When it comes to life insurance, the cost of a policy is determined by a variety of factors, such as age, height, weight, medical history, occupation, driving history, family health history, and personal habits like smoking. It's important to understand that lifestyle can also have an impact on the cost of life insurance. In this article, we'll explore how lifestyle affects life insurance and what you can do to get the best rates.
Medical Exam
Before taking out life insurance, you'll need to undergo a medical exam. This exam will reveal any drug use, even if it wasn't disclosed on your application form.If you're engaging in dangerous activities such as skydiving or rock climbing, this could increase your risk level and lead to higher insurance rates.
Healthy Lifestyle
If you're actively seeking a healthier lifestyle by playing sports, going to the gym, or working with a personal trainer, this can be seen as a positive sign by insurers. Achieving a healthy target weight and eliminating unhealthy habits can help reduce perceived risk and minimize the negative health impact on your life insurance costs.Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is one of the most important financial factors that can affect your eligibility for life insurance. Many insurers don't offer coverage to applicants who have filed for bankruptcy in the past five years.Driving Record
Your driving record can also affect your eligibility for life insurance. According to a survey conducted by LexisNexis and published by NerdWallet2, a driving history can accurately predict the increase in a driver's chances of death from any cause.This makes it easier for life insurance companies to use your driving record as an indicator of how likely you are to die in a car accident (or from any other cause).
Unhealthy Lifestyle
Working long hours, eating a poor diet with lots of junk food, not sleeping well, not exercising, sitting all day, and other similar aspects of life all add up to unhealthy living. This can affect your well-being and therefore increase your risk of death. It's important to be aware that these types of activities can have dire consequences if something goes wrong.Reconsideration
If you make changes to your lifestyle that reduce your risk level, you may be eligible for lower rates on your life insurance policy.This is known as reconsideration and it occurs when the insurer underwrites you again because it believes that you might be eligible for lower rates due to a change in your lifestyle.
