First in a Series of Articles
As you begin looking at life insurance policies, understand that a variety of factors affecting your life will also affect your life insurance rate. Some of these factors are under your control and others are not. As silly as it may sound, it’s important to truly know the difference. You’d be surprised how often people try to hedge the factors they can’t change while ignoring the factors they can. We’ll be taking each of these factors on, one by one, in a series of articles starting with this one:
Factor Within Your Control Number One: Tobacco Usage.
Because tobacco usage has been proven to adversely affect one's health, it is not surprise that whether or not you use tobacco, it will affect your life insurance premiums; and this means ANY tobacco -- there is little difference between smoking cigarettes and chewing Nicorette when it comes to life insurance. These days the categories are no longer “Smoker” or “Non-Smoker” but “Tobacco User” vs. “Tobacco Free”.
Use of any of the following products would put you in the Tobacco User’s camp:
· Pipes
· Cigars
· Nicotine Gum
· Snuff
· Chew
· Dip
· Cigarettes
· Nicotine patches
If you are using any of these products with any regularity at all, you definitely want to state it. There’s no point in paying a lower premium for years only to have your policy voided after you died with a stogie in one hand. You will be given an opportunity to declare the type and frequency of your tobacco use, and your premiums will be adjusted accordingly.
Unfortunately, many people use their tobacco habits as an excuse to delay buying life insurance. This is proof that market disincentives (i.e. higher prices) can wind up producing exactly the wrong results. Think about it: Tobacco users pay more in life insurance premiums because statistics indicate that their need for life insurance is more immediate. Tobacco users should be buying life insurance right away.
Fortunately, the Internet now gives tobacco users a way to save 20% or more on their life insurance. By using competitive pricing tools such as InsureMeOnline.com, you can negotiate great insurance rates almost instantly without the help of an agent, and view a selection of policies onscreen for side-by-side comparison. All things considered, there’s never been a better time to be a smoker shopping for life insurance.
One final thought: While we don’t recommend putting off the purchase of life insurance until you stop using tobacco, we do recommend shopping for a new policy as soon as you successfully quit, because the savings can be significant.