Looking in from the outside, retirement in Kingwood’s Deerwood looks amazing. Morning tee times off Forest Garden Drive, afternoons out on Lake Houston. But many people are caught unawares when they retire and the life insurance policy they had for years with their employer isn’t covering them anymore.
You carried life insurance for a reason. And those reasons probably still exist.
Your Employer’s Policy Stayed Behind When You Walked Out the Door
A lot of Kingwood retirees spent decades commuting down the Eastex Freeway to work at energy and engineering firms. The group life insurance you had through work undoubtedly gave you a lot of peace of mind. But that policy belonged to your employer. It was only attached to you temporarily.
When you retired, your life insurance may have completely ended or was at least cut back sharply.
The 31 Day Window You Have in TX
Texas Insurance Code requires group life insurance policies to allow you to move into an individual policy when your employment is over. You have 31 days after that coverage stops to apply.
At age 65, an insurer can’t ask you for evidence of insurability. So there’s no physical and no health questionnaire. That’s the whole point for anyone whose medical chart is a little thicker than it was a decade ago.
What You Get With Life Insurance Conversion
In Texas, you’re allowed to pick any individual policy an insurer normally writes, except a term policy. A conversion will move you off temporary coverage and into permanent coverage that you’ll have for life
We advise clients at Boss Insurance Agency to pull their group certificate the year before they retire. This gives them plenty of time to get everything in order. The conversion terms live in that document and it can read differently depending on the carrier.
Talk with an Expert in TX Who Knows Life Insurance
Get in touch with Boss Insurance Agency today to have someone look over your group certificate with you and explore your conversion options while you can still use them.
