We all want to do what’s best for our families, especially when we’re no longer around to help. Life insurance online is the perfect way to protect your families future and give them peace of mind.

Unfortunately shopping for life insurance isn’t like shopping for groceries. It takes time and understanding to make an informed decision. Nevertheless, it’s always a smart move to take out life insurance to protect your family for the future. Several factors go into determining the cost of your policy, here are 4 ways you can help to keep premium costs down.

#1: Take Out Cover When You’re Young

It’s simple. The younger you are, the cheaper your insurance will be. Life insurance becomes more costly after every year, as well as the rising risk of developing medical conditions. Many young people don’t feel they need life insurance, especially if they don’t have kids. However, even if you don’t have kids yet, a life insurance policy can help your partner or spouse with a source of income in the future.

If you’re a young family, you’ll want to take out insurance as early as possible, as if you were to die, you would be able to provide financial support to your spouse and family. This is can help with things like living costs, or in the case of your children – their education.

#2: Live a Healthy Lifestyle

Hindsight is 20-20. If you’re in your 20’s you’re probably not too concerned about your long-term health compared to when you’re in your 60’s. However, it’s worth noting that the healthier you are, the cost of insurance is likely to be less. That being said the quicker you take action, the more it will benefit – not only for insurance costs but your overall health and life expectancy.

With most life insurance, you’ll need to answer some routine life & medical questions to determine if you can be covered & for how much. These are usually regarding:

• Age
• Health
• Occupation
• Any health conditions you may have (If yes – they’ll also want to know your family medical history)
• Your general lifestyle
• Whether you smoke

You must answer these questions as truthfully and accurately as possible, otherwise, your policy may be voided.

#3: Compare Policies to Find Out Which Is Best for You

When looking at Life insurance it’s important to understand the types of policies, so you can find the right policy for your circumstances. There are two main types of life insurance policies – Term life insurance & Whole life insurance.

Term life insurance is a standard form of life insurance. Simply choose an amount you want to be covered for and the length of time (i.e. 20 years) your policy lasts for. If you die within this time period, your policy pays out to your family, however, if you outlive the term, you receive nothing.

This policy type holds both pros & cons. Whilst it covers you for death, it only lasts for a certain amount of time, so, you may find yourself taking out another policy later down the line.

Whole-of-life insurance covers you for the whole of your life (Just as long as you keep paying your premiums), so you are guaranteed an eventual pay-out. The downside is that Whole life insurance is usually more expensive compared to term life, though you have the benefit of knowing your policy will never run out.

It’s always best to assess your current situation as one of these policy types could benefit you better in terms of cost and protection.

#4: Think About Long-Term Affordability

It’s key to think about whether you want to be covered for the short-term or long-term. These can both have an effect on the price you may end up paying for premiums, as the longer you live, the longer you have to pay insurance premiums. This goes back to term & whole life insurance.

If you have debts – like a mortgage, it’s important to have life insurance in place till you have paid it off at least. The last thing you want is to leave your family to re-pay these debts if you die before they are paid off.

It’s important to remember that having any cover is still a better option than forever waiting for the perfect cover.