Life insurance is necessary if you want to provide for your family in the event of your death. Hopefully they will never need to use it! And although you want to protect them, there’s no need to throw your money down the drain. Here are some tips to keep your costs down.

• Buy earlier

The fact is that younger people are healthier than older people. If you purchase a policy at an earlier age, you can lock in the benefit of lower Life Insurance rates.

• Stay healthy

When you buy your policy, you will generally need to prove your physical health. This gives your company an estimate of your risk. So the healthier you are, and the healthier your lifestyle is, the lower your premiums will be. Smoking, drinking excessively, and using recreational drugs are all lifestyle risk factors. Obesity, high-blood pressure, and high cholesterol are health risk factors, to name a few. So avoid these risk factors as much as you can. You will be doing yourself a favor, too!

• Take up less exciting hobbies

Face it, sky-diving is risky. That’s why it’s so much fun. The same goes for rock climbing and cave-diving. You will pay a higher premium if you engage in these activities, so ask yourself whether it’s worth it to you!

• Buy what you need

Purchasing too much life insurance is a common mistake. When you sit down with the agent, you may already start feeling guilty about abandoning your family, which may translate to over-estimating how much coverage you need. Relax! Take a good look at what your needs will be at different times in your life. More while your children are in college, less when they have left the nest, and so on.

• Consider term insurance, and credit life insurance

Term insurance is a good way to cover a short period of your life, such as when your children are in college, or while you are responsible for an aging or infirm relative. Credit life insurance is good for ensuring that big ticket items like a house or car, get paid off. One nice thing about credit life is that you don’t have to prove your health to the same extent that you do for term and other long term policies.

• Find a good insurance company

Whenever you are considering purchasing any type of insurance, it’s a good idea to check out many companies. Not only will you want to find out what their rates are, you’ll also want to evaluate their reputations. Do they drag their feet on settling a claim? Are they reputable? Will they help you understand the insurance you are purchasing? The company with the lowest rates is not always the best way to save money. A good insurance company can help you save money on your insurance premiums by selling you the right life coverage in the first place.

• Don’t ever lie on your insurance policy!

Lying on your insurance policy might seem like a good way to cut costs, but it’s not. If you lie about a pre-existing condition, dangerous hobbies, or your family medical history, your family may get an unpleasant surprise in the event they make a claim. Their claim may be rejected, and no settlement made. Imagining how hard this would be should be enough to convince you not to try this.