Jay Jackson
Chairman & CEO
Last month, I was on the Moore Money Show with Steve Moore, and we discussed a question that still stops people cold every time: “What is the age group with the highest suicide rate in America?”
Most people guess teenagers. Maybe people in their 20s struggling with mental health. The answer catches everyone off guard: it’s people over 75.
Our greatest generation—the people who built this country, who sacrificed, who worked their whole lives—has the highest suicide rate of any age group on a per capita basis.
The reasons are heartbreaking and complex: loneliness, depression, loss of purpose, declining health. But one factor that doesn’t get talked about enough is financial. Our seniors don’t want to be a burden. The number one cause of elder abuse in America is self-harm, and often it’s driven by the fear of becoming a financial drain on their families.
This is where the conversation about longevity planning—something I know I touch on regularly in this newsletter—gets urgent. It’s not just about making your money last—it’s about maintaining dignity, independence, and quality of life for what could be 20 or 30 years in retirement.
Having to plan for a longer life means it’s crucial to have every tool and asset at your disposal.
The Asset You Didn’t Know You Had
This is a topic I’ve covered before, but it bears repeating because so few people actually act on it: life insurance was defined by the Supreme Court as personal property. That means you can sell it and transfer that right to a third party at whatever the current market price is.
Think about that. You bought life insurance 30 or 40 years ago when your kids were young. You wanted to make sure they’d be taken care of if something happened to you. You’ve been making payments ever since.
Now your kids are financially independent. They’re 35, 40, 45 years old. They don’t need that safety net anymore. But you’re still paying premiums on a policy that might be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in current value.
It’s like continuing to make mortgage payments on a house you no longer live in instead of selling it.
The Math Nobody Does
Here’s a staggering statistic: there’s $14 trillion of life insurance in force in the United States. Ninety percent of it never pays a claim.
That’s not because people are living forever. It’s because policies lapse. People stop making payments. They forget the policy exists. They don’t realize it has current market value beyond the death benefit.
What we’ve seen at Abacus runs the full spectrum—from contracts worth a few hundred thousand dollars to several million—all depending on your health profile and the specifics of your policy.
The point is: this isn’t pocket change. This is real liquidity that could fundamentally change your retirement.
The Question You’re Not Asking
Steve asked me what someone in their mid-60s should do with their life insurance policy. My answer surprised him, though regular readers of this newsletter will recognize the theme.
The first question isn’t “what’s my policy worth?” The first question is: “How long am I going to be in this contract?”
In other words: what’s your actual life expectancy based on your current health profile?
This is the missing piece in almost all retirement planning—something I’ve written about extensively. We have target-date funds to get you to retirement, but no guidance once you’re there. And that guidance should be completely customized to you—not to some population average, but to your actual medical situation.
Lifespan as an Arc of Possibilities
Here’s what we do at Abacus: we aggregate your medical files and compare your current health profile to everyone else who’s had a mortality experience with the same profile. This gives you a realistic picture of your life arc—not a straight line to some average age, but an arc of possibilities based on who you actually are.
Once you know that, you can make informed decisions. If your estimated lifespan is 20 years, what are your costs going to be for the next 20 years? How does that life insurance policy fit into that picture? Should you keep paying premiums, or should you monetize that asset now and deploy the capital where it will actually improve your life?
This applies to everything, by the way—not just life insurance. Should you defer Social Security? Should you defer Medicare? Why would you defer if your lifespan is short? You’ve got to know the math behind these decisions, and so many people just guess.
What That Money Could Mean
Steve mentioned wanting a house in Palm Beach when he retires but not having enough cash for the down payment. His life insurance policy might be that down payment.
For a lot of the people we work with, it’s not about survival—the average policy we buy is over a million and a half dollars. These aren’t people struggling to make their next mortgage payment. It’s about lifestyle. It’s about options. It’s about not being a burden.
And often, we’re working with their children—adult kids helping their parents in their 80s who didn’t realize there was value in these old policies. That money can mean the difference between institutional care and aging in place. Between giving up independence and maintaining dignity.
What You Can Do Today
If you’re in your 60s, 70s, or 80s—or if you have parents in that age range—here’s what I’d recommend:
First, get a realistic picture of your health profile and life expectancy. Not the population average. Your actual situation.
Second, look at your life insurance policy as an asset, not just a death benefit. What’s its current market value? Does it still serve the purpose you bought it for, or has your situation changed?
Third, think about liquidity. In volatile markets, people forget that one of their most valuable assets for immediate cash could be sitting right there in their estate plan.
Your life insurance policy isn’t just about what happens when you pass away. It’s about having options while you’re alive.
And that might be the difference between merely surviving your retirement and actually thriving in it.
