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Being at the recommended weight for your height, eating well and getting plenty of physical exercise are all outward signs of good physical health.

Getting into shape and maintaining it has a number of positive benefits, including better mental health and longer life expectancy, but did you know it can also benefit you financially by potentially keeping your life insurance premiums down?

What is life insurance?

There are many different types of life insurance available, and at first the plethora of policy types can seem confusing, but they do all share the same core condition that they will pay out a sum of money to your dependants in the case of your death.

Let’s look at the most common types:

• Term life insurance is the most common type, where you are covered by the policy for a fixed period. Such insurance policies are often taken out by working people to protect their dependants’ standard of living in the event of their death.

• Fixed term policies allow you to potentially save money on your premiums because the amount paid out in the event of your death decreases as the end of the fixed term approaches. Fixed term life insurance policies often run beside repayment mortgages, ensuring that the mortgage will be taken care of in the event of your death.

• Whole of life insurance is more expensive but means that your life is covered whenever you die and not just when you are working.

• Convertible term insurance is a compromise between term life insurance and whole of life insurance. You take it out as a fixed term policy and then convert it to a whole of life policy when that term has ended, without having to submit new medical evidence.

Keeping the costs down

The cost of your life insurance policy will depend on a number of factors but your state of health and age are two of the primary factors used by your insurance provider to determine your monthly premiums, as well as what kind of cover you want from your policy. If you are able to demonstrate that you are in good health, do not drink too much alcohol and generally take good care of yourself, this should be reflected in the cost of the premiums you pay.

Your insurance provider will certainly want to know if you smoke tobacco. You might be surprised to learn that although vaping, or smoking e-cigarettes, might help you quit smoking tobacco in the long run, insurance providers still view e-cigarette users as normal smokers, as the majority continue to be addicted to tobacco and are considered at higher risk of relapsing back into smoking than someone who has quit entirely.

There are certain lifestyle choices that very healthy people can take that will see their life insurance premiums go up as well, such as hang-gliding, parachuting, mountaineering or even polo.

Those in comparatively dangerous jobs, such as offshore oil workers or those in the armed services, can well expect to pay higher premiums, even if those jobs actually necessitate maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Perhaps the most important tip for anyone thinking of taking out life insurance though, is that it will almost always work out a great deal cheaper over time if you take out a policy when you are young and healthy. This is because many insurers offer policyholders the opportunity to renew without having to prove their insurability all over again. This can keep the cost of the premiums much lower than they would be if you had to submit new medical evidence, often just at the point when you are beginning to suffer from a variety of age-related conditions.

About the author: Matt Sanders is a spokesperson on life insurance for Gocompare.com. He has commented extensively on a whole range of money matters and closely follows the latest changes and trends in the sector.

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