Back when I turned 50, I obtained a level term policy for 20 years for $250K. I pay only $47 month for it and the premium can never be raised.

I wasn’t in quite as good of shape as scaredy at the time …. but close. My underwriter was John Hancock and they had their nurse submit to them front, side and rear pics of me, as well as taking my height and weight and conducting a battery of labs and other tests on me.

I am in better shape now but have since gotten the bad news (on my medical record) that I possess a gene for an inherited cancer (which I long suspected). Knowledge of this would scare the bej@sus out of any life insurance carrier.

So I am SOL if I want any more coverage. Fortunately, I have only 3/4 of one kid left to assist through college and a small mortgage left on my home (which I could have paid off as early as 2012, but choose not to).

None of us can pick our parents. But we can all do the very best we can with the body we are given.