Being one of them (the old folks) I carefully admit that I was probably a little easier to underwriter for life insurance 20 or 30 years ago than I am today. I am currently working the partners in a company, both in their 60’s, who made a real common error in thinking that the company, in this case NW Mutual, loves them now the way they loved them back when they bought whole life insurance policies in the 40’s. While it’s true that NW Mutual does love the fact that they still send in their life insurance premiums on time, they are a company that has little tolerance for risk, even small amounts of it.

One of the two is an athlete. No other way to put it even at his age 64. He can and does occasionally run 25 or more miles and runs shorter distances several times a week. He can and regularly does ride a bike 100+ miles a day. He plays tennis and because he owns a huge tennis and fitness facility, stays healthy. His only issue is that occasionally his heart rate drops below 50 and for that reason he has a pacemaker that wakes his heart up when it wants to go too slow. That is a NW Mutual life insurance decline. The problem is that they didn’t let him know the shallowness of their life insurance love until the week before he needed the additional $500,000 life insurance to meet a bank requirement.

Their attorney directed them to me and we put together 5 day issue temporary business life insurance to cover them for closing, shopped for both partners for traditional longer term life insurance, and delivered quotes from top rated carriers, all in 3 days. The other partner, by the way, is his wife who is a much younger age 61. She stays extremely fit as well, but had a pacemaker implanted a little over 3 months ago due to an irregular heart beat. NW Mutual lost the love for her as well but we had no problem getting several very reasonable tentative offers.

So, a couple of things come to mind. Sort of the life insurance fyi’s for older CEO’s. First, even though you had no problem getting life insurance when you were younger, if you have any health issues, or even if you just want that business insurance at the best price, find an agent that knows impaired risks, from sneezes to cancer, and make sure they know business insurance. If getting temporary life insurance makes things less stressful, do it. And I don’t mean binding an application. Banks won’t accept that because they know it can still be declined. Put real life insurance in force. It takes 3-5 days and the banks will love it.

Bottom line. Occasionally life insurance has challenges so seek the route that won’t waste time and energy. If you have questions on business life insurance or need business life insurance right now and you can’t wait, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.