Being a man. Life expectancy for men in the UK is usually 4 years lower than that of women. This means that men can generally expect to pay more for their life cover.
Dangerous occupations. You don’t need to be an oil rig diver, to be classified as working in a dangerous occupation! Various insurers will also hike your premiums if you are a window cleaner, a farmer, or even a journalist! There are, however, insurers available who specialise in high risk claims.
Being overweight. If you’re body mass index (BMI) is 25, you are overweight, and when it reaches 30 you are clinically obese. This heightens your risk of heart disease and cancer, and will increase your life insurance premiums.
Bad lifestyle. Smoking, or drinking more than the recommended limit of 30 units a week, will place you in the higher risk category, possibly costing you pounds in premiums.
The age issue. Cover generally increases in cost, the older you get, because you are likely to be paying premiums for a shorter time. The good news is, of course, the flipside: buying life cover when you are younger is relatively cheap.
Extreme sports. These expose you to danger, in just the same way as the window cleaner on his ladder. If you like skydiving, or even skiing and windsurfing, you will pay more for your life insurance.
Having a medical history. Health problems in the past do, unfortunately, cost you in the present, when buying life insurance. Even conditions which don’t (yet) affect you, but which run in your family, will be taken into account.
Not shopping around. Buying life insurance cover from your mortgage lender, or simply failing to shop around, mean that you are unlikely to find the best life insurance deal. Best of all is independent financial advice.
Reviewable premiums. Some life policies offer low-cost premiums as ‘teasers’ to lure new customers in. However, these may be reviewable premiums which can quickly be revised upwards, once the policy is in place. A policy with guaranteed premiums may be a better choice, in the longer term.
Failure to disclose. Non-disclosure is where a client fails to reveal all the relevant facts in an insurance application. While insurers may not check details at the outset, they often do so later. Even inadvertent non-disclosure can reduce or even invalidate a claim.
Principle First Chartered Financial Planners is one of the leading UK independent financial advisers and distributors of mortgages, insurances, pensions, investments, and ISA accounts. In 2008, Principle First became one of the few financial advisers to achieve the status of Chartered Financial Planners, the UK’s ‘gold standard’ in financial advice. Find life insurance advice at principlefirst.co.uk.
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