Determining Your Premium
When you are shopping for a life insurance policy, you want to look for the best rates so that you can get the most coverage for your money. Before you start shopping around, you should familiarize yourself with the criteria that will be used to set your premiums no matter where you buy.
An Assessment of Risk
No matter what type of insurance a person is buying – be it medical, life, car, or home owner's, one should expect to be viewed as a statistic for at least part of the process, as the prospective insurer evaluates how likely it is that a payment will have to be made during the course of your policy. After all, insurance works because a collective of people are sharing risk – if everyone who signed up wound up collecting, the company would go out of business. That's why when you are planning to buy a policy, you will be assessed to determine what sort of risk you bring with you.
Non-Smokers Preferred
We all know that smoking is a difficult habit to break, but it is also a habit that shortens the average person's lifespan and makes him susceptible to a variety of serious medical problems including lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. If you are a smoker, your life insurance premiums will absolutely be higher than if you quit, and they may remain so for a period of several years even after you quit as you still face an increased chance of health problems that could lead to your death.
If you use smokeless tobacco or smoke cigars occasionally (and do not smoke cigarettes at all), you may be eligible for better rates depending on the company's rules and regulations. Those habits are sometimes viewed as less toxic. However, avoiding all tobacco products is the best way to obtain good pricing on your coverage.
Healthy Weight is a Weighty Matter
Another factor used to determine your insurability is your weight. Like smoking, being seriously overweight can have a detrimental impact on your health and lifespan, leading to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other issues. Even complications from minor illnesses can be more severe if you are carrying around an unhealthy amount of excess weight. Most insurers use a body mass index calculator that incorporates your height, weight, and build to assess whether or not you are obese. True obesity will mean significantly higher premiums, and a moderate weight increase for an average person can mean transferring out of a preferred, or discounted, rate category.
Your Age Counts
Like weight, age is another number that counts when it comes to purchasing term or whole life. It is not pleasant to think about, but as we age, we become more likely to contract serious illnesses or die from natural causes. Buying a policy in your 20s and 30s will be much cheaper than buying one in your 50s and 60s, though renewing one that you started at a young age is usually the best way to keep your rates as low as possible.
Overall, there is not a lot you can do about your age, but you can control your weight and your smoking habits to improve your premiums (and live a healthier life)!
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