10 Other Factors that Affect Your Life Insurance Premiums

As a smoker, you already know that your habit has an effect on your life insurance rates, so you don't need to have that driven home any further. What about the other factors that can affect your policy, though. Is there anything that you can do about those in order to make sure you get the best rates? There are some things you can change, but like most of life - it's beyond your control.

1. Your Age: The older you are, the more expensive just about every insurance gets, especially as you approach 60 years of age. This is one of the advantages of buying a whole life insurance policy early. If you buy it when you're 25 years old, it will be amazingly inexpensive compared to buying or renewing a term policy when you are 55.
2. Your Weight: Weight has been proven to be a factor in overall health and life expectancy. If you are obese or morbidly so, your insurance rates will reflect a greater level of risk that you pose to the insuring company.
3. Your Gender: Life insurance is one place where women can reap back a little of the higher premiums they must pay in health insurance rates. With a longer life expectancy than men (though the gap is slowly closing), insurance rates treat them more favorably than their male counterparts.
4. Your Location: Life expectancies vary not only according to gender, but also according to where you live. This is why every so often you will see or hear a news report about the "healthiest cities in America." That statistical data is compiled, in part, based on mortality rates for persons living in those cities. This actuarial data is taken into consideration when deciding your life insurance rates.
5. Your Profession: If you are a skydiving instructor you can expect to pay more for life insurance than if you were a schoolteacher (though in some schools this may seem a little unfair).
6. Your Family History: Science has discovered and is discovering more and more the genetic links that tell if your parents came down with a fatal disease at some point before they were 50, you may be at risk of that same disease. This knowledge will affect your life insurance rates.
7. Your Current Health: Many life insurance companies require a physical examination before coverage can begin. This is because they do not want to risk writing policies for those who are already seriously ill and just trying to cash in on a short-term basis. If you have any current conditions, it is best to be up front and honest about them on your life insurance application instead of running the risk that they will find out later or possibly deny paying a death benefit to your beneficiaries.
8. Your Prior Medical History: If you have been sick in the past with such diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia, or other conditions that tend to shorten lifespan, naturally you would expect your quote for low smokers insurance rates to be somewhat higher.
9. Your Prior Insurance Coverage: Going without insurance for a long period of time may have a derogatory effect on your insurance rates because an insurer has no point of reference from which to write a current policy.
10. Your Marital Status: Statistics have proven that married couples tend to have longer, healthier lives than singles. Though you probably don't want to run out and get married just to find a lower life insurance rate, if you do have a policy and get married, you might want to check to see if you can get a reduction.