Longevity Insurance

Filed in archive Retirement on July 6, 2006

Look at this nice lady to your left. She looks sweet, doesn't she? What if I told you she was flat broke and that newspaper she's holding is the same one she slept under last night because she outlived her money and that she only looks so sweet because we gussied her up for this shot the way a criminal lawyer cleans up a junkie to put away a murderous drug dealer?

You don't believe me? You're smarter than you look. She's just a stock photo.

But, hey, it could happen. For a lot of us who think about retirement and maybe even--gasp!--plan our retirements by--gasp!--saving money for it, there is still the fear that we'll outlive our cash, and spend our final years rooting around in the trash for half-eaten sandwiches the way this poor woman does (or could, if this was a true story).

One answer I just learned about is Longevity insurance. Humberto Cruz of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel mentioned it this weekend, which caused me to do a bit more research.

Here's how it works: To hedge against the possibility that you'll live to 98 or some other ungodly number, you plunk down $10,000 when you're 65 or so. If you make it to 85--20 years later--you can then start collecting $700 per month, for as long as you live. Think about it--in less than two years, you could make up that whole $10,000, and the money will keep coming. Yahoo! I'm 85 and on easy street!

Of course, you could die at 66. Then you'd get nothing. That'd suck. (The dying more than the 10K, though.)

This article from SmartMoney can give you some more info if you're interested. My example isn't perfect, and not all longevity insurance is priced the same or offers the exact same benefits. (For example, some will pay a benificiary a benefit if you kick off early, the tradeoff being your monthly payout if you live will be smaller.)

I would do this, especially if I had a decent retirement nest egg, but didn't want to constantly be worried about using it all up. Hopefully $10,000 will be a relatively small part of my savings at that point, and the peace of mind that would bring would be well worth it.

I'm no fan of insurance, but this seems like a win-win product.