Life insurance is not a small decision to make and if you’re going to be making payments, it’s important that you know how that amount of money was calculated and what factors affect it. Having this knowledge might help you get a better premium rate with your provider and will help you understand the wide dynamics that go into this industry.
Hopefully, by the end of the article, you’ll be a little wiser! While we’ll only be discussing some of the factors, there are a lot more things that insurance companies consider. However, knowing these 10 factors will still have you better prepared than not knowing anything at all.
AGE
Age is the primary and most important factor which insurance companies take into account when calculating your premium. Simply put, if you are at a younger age, then your risk for dying is a lot less. This is why younger applicants are offered a lower rate. This is why it’s best to buy your coverage at the earliest age possible!
HEALTH
When you apply for insurance coverage, one of the first tasks you’ll be assigned is to get a full medical examination to judge your current health. The better your health is, the better your premium and coverage will be. This is also done to ensure there are no future health risks, which would also have an adverse impact on your insurance premiums. Your medical history will also be examined for the same factors.
GENDER
While this may not expressly affect your premium rates, studies have shown that gender does play a large role in the determination of insurance premiums and coverage. Women tend to get better premium rates because, generally, women are expected to live longer life than men.
OCCUPATION
While this may not seem relevant, you’d be surprised! If your job is of a risky nature, such as a contractor or miner, your premium rates will be higher as the risk of death, injury or disease is significantly higher. If you have a desk job, which does not entail the same degree of risk, then your premiums will be much better.
MARITAL STATUS
If you purchase an insurance policy as a couple, you are likely to get a better overall premium rate. For some reason, insurance companies offer better rates to couples than individuals, even if they may be married. Getting married might suddenly seem like a good idea!
SMOKING AND DRINKING
As you can tell from the above, premium rates have a direct relationship with the risk of death. Therefore, any activity which increases this risk will have a negative impact on your premium rates. Smoking is one such activity and is never looked on favourably by insurance companies. This is one of the reasons smokers tend to lie on insurance applications.
Alcohol has the same adverse impact that smoking does, but insurance providers are a lot less stringent and will be alright with drinking so far as you don’t drink heavily. So the more you drink, the more you pay!
To explore some other factors which may have an impact on your premium rates or additional information on coverage and insurance plans, try visiting National Guardian Life Insurance Company.
