what affects your life insurance premiums and costs 
many factors can affect the cost of life insurance premiums certain things may be beyond your control but other criteria can be managed to potentially bring down the cost before and even after applying your health and age are the most important factors that determine cost so buying life insurance as soon as you need it is often the best course of action after being approved for an insurance policy if your health improves later and you ve made positive lifestyle changes you can ask to be considered for a change in risk class even if it is found that you re in poorer health than at the initial underwriting your premiums will not go up if you re found to be in better health then you your premiums may decrease you may also be able to buy additional coverage at a lower rate than you initially did investopedia lara antallife insurance buying guidethink about what expenses would need to be covered in the event of your death consider things such as mortgage college tuition credit cards and other debts not to mention funeral expenses also income replacement is a major factor if your spouse or loved ones will need cash flow and are not able to provide it on their own there are helpful tools online to calculate the lump sum that can satisfy any potential expenses that would need to be covered life insurance applications generally require personal and family medical history and beneficiary information you may need to take a medical exam and will need to disclose any preexisting medical conditions history of moving violations duis and any dangerous hobbies such as auto racing or skydiving the following are crucial elements of most life insurance applications standard forms of identification will also be needed before a policy can be written such as your social security card driver s license or u s passport once you ve assembled all of your necessary information you can gather multiple life insurance quotes from different providers based on your research prices can differ markedly from company to company so it s important to make the effort to find the best combination of policy company rating and premium cost because life insurance premiums are something you will likely pay monthly for decades finding the policy that best fits your needs can save you an enormous amount of money our lineup of the best life insurance companies can give you a jump start on your research it lists the companies we ve found to be the best for different types of needs based on our research of nearly 100 carriers benefits of life insurancethere are many benefits to having life insurance below are some of the most important features and protections offered by life insurance policies most people use life insurance to provide money to beneficiaries who would suffer a financial hardship upon the insured s death however for wealthy individuals the tax advantages of life insurance including the tax deferred growth of cash value tax free dividends and tax free death benefits can provide additional strategic opportunities the death benefit of a life insurance policy is usually tax free 3 it may be subject to estate taxes but that s why wealthy individuals sometimes buy permanent life insurance within a trust the trust helps them avoid estate taxes and preserve the value of the estate for their heirs tax avoidance is a law abiding strategy for minimizing one s tax liability and should not be confused with tax evasion which is illegal who needs life insurance life insurance provides financial support to surviving dependents or other beneficiaries after the death of an insured policyholder here are some examples of people who may need life insurance each policy is unique to the insured and insurer it s important to review your policy document to understand what risks your policy covers how much it will pay your beneficiaries and under what circumstances 