The life insurance industry, at least the final expense life insurance industry would certainly love for you to believe that over 50 life insurance is a minefield with disaster written all over it.

Suddenly you must be perceived as a greater life insurance risk as the advertising targeted toward us shifts from getting $500,000 for just $19 a month to “no exam required” or “guaranteed issue”. One agent recently jousted with me over this issue and claimed that the reason they offer these easy, but horribly overpriced, products is that there are so many out there who haven’t bought life insurance and they want to make it as easy as possible to reach them. So they remove what they want you to perceive as obstacles in the hopes that they can finally get you to act. What they don’t have available and what they don’t talk about is the fact that life insurance with just the addition of a quick paramedical exam can put better guarantees and substantially lower prices on the table for you.

The AARP/New York Life insurance program has been captivating (or is that decapitating) the older American public for decades with their unrelenting barrage of advertising. This advertising doesn’t rely on fairly priced products and it absolutely doesn’t seek to pull you toward senior life insurance that is the best for your interests. It simply relies on two of the top brands in the country to lure you into not thinking through the choice to buy. TRUST US! WE’RE AARP AND NEW YORK LIFE.

Well, you know what? Whether it is AARP or any of the hundreds of other companies whose only market is senior life insurance, they are marketing to your fears. And it is lucrative for them. They are constantly bombarding agents with offers like these. They want you to believe that obtaining a traditional life insurance policy is hard, if not impossible, at our age. We should fear exams and medical questions because, well, we’re not as young as we used to be and something might show up on the exam that would prevent us from getting life insurance. That scenario that they want you to focus on, not being able to get life insurance if you really open up about your health and take and exam, is actually far more the exception than the rule.

You know, I’ve beat this drum to death over the years because, as I’ve said so many times, “I wouldn’t sell those products to my mother”. So, time to put my money where my blog is. With this post I am announcing a $25 challenge. It’s against the law for me to pay you as an inducement to buy, but it’s not considered a rebate if I pay you $25 if I can’t get you approved for a better (lower price, better guarantee, or more coverage for the same premium) life insurance policy than the simplified issue, no exam final expense policy you’ve purchased through AARP/New York Life or Colonial Penn Life during the past year.

So, how about some parameters for the $25 challenge?
1. Your policy has to be a simplified issue (no exam, some health questions) policy, not a guaranteed issue (no exam, no questions).
2. It has to have been issued within the last year. There can’t have been any significant health changes in that year.
3. The face amount has to be over $10,000.
4. It has to be an AARP/New York Life or Colonial Penn policy.
5. You have to be willing to take an exam at no cost to you.
6. If I present a legitimate offer from a life insurance company that improves your situation, you need to commit to replacing your current policy with the new one.

And I have to:
1. Beat the premium you are paying on as much or more insurance than you currently have.
2. Beat the guaranteed level premium period that you currently have.
3. Get you approved for more coverage with a better guarantee at a lower price than you currently have.
4. Present you with an approved policy that meets 1, 2 or 3 from an A rated or better company,
5. Or pay you or the charity of your choice $25.

Bottom line. Nothing to lose. You already have coverage in force that you can keep if I don’t come through. And there’s a chance you could get a check from Hinerman Group for $25.