecting their financial future. A payout could help cover childcare costs, education expenses, or simply help maintain their lifestyle if you were no longer around to provide for them. Many single parents, for instance, find themselves solely responsible for household finances, making this type of financial protection particularly relevant.
• Mortgage Protection: A significant number of people use life insurance to help cover their mortgage. In the event of your death, the lump sum could help your loved ones pay off the remaining balance, potentially allowing them to stay in their home.
• Income Protection Considerations: While Polly helps you find financial protection options, it can also be helpful to consider broader financial protection. Many self-employed women, for example, may not have employer-provided ‘death in service’ benefits, making personal life insurance a key consideration for their family’s financial security. For general financial protection, you might also consider income protection insurance, which is designed to provide a regular income if you cannot work due to illness or injury. 

Your 40s and Beyond: Consolidating and Planning for the Future

By your 40s and 50s, your children might be older, perhaps even independent, but financial commitments could still be substantial. You might still have a mortgage, or perhaps you are thinking about retirement planning.

• Debt Coverage: Life insurance can still be valuable for covering any outstanding debts, such as a mortgage or personal loans, preventing them from becoming a burden on your family.
• Leaving a Legacy: Some women might consider life insurance to leave a financial gift to their children or grandchildren, or to cover potential inheritance tax liabilities, depending on their estate.
• Funeral Costs: The average cost of a funeral in the UK can be significant. A life insurance payout could help ensure your family does not face these unexpected expenses during a difficult time.

While premiums may be higher than if you had taken out a policy earlier, the financial protection life insurance offers could still be invaluable. Reviewing your existing financial plans and considering how life insurance might complement them can be a proactive step.

What About Joint Life Insurance?

When discussing life insurance for couples or families, the topic of ‘joint life insurance’ often comes up. This type of policy covers two people but typically pays out only once, usually upon the first death. After this payout, the policy ends.

For these reasons, we do not offer joint policies as we want all policy holders to benefit from a policy payout to their loved ones. At Polly, our policies are designed to cover individuals, meaning each person has their own policy, and a payout from one policy would not affect the other. This approach aims to help ensure separate financial protection for each person.

Important Considerations for Your Life Insurance Policy

Regardless of your age, here are some key aspects to consider:

• Beneficiary Nomination: It is important to consider nominating beneficiaries for your policy. This specifies who you would like the lump sum payout to go to. While we do not offer a formal legal trust service, we can help you with our beneficiary nomination service, which can simplify the process of directing the payout to your loved ones. 
• Policy Term: Think about how long you might need cover for. This could be until your children become financially independent, your mortgage is paid off, or until you retire.
• Cover Amount: How much cover do you need? Consider your outstanding debts, living expenses for your dependents, future education costs, and any other financial obligations. For example, you might want to consider how much income the lump sum from a policy would need to cover, and for how long, to help support your family.
• Review Your Needs: Your financial needs and circumstances don’t usually stand still. It can be sensible to review your policy periodically, especially after significant life events like having another child, moving house, or changing jobs, to help ensure your cover still meets your needs.

Common Questions Women Often Consider

Q: Can I get life insurance if I have a pre-existing health condition?

A: It can be possible to get life insurance with pre-existing conditions, but it often depends on the specific condition, its severity, and how well it is managed. You would typically need to disclose all relevant medical information during the application process, and this could influence the premiums or terms of your policy.

Q: How long does the life insurance application process take?

A: The application process can vary. With Polly, we aim to help make it as straightforward as possible. You can start a quote online, and the application typically involves answering some health and lifestyle questions. In some cases, a medical exam might be required, but this is not always the case.

Q: Will my premiums increase over time?

A: For Polly Family Protection, which is a term life insurance policy, your premiums typically remain fixed for the duration of your policy term, as chosen at the outset. This can help you budget effectively. Other types of policies, such as increasing term life insurance, may have premiums that vary over time.

Q: How does life insurance work if I become a single parent?

A: Life insurance can be particularly important for single parents, as you are often the sole financial provider. Having a policy in place could help ensure your children are financially supported if something were to happen to you, covering expenses like housing, education, and daily living costs.

The Polly Approach to Life Insurance

At Polly, we believe in helping women secure financial protection for their families in a way that feels clear and supportive. We focus on providing term life insurance, designed to offer a consistent lump sum payout to your loved ones if you pass away during the policy term.

We encourage you to explore your options and consider what kind of financial protection might be right for your unique circumstances. It’s not about finding the “perfect” age, but about understanding your needs and taking a proactive step towards helping secure your family’s financial future.

Ready to Learn More?

Understanding life insurance is a key step in helping to protect your family’s financial future. You can find out more about Polly Family Protection and start a quote today.

TL;DR: There is no single “best” age to get life insurance; rather, the ideal time often depends on your individual financial responsibilities and life stage. Generally, considering life insurance earlier in life, such as in your 20s or 30s, might offer the potential for lower premiums due to typically better health. As you take on more financial commitments, like a mortgage or having children, life insurance can become an important tool for helping to secure your family’s financial future. Regular reviews of your policy can help ensure it continues to meet your evolving needs.

*Finder. (2024). Life insurance statistics UK. Retrieved from https://www.finder.com/uk/life-insurance-statistics

**SunLife. (2024). Cost of Dying Report 2024. Retrieved from https://www.sunlife.co.uk/funeral-costs/