Military Life Insurance: Why Use a Life Expectancy Calculator?
Some people don’t feel life insurance is important. At first.
But if you carry a large amount of debt, have loved ones you don’t want to be saddled with that debt, or if you want to make sure your family is provided for after you are gone, a life insurance policy can help.
Military members are offered Servicemembers Group Life Insurance or SGLI, and qualifying veterans have their own version of this life insurance. But some don’t feel it’s enough coverage and seek additional insurance options. And when it comes to civilian life insurance, there are important factors in determining how much a policy will cost.
One of those factors in determining the size and benefit of your life insurance policy is life expectancy.
Investopedia advises, “There is a direct correlation between your life expectancy and how much you will be charged for a life insurance policy.”
To calculate your estimated life expectancy to get life insurance, the insurer may use a digital calculator or provide an online life insurance calculator for you to plug your information into. The results may inform the scope of your policy and, as mentioned above, the cost.
How Insurance Life Expectancy Calculators Work
These calculators don’t simply accept your inputs for age, occupation, risk factors, and other variables. They are often programmed using data from trusted medical sources like the CDC, the National Institute of Mental Health, and other government sources.
When using a life insurance life expectancy calculator, you’ll be asked several questions related to your age, physical condition, and other variables, such as:
- Current age
- Career path
- Military status
- Lifestyle
- Family medical history
- Personal medical history
Some life expectancy calculators may offer advice based on your inputs to increase longevity. Some may allow you to change your data to see how long your life expectancy is if you take the advice of the calculator.
How Life Expectancy Affects Your Life Insurance Premium
From a certain perspective, the younger you are when you apply for life insurance, the longer you might be expected to live.
That is one reason younger applicants may be charged less for life insurance than older adults. Your projected lifespan informs the insurer’s rate schedule; your life insurance policy may be cheaper if you are a generally lower risk (young, non-smoker, low-risk lifestyle).
And the life expectancy calculator will typically show those results based on your input. Deciding on a policy will require you to know the results of the calculations so you can ask the insurer how much your monthly costs will be based on them.
How Early is Too Early to Get Life Insurance for Military Families?
Investopedia has some advice for those wondering how early is too early to get life insurance. Should a first-term Airman or a junior enlisted Marine consider buying life insurance above and beyond SGLI?
Investopedia advises, “Not only will you save money through lower premium costs, but you will also have longer for your policy to accumulate value and become a potentially significant financial resource as you age.”
Buying life insurance above what the military provides isn’t an option all troops consider, but the advice about building value in a policy by signing up early is good to consider for long-term financial planning.
Read more: Who is Eligible for Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI)?
>> Get easy, affordable life insurance coverage with no medical exam or labs required. To determine your eligibility, please go here.
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
