A whole life insurance premium is the dollar amount that’s charged by an insurance company in order to issue and maintain the life insurance coverage.

You’ll find that the premium amount can be significantly different between insurance carriers which are why it’s important to get several different quotes before you make the decision to purchase a specific policy.

Your insurance broker or agent is going to take down your information and be able to determine an insurance premium amount through your answers and other factors. Keep in mind that this figure is just an estimate until the policy is written. There might be a health exam required and depending on the results of this it could lower or raise your premium amount. The one other important factor to keep in mind is that just because a quote is the lowest5 doesn’t make it the best as it could have significantly less coverage. You’ll want to not only compare prices but also coverage within the insurance policies as well.

For example, a non-smoker is going to live a longer and healthier life then a smoker statistically speaking. Also a construction worker is going to have more of a risk then say a librarian. In these two instances the smoker is going to pay more than the non-smoker and the construction worker is going to pay more than the librarian. It’s a matter of risk assessment in terms of the potential for an early policy payout. Should the insured change habits and/or lifestyle choices they can ask for a review of the policy and the premium could be reduced.

An insurance premium is paid in either monthly or yearly payments. If the policyholder misses a scheduled payment the insurance company has the right to put the insurance policy in default and can cancel the insurance policy should they wish to. With the long payment terms it’s important to make sure that you pay on time especially if there is an illness or genetic predisposition for a sickness. You don’t want to give the insurance company the chance to cancel you but they are a business and in business to make money so they will if they have the chance to avoid a potentially big payout.