Whole Life Gets More Shopper Attention

The holders can get cash out of either a whole life policy or a universal life policy by selling the policy, withdrawing assets or borrowing against the cash value.

MIB: MIB is a Braintree, Massachusetts-based organization that helps life insurers share underwriting information. It bases the monthly shopping statistics on application processing volume.

Age breakouts: Here’s how U.S. life application activity changed between February 2023 and the latest month for five age groups:

Ages 0-30: +2.5%
Ages 31-40: +5.8%
Ages 51-60: +0.3%
Ages 61-70: +1.6%
Ages 71 and older: +8.0%

Coverage costs: Policygenius, a web broker, publishes monthly price charts based on the prices that term life issuers offer their customers.

The lowest price is for a 25-year-old female nonsmoker who needs $250,000 in death benefits. The highest price is for a 60-year-old male smoker who needs $1 million in death benefits.

The cost for the young, female nonsmoker increased to $14.58, from $14.40. The cost for the 60-year-old male smoker is $1,621.84.

In 2023, the highest age included in the Policygenius index table was 55. For 55-year-old smokers, the cost of $1 million in coverage fell to $1,006.89, from $1,006.92.

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