54

Best Life Insurance For A Male Aged 54

By James Tobin, CFP®

Critical Takeaways

  • Choice of best carrier depends on your health and policy preferences
  • Rates Increase Significantly At Age 55
  • Independent agents are the best choice for applicants with existing health issues

54

Expert Review Of Life Insurance For A Male Aged 54

Jim Tobin promo

Reviewed by

Jim Tobin, CFP®

Why you can trust this review

At Bequest Mutual, we value our editorial independence. We keep our reviews strictly factual so you can use them to make informed decisions. Life insurance carriers referred to on this site do not approve reviews. 

If you are looking for life insurance for a 54 year old man, you are in the right place.  Whether you are looking for yourself or for a spouse, you are likely going to have questions The purpose of this article is to answer the most frequently asked questions about obtaining a good offer for life insurance as a 54 year old male.     

While we try and be as thorough as possible, you may still have questions. If so please reach out via email of phone and we will do our best to get you the information you are looking to get. 

In the meantime this article will answer questions about rate (all rates, not just the super healthy rates that are advertised on television and radio), best companies and policy preferences. Use the links below to jump around if you know what information you are seeking.

Is  Fifty four a Good Age For A Man To Get Life Insurance?

Being that the Bequest Mutual sells life insurance, it would be pretty easy to say all ages are the right age if you care for someone and they depend on you financially. 

It's worth noting that this answer has some validity. However, it leaves hanging the question about age 54.

It turns out that 54 is an excellent entry point, The reason for this is that insurance carriers tend to look at 55 (particularly for males) as an inflection point for health and pricing reflects this.

So, if you know you are planning on insurance in the relatively near future, then locking in your protection and avoiding the price increases that loon at 55 makes some sense.     

How Does A  Man Age 54 Decide On The Amount and term Of Coverage Needed?

There are an endless number of tools and methods that can be used to determine the ideal amount of life insurance coverage. In fact, the Bequest Mutual has its' own version called   that we use.  

The ideal coverage amount  and term of life insurance generally is a reflection of you current and future debt obligations and income replacement. This site uses a simple formula called L.I.F.E. (loans + income+ future plans+ education). 

However, in the real world, we all have to live within our budgets and if there is a conflict the budget wins.  This is likely the reason that most of our clients already have a strong opinion on the amount of life insurance they are interested in.

We understand , as we have to live within our budget also.  

That said if you'd like to discuss how much coverage you'd like or for how long, we are all ears.  Meanwhile you can use the tables below or the quote tool to get an idea of what makes sense for you and your family quote tool to get an

How Much Does Life Insurance  For a Male Aged 54 cost?

Life insurance costs have several inputs, but the primary factors are: 

  • age 
  • amount of coverage
  •  length of term
  •  health rating

While costs can vary significantly among different companies these will always be the biggest influence.

Note About Life Insurance for male Smoker, age 54

A quick comment regarding tobacco use. A quick look at the rates will let you know that tobacco use (not just smoking) makes life insurance significantly more expensive.  We bring this up, not to nag , but rather to incent you to big savings.

If you quit for 2 years you will be eligible for preferred rates. That can amount to a lot of money.

10 Year Life Insurance Rates For 54 Old Man

Amount

Preferred Plus

Preferred

Standard Plus

Standard

Preferred Tobacco

Standard Tobacco

$100,000

$18.61/mo.

22.40

29.05

31.53

65.65

83.21

$250000

34.68

40.54

53.79

63.30

139.26

193.38

$500000

62.91

73.84

98.66

117.47

266.64

346.26

$750000

91.14

108.17

145.41

173.63

397.10

516.81

$1000000

113.86

130.12

177.33

225.66

463.56

665.17

15 Year term Life Insurance quotes For 54 Old Man

Amount

Preferred Plus

Preferred

Standard Plus

Standard

Preferred Smoker

Standard Smoker

$100,000

$23.52

28.36

36.87

20.22

80.61

112.64

$250000

42.61

52.76

59.31

79.60

180.07

249.21

$500000

77.93

98.00

128.02

151.06

332.48

468.52

$750000

114.31

144.42

189.44

224.00

495.99

700.21

$1000000

149.21

187.45

238.18

291.53

624.57

884.80

20 Year term Life Insurance quotes For 54 Old Man

Amount

Preferred Plus

Preferred

Standard Plus

Standard

Preferred Smoker

Standard Smoker

$100,000

$30.54

35.88

46.03

50.66

107.18

138.51

$250000

55.57

65.69

85.50

105.63

229.46

297.88

$500000

103.54

123.55

163.93

202.50

431.44

557.87

$750000

152.73

182.74

243.31

301.17

644.58

834.23

$1000000

201.71

240.18

314.40

393.11

847.71

1103.95

30 Year term Life Insurance quotes For 54 Old Man 

Amount

Preferred Plus

Preferred

Standard Plus

Standard

Preferred Smoker

Standard Smoker

$100,000

$55.30

66.68

73.77

81.22

271.23

271.23

$250000

106.49

127.77

167.54

178.23

666.66

666.66

$500000

204.21

246.21

328.12

348.39

n/a

n/a

$750000

303.74

366.81

489.60

520.01

n/a

n/a

$1000000

399.74

476.59

626.58

673.68

n/a

n/a

Are the quotes on this site reliable For A 54 Year Old Man?

This is a common question. 

The answer is often unsatisfactory. 

The rates are accurate if the information inputted is accurate. that means you need to know what health rating a life insurance company will assign you.  Without speaking with an experienced agent this can be difficult. The carriers keep their underwriting material difficult for the public to access.

The simple and safe way to deal with this issue is to choose Standard or Standard Plus and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Believe it or not this happens quite a bit and it is a much better surprise than choosing Preferred only to come back at standard!  

What Are The Best Life Insurance Companies For A 54 Year Old Man

Finding the best carrier for a male aged 54 simply requires looking at the applicant's health and policy preferences. The truth is that as long as  you start with a baseline of strong financial rating ( BMLI only recommends A rated or better carriers), then the "best" carrier is the one who looks most favorably on your health situation and offers the policy options you prefer.

For example if you wanted a  policy with a child rider that did not check the child's health, we would recommend Principal Financial. 

Whereas, if you were a little heavy, Protective or Prudential might be the best fit. 

All That being said there are several carriers we like a lot. 

Protective Life offers policy options like an annuity style payout that protects your heirs from being spendthrifts with the benefit. protective also allows you to continue your policy at the end of the term with coverage reductions rather than price increases.

Prudential Financial- we love Pru because they are more lenient than most other carriers on underwriting.

SBLI- Our affection for Savings Bank Life Insurance stems from  robust accelerated underwriting (exam optional). 

Foresters- This Canadian carrier doing business here in the states will underwrite and approve a policy the day the application is sent in.   

Just ask us, and we'll let you know who is the "best" carrier for you. 

How Does a man Age 54 obtain the best rates with existing health conditions

The only way to answer this question is:

USE AN INDEPENDENT AGENT

As we have discussed in the sections above, life insurance carriers have proprietary underwriting guidelines and without access to this material, it is very difficult to find the best deal.

The quote tools are garbage in > garbage out. So,  the only way to navigate a health condition properly is to have the ability to shop multiple carriers and do it with the guidelines of those carriers.

With access to over 50+ carriers, independent agencies like the Bequest Mutual, give you the best opportunity to find the offer that is right for you. 

Remember, as we will discuss below, if you use a "captive' agent or go direct to a carrier, you will only be offered what that carrier has to offer. Not a recipe for success.

What is the life insurance application process for a forty nine year old male

You may not be surprised to find out there is not necessarily anything  special about the application process for life insurance on a  54 year old man. The steps are these: 

  • Choose policy Type
  • Choose terms
  • Get pricing
  • submit application 
  • Take exam
  • await underwriting 
  • review offer
  • policy delivery

The homepage details the 8 step process 

The exceptions are that if you choose a no exam option there will be no exam. Also the underwriting time will likely be considerably quicker.

If you have a history of heart trouble or are applying for a large amount of coverage 2MM+ the exam may require a EKG . 

What is different about the Bequest Mutual?

If you are wondering why  you should use this site rather than another, we don't blame you. We ask the same questions when we shop online.

The reason the Bequest Mutual stands out is that it only uses experienced independent agents to facilitate applications.  This is important because it distinguishes us from most other providers.

The life insurance provider market is made up of carriers whom you can apply directly with and their "captive" agents, national brokers and independent agents. 

The least attractive choice is to apply directly or use a "captive" agent. The reason is that you lose the ability to comparison shop and use competition to your advantage.  A captive agent who can only sell his employers policy will find a way to sell you that carrier whether it's a good fit or not. He has no economic choice.

Moreover, you do not save any money by going direct. The rates are set by the DOI at the state level and are the same for like terms regardless of who sells the policy. This simply means that by going direct you give up the benefit of an experienced agent (and choice of carrier) with no corresponding reward.

The big brokers that you routinely see on television are a better deal than going direct. However, the big brokers are limited by their choice of carriers. The big brokers intentionally keep the available carriers small so that they don't dilute business and are in a better position to negotiate commissions.

Independent agencies, like the Bequest Mutual have access to 50+ carriers and are able to shop niches for clients who have health concerns or policy preferences. Using an independent agent gives you the best shot at finding the best offer that meets your needs.

Within the independent agent market, experience matters. The Bequest Mutual is manned by a Certified Financial Advisor and has 25 years experience. The reality is that if you buy a policy through the Bequest Mutual we will be there to support, we will be there to help you when you require assistance.  If you need to change a beneficiary or an address, you won't be on hold listening to bad music from the 80's.

Next Step

Now that you are all clued in on what it takes to get life insurance for a male aged 54 and how pricing comes about, it's time to act. Protect the people who depend on you now before you are age 55 and facing increased rates. 

Thank you for choosing the Bequest Mutual to shop for Life Insurance male Aged 54.

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