Oldest Woman Proves You’re Never Too Old for Life Insurance
July 28th, 2010
A woman from Kazakhstan is believed to have just reached her 130th birthday – which makes her more than 16 years older than the world’s other longest-lived person. Sakhan Dosova, mother to ten children, says she has never seen a doctor, doesn’t eat sweets, and loves cottage cheese – she believes that the reason she has lived so long is down to her sense of humour. Her grand-daughter, Gaukhar Kaniewva, 42, agreed “She is a very cheerful woman. We think laughter and her good mood helped her live so long.”
Life insurance for older people is getting more affordable
Sakhan Dosova has never thought about life insurance, but for many seniors in the West life insurance is becoming more affordable – living to the age of 130 is obviously far from the norm but many more of us are living into our 80s due to better health care and diet.
For people buying a senior-oriented life insurance there are various ways to help get a better deal: Firstly, get a medical check-up – if you can prove you are still fit and healthy you are likely to get a better deal on life insurance. And if, like Sakhan Dosova’s descendants, you can prove that your predecessors were particularly long-lived this could also help lower your premiums.
Seniors have different life insurance needs than younger people
Many Life insurance companies specialize in providing life insurance for retirement. Insurance needs for this age group differ from those of younger people – the mortgage may well be paid off, and the car. Plus, seniors generally have a steady income available upon which to live; in this situation there may be no need to take out insurance for investment purposes. However, taking out a life insurance policy can still be a good tax-free option to help pay for funeral expenses or medical care for a surviving spouse, especially ‘term’ insurance, whereby the policy has no cash value but simply pays out upon death.
In regards to Sakhan Dosova, the government of Kazakhstan wants more checks to be made before officially declaring her the oldest woman in the world: If the claims are true, and Sakhan Dosova was born in 1879 as she states, she would share the same birth year as Einstein and Stalin. She is no doubt very old, but as officials point out, birth records in Kazakhstan are notoriously unreliable.
The Kazakhstani government is still recovering from the ridicule poured on it in the aftermath of Sacha Baron Cohen’s film ‘Borat’ and have stated “for the sake of our country we want to make sure her claim is correct.”
photo credit: Ernst Vikne
Tags: death, Life Insurance, life insurance companies, life insurance for seniors, term life insurance
