How to Save Money on Life Insurance

There usually comes a time in a person's life when, though they'd rather not consider their mortality, it becomes apparent that buying life insurance is a wise move. Life insurance can be a costly venture, but if you educate yourself, you can save money on your life insurance premiums. Read on to learn how to save money on life insurance.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Hop on the life insurance bandwagon early to save yourself some money. The younger you are when you actually buy your life insurance policy, the less expensive your premiums will be. That's because you'll (in theory, at least) be healthier, and the insurer (again, in theory) will have a longer period of time over which to collect premiums.
2. Get in shape. Life insurance premiums adjust upward based on a defined set of risk factors, including a person's weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If you know that you are in the market for life insurance, visit your doctor and get your cholesterol, blood pressure and weight checked. If any of them are out of line, ask your doctor for advice on recommended lifestyle changes. Then, follow your doctor's advice. Once you have your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, shop for life insurance.
3. Avoid the plunge--the plunge off the skydiving platform that is. Life insurers all ask if you engage in risky behaviors such as piloting airplanes, skydiving, rock climbing or driving a motorcycle, among others. If you engage in any of these activities, you will be placed in a higher risk pool, and your premiums will increase accordingly. In fact, some insurance companies are so conservative, they won't insure you at all or they may place exclusions in your policy stating that they will not pay benefits or may pay reduced benefits if you die as a consequence of pursuing a specified high-risk activity.
4. Save yourself some money by purchasing term life insurance instead of whole life. With term life insurance, you pay premiums for the duration of the term, and if you die during that term your beneficiaries receive the face value of policy assuming the cause of death is not an excluded event. Once the term lapses, the coverage ends and no benefits would be paid in the event of your death. Whole life insurance costs more because a portion of the premium is placed in a savings account. If you die, your beneficiaries receive the face value of the policy. If you don't die, you receive payments from the savings account once you reach a milestone age as defined in the policy. Either way, the insurer is going to pay benefits and so the premiums are higher to protect the insurer.

Tips & Warnings

• If changing your exercise routine and diet are not steps that you will realistically take to bring your health in line, don't delay your life insurance purchase.