Life insurance can be pretty hard on the wallet. In fact, many people forego getting life insurance altogether because they think it costs too much.
My response to that – “B.S.!” A recent study by LIMRA proved this showing that consumers overestimate the actual cost of life insurance by 3 times. If you are healthy, life insurance is cheap. The study showed that a healthy 30 year-old male can get $250k of coverage for roughly $150. That’s $150 for the entire year!
Okay, now that we understand that life insurance is cheap, let’s address some of issues that can cause your life insurance premiums to increase.
Life Insurance Costs
The price of life insurance relies on a variety of factors, many of which can be controlled by you. By making a few lifestyle changes and shopping around, life insurance can be something that is very affordable and not hurtful to your budget.
One way to lower the costs of term life insurance is to stay in good health. Duh, right? Insurance companies base premiums on the health of the individual. If you are considered to be high risk, your premiums will be higher. People who are overweight, frequent smokers and drinkers, have pre-existing conditions, or partake in high risk behaviors will have higher premiums.
For example, if you are buying life insurance online and are a diabetic, it may be hard to find insurance. Keep in mind it’s not impossible as we’ve helped plenty of diabetics get life insurance. You’re just not going to get approved for a Preferred Best rating class.
People who partake in activities such as sky diving, extreme sports bungee jumping and other risky behaviors will have higher premiums as well. If you are a smoker and have had health problems in the past, you will also be considered high risk, and therefore will have to pay higher premiums.
What really affects your life insurance rate is when you have multiple health issues. Being a diabetic won’t hurt you as much. But if you’re a diabetic, overweight, have high cholesterol, and smoke; then expect your life insurance rate to be considerably higher.
To prevent this, simply try to live a healthier lifestyle. People who live risk-free lifestyles and are in prime health will have no problem getting term life insurance, and will get lower premiums as well.
Independence is the Key
Getting life insurance online quotes nowadays is super easy and should only take you a few minutes. Just be sure to shop around when buying life insurance, or at least partner with an independent agent that has the ability to shop around with multiple carriers. One recent example was a guy who contacted me that already had a $1 million term policy with New York Life. He was paying around $1,400 a year for his policy and thought he had the best rate.
When we shopped it around we found several carriers that were significantly less with the cheapest coming in at $800 a year. He saved over $600 and all he had to was make a phone call!
I had a similar experience when I consolidated all my term policies into one $2.5 million term policy. I was able to get $250k more coverage for $400 less per year.
Remember this: Life Insurance is a commodity. A knowledgeable independent agent will be able to assist you finding an affordable term life policy than an agent that only represents on carrier.
Buying life insurance does not have to be difficult and definitely should not be overlooked because you think it costs to much.
Have you put off buying life insurance? If so, what’s holding you back?
This is a guest post by Jeff Rose, a certified financial planner and founder of Alliance Wealth Management, LLC. He blogs at GoodFinancialCents.com and LifeInsurancebyJeff.com.
This article has been provided by a guest contributor. Occasionally, we accept guest articles as a way to increase the variety of the content that you receive at Beating Broke. We hope you like it! 
It’s really tragic that so many who are breadwinners with minimal savings and dependents don’t have life insurance.
And ironic that they may not own life insurance because they think it is more expensive than it actually is.
Obviously, the solution to that misconception is to go look at real rates to see how cheap they are. You can easily check out the cost of term life using an online term insurance quoting engine.
Quality Term Life’s website has one that is easy to use and anonymous.
There’s never been a better time than now – rates are lower than ever. Protect your loved one’s future, today.
I haven’t bothered with life insurance. I go to the gym and eat as healthily as I can, largely a mediterranean diet. I know things can still go wrong but I like to focus my time and money on taking care of myself in the here and now.
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I know I put off buying life insurance for a long time simply because I thought it was too expensive. Once I actually looked into it and figured out it wasn’t so bad, I doubt I’d do without again.
My husband and I bot have life insurance through our employers.. worth 3x our salary. It’s a start, but it’s not much! I know we need more, but we’ve been putting it off. I think once we have children, we will finally take the steps to get more insurance.
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I had life insurance for a couple years, but cancelled it because they kept spamming my mailbox with “special offers”. I am curious if there exist good life-insurance companies, like award winners or something.
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Quitting smoking will help bring your premium down. If you have quit smoking, ask your provider to reevaluate the status of your policy each year. They may be able to lower your rates based upon the amount of time that has elapsed since you last smoked. Smoker generally pay a higher premium than non-smokers. This is due to the fact that the mortality rates are higher for smokers compared to non-smokers.Because the chances of dying from smoking-related causes is so prevalent, life insurance companies charge higher rates to compensate them for the added risk of extending a policy.
[...] we compared a $250,000 policy for a 30-year-old male of a no exam policy versus a cheap term life policy, it was almost double. The cheap term policy was $18.92 a month versus $34.76 a month for the [...]