Think life insurance rates are too high? Follow these tips to lower life insurance premiums.
- Get healthy! It’s the easiest way to get significant reductions in life insurance premiums, but perhaps the hardest. What lifestyle changes can you make in order to get cheaper life insurance premiums? For starters, quit smoking if you currently smoke. Smoker rates are often more than double that of non-smokers. The same goes for alcohol– carriers don’t look too kindly on daily alcohol consumption. Another really important premium dampener is obesity. When you’re not in the best shape, it affects your health. Obese people suffer many complications, from a predisposition to serious heart disease, diabetes and cancer to other alarming indicators like high levels of cholesterol. If you haven’t considered it already, take serious steps to become healthier. Sign up for a weight loss support program that will assist you.
- Apply young. The best part about buying young comes when you purchase level term life insurance. You get to pay a young healthy person’s rates even when you grow older and your health suffers the natural course of aging. If you didn’t have the opportunity to buy when you were young, teach your friends and family about the benefits of life insurance coverage early on. Some people like buying multiple policies that cover them in short intervals one after another. A benefit of owning life insurance this way is that as you near retirement years, your need for coverage decreases if you’ve been saving consistently and have your own retirement fund or long-term care plan. A smaller amount of coverage, of course, means cheaper premiums in retirement.
- Drive safe, and make sure you are keeping risky hobbies in check. Driving safely can keep your premiums down by as much as 15%. Many people who like activities like scuba diving, flying or skydiving have trouble keeping their premiums down. While it is hard convincing insurance actuaries that the hobby you like effectively has the same risk rate as say driving on an American Highway (often an argument used by skydivers or tandem jumpers), it still makes for a very hard sell. How can you overcome this? By finding out statistics on accident rates in the hobbies you pursue. You could write a letter to your life insurance company detailing these statistics and hope they reason with you. Or else, look at community groups in your area that offer group life insurance, like an aviators’ club. When it’s hard to find life insurance in this case, resorting to group life insurance from work may be an option, but make sure to find out if death due to a risky hobby is covered.
Now that you’re clear on the facts, run your numbers and better understand how much coverage you need using our nifty calculator.
Nifty Life Insurance Calculator
Our Life Insurance Calculator can help you get a rough idea of how much coverage you’ll need to make sure your family is okay financially when you die.
Annual income before tax: $
Annual income is an important factor in determining your needs, but it’s not the only one. When you die, your life insurance is like your final paycheck.% of income needed by dependents: %
Because you’ll be gone, presumably they won’t need as much as you’re currently earning. Typically, 80% of your current income is a good place to start.Your Age: years
The younger you are, the more years of your income your family stands to lose when you die.Number of years benefits are needed:
If you died tomorrow, how many years of income do you want to provide for your family?Annual inflation rate (estimate): %
Because of inflation, in order to maintain your family’s current standard of living, you’ll need to plan for increases in their annual income to keep pace. Historically, inflation has averaged between 2% and 4%.Annual interest rate (estimate): %
This is an assumption as to how much you believe your spouse will be able to earn on the death benefit proceeds. We have found that most surviving spouses are usually very conservative in how they invest the death benefit. The most common thing we see is that the money gets deposited into a bank account. You know your spouse better than anyone. Pick a number that you feel your spouse will be able to comfortably earn on the proceeds.
So what’s next? Call us at 877-794-9817 and let’s chat about the types of coverage that may make the most sense for you.
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