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Category:Life Insurance109
Rates & Pricing in Life Insurance
8 articles found
Life InsuranceDave Ramsey on Life Insurance - What He Recommends
Dave Ramsey recommends level term life insurance in the amount of 10 to 12 times your annual income for a term long enough to cover the years your family depends on you. He is famously against whole life and universal life. His advice is sound for most middle-class families but leaves gaps for buyers with estate, business, or long-horizon legacy goals.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jul 2026
Life InsuranceMarijuana and Life Insurance - How Insurers Rate THC
Marijuana users can absolutely buy life insurance. Rates depend mostly on frequency of use: occasional users can land standard or better classes at marijuana-friendly carriers, while frequent users are often rated in the smoker class. Insurers verify use through THC testing, application answers, and MIB records, so honesty is essential.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jul 2026
Life InsuranceJobs and Hobbies That Raise Life Insurance Rates
Dangerous work and hobbies raise life insurance prices because they raise the odds of an early claim. Insurers flag occupations like logging, roofing, and aviation, and hobbies like skydiving and scuba diving, then add a flat extra charge or assign a higher rate class. Honest disclosure and the right carrier match keep coverage affordable.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jul 2026
Life InsuranceDUI and Life Insurance - How Rates and Approval Change
A DUI makes life insurance more expensive but rarely uncoverable. Carriers care most about how recent the offense is: within the first year or two, many decline or offer table ratings; after three to five clean years, several carriers return to standard classes; and older single offenses can even reach preferred at the most forgiving insurers. Carrier selection matters more here than almost anywhere.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jul 2026
Life InsuranceLife Insurance Rate Classes - How Insurers Decide Yours
Your rate class is the single biggest driver of your life insurance price. Insurers sort applicants into classes like Preferred Plus, Preferred, Standard Plus, and Standard (plus table ratings below that) based on health history, build, blood work, family history, driving record, and nicotine use. Each carrier draws the lines differently, which is why shopping the same profile across carriers changes the quote.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jul 2026
Life InsuranceLife Insurance for Smokers - Cigarette, Cigar, Vape Rates
Smokers typically pay 2 to 3 times more for life insurance than non-smokers, but the details matter enormously. Cigarettes, vaping, and chewing tobacco are usually priced at smoker rates, while occasional cigar smokers can qualify for non-smoker rates at select carriers if they test nicotine-free. Quitting changes everything: 12 months tobacco-free earns non-smoker rates at many carriers, and the best classes open up after 3 to 5 years. Because tobacco rules vary more between insurers than almost any other factor, carrier selection is the difference between overpaying and a fair price.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jul 2026
Life InsuranceAffordable Life Insurance: How to Find the Cheapest Coverage
Affordable life insurance is the result of three buyer choices: the cheapest product type (term life), the lowest-rate carrier for your specific health profile, and an underwriting class that matches your actual health. This guide shows sample rates from the cheapest A-rated carriers, the 7 levers that move buyers into the lowest rate class, and the trade-offs between paying $11 a month versus $30 a month for the exact same coverage.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jun 2026
Life InsuranceBuy Term and Invest the Difference (BTID): The Math + When It Wins
Buy Term and Invest the Difference (BTID) is the strategy of buying inexpensive term life insurance instead of whole life and investing the monthly premium difference in a low-cost diversified portfolio (typically an S&P 500 index fund or target-date retirement fund). The math is compelling for most buyers because term costs 5 to 20 percent of whole life for the same death benefit and the difference, invested at a 6 to 8 percent average annual return, typically grows to more than the cash value of the whole life policy would have. This guide breaks down the math with realistic numbers, the four buyer profiles where BTID wins, and the three buyer profiles where whole life or IUL actually beats BTID.
Brian Greenberg•Updated Jun 2026