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Factors That Impact Life Insurance Costs
Nobody wants to pay too much for term life insurance. When you’re searching for affordable life insurance, it’s important to understand the different factors that can impact the amount you’ll be required to pay in monthly premiums.
Factors That Affect Life Insurance Costs:
Age: The younger you are when you apply for term life insurance, the lower your premiums are going to be.
Gender: In most business and social atmospheres, discriminating based on gender is very inappropriate and even illegal. However, in the life insurance world, your gender plays a large role in the cost of your insurance. Considering insurance premiums are based on your life expectancy, life insurance companies will always consider your gender during their underwriting process as they determine your cost. The life expectancy for a woman is longer than that of a man. Because of this, life insurance companies tend to offer lower premiums to a woman than they will to a man for the same amount of coverage and length of insurance.
>> Check out our sample term life insurance rates for males and females
Health: Before you’re approved for a life insurance policy, you’ll be required to share information about your medical history, and you might even be required to undergo a physical exam. If you’re in good health, with no major illnesses or recent surgeries, you’ll benefit from lower premiums. If you have significant health problems, your premiums will be higher, if you’re even eligible for coverage.
Height/Weight Ratio: Because your physical build directly affects your state of health, insurance companies will always place importance on your height and weight ratio. The larger you are, the more likely you are to get diabetes, have high blood pressure, or have a heart attack. Because these outcomes are more likely, life insurance companies will consider larger people to be more of a risk. The higher risk will equate to higher insurance premiums.
Inherited Illnesses: There are many illnesses that are passed from one generation to the next. When you have your life insurance exam the doctor will ask you to reveal any predisposing medical conditions. You must reveal these because if you don’t and it is discovered that you knew before and did not offer this information, your life insurance policy may be deemed null and void.
Smoking Status: Life insurance premiums are higher for smokers than for those who don’t smoke. If you quit smoking while insured, you’ll need to wait a year and apply for lower premiums. You’ll have to undergo a blood test to verify that you no longer smoke before your premiums are reduced. Life insurance companies consider pipe, cigar, chewing tobacco, dip, snuff, nicotine patches, and nicotine gum as ‘other tobacco’. Other tobaccos or nicotine users are sometimes looked at more favorably than heavy or moderate cigarette smokers.
>> Find out more about life insurance for smokers
Occupation: Individuals who work in particularly high-risk occupations often have to pay higher rates for term life insurance.
Lifestyle: Take a closer look at your lifestyle and hobbies. Are they dangerous or life-threatening in any way? Hobbies like skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding, rock climbing, and others, all contribute to increasing your risk level in the eyes of a life insurance company. Different life insurance companies tend to view various hobbies differently and it’s important to shop around before deciding on your life insurance policy in such cases.
>> More on: life insurance for high-risk hobbies
By improving your health and lifestyle, you can save yourself a lot of money on premiums. If you have more questions regarding these factors please feel free to give us a call. At LifeQuote, our experienced insurance agents will work with you to find the term life insurance company with the most competitive rates for your situation.
It’s advisable to do some comparison shopping online before you get an actual policy. You can get quotes from multiple life insurance companies within a matter of minutes. And all of this will be FREE without talking to an agent and any commitment to buy a life insurance policy.
If you are looking for some more information and have any concerns, you can call at (800) 521-7873 to talk to one of your life insurance advisors.
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