Seven tips to help you save on life insurance

Most people, at some time in their life will buy life insurance. When will you? Whether you're buying a home, getting married, starting a family, starting your own business or retiring, almost everyone at some time needs to financially protect their loved ones and interests with life insurance.

So to help you get the most for your life insurance dollar, we've compiled the:

Top 7 ways to save with life insurance

  1. Choose term life insurance. Term life insurance typically offers you the most coverage for the least amount of money, and although there is no investment or saving component to a term life insurance policy, there are many who would tell you to "Buy term, and invest the difference."

    Compare term life insurance quotes today.

  2. If you're healthy, avoid guaranteed issue policies. Guaranteed issue policies may sound ideal because they do not require a medical exam, but it is for this same reason, that they are generally more expensive. A guaranteed issue policy is available to everyone, healthy or not, which means the premiums tend to be higher. If you are healthy, you will get better life insurance rates by buying a life insurance policy that requires a medical questionnaire or exam.

    Note: Guaranteed issue policies are great for people who are unable to get any other life insurance. While it may be more expensive than a standard policy, it is still worth having a guaranteed issue policy over having no life insurance coverage at all.

  3. Buy only what you need. It's not a good idea to buy too little insurance, but buying too much is unnecessary and will only cause your insurance premiums to be higher. So before you buy, review your needs and what you want to achieve and go from there.

    For example, do you want to have coverage that will:

    • Pay funeral arrangements?
    • Pay the outstanding balance owing on a mortgage and other debts?
    • Offset the loss of your income? For how long?
    • Contribute to the future education of your children?
    • A combination of all or part of the above?

    Knowing what you would like to accomplish with your life insurance policy will help you determine how much life insurance you need to buy.

    You'll find that many industry folks suggest that the amount of life insurance coverage you should buy should be five to ten times your annual, before-tax, income.

  4. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. After having said "Buy only what you need", it's important for you to know that sometimes the more you buy, the cheaper the policy. While not always true, some companies will charge you less to encourage you to purchase a slightly larger policy. For example, if you are considering buying $200,000 in coverage, get quotes for the next most common face amount, $250,000. You'll be surprised to see how in some cases the premium is actually less.

  5. If you're looking to get life insurance for yourself and your spouse or partner, then consider buying one joint policy, instead of two individual policies. The premium is usually about 15% less for a joint life policy than 2 single life insurance policies of the same coverage amount.

    Compare joint life insurance quotes.

  6. Save money by paying your annual premium all at once, instead of setting up a monthly payment plan. Almost all life insurance companies will charge you a little extra to cover the cost of administering your payments every month.

  7. Compare the life insurance policies and prices of competing insurers because every company prices their policies differently. A real easy way to do this, without having to listen to a sales pitch is to compare premiums and policies online. It's a great way to compare prices and see what different companies have to offer.

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