Free tools/Age nearest vs age last birthday
On an age-nearest carrier a client is rated a year older from their half-birthday onward. Enter a date of birth and see both ages, and the exact day the rate age changes.
Defaults to today. Carriers rate from the date the application is signed or the policy is dated, so use that date if it is not today.
Both bases are shown because carriers differ, and the same carrier can differ between products. Read the rate sheet for the product you are quoting rather than assuming.
Enter a date of birth to see both ages.
This is an estimate, not a contract. It does the arithmetic from the values you enter. Policy terms, carrier rules, and state regulations vary, and the governing document is always the policy contract. Confirm anything you act on with the carrier. Nothing you type here leaves your browser: the calculation runs on your device and Pendwell never receives it.
Age last birthday is the ordinary answer to "how old are you": the age already reached. It changes once a year, on the birthday.
Age nearest birthday asks which birthday is closer, the one just gone or the one coming. For the first six months after a birthday the answer is the birthday just gone, so the two ages agree. From the half-birthday onward the next birthday is closer, and age nearest jumps a year ahead of age last.
The practical consequence is that on an age-nearest carrier the rate age changes on the half-birthday, not the birthday. A client born on March 13 is rated 47 from September 13, six months before they turn 47.
Rates are banded by age, so crossing a band raises the premium for the life of the policy. An application signed a day after the half-birthday on an age-nearest product is rated a full year older, on coverage that may run for thirty years. On a large face amount that is a meaningful number, and it is entirely avoidable if the date is known in advance.
This is one of the deadlines Pendwell Life tracks across a whole book: every client with pending or planned coverage whose rate age is about to move, surfaced early enough to do something about it, with the outreach written and sent for you.
Age last birthday is the age a person has actually reached. Age nearest birthday is the age of whichever birthday is closer, so it goes up six months before the birthday itself. From the half-birthday onward, the two differ by one year, and on an age-nearest carrier the client is rated a year older than they are.
Six months after the last birthday, which is six months before the next one. Someone born on March 13 is age nearest 46 until September 13, and age nearest 47 from September 13 onward, even though they do not turn 47 until the following March.
Both are in use. Many life carriers rate on age nearest birthday, while others use age last birthday, and the basis can differ between products at the same carrier. The policy contract and the rate sheet state which applies, so confirm it before quoting.
Rates are set by age band, so crossing into the next one raises the premium for the life of the policy. On an age-nearest carrier that crossing happens at the half-birthday, which routinely catches producers out: an application dated a day late can be rated a full year older on coverage that lasts thirty years.
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