Life insurance policies are essentially a bet between the life insurance company and yourself regarding your overall health and life outlook. Given this, it is important to understand the critical factors a life insurance company looks at when it comes up with the rates you are going to be charged.

Let’s start off with a basic concept. Who do you think will live longer – a man who smokes a pack a day, is an air traffic controller and doesn’t exercise at all or a massage therapist who runs five miles a day and doesn’t smoke? This rather extreme comparison should suggest an obvious answer. The man who smokes, works at a stressful job and doesn’t exercise is statistically not long for this world when compared to our other participant. As a result, he is going to get much higher rates for life insurance since there is a much higher likelihood that he will die during the term of the policy.

This extreme example shows how life insurance companies evaluate individuals. They look at any number of factors that population data analysis has told them are critical to determining the life expectancy of a person. The most obvious would be smoking, which clearly knocks years off your life. That being said, there are other factors that are just as critical. Let’s look at some of the big ones.

Your cardiac condition is a huge factor. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. That means it is also the most critical factor in determining your life expectancy from a life insurance perspective. To determine this, companies will determine whether you smoke and take blood to analyze your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. A person who smokes with high blood pressure and sky high cholesterol levels will pay through the nose for life insurance assuming they can get it.

If you want to get low rates, these are the three main things to focus on. Quit smoking. Get your blood pressure under control without medication [think exercise and going vegan]. Lower those cholesterol levels through your diet. Take these steps and your life insurance rates will be the envy of those around you.