Over 50 life insurance calculator
See how monthly payments on an over 50s plan add up, when they could pass the amount the plan pays out, and what insurers publish for your age. Results are shown on screen.
About this calculator
This calculator adds up what you would pay into an over 50s plan: the monthly premium times the number of monthly payments from your age now to the age you choose, ending when the plan stops taking payments. Add the cover amount and it also shows the payment after which your total would be more than the plan pays out. That is the cover amount divided by the premium, rounded down, plus one payment.
It assumes one payment a month and a premium that stays the same, as on a fixed plan, with payments ending on the birthday you choose under “Payments stop”. Some plans stop at the policy anniversary after that birthday, so a real total can be a little higher. It leaves out the qualifying period, increasing cover and inflation, which are explained below.
It does not estimate what cover your premium would buy, as that depends on the insurer, your age and whether you smoke. The published examples above show real figures, and the plans table below shows each plan’s limits.
Guaranteed over 50s plans compared
The table sets out the main terms of the over 50s plans in our insurer reviews, taken from each provider’s own documents. Providers are in alphabetical order. Select a provider for its full review, with its claims figures and ratings.
| Provider and plan | Age to apply | Premium a month | Qualifying period | Payments stop | Cash-in value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assurity Over 50s Whole of Life | 50–80 (smokers 50–75) | Up to £100 in total | 3 years (premiums refunded) | At 95 | None |
| Aviva Over 50s Life Insurance | 50–80 | £5–£100 | 12 months (premiums refunded) | At 90, or after 30 years if sooner | None |
| British Seniors Over 50s Life Insurance | 50–80 | From £4.52 (age 50) | 12 months (premiums refunded) | At 95 | None |
| Co-op Insurance Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance | 50–80 | From £5 | 1 year (premiums refunded) | At 90 | None |
| Legal & General Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance | 50–80 | £5–£75 | 1 year (premiums refunded) | At 90 | None |
| National Assurance Over 50s Life Insurance | 50–80 (smokers 50–75) | Up to £100 in total | 2 years (premiums refunded) | At 85 | None |
| National Friendly Over 50s Life Cover | 50–80 (smokers 50–75) | £10–£100 | 2 years, or 6 months if you answer 2 optional medical questions (payments refunded) | Never: paid for life | None |
| NatWest Guaranteed Over 50s | 50–80 | £5–£100 | 12 months (premiums refunded) | At 90, or after 30 years if sooner | None |
| OneFamily Over 50s Life Cover | 50–80 | £10–£75 | 2 years (150% of premiums paid) | At 90 | None |
| Post Office Over 50s Life Cover | 50–80 | From £5 (age 50) | 12 months (1.5 times premiums paid) | At 95 | None |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Guaranteed Over 50s | 50–80 | £5–£100 | 12 months (premiums refunded) | At 90, or after 30 years if sooner | None |
| Sainsbury’s Over 50s Life Insurance – Fixed Plan | 50–80 | From £5 | 1 year (premiums refunded) | At 90 | None |
| Santander Over 50s Life Insurance | 50–80 | £5–£100 | 12 months (premiums refunded) | At 90, or after 30 years if sooner | None |
| Scottish Friendly My Mutual Guaranteed Over 50s Plan | 50–74 | From £7 | 2 years (premiums refunded) | At 90, or earlier with fund growth (not guaranteed) | None |
| Shepherds Friendly Over 50s Life Insurance | 50–80 | £10–£50 | 2 years (150% of premiums paid) | At 90, or after 30 years if sooner | None |
| Smart Insurance Smart Guaranteed Life Insurance | 30–80 | From £3.57 (age 30) | 24 months (premiums refunded) | At 95 | None |
| SunLife Guaranteed Over 50 Plan | 49–85 | £4–£74 | 1 year (premiums refunded) | At 95 | None |
| TSB Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance | 50–80 | £5–£75 | 1 year (premiums refunded) | At 90 | None |
| Ulster Bank Guaranteed Over 50s | 50–80 | £5–£100 | 12 months (premiums refunded) | At 90, or after 30 years if sooner | None |
The qualifying period is the time before the full cover amount is paid for a death that is not accidental. “In total” means the limit applies across all of that provider’s over 50s plans you hold.
Compare quotes from a panel of UK insurers
- Quick 3 step process
- 60 second form
- Free quotes, no obligation
How much over 50s life insurance do I need?
Over 50s plans pay a fixed cash sum, and each plan limits how much cover you can have. For example, L&G pays at most £10,000 across all its Over 50s policies, SunLife’s limit is £18,000 across its guaranteed-acceptance policies and Scottish Friendly’s is £20,000.
SunLife, for example, describes the payout as money towards funeral expenses or debts, or as a legacy. A simple way to set a figure is to add up what you would like it to cover, such as a contribution to your funeral, any debts and a gift, and take away savings you have already set aside for them.
Then check what that figure would cost. With Scottish Friendly’s plan, for example, you choose either the monthly premium you can afford or the cash sum you need, and the cost depends on your age, whether you smoke and the cover you choose. L&G says its customers paid an average of £26.99 a month over the six months to 8 June 2026, and Aviva says over half of its Over 50s customers pay £30 a month or less.
Don’t assume the payout will pay for a whole funeral. The FCA has warned that some over 50s plan promotions misled people into thinking the policy would cover funeral costs in full.
Over 60 life insurance: what the examples show
At 60, the published examples give a feel for what a typical premium buys. SunLife’s guide shows a non-smoker paying £20 a month getting a payout of £4,470. OneFamily’s comparison shows £4,955 for a 60-year-old non-smoker paying £20 a month, and L&G’s example gives £6,046 for £25 a month. The Post Office’s illustration puts £5,000 of cover at £25.20 a month for a non-smoker aged 60.
Our broker partner’s guaranteed over 50 illustrations for age 60 are “£929 Cover Amount - 60 year old born in 1966 (SunLife)” at £5 a month and “£2,214 Cover Amount - 60 year old born in 1966 (One Family)” at £10 a month. The full wording is under the published examples above.
Starting at 60 on a plan that stops payments at 90 means up to 360 monthly payments. In OneFamily’s example, £20 a month from 60 until premiums stop at 90 adds up to £7,200 for £4,955 of cover, and the total passes the payout after 248 payments, about 20 years and 8 months. Put your own premium and cover amount into the calculator to see the same point for a plan you are considering.
How much is life insurance for a 70 year old?
Most guaranteed over 50s plans accept new customers up to age 80, including Aviva’s and L&G’s. SunLife’s plan accepts people up to 85 and Scottish Friendly’s up to 74, and some plans take smokers only up to 75, such as National Friendly’s.
The same premium buys less cover the older you are when you start. For £20 a month, SunLife’s example payout falls from £5,694 at 50 to £2,776 at 70 and £1,442 at 80. L&G’s £25-a-month example gives £3,701 at 70, and the Post Office’s £5,000 of cover costs £39.69 a month at 70, against £18.99 at 50.
Because each pound buys less cover, your payments pass the payout sooner. In SunLife’s example, an 80-year-old paying £20 a month would have paid in more than the £1,442 payout after 73 payments, about 6 years and 1 month, while a 50-year-old would take 285 payments, about 23 years and 9 months.
A guaranteed plan is not the only option at 70. Term life insurance runs for a fixed number of years and asks about your health before cover is offered. Our broker partner’s level term illustrations include “£3,532 over 10 years - 70 year old born in 1956 (Aviva)” at £5 a month and “£7,068 over 10 years – 70 year old born in 1956 (Aviva)” at £10 a month, with the full wording at the foot of this page. Our life insurance calculator can help you work out an amount of term cover.
When you could pay in more than the plan pays out
An over 50s plan pays a fixed sum whenever you die, but the payments carry on for years. Insurers say plainly that you may pay in more than you get back: L&G warns that, depending on how long you live, total premiums paid may be greater than the cash sum, and Aviva says that in some cases you might pay in more than is paid out. MoneyHelper says over 50s plans are not always good value for this reason.
Some insurers tell you when this would happen. National Friendly’s policy schedule gives the age at which you will have paid in more than the payout, and Santander’s Over 50s quote shows the age at which the premiums paid equal the cover amount. Shepherds Friendly’s own fair value assessment says an average policyholder who keeps paying beyond age 85 is likely to pay more in premiums than the benefit.
The age at which payments stop limits the total. Most plans in the table stop taking payments at 85, 90 or 95, or after 30 years, and the cover then carries on. National Friendly’s Over 50s Life Cover takes payments for life.
Stopping payments early is a different matter. On most plans the cover ends and you get nothing back: Aviva cancels the policy and does not return the premiums, and SunLife says the cover ends and nothing is paid back. A few plans pay part of the cover. The Post Office’s Protected Benefit pays at least half the benefit if you stop after the halfway point, and Scottish Friendly pays a reduced cash benefit if you stop after more than 5 years of premiums.
Guaranteed acceptance and the qualifying period
Guaranteed over 50s plans accept you if you meet the age and residence rules. Aviva, for example, guarantees to accept eligible applicants without asking any health questions. Some plans ask whether you smoke, as this affects the price: OneFamily says it is the only lifestyle question it asks.
In return, the full cover amount is only paid for a death from natural causes after a qualifying period. On the plans in the table this runs from 1 year to 3 years, though National Friendly cuts its 2 years to 6 months if you answer two optional medical questions. If you die of natural causes in that time, most plans pay back the premiums you have paid. OneFamily and Shepherds Friendly pay back 150% of them, and the Post Office 1.5 times.
Accidental death is usually covered from the start, and some plans pay more for it: twice the benefit with British Seniors and the Post Office, double with National Friendly if death is within 30 days of the accident, and three times with Smart Insurance. The calculator leaves these out, as they change what is paid on a claim, not what you pay in.
Inflation and a fixed payout
On a fixed plan the cash sum is set when you start and does not change, so rising prices reduce what it will buy. L&G, SunLife and Aviva all point this out in their documents.
As an illustration only: if prices rose by 3% a year, £5,000 paid out in 20 years’ time would buy about what £2,768 buys today. The 3% is an assumption for the example, not a forecast.
Some plans let the cover rise each year, for a premium that rises too. With the Post Office’s Increasing Benefit Option, the cover goes up each year by 3% of the starting amount and the premium by 4.5% of the starting premium. On Sainsbury’s Increasing Plan the cash sum rises with the Retail Price Index (RPI), and the premium by 1.5 times the change in RPI. The calculator assumes a premium that stays the same, so it does not fit these plans.
Over 50s life insurance questions
Most of the plans in the table above take new customers up to 80, including Aviva’s. SunLife’s Guaranteed Over 50 Plan accepts UK residents aged 49 to 85. Our broker partner’s illustrations include “£11 per month for £510 Cover Amount - 85 year old born in 1941 (SunLife)”.
No. Guaranteed plans accept you if you meet the age and residence rules. Aviva, for example, guarantees to accept eligible applicants without asking any health questions. Some ask whether you smoke, as it affects the price.
Most plans have a qualifying period of 1 year to 3 years. A death from natural causes in that time usually gets the premiums back rather than the cover amount, while an accidental death is usually covered from the start. The table above shows each plan’s terms.
Yes. If you live long enough, your payments can add up to more than the fixed payout, and insurers warn about this in their documents. Enter your premium and cover amount in the calculator to see after how many payments this would happen.
It depends on the plan: at 85 with National Assurance, 90 with L&G, 95 with SunLife, at 90 or after 30 years with Aviva, or never with National Friendly. Cover carries on after the payments stop.
On most plans the cover ends and you don’t get back what you have paid, as the plans have no cash-in value. A few pay part of the cover if you stop late in the plan, such as the Post Office’s Protected Benefit.
Not on a fixed plan: the cash sum stays the same, so it buys less over time. Some plans offer increasing cover, where the cover and the premium both rise each year.
It may not cover all of it. The payout is a fixed sum, and the FCA has warned that some over 50s plan promotions misled people into thinking the policy would pay for a funeral in full.
Many plans cover one person only, so partners take out a plan each. Aviva’s and L&G’s Over 50s plans work this way.
Sources
The facts on this page come from these sources.
- MoneyHelper: What is life insurance? (opens in a new tab) · moneyhelper.org.uk, accessed 26 September 2026.
- Insurer documents: Assurity, Aviva, British Seniors, Co-op Insurance, Legal & General, National Assurance, National Friendly, NatWest, OneFamily, Post Office, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury’s, Santander, Scottish Friendly, Shepherds Friendly, Smart Insurance, SunLife, TSB, Ulster Bank. Each insurer’s policy documents, claims figures and announcements are listed in our review of that insurer.
Related pages
-
Over 50s life insurance
Guaranteed acceptance for ages 50–85, and what to check before you buy.
-
Guaranteed life insurance
Guaranteed acceptance for ages 50–85, and how the initial period works.
-
Over 60s life insurance
Term, whole of life and over 50s plans in your 60s.
-
Over 50 life insurance with a free gift
Over 50s plans with a gift card offer, and the conditions.
-
Whole of life insurance
Lifelong cover and how it differs from term cover.
-
Life insurance in trust
How a trust works and how it can affect the payout.
