Factors that Increase your Life Insurance
By USInsurance.com Staff
There are many factors in involved when looking for life insurance -- price and what the policy offers are crucial -- but if you are a smoker, overweight or a man your policy may be completely different to someone you know who doesn't smoke. Married couples, for example, usually think about life insurance for their children; while those that are single may hold off until later in life. The reason behind life insurance is to protect any loved ones who might suffer financially from the loss of income of the individual being insured. Some business owners sometimes buy a life insurance policy to protect themselves from the loss of a key employee.
How To Obtain Insurance:
Insurance is usually purchased through an insurance agent or a broker; whose policy amount is ten to 20 times the insured individual’s annual income. For example: someone earning $50,000 a year would opt for a policy that pays out $500,000. According to one industry professional life insurance ensures that when a breadwinner dies the family does not have to sell off assets to maintain their lifestyle. When it comes to terms of life insurance policies can run from 10 years to 30 years. The longer the policy, the more expensive it is.
What Effects Life Insurance Costs:
When it comes to life insurance costs, health is a major factor; an individual’s height and weight factor largely in what you will pay for insurance. Other issues that determine life insurance costs are cholesterol and blood pressure. Insurers will consider other issues like a family’s health history and something like a driving record or auto accidents can impact what you pay for life insurance. According to one industry participant, numerous violations will make an individual a risky candidate for life and auto insurance.
The Grading System:
As is the case with many insurance products, there is a grading system for life insurance. The grades run from preferred plus and preferred best to sub-standard.
Preferred plus and preferred best are ratings given to the healthiest individuals, then there is a standard rating for those with average health and a substandard is given to anyone with health issues. A person with diabetes, for example, would be given a substandard rating.
While you may get a rough insurance quote on what you can expect to pay for life insurance on a website, actually getting life insurance requires that you go through a complete physical; often a representative from the company is sent to person’s home or office. Urine and blood samples are taken as is blood pressure. Sometimes, a portable EKG is brought along for the tests. Some policies allow you to avoid the physical but these will cost more.
In addition to issues about health, insurers will want to know if you are, or have been, a smoker. Smokers will pay more for life insurance. “The difference between smoker rates and non-smoker rates is huge; in fact the premium can be double or more for a smoker," according to one industry professional.
Age for Life Insurance:
There is no set age when you should consider a life insurance plan. The youngest buyers of life insurance are individuals in their early 20s and they often are spurred into action when they start a family.
Other factors that may impact the cost of life insurance are your line of work; pilots for example can expect to more because they have riskier jobs.
Additionally, when it comes to life insurance men can expect to pay dramatically more than women for life insurance. That is because women typically live longer than men.
Stay as healthiest as you can, not only to live long and be strong; but not taking care of yourself can affect your life insurance policy.
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