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Smoker vs. Non-Smoker Life Insurance Rates
Now... here's an interesting and long overdue study. We looked at life insurance rates for males and females. The goal... to answer the question about impact of smoking on life insurance premiums. We used a common face amount ($250,000) for this life insurance comparison and chose to look at issue ages of 20 to 60 in 5-year increments. The plan chosen is a 20 year term life insurance policy from an A++ rated carrier-- American General Select-A-Term. American General is known for being very competitive-- but they're not always the least expensive carrier. You should also know that for the purpose of comparison, we used the best attainable non-smoker rate and the best attainable smoker rate to stay as consistent as possible. What we found was pretty amazing.
Not to spoil our nifty charts or anything... but even the youngest buyers of life insurance can expect to pay double the premium and the oldest will pay more by nearly a factor of five. It doesn't pay to smoke, I suppose, is the moral of this story. The best rates come to those who have not smoked for 5 years or more. Those who have been off nicotine for 3 to 5 years get a break-- 2 years less of a break-- 1 year even less. If you quit smoking less than a year ago-- you're still considered a smoker. So enjoy the data. If you're looking for coverage, we hope this information guides you appropriately.*
