Buy life insurance while you can. Too many people think about life insurance when it is too late. Illness or current health status are the leading reasons for being denied life insurance coverage. The number one reason for getting life insurance is seeing a loved one or friend leave behind a family with out coverage.

The life insurance process can be timely, the more coverage you seek the longer the underwriting process can be. Some companies allow coverage with out a medical exam, only asking a few simple questions to bind coverage. The amount you pay or the premium, is based on your age and current health. Smokers always pay more premium. Should your health get better down the road, you can always look for a better rate based on your current health status. All things considered, you don't know when your time is up....get coverage immediately for peace of mind. When you get better health or researched the best policy for you..just change. In the mean time you have coverage for your family should something unexpected happen.

How much coverage you need is based on what you are trying to replace or what you were planning on doing. Do you plan on putting children through college? Do you want to pay off the mortgage? Do you want your salary replaced for 10 or 20 years or more? Ultimately, you can't get enough coverage. a good place to start is by finding out the maximum amount of coverage you qualify for and seeing if it fits your budget. if you need to, work backwards from there.

Good things to know.....

The healthier you are, the better the rates
It's true - healthy people get better rates on life insurance. You will be asked to pay a higher rate for anything that shortens your life expectancy (e.g., if you smoke, take medications regularly, are overweight, have a bad driving record).

Buy sooner rather than later
If you've been putting off purchasing life insurance because you don't want to pay the premiums, you may be doing yourself a disservice in the long run. The younger you are when you purchase life insurance, the lower your premiums will be.

Don't rely solely on the life insurance offered by your employer
Many employers offer their employees some sort of group life insurance. But this amount of coverage is usually not enough to adequately meet your life insurance needs. In addition, group life insurance policies are not portable, meaning that if you leave your job, you can't take your life insurance coverage with you.

Buying more is sometimes cheaper
Life insurance usually costs less per thousand dollars once you get into higher coverage amounts (e.g., $250,000). If the numbers work out, you may be able to pay a lower premium while increasing your coverage.

More than anything else..get coverage while you can!