Life Insurance Costs

Life insurance costs can be very confusing and difficult to figure out because there are so many different types. When shopping for life insurance from the best life insurance companies – you need to take into consideration product options such as whole life, term life, and universal life insurance.

Your life insurance cost can vary greatly depending on how much you apply for and how long the coverage will last. Also, each type of policy can vary greatly in cost as well as your age and your overall general health.

Life Insurance Costs

Starting off, it’s really a good idea to do some comparison shopping online to get an idea of what you might have to pay in premiums. You should work with an agent and compare quotes from the best life insurance companies in the USA to find the plans that meet your needs and budget.

Factors that Affect Life Insurance Costs

Here are 5 major factors that will have a major affect on your life insurance price:

1. Your Age – The older you are the higher your insurance rates will be.
2. Your Gender – In general, women outlive men and therefore will statistically and typically pay a lower rate.
3. Your Health – If you smoke or have a serious current or past medical condition your rates will be higher.
4. Your Occupation – If you are a security contractor or sky diving instructor, you may have a higher life insurance rate than someone who sits behind a desk.
5. No Exams vs Exams – Buying a No Medical Exam life insurance policy is typically more expensive compared to a fully underwritten policy with a medical exam.

Pre-Existing Conditions That Will Affect The Cost Of Life Insurance

Life insurance with a pre-existing condition may cause an increase in what you’ll ultimately pay for coverage. Here are the factors that will often determine if your rates will be higher:

• The type of your medical condition
• The severity of your medical condition
• When was your condition diagnosed?
• Is your medical condition under control?
• The type of treatment you’ve received.

How much does life insurance cost?

In order to understand the cost of life insurance and the differences rates, we need to show you a couple scenarios.

For instance…

If you are a 30-year-old man and smoke, your rates will be different from a 30-year-old woman who never smoked. The following section will give you various scenarios so you will understand the costs associated with life insurance before you decide to purchase a particular plan.

Average Life Insurance Cost

Let’s look into what life insurance costs per month for a variety of products, ages and genders.

Life Insurance Cost Calculator

If you’d like an instant life insurance estimate, simply calculate life insurance quotes right on this page. Use our free life insurance calculator and compare rates from the top life insurance companies.

Cost of Term Life Insurance

How much does term life insurance cost? We put together and calculated the average life insurance prices for term life insurance using the following situations:

• You have a healthy weight and do not participate in dangerous activities
• You want to pay monthly for a 20-year term life policy
• The average or standard cost can will depend on different variables.

Sample Term Life Quotes

Let’s start out with some basic term life quotes:

• A 35-year-old woman who is a nonsmoker will pay approximately $24 per month for a 20 year term, $250,000 life insurance policy.
• That same woman would pay approximately $61 per month for a 20 year, $1,000,000 life insurance policy.

Cost For Whole Life Insurance

What is the average cost of whole life insurance per month? We calculated the average cost for whole life insurance by using the following situations:

• You have a healthy weight and are not active in a dangerous lifestyle
• You want the same monthly payments for the policy or monthly “level pay”.

Sample Whole Life Quotes

The average cost will depend on different variables just like our term life samples.

• A 35-year-old woman who is a nonsmoker will pay approximately $732 per month if she wants $1,000,000 worth of whole life insurance
• The same woman will pay approximately $188 per month for $250,000 worth of whole life insurance.

Whole life insurance quote calculator

Click here to use our free whole life insurance calculator to compare rates from the best whole life insurance companies.

Your Age Dictates The Cost For Life Insurance

In the United States, the life expectancy for both men and women is approximately 78-years-of-age. Insurance companies will take your age into consideration and calculate your rate for a policy based on statistics. Because it’s believed that women will outlive men, their rates will be less. In general, the life expectancy for men is around 76 and 81 for women.

Life insurance companies use data that take into consideration your age as well as other variables. The bottom line, as you age your rates will increase based on your life expectancy. Life insurance will continue to be more expensive the older you become.

If you are between the ages of 18 to 30, your rates are going to stay pretty much the same and between 31 and 35 there will be very little change.

Once you have reached and gone past age 35, you’ll start to see increases at a faster rate year by year.

Purchase Life Insurance While You Are Still Young

Let’s face it, no one wants to pay more for life insurance than is necessary. For instance, if you decide to purchase term life insurance you’ll probably be paying on your policy for at least 20 to 30 years as those are the most popular term lengths.

Therefore, to save money you should purchase a life insurance policy when you are young.

Why?

So when your policy ends and you are still relatively young, you won’t be paying an exorbitant rate for a new policy. Also, it’s not just term life, the same will apply to a permanent life insurance policy such as universal life insurance or whole life.

Before buying a term policy, you should ask yourself if the term you’ve selected will be long enough. Will you run into issues later on? In other words, if your policy expires at a time that you still need coverage, getting another policy will cost you more because you are now older than when you first purchased your policy.

Tip: If you are young, don’t procrastinate buying life insurance.

Pre-Existing Conditions Can Increase Your Life Insurance Costs

When applying for life insurance you must consider your health. Do you have any pre-existing health conditions? If you do, it will impact the cost of your life insurance policy because you’ll be considered a higher risk to the carrier..

That said, the rate will depend on the severity and degree of your condition. Keep in mind, not all pre-existing conditions will automatically increase your life insurance costs or cause you to be denied coverage.

Life insurance companies have come a long way and have adapted to many medical advances and treatments. If you have a medical condition which is under control and your prognosis is really good, chances are the underwriter will be quite tolerant. Also, over the years, many medical conditions have advanced treatments and the survival rates have improved drastically.

There are many medical conditions that will not have an impact on your lifespan so you can expect to get a Standard health class rating or better. That means you stand an excellent chance of getting a policy that is very affordable.

Keep in mind, some of the best life insurance companies in the USA will be more liberal with their underwriting than others. In most cases, it depends on their underwriting guidelines for certain conditions. One of the leading factors taken into consideration will be whether your condition is stable or not.

Are Life Insurance Costs the Same Throughout the United States?

There can be a difference in costs for life insurance depending on where you reside in the U.S.

Taking into consideration the state and region along with their “mortality tables”, companies can predict the death benefits they will probably pay out in a particular year. The amount insurance companies collect in premiums must be able to cover what they will pay out in benefits. This will ensure the insurance company will not end up in a financial disaster.

Some factors that are taken into account for your life insurance costs in your region may include:

• Is there a high rate of obesity in your region or state?
• Does your state or region have a high rate of natural disasters such as flooding or earthquakes?
• Does your state or region have a higher incidence of certain diseases?
• Does your state or region have a high mortality rate caused by crime?
• How many policies have been written in your state or region?

That said, most of these factors do not typically alter from one region to another. For instance, if you live in a state or area that is prone to flooding or earthquakes, your life insurance rates will be more affected by your age and your health, not where you are living.

How Can I Get A Lower Rate For My Life Insurance?

As stated earlier, because your health and lifestyle can play a major role in deciding your insurance rates, there are certain steps you can take to lower your payments.

By improving your health you can reduce your risk of chronic issues such as cancer or diabetes. Probably the leading issue would be quit smoking or better yet, never start smoking! This is probably the most important choice you can make to reduce your life insurance rates but there are other situations as well.