Best Smokeless Tobacco Life Insurance Rates 2018

Would you like to get the best smokeless tobacco life insurance rates?

As you already know from other content on Dipsurance, the biggest misconception out there is that dippers and chewers can only qualify for tobacco rates on life insurance. That’s just NOT TRUE! Never pay 2x to 4x more for a tobacco rated life insurance premium when there are life insurance companies out here that offer smokeless tobacco chewers a non-tobacco rating!

(QUICK SIDE NOTE: this is an in-depth article explaining different factors that determine the best smokeless tobacco life insurance rates in 2018. If you’re looking for actual samples of the best smokeless tobacco life insurance rates only, you can scroll to the bottom of the article.)

The most important thing tobacco chewers can do to get the best smokeless tobacco life insurance rates is apply for life insurance with a company that is okay with smokeless tobacco use. Once you find the best company your rates will depend on several other factors. Let’s start by looking at the various types of life insurance:

You’re probably looking for the best life insurance rates for smokeless tobacco users in 2018 because you want to protect the one who matter most to you if you were to pass away unexpectedly. Typical reason you may be looking for life insurance are for reasons such as:

• protect the loss of your income
• children expenses such as college education
• cover debts such as mortgage, college loans, or credit cards
• leave a legacy for your loved ones
• to cover divorce financial reasons such as child support or spousal support 
• just to make sure everyone will be okay finanically

 …before shopping around for top rates, it’s important to understand the various types of life insurance available to tobacco chewers:

Term life insurance is a great fit for individuals that have a shorter-term need or a specific time frame they are looking to cover. You choose the specific term that begins when the policy is purchased. Most term life insurance policies are for a period between 10 to 30 years. 

Tobacco chewers who purchase a term policy will pay level premiums for the duration of the policy and will be covered while it is in force. These policies are usually purchased if you are looking for low cost insurance coverage to cover you during a specific amount of years (usually your working years). 

…here’s a common example of someone who purchases term life insurance:

Jason, age 34, decides to purchase a term life insurance policy to help make sure that his family will be able to cover the mortgage on their home if he were to pass away unexpected. The home has 20 years left on the mortgage so he wants to buy a 20-year term $250,000 policy to cover the outstanding debt on the house.

During the 20-year term, the monthly premiums on the policy are level and guaranteed not to change. Once the 20-year term expires, premiums will increase each year if Jason chooses to keep the policy in place. Typically, term life insurance offers the following options:

• Insurance premiums that are guaranteed to be level during the term period
• Conversion options on the policy where you can convert the term policy to a permanent policy without taking another medical exam
• Additional life insurance riders that can be added for an extra cost to customize your policy

Simply put, whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that will cover you for your entire lifetime. The whole life insurance rates (premiums) are usually level and guaranteed for your entire lifetime. It’s the most common type of permanent life insurance and offers the potential for cash value inside the policy that can potentially accessed during your life tax-free.

Whole life insurance premiums are more expensive than term life, and it’s commonly bought by tobacco chewers with large estates or those who are seeking life insurance for life. 

Another common type of permanent life insurance that chew tobacco users buy is guaranteed universal life insurance. It’s often referred to as UL or No Lapse life insurance and is a popular choice for those concerned about outliving term life insurance or those they don’t like expensive premiums on whole life insurance. It’s a great choice if you are looking for:

• Premiums that can be level for a lifetime
• Death benefit guaranteed to age 90, 95, 100, 105, 115 or even 121
• Length of premium payments can be flexible
• An inexpensive permanent life insurance product to protect you

…just remember that these “No Lapse” or “Secondary Guarantee Universal Life” policies may not have cash value. If you’re looking for flexibility and the opportunity for cash value accumulation it may be possible with an indexed life insurance policy:

Indexed Universal Life, commonly referred to as an IUL Policy, allows the owner to allocate cash value to both fixed accounts and equity index accounts for potential growth. These policies offer tax-deferred cash accumulation for potential retirement savings while maintaining a death benefit.  A portion of each premium goes to annually renewable term insurance based on your age and the rest to cash value. 

The amount that goes to the cash value is invested is allocated toward indexes of your choice such as the S&P 500 or even the Nasdaq 100. Your cash value is then credited with interested based on the increases in the underlying index, but not directly invested in this index. Because of this, you can only participate in some of the upside of the index but none of the downside. 

An IUL can be be a good choice for dippers that are looking to take advantage of putting away cash value for things like:

• Key-person life insurance (key-man life insurance) for business owners
• Estate planning life insurance strategies
• Premium Financing 

…just be sure to fully understand indexed life insurance before making the purchase! So now that you have a basic understanding of popular life insurance choices for smokeless tobacco chewers, let’s look at things that affect your rates:

Often tobacco chewers ask us:

Does chewing tobacco affect life insurance?

…only if you apply with the wrong insurance company. Let me explain:

One of the biggest factors in lowering the cost of smokeless tobacco life insurance quotes is applying with the company that will offer you non-tobacco life insurance rates. Besides applying with the correct company, the following factors play the biggest role in how life insurance rates are priced by the company:

The type of life insurance policy you choose to purchase is very important consideration. As a general rule of thumb, term life insurance is going to be cheaper than whole life or universal life insurance for the same tobacco chewer. Also, the length of the policy determines how much you pay. Generally, the longer the duration the more the premiums will be. 

The amount of life insurance coverage you put into place will play a significant role in the cost of premiums. As you probably can guess, one million dollars (1 million) of 20-year term coverage will cost more $300,000 in 20-year term coverage for the same spit tobacco user. The higher the coverage, the more you will pay in monthly or annual premium payments for smokeless tobacco life insurance. 

During the life insurance process, you will fill out what’s called a formal application. You will have to list the typical questions like your name, age, and employment. Furthermore, you need to provide accurate details on your health situation and lifestyle. Typically the following questions will be asked on the life insurance application:

• Date of Birth
• Height
• Weight
• Details on lifestyle; do you drink or smoke (if so, how often?)
• Your financial information; income and net worth
• Occupation
• Hobbies (they are looking for high risk hobbies such as scuba and skydiving)

Also, when applying for most types of life insurance the carrier will require that you undergo a medical examination before putting the policy into place. The point of this medical exam is to verify the information that you provided in your application and determine if any other tests will be required. 

Typically, life insurance carriers work with paramedical companies during the medical exam phase of your application. Once you apply for the policy, the paramedical company will send a out a certified medical technician (paramed) to perform medical tests and send the results to be reviewed by the underwriter. Here’s what you can expect from the paramed:

• Take Your Blood Pressure: wants to ensure blood pressure is not elevated
• Reviews Medical History: verify medical history submitted on app and get additional details if needed
• Height and Weight: verifies your height and weight with scale and measure
• Urine Sample: urine analysis to detect nicotine, drugs, among other things
• Blood Sample: draw blood sample to determine if nicotine or drugs present in your system
• Questions about lifestyle: will ask questions about drinking, smoking and occupational hazards

…just remember that it’s best to answer questions on your life insurance application honestly. There’s no point to lie on your app and commit fraud when you can always find the company that will look at your situation most favorably. 

If you want to secure the lowest smokeless tobacco life insurance rates as possible, you’ll have to be sure to remember a few key points. While many factors do come into play, just remember that your health is looked at very hard. You will need to prove that you’re in great health to get low rates. Here’s some of the top tips to secure low rates:

Just remember that each life insurance company looks at smokeless tobacco use differently. One of the biggest keys for tobacco chewers to save money on life insurance is to apply with the company that is okay with your smokeless tobacco habit. Dipsurance works with multiple life insurance companies that will offer dippers and chewers a non-tobacco health rating!

Most life insurance companies will consider you a smokeless tobacco users for one year (12 months) after you quit dipping. So if you’ve quit within the last 12-months, be sure to apply with a company that will offer you a non-tobacco ratings. If it’s been longer than 12 months, you can qualify for non-tobacco rates with just about any life insurance company. Here’s more on quit dipping life insurance options. 

A question on the life insurance application will ask for details on your alcohol consumption. If the life insurance company sees that you have heavy alcohol consumption and/or your blood test shows raised enzyme levels in your liver, you life insurance rates may be higher. Drinking less or none at all can often lower life insurance rates offered by the company. 

Obesity is linked to many different medical conditions that may lead to a premature death. Life insurance underwriters know the risks of being overweight and have build charts for your height. If you are currently overweight, you may see a reduction in life insurance costs if you lose weight and fall into a better build category. 

Life insurance carriers may charge higher rates on premiums if you partake in dangerous hobbies such as scuba diving, skydiving, rock climbing or aviation. Higher rates are often result when your behavior is deemed to be dangerous such as DUI or a very bad driving record which seen as a higher chance of an early death. 

Whole life insurance will provide coverage for your entire life as long as premiums are paid. Because the coverage is longer, the rates are typically more expensive than term insurance. If you only need life insurance coverage for a specific amount of time, consider applying for term life insurance coverage and invest the difference. Here’s more on important things you should know about whole life insurance.

Life insurance riders are additional options that you can add to your life insurance policy. Some common riders are often purchased are the accelerated death benefit rider and the child term rider. Determine the purpose of your life insurance and evaluate each rider carefully to see if adding a rider is necessary or just an added expense that’s not needed. 

You should know this by now…but just remember that not all life insurance companies view you the same. The key is to match your health and lifestyle with the company that will view it the most favorable. Each company has sweet spots in underwriting guidelines and our job is to sell your unique situation to the best company. Here’s more on how dippers get non-tobacco life insurance rates.