With most opportunities in life, there is a cost associated with waiting or foregoing that opportunity. Life insurance is no different. While the window of time you are able to purchase a policy may be large, the earlier the policy is secured, the more its value will grow over time.

For example, Customer 1, a male age 35, purchases a $100,000 permanent 90 Life policy from Northwestern Mutual. His contract premium is $1,533.00. Customer 2, a male age 40, purchases the same policy. His contract premium is $1884.00. When both customers are 85 years old, their policy breakdowns are quite different.

Customer 1 secured protection five years earlier than Customer 2. Not only did he receive the value of an additional five years of protection, he also realized financial value from his foresight. His policy has a total cash surrender value of $71,566 more than Customer 2 and he has $83,295 more in total insurance. Even more astounding, he has paid $8,130 less in premiums than his counterpart.*

The cost of waiting to buy life insurance includes not only the financial risks assumed when a life is unprotected. It also involves the financial value not realized when a policy is purchased later in life.