Life insurance is something most people don’t think much about… until they start a family or buy a house, and suddenly realize they’re grown-ups. When you’ve got a spouse or kids, you need to make sure they’ll be financially secure if you’re not around — without diverting too much money from other goals like retirement or college savings. So finding a cheap life insurance policy that offers the right amount of coverage is a main concern of any first-time buyer, as well as those simply looking for a better rate.
If you want to get the most affordable life insurance, there are several things you can do to minimize the cost. We have six tips to help you find cheap life insurance, which I’ll be sharing with you in this article.
It’s true there are factors you have less control over when it comes to the cost of life insurance — such as your age — but there’s a lot within your control, too.
Tips to Find Cheap Life Insurance
Beyond those two basic principles, there are other ways you can lower your rate as well. Life insurance can be tricky to understand. Many companies analyze your health differently and also calculate risk in slightly varying ways. Following these steps is key to finding the cheapest life insurance for you.
Tip #1: Get several quotes
As with most purchasing decisions, finding many options will give you an edge. Most people don’t bother obtaining multiple quotes because it’s time-consuming. However, using an online life insurance quote tool is the quickest way to get quotes from several reputable insurers at one time.
Tip #2: Avoid riders and additional insurance
If your bottom-line goal is to find the cheapest insurance possible, you’ll want to say no to any add-on insurance or policy riders. Examples of add-ons include the option to purchase child policies or more insurance at a future date without going through the medical exam process again.
You can think of riders as à-la-carte options to supe up your policy. Riders can be purchased to accelerate your death benefit and pay you out for medical expenses if you have a terminal illness but haven’t passed away yet. Term conversion is another rider that gives you the option to convert your term policy to a permanent (whole life) policy.
A caveat: Choose your coverage wisely. If you need coverage for your kids, then it’s OK to pay for the extra coverage. Also, if you’re someone who is on the fence between term and whole life coverage, the term conversion rider will give you that option down the road for a few dollars per month.
There is no one-size-fits-all method to buying life insurance, but having as few riders as possible will keep your rates low.
