He did say pay off the mortgages, which makes me wonder on the amount.

Statistically, if flu is 45ish, he has a 0.3% chance of dying (not including modifications for his prior medical conditions). If he’s 40ish it’s 0.2%.

Reversing the expected value, that indicates a policy needed in the $250K-$350K range.

So if he’s 45ish with 5 years or so to go on the policy and it’s north of $250K, technically he’s gambling with the odds in his favor.

Or think of it as an opportunity cost, expected value of $750/yr, not leveraged in a typical stock market return is worth right around the low $5K range over the next five years.

So think of it as gambling on a penny stock, it has a 98.5% chance to go to zero and a 1.5% chance to pay off the value of the policy and it costs $3750.

It’s a fairly small amount, so if this is a TL from your early and healthy 30s and is a $500K policy, kind of a no brainer to keep the policy until the term expires provided the $750 isn’t an issue.