Average Life Insurance Cost UK

Life insurance is very much down to the individual. Both in the sense of what policy is “the best”, but also what terms, conditions and pricing one might receive. That being the case, asking “what is the average life insurance cost in the UK?” might then be considered an inconsequential question, as it could be argued such a number doesn’t give a true representative figure for the population, no matter the demographic. For example, a healthy 50 year old might have more favourable terms than an unhealthy 30 year old. As it is, we will conduct a number of case studies, all assuming varying lifestyles and ages, smokers and non-smokers etc to figure an average. We will also look at the average cost of a healthy applicant at various ages of 30, 50 and 70 so that there is some kind of baseline.

What is Life Insurance?

Life insurance is a type of financial service that helps you sleep better at night, and give your loved ones peace of mind that should the worst happen to you, they won’t be worrying about monetary stresses or financial obligations. In the event of the policyholder passing away, life insurance policies pay out a lump sum to their named beneficiaries. Beneficiaries can claim this payout on presentation of policy documentation and a certificate of the policyholder’s death.

How Much Does it Cost?

Nonetheless, to get straight to the figure you came here for, the average life insurance cost across a variety of baselines (age, family health, smoker, non-smoker etc) is £35.29 . We took a smoking 30 year old, against a non-smoking 50 year old, together with a 70 year old with a shorter policy term and everything in between, to reach this number.

What we found was that biggest differentiator between prices was age, and within those different age brackets the averages are as follows:

Average Monthly Cost for Life Insurance Policy for a 30 Year Old: £9.95

Average Monthly Cost for Life Insurance Policy for a 50 Year Old: £41.30

Average Monthly Cost for Life Insurance Policy for a 70 Year Old: £95.50

What can determine my monthly premium costs?

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There are many different things that insurers take into account when pricing your policy, and as you can from the above, it looks like age is a major consideration. However, it is not the only primary indicator, so here are a few factors that can also be taken into consideration:

• Are you a smoker? If so, how many cigarettes do you smoke a day? Have you ever smoked E-Cigarettes or vapes?
• How many units of alcohol do you drink a week? This can be split between beer, wine and other spirits.
• What is your medical history like?
• Does your family have a history of physical or mental illness?
• If a family member has had an ongoing or chronic illness which family member was this and at what age were they diagnosed?
• Do you take part in any dangerous sports or activities?
• Is the nature of your job particularly risky or not?
• What is the level of cover you are looking for in terms of payout value?
• What kind of cover are you after: level term, increasing, decreasing, whole life etc?
• If you have opted for a policy term (as opposed to whole life), how long is the period you are looking for?

How Can I Decrease the Cost of My Quotes?

Clearly there are some things on the list above that a person can change, and things that some people cannot. For example, family medical history and your own history are set in stone, so whatever conditions might be noted there will stay exactly where they are. However, things such as smoking, alcohol and dangerous sports activities are all within our control to change should we want to.

To give you an idea on how much a policy can change if you look to improve your lifestyle and change it for a healthier alternative, on average (across all age groups), the difference between a non-smoker’s monthly premium and a smoker’s is around +125%!! Indeed the average 30 year old non-smoker premium was £6.50, whilst the average 30 year old smoker’s premium was £13.55.

Here are a few things many policyholders can change which will decrease their premiums:

Stop Smoking

• This is the big one, since smoker’s rates really double the cost of insurance for a lot of people. Of course, this doesn’t mean the easy way out is to say you aren’t a smoker, since any evidence of inaccurate information on one’s application could invalidate any claims, with no hope of getting a return premium either.

Drink Less

• Depending on how much you drink a day, this might not have as big an effect as stopping smoking. What it will do however is encourage a healthier lifestyle that can positively impact any prospective insurance quote

Take More Exercise

• Life Insurance applications will ask you about your height and weight, and in so doing calculate your BMI (even though it might not be immediately obvious). This is why things such as drinking less can have the knock on effect of helping you lose weight, taking you perhaps from overweight to the recommended BMI, thus perhaps bringing down your premium in some way.

Look for Discounts

• Now it’s not as if the only way you can decrease your life insurance premiums is by improving that preferred lifestyle…! The insurance market is awash with providers looking to get new customers, and do so with incentives to make themselves more attractive. Especially in today’s internet-savvy culture, it’s wise to have an extensive browse of the internet and see which sites might be offering discounts or free gifts. You might also look to your friends to see if they can get you (and them) a referral discount for coming on board with their insurance provider. Or indeed looking to get your whole family under one life insurance provider, for a multi-member discount.