If you're young and in good health, you're lucky: you may be able to get an excellent price on life insurance if you play your cards right. But although some risk factors, like chronic illness, can raise your premiums, some of your lifestyle choices may do so as well. In addition to shopping around, you can also take these four steps to make sure you don't overpay on life insurance premiums.
1. Don't wait
The younger you are when you buy life insurance, the longer you may have to pay premiums, but you'll also be more likely to find a good rate now than if you wait a decade or two. Don't wait until you feel like you need life insurance or you may have added risk factors that will raise premiums.
2. Take advantage of good health
Did you finally manage to lose that extra weight and keep it off? Get some quotes from insurance companies, even if you already have life insurance; you may be able to get a lower premium. (However, be aware that some companies won't take weight loss into consideration unless you've kept the weight off for about a year.) Similarly, other health problems can increase life insurance premiums, so if you've gotten over a health problem that you had, or if you've never had any serious health problems yet, now is the ideal time to find low premiums.
3. Take a break from smoking
Smoking puts you at risk for some deadly health conditions, such as cancer, so insurance companies take it very seriously. In fact, even if you're not addicted, smoking may lower your chances of getting good rates. As a smoker, you may be paying over a thousand dollars a year extra on life insurance. So if you want to save money, try taking a break for a few months or a year and see if you can get a lower insurance quote. (It depends on your insurance company, but either way, you'll have saved a good deal of money on cigarettes!)
4. Don't live on the edge
Because life insurers care about how likely you are to die, anything you do habitually that puts you in danger can lead to an increase in premiums. This can include your profession, which obviously is not worth changing just for lower premiums, but it can also include skydiving, bungee jumping, and other extreme activities. Careless driving (indicated by a long record of tickets and other incidents) also increases risks to your safety and consequently insurance premium levels.
These four steps can help you achieve lower life insurance premiums, and some of them can also help you increase your chances of living a long, healthy life. So whether or not you lower your rates as much as you're hoping, you'll still win!
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