Tips to Lower Your Insurance Costs

Published on: 05 July 2017 Last Updated on: 29 July 2024
Tips to Lower Your Insurance Costs

Investing in life insurance can be an intimidating thought. It is safe to say that the younger and healthier you are, the lower your insurance costs will be. This is because a healthy person has a lower risk of dying as compared to a person with an unhealthy lifestyle. Hence, if you are thinking about life insurance here are a few tips that could help lower the cost of your insurance.

   Stop Smoking

A smoker has to pay a much insurance premium as compared to a non-smoker of the same age. In some cases, this can be as high as triple the premium. So, if you smoke or use any other tobacco-based products, now is the time to quit. You will be considered a non-smoker after you have quit smoking for at least 3 to 5 years.

   Lose some Weight

A number of health issues are caused by being overweight. Hence, insurance companies consider obese or heavy people a high risk and hence charge them a higher premium. Maintaining a healthy BMI can help you live a longer, healthier life by reducing your risk of heart diseases, blood pressure problems, etc.

   Schedule an Early Physical

A thorough medical examination is one of the prerequisites of most life insurance policies. Try and schedule this exam in the early part of the day or on a day when you are relaxed and well-rested. This is because studies show that testing for blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. have lower results in the morning as compared to in the latter half of the day after you have had a stressful day or eaten a heavy lunch.  Fasting for 24 hours before your physical could also help lower your cholesterol count.

   Be Honest

If you suffer from a preexisting condition it may be tempting to try and hide this information from your insurance agency. However, doing this could cause you a lot of trouble. In most cases, the insurance company will recognize your health condition during the review of your medical history and medical exam. Since you did not disclose this condition, you will then not have an opportunity to explain the situation.

   Drive Carefully

Along with your health records, an insurance agent might also ask for your driving record. While this may seem unconnected, it is not. According to many insurance agencies, a driver who frequently breaks traffic rules is likely to put himself or herself in a dangerous situation and hence is considered high risk. So, if you have more than the occasional ticket to your name, it may be wise to wait a few years before applying for insurance and drive more carefully in the meantime.

   Keep an Eye on Insurance rates

Like everything else, insurance policy rates also change from time to time. Thus, even if you have already bought a life insurance policy, it is important to review and compare policies every few years. Affordable Life USA has great rates on life insurance. Along with comparing quotes, you should also update your policy from time to time to reflect the changes in your personal situation.

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Insurance Plan

How To Choose The Right Insurance Plan For Business Owners

Small businesses require insurance to protect themselves in case of unforeseen costs such as lawsuits or operational shutdowns.  However, navigating the selection of the right coverage and policies can be overwhelming.  As a small business owner, it's essential to understand the different aspects of insurance policies, their costs, and how to choose the best one for your company. Moreover, opting for only legally required business insurance can be expensive since uninsured accidents can incur additional costs.  The type of insurance required depends on the company's operations and state laws.  Although state laws may mandate specific policies, the business owner must ensure the right coverage. Small businesses need insurance to avoid out-of-pocket claims and protect their survival. Understanding Business Insurances Having business insurance is essential to protect your business from financial loss during times of crisis or unexpected events.  There are various insurance types available. However, combining policies will depend on your company's unique circumstances.  Business insurance helps with legal payments, claims, employee issues, and damage to business property.  It can cover compensation claims, legal fees, and property damage or employee-related issues.  Moreover, the benefits of having insurance include financial and legal protection. This protection can help you recover and continue operating your company in case of various losses, such as the following:  Employee injuries. Office building fires. Lawsuits. Business partner deaths.  The right business insurance or an independent insurance agency can assist you in bouncing back and maintaining operations. Business owners must decide on the right insurance by analyzing their risks and evaluating the cost of insurance against the risk of loss. Steps to Find The Right Business Insurance Given below are some of the most important steps that can help you choose the right insurance for your business— 1. Examine Your Business Assets And Legal Responsibilities Before looking for the perfect insurance plan, you must examine the assets needing insurance.  This analysis is because different types of assets demand different insurance due to their legalities. Moreover, this factor is not limited to physical assets. If you have a functioning factory or manufacturing unit, it is necessary that you ensure your employees. Therefore, your company will need injury and accident insurance for your employees.  Additionally, every state in the USA has different legal regulations and necessities for asset insurance.  Thus, you must first analyze the important assets in your company and then understand the legal implications that you must follow. 2. Understand What Risks You Can Face Business risk refers to the potential loss that is closely associated with the way a business operates. This type of risk is often considered unsuitable for insurance coverage and is instead managed as overhead.  Therefore, insurance companies carry out risk assessments to evaluate the risk associated with covering an individual.  The process involves considering various data points and potential risks to the policyholder in order to determine the appropriate insurance premium. A business always comes with additional liabilities and risks. Analyzing these risks can help you determine the appropriate insurance for your company.  3. Determine The Scalability Insurance is a crucial investment that protects individuals and businesses from unexpected occurrences that can cause financial distress.  However, it's important to note that not all insurance plans are created equal.  Scalable insurance plans are particularly beneficial as they offer greater flexibility and can be modified to accommodate changing business needs.  Whether you need to downsize your team or your business is affected by unforeseen events such as a global pandemic, scalable insurance plans can be adjusted to meet your evolving coverage requirements.  Therefore, it's crucial to conduct due diligence and verify the scalability of insurance plans before making a final decision. This will help you ensure adequate protection in the long run.  4. Find A Reliable Insurance Partner It's crucial to do your research and compare insurance providers based on their policies, premiums, and coverage.  You should consider various factors such as cost, reliability, customer service, and claim handling.  Make sure to buy from a licensed company in your state to ensure the state insurance department can help you if issues arise. Additionally, prices vary significantly among companies, so shopping around and getting at least three quotes from different sources is essential. Your state insurance department may have a guide on policy charges in different areas of your state. Your insurance company and representatives must answer your questions fairly, efficiently, and timely.  You can determine this by talking to previous customers, checking a national claims database, and consulting your state insurance department.  They can also provide information on the number of consumer complaints about a company relative to its policy sales. 5. Research The Insurance Market Having a comprehensive insurance policy is indispensable to guarantee the safety and security of your business.  It encompasses various types of insurance such as business owners, business interruption, errors and omissions, product liability, cyber, and auto insurance.  Finding the right insurance provider and policy can be daunting, but researching professional ratings can help you make informed decisions.  Moreover, comparing deductibles and coverage is essential to ensure that your business is adequately protected. This detailed research will ultimately lead to better financial outcomes and peace of mind in the future. 6. Consider Your Industry-Specific Obligations The federal government requires all businesses with employees to have insurance for the following:  Workers' compensation. Unemployment. Disability.  Therefore, to ensure that your business complies with the legal requirements, reviewing the Division of Insurance website for your industry and state is important.  If you need assistance with insurance, consider speaking with an agent who specializes in your industry or state.  Therefore, it is crucial to choose the right insurance plans to identify any gaps in coverage and determine the best way to fill them with other plans. How Does Business Insurance Ensure Success In The Long Run? Having business insurance is a must for all companies. It offers protection that can make the difference between having your claim paid by your insurer or paying it yourself.  The latter could spell financial catastrophe for your business. Selecting the right policies ensures your most likely claims are covered.  However, contrary to popular belief, insurance is not necessarily expensive. Moreover, you can obtain a general liability policy. These come for as low as $25 per month, with the average policy costing $65 per month.  Read Also: 5 Must-Have Long-Term Goals For A Secure Future 10 Estate Planning Tips To Help You Prepare For The End Everything you Need to Know About Term Insurance Plan Premium

READ MOREDetails
Accounting Tips

3 Must Know Accounting Tips To Help You Finance Correctly

There is no magic button that can help you manage your finances. It takes time to learn how to manage your finances in the right way in order to avoid being stressed about money. Many people have a problem with managing finances and this is the reason why many people are always stressed about money. It is not about the amount of money you earn, it is how you manage it that counts. Most of the people who are not able to finance correctly will always end up stressed and probably always broke. In such a case, it is important to ensure that you have a money coach, someone that can guide you through the process so that you learn. 3 Must-Know Accounting Tips To Help You Finance Correctly There are firms like Marsh Tincknell Accountants that in addition to giving you accounting advice, can also help you in planning your finances. Here are the top 3 tips by Marsh Tincknell Accountants to help you manage your finances. 1. Write down your goals: This is the first and most important tip when you want to plan your finances. Write down all your long-term and short-term goals that require you to spend money. Once you have your list of major goals, number them according to their priority and how soon you need to achieve them. Arrange them in order from the one you wish to achieve soonest to the one you want to achieve at a later date. For example, saving for retirement may be at the bottom of your list. This way, as you work on your short-term goals like reducing your spending, you are also able to work on your long-term goals slowly. 2. Create a financial plan: This is one of the other important things to do to help you finance correctly. Your financial plan should have the steps to follow in order to achieve your short-term and long-term goals. For example, your plan may include steps like controlling your budget then coming up with a savings plan in order to get out of debt. This way, you are able to monitor how fast you achieve these steps towards reaching your long-term and short-term goals. When you see that you are taking too much time to conquer one step, you can then come up with strategies to ensure that you move faster toward your goal. 3. Create a budget and stick to it: Having a budget is one of the most important tools to help you spend your finances wisely. This is because a budget acts as a boundary or restriction on the amount of money you are supposed to spend at a particular period of time. A budget also helps you to keep track of your spending. This helps you to evaluate and see where you are spending most of your money carelessly and cut down on that. Conclusion: Many people today have a problem with finances and how to manage them correctly. Three of the main problems that may lead to financial chaos is not having a list of the goals to be achieved, not having a financial plan and not having a budget. People who have these three things in place rarely experience stress due to the management of finances. Read Also: Getting Your Personal Finances In Order With A Proper Budget Strategy These Small Changes Will Change Your Finances For The Better

READ MOREDetails
Background Check

8 Reasons to Have a Pre-employment Background Check in Facility

It is risky to entrust your business to a total stranger who is seeking a job in your organization. For your business or organization to reap maximum benefits, it is important to make sure that you have a team of employees who you can trust. You don’t have to entirely depend on contract terms as the primary basis for the trust! Make sure that you have background knowledge of the employees before even employing them. 8 Reasons to Have a Pre-employment Background Check in Facility The following are the reasons why you need to have a pre-employment background check facility in your organization. 1. Keep away from criminals: Having criminals in your organization is very risky. They can steal from you, tarnish the name of your organization or cause scandals which can even lead to permanent closure. To make sure that you are not employing criminals, it is important to have a background check before hiring any employee. It is vital to make the job seeker to provide the relevant criminal records or what is commonly referred to as “Certificate of Good Conduct”. By doing this, you will be sure that you are not employing a convict and your organization is safe. 2. Scrutinize documents for authenticity: Some of the people seeking jobs may forge documents to make their resumes look impressive. If the employer is not keen, underqualified staff may be hired! Having underperforming staff has detrimental effects on the organization’s profits and operations. It is important to make sure that the documents provided by the prospective employees are authentic and verifiable. You can call the particular institutions indicated to verify the information. In this modern age, it is possible for a high school drop-out to possess a degree! Go through the paperwork to ensure that every detail provided is correct and true. 3. To ensure the proper social conduct: Many companies or organizations spend a lot of money to brand their image. It is very important that the image is upheld to the highest standards to make sure that it remains trustworthy in the eyes of investors and the public. To safeguard the organization’s image, it is necessary to have a background check of the employees to ensure that their social conduct doesn’t compromise what the organization stands for. You can go through their social media accounts and see what they post. If you find that a particular employment seeker has consistent ideologies that compromise the organization’s image, drop him/her. 4. To employ sober people: Most organizations today carry out pre-employment drug tests. The organizations require sober and productive employees, not drug addicts! Drug users normally underperform their duties and cause many workplace accidents. The accidents not only result in physical harm but also huge losses which become difficult to recover from. Furthermore, the insurance cost increases due to such accidents. Your business or organization does not have to go through such risks if you are able to avoid them. Have the employment seekers to take a drug test for the illegal drugs. You can employ a urine drug test, blood test, hair follicle or even a saliva drug test. 5. To ensure physical and medical fitness: Most jobs require the physical and medical fitness for maximum productivity. Certain medical conditions can only be worsened by the type of work being done. Example, a construction company may avoid people with respiratory conditions like asthma. It is important to ask for a medical report for particular tests to ensure that the employees are fully fit to carry out different tasks without taking medical leaves. 6. To check past employment records and reasons for being laid off: Research has shown that a person’s behavioral character is likely to remain the same under similar authority or conditions. Before offering employment, make sure that you have checked the employment records of the job seeker. You can do so by going through the recommendation letters provided or calling the organizations indicated. You don’t need to employ a person who was fired for coming to work late, stealing or even insubordination. There is a likelihood for your organization to suffer from the same! 7. To make sure that the employee is legally eligible to work in the country: It is against the law to hire illegal immigrants or underage people. To make sure that none of these happen, make sure that you have a proper pre-employment background test facility in your organization. For non-citizens, ask for work visas and all the legal documents. Make sure that you ask for the national identity cards for the citizens. You don’t want your organization to be on the wrong side of the law! 8. To ensure a high level of responsibility: A job seeker might possess the sufficient education and skills for the job but is irresponsible when it comes to filing taxes (tax-noncompliance) or repaying loans. It might seem to be a non-issue until the same predicaments hit your organization. In your background check facility, make sure you inquire about tax certificates and loan statements. You need to employ people who show some degree of responsibility even in the small matters! It is always better to be safe than sorry. Make sure that you have a fully functional pre-employment background test facility in your organization! Read Also: Go For A Better Legal Job In 2018! Things To Look Out For While Hiring Health App Developers

READ MOREDetails