Do this review in the year you turn 70, and start with the conversion rider deadline on any term policy, because that is the one item on the list that expires and cannot be recovered. Most conversion rights end at the earlier of a stated policy year or an attained age, and attained age 70 is one of the most common cutoffs written into contracts sold in the 1990s and 2000s. Everything else on this checklist can be fixed next month. That one cannot.
Age 70 is not an arbitrary milestone. It is roughly where three things converge: cost-of-insurance charges inside universal life contracts begin climbing steeply, the secondary market for policies becomes genuinely available to most insureds, and the beneficiary designations made twenty-five years ago are statistically likely to be wrong. It is also early enough that every option is still open, which is not true at 78.
What follows is a twelve-point audit you can run yourself with documents the carrier must give you for free, followed by an honest ranking of the six outcomes it can produce — including the one that applies most often, which is to change nothing at all. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and a free policy review; nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice.
In This Article
What to Gather Before You Start
You cannot audit a policy from memory or from an agent’s summary. Request these in writing from each carrier’s policyholder service line; none of them cost anything.
- The policy cover page or declarations page — carrier, policy number, insured, owner, face amount, issue date, product name
- The most recent annual statement
- The current premium notice, showing the billed amount and mode
- The rider schedule listing every rider attached at issue and since
- A current in-force illustration at three assumption sets: current charges and current premium, the premium required to carry the policy to maturity, and full guaranteed charges
- A written statement of the current beneficiary designations, primary and contingent
- The outstanding policy loan balance and the accrued loan interest
- The current cash value and the current cash surrender value, which are different numbers
If a policy has gone missing entirely, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners operates a free Life Insurance Policy Locator Service that queries participating carriers. Our walkthrough of reading an annual statement line by line explains what each figure on that document actually means.
Checks 1 Through 4: The Contract Mechanics
Check 1 — the conversion deadline. On any term policy, ask the carrier in writing for the exact date the conversion right expires and the list of permanent products currently available for conversion. Conversion requires no medical exam, which makes it enormously valuable to someone whose health has changed. See what to do when the conversion deadline is close.
Check 2 — the maturity age. Policies issued under the 1980 Commissioners Standard Ordinary mortality table typically mature at age 100, and maturity can be a taxable event that pays out cash value rather than the death benefit. Contracts priced on the 2001 or 2017 CSO tables generally run to 121. Find out which one your policy uses; it changes what happens if you live a long time.
Check 3 — no-lapse guarantee status. If the policy is a guaranteed universal life contract, the no-lapse guarantee is usually conditioned on paying a specific premium on a specific schedule. A single late or short payment can permanently break the guarantee even though the policy stays in force. Ask the carrier whether the guarantee is currently intact and, if not, what catch-up payment restores it.
Check 4 — riders you are still paying for. Waiver of premium, accidental death, child term, return of premium, guaranteed insurability. Some of these terminate at a stated age and stop providing anything while continuing to charge.
Checks 5 Through 8: The Money
Check 5 — the projected lapse date. This is the single most important number in the review and it appears only on an in-force illustration. At the premium you are actually paying, in what year does the policy run out of cash value? If the answer is inside your reasonable life expectancy, you have a problem to solve now rather than at 82. Read how to request and read an in-force illustration.
Check 6 — the cost of insurance trend. Universal life charges mortality costs monthly against your attained age. Between 65 and 80 those charges typically multiply several times over. Ask for the current monthly cost of insurance charge and the same figure from five years ago.
Check 7 — the loan. An outstanding policy loan accrues interest that is usually added to the loan balance. If the loan plus accrued interest is approaching the cash value, the policy is heading toward a lapse that would be treated as a deemed distribution — taxable income with no cash attached.
Check 8 — cash value versus surrender value. These differ by any remaining surrender charge. On a contract issued in the last fifteen years, the difference can be substantial. Compare the surrender value against what the policy would fetch in the secondary market before assuming surrender is the floor.
| Check | Where the Answer Lives | Red Flag | Urgency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conversion deadline | Rider schedule; carrier in writing | Cutoff at attained age 70 | Highest — cannot be recovered |
| Projected lapse date | In-force illustration | Lapse inside your life expectancy | High |
| Policy loan balance | Annual statement | Loan approaching cash value | High — tax exposure |
| No-lapse guarantee intact | Carrier confirmation | Any late or short payment | Medium to high |
| Beneficiary designations | Carrier records, not your file copy | Predeceased or ex-spouse named | Medium |
| Maturity age | Contract; mortality table used | Maturity at 100 on an older contract | Low now, high later |
Checks 9 Through 12: The People and the Plan
Check 9 — beneficiaries. Get the current designation in writing from the carrier rather than relying on your file copy. Designations made in 1998 routinely name a predeceased spouse, an ex-spouse, a dissolved trust, or an estate. A beneficiary designation controls regardless of what your will says. Our page on an outdated beneficiary designation covers how to correct it.
Check 10 — ownership. Confirm who owns each policy. If an irrevocable life insurance trust owns it, the trustee — not you — makes every decision about it, and the trust document governs. If a business owns it, corporate authorization is required for any change.
Check 11 — the reason the policy exists. Write one sentence per policy explaining who is harmed financially if you die tomorrow. If you cannot write that sentence, the policy is a candidate for change. If you can, the presumption should be to keep it.
Check 12 — your powers of attorney. A general durable power of attorney does not automatically confer authority over life insurance in every state; many require specific insurance powers to be enumerated. This is the item most likely to matter at 80 and most easily fixed at 70. It belongs with your own attorney.
The Six Outcomes This Review Can Produce
Outcome 1 — keep everything and change nothing. The most common correct result. If someone still depends on the death benefit, the premium is sustainable, and the in-force illustration shows the policy carrying to maturity, you are done. See when keeping the policy is the right answer.
Outcome 2 — fix the funding. Increase the premium modestly now, or reduce the face amount, so the projected lapse date moves past your reasonable life expectancy. Reducing the death benefit is the underused option here; it lowers the cost of insurance immediately and preserves the original issue-age pricing.
Outcome 3 — convert. If a term policy still has a live conversion right and coverage is still needed, converting locks in permanent protection without new underwriting.
Outcome 4 — reduced paid-up. On whole life, this ends premiums permanently in exchange for a smaller guaranteed death benefit. Appropriate when cash flow is the constraint and some coverage is still wanted.
Outcome 5 — 1035 exchange. Moves cash value into a new life policy, annuity, or qualified long-term care contract without current recognition of gain under Internal Revenue Code section 1035. Best when the product is broken rather than when your age is the problem, and a discharged loan counts as taxable boot.
Outcome 6 — sell or surrender. Surrender takes the cash surrender value. A life settlement, for policies that qualify, has historically produced considerably more: federal study GAO-10-775 found sellers typically received roughly 10% to 35% of face value, and multiples of surrender value on the same contracts.
When Selling Is the Wrong Answer at 70
Seventy is on the early side for the secondary market, and it is worth being blunt about that. Buyers price on projected life expectancy. A healthy 70-year-old has a long one, which means the buyer would carry premiums for many years, which compresses offers toward — and often below — the cash surrender value. A genuinely healthy 70-year-old frequently receives no offer at all, and that is not a failure of the process; it is the process working correctly.
Selling is also the wrong answer when a spouse’s retirement plan assumes the death benefit, when a special-needs beneficiary depends on it, when the policy provides estate liquidity that would otherwise force a sale of a family business or farm, or when the face amount is under roughly $100,000, which is generally below the size where buyers engage. Pine Lake works with policies of roughly $100,000 and above.
And it is the wrong answer when the real issue is affordability rather than need. Reducing the face amount or electing reduced paid-up often solves an affordability problem while keeping coverage in place, at no cost and with no transaction. If your health has declined materially since issue, the calculus changes — that is when a market review is worth doing. Compare with how policy value shifts after 75 and the general eligibility picture over 65.
Running the Review, and When to Repeat It
Block out two sessions. In the first, make the calls and request the documents; carriers typically deliver an in-force illustration within two to four weeks, sometimes faster by secure message. In the second, sit down with everything at once, because the decisions interact — a beneficiary problem changes whether a funding problem is worth fixing.
Bring one professional into it. If a trust owns any policy, that is your attorney. If a large loan or a possible surrender is on the table, that is your CPA. If several policies exist across carriers, consolidating the analysis in one place is worth doing — see reviewing several policies at once.
Repeat the review every three years, and immediately after any of these: a serious diagnosis, a death in the family, a divorce, the sale of a business, a change in the trustee, or a premium notice that goes up by more than you expected. Each of those changes an input the whole analysis rests on.
If you want a second set of eyes on whether a policy has market value, a free review starts with the policy cover page alone. Send it in or call (305) 209-7183, and expect a direct answer either way — here is what a free policy review actually involves. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides educational information only and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is 70 the right age to review policies?
Three things line up. Term conversion rights commonly expire at attained age 70, universal life cost-of-insurance charges begin climbing steeply, and beneficiary designations made decades earlier are statistically likely to be stale. Reviewing at 70 leaves every option available, which is no longer true once conversion windows close and health declines.
Does requesting an in-force illustration cost anything or start a sales process?
No. It is a document the carrier prepares on request for the policy owner, and requesting it does not obligate you to anything or notify an agent. Ask for it at three assumption sets: current premium with current charges, the premium needed to carry the policy to maturity, and full guaranteed charges.
Can I sell a policy at 70 if I am healthy?
Often not at a price worth taking. Buyers price on projected life expectancy, so a healthy 70-year-old represents many years of premium payments and offers compress toward or below surrender value. Receiving no offer in that situation is the market working correctly, not a problem with your policy or your paperwork.
What is the difference between cash value and cash surrender value?
Cash value is the accumulation account inside the policy. Cash surrender value is what the carrier will actually pay you, after subtracting any remaining surrender charge and any outstanding loan. On newer contracts the gap can be large. Always work from the surrender figure when comparing against any other option.
How do I find a policy I think exists but cannot locate?
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners runs a free Life Insurance Policy Locator Service that searches participating carriers on behalf of a policy owner or an executor. Also check old bank drafts for recurring insurance payments, employer benefit statements, and your state’s unclaimed property office, which holds proceeds from unclaimed policies.
Should I reduce the death benefit instead of dropping the policy?
It is worth pricing. Lowering the face amount on a universal life policy immediately reduces the monthly cost-of-insurance charge and can make an existing contract sustainable on the premium you already pay, while preserving the original issue-age pricing. Nobody earns a commission recommending it, which is part of why it goes unmentioned.
Find out what your policy is worth — free, confidential, no obligation.
A 15-minute educational review covers your eligibility, every alternative, and a realistic view of what each path would net you.
Related Reading
- Over 65 Sell Policy
- Age 75 Plus Policy Value
- What Is An In Force Illustration
- Annual Statement Line By Line
- Multiple Policies Consolidation Review
- Beneficiary Designation Outdated
- Term Conversion Deadline Approaching
- Free Policy Review What Happens
- Keeping The Policy Is The Right Answer
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.