Life insurance. Smoke your money up the chimney

Author: Emma Mayo

The costs of smoking are well documented. High blood pressure,

Critical Illness Insurance. Concerns for Cautious Customers
The selling of Critical Illness Cover has been under review by the FSA. They are addressing some concerns in their report in an effort to protect the customer.
Why Should I Even Bother to Buy Life Insurance?
The case for having life insurance
A few pointers to reduce the cost of your life insurance.
Getting Cheap Term Life Insurance
Insurance Are you covered and don't realise it?
It might be worth checking whether you are forking out for two different insurance policies that cover you for exactly the same thing. Selling duplicate insurance policies is, after all, how some companies make their money.
Life Insurance. How the new regulations affect policies written in trust.
The 2006 Spring Budget changed the treatment of some life policies written in trust. This article explains the tax position unveiled by the Finance Bill.
Critical Illness Insurance and Life Insurance Cover for Better and for Worse
What does critical illness insurance do? This article explains.
heart attacks, lung cancer - smokers know why it's such a bad habit. The facts are humbling. 80% of non-smokers can expect to live to over 70, only 50% of smokers can. Also, 50% of smokers will die from a smoking-related disease. These diseases are often long, drawn out and very painful.

At over £5 for a packet of 20 cigarettes, they are also aware of how much it's costing { motor insurance quotes } them monetarily. But the financial implications stretch further, meaning that smokers have to pay hundreds more for their life insurance.

Click for a life quote

Insurance companies classify anyone has who used any tobacco products in the twelve months before making the insurance application as 'a smoker'. Statistics show that people that smoke are more likely to make a claim, so naturally the premiums are higher for smokers - but the margin is surprisingly high. A male 35-year-old smoker will pay 78% more in life insurance { car insurance quotations } premiums than his non-smoking counterpart. It's not much better for women - a smoker of 35 will pay 72% more. For £100,000 worth of cover over 20 years, that's a difference of over £1,500. Add that to the cost of all those cigarettes at a rate of 20 a day, and that's another £36,400 smoked up the chimney! Smoking certainly is an expensive habit.

Despite the extra cost implications, don't be tempted to save money on life insurance by pretending that you don't smoke. If you do need to make a claim then the insurer { mortgages } will most likely discover that you were in fact a smoker, and would use that as grounds to reject the claim. It simply isn't worth the risk.

Some insurers have developed { loans } methods to make sure applicants cannot lie in any case. There is a saliva test that can reveal whether you are a smoker or not - and some insurers ask potential customers to take the test before they will insure them.

Click here for page 2