Right now. There are two basic reasons to have a sense of urgency in shopping for affordable life insurance coverage in Georgia:
- Bad things can happen with no notice.
- Life insurance rates will steadily increase as you get older.
That first point is the easiest to understand because it’s the primary reason we buy any form of insurance. We know bad things can happen and we want to protect ourselves and our families. In the case of life insurance coverage, that bad thing can be death or serious illness.
We can be in the best of health, young non-smokers who exercise regularly and always eat nutritiously, and still be overcome. We buy life insurance because we don’t want our loved ones to be left financially insecure if our earning power should stop with our death or debilitation.
You might live to a hundred — or tragedy could strike at the next moment. Since we can’t predict even the short-term future with certainty, we need to be insured now.
Why Is Age Such a Factor in Finding Cheap Life Insurance in Georgia?
The younger you are, the longer you’ll be paying a premium to the insurance company. To the insurer, that makes you a good investment so they’ll give you a lower rate.
Life insurance is a sort of bet made between you and your insurance company. Depending on the type of life insurance coverage you have, the insurer knows there’s either a risk (term life) or a certainty (whole life) of an eventual payout. When the time comes, your death benefit will be paid to those loved ones you’ve identified as your beneficiaries.
It’s in the insurer’s interest to postpone that day and keep cashing your premium payments for as long as possible. They will invest that money with the goal of accumulating more wealth on your policy over time than they must finally return.
Therefore, you’re a preferred client if you’ll be able to pay those premiums for years and even decades before that final cash-out. The insurance company has no silver ball telling them when or if your death benefit must be paid, but your age is one good hint.
Statistics show that if you’re a 30-year-old American female, you have a life expectancy of about 80.5 years. So there’s a calculated chance that the insurer could collect and invest your premiums for around half a century before your beneficiaries cash in your $250,000 policy.
That looks like a good bet to the insurer, so, other factors being equal, you’re likely to qualify for rather affordable life insurance in Georgia. Would you expect that policy to be equally affordable if you were 60 and only had 20 more years of life expectancy?
Age Is Relative in Life Insurance
Now you see how the concept of age works in calculating the rates you’ll pay for your Georgia life insurance coverage.
But if you’re 60 as you’re reading this, while it’s true that you won’t find coverage as affordable as your 30-year-old self would get, you’ll still probably pay less than if you wait until you turn 61.
That’s an important lesson about age as it relates to the cost of life insurance. Yes, you would have paid less if you’d acted years ago, but you’ll pay less right now than you will if you wait even longer.
To put it another way, you’ll never be younger than you are right now. And that’s why now is the best time to contact your life insurance agent. The time will literally never be better.
Factors Besides Age Determine What You’ll Pay for Life Insurance Coverage
Remember what we said about how life insurance works? It’s in your insurer’s best interest that you keep paying those monthly premiums for as long as possible. That’s the only way they can turn a profit on your policy while still enabling your beneficiaries to obtain a generous settlement at the end of your life.
While age gives a good clue as to your life expectancy, other factors also roll into the calculations underwriters make in determining what you’ll pay.
- Your Physical Condition Has a Bearing on Life Insurance Rates
You might have to undergo a physical exam before qualifying for a life insurance coverage policy. This is especially likely if you’re an older applicant. As you might imagine, the better your state of health, the better rates you’ll get.
This fact also connects to the age issue. In general, most of us are in better health at a younger age than as when we get older. So, once again, contact your life insurance agent now — before you grow a day older!
- Your Lifestyle May Mean Lower – or Higher – Life Insurance Premiums
If you eat right, are within a healthy weight range, and run five miles a day, you can count on getting a much better rate than an individual of the same age who smokes, is overweight, and has a high-risk job.
In other words, insurance underwriters also base that mortality bet on applicants’ lifestyles. If you’ve done all you can to optimize your health and wellness, you might be rewarded with favorable rates even if you’re older.
- The Cash Value of Your Death Benefit Plays a Part in Life Insurance Rates
The industry rule of thumb suggests buying a life insurance amount somewhere between seven and ten times your annual salary. By this understanding, if you had $50,000 in annual income, you’d buy a policy in the $350,000-$500,000 range.
That might be an ideal amount if you’re young, with several dependents. If you’re older and all the kids are out of the nest, your life insurance needs might not be so extensive.
That’s a good thing, because one way that older life insurance applicants can save on the cost of coverage is to reduce their death benefit expectations.
Go over all of these factors with your insurance agent. If you’re using an independent agent who can shop for policies from several major brands, you’re likely to find affordable life insurance in Georgia regardless of your age or other factors.