The term vegan life insurance does get asked quite often these days. There is not a product called vegan life insurance. However, life insurance is a great bargain for most vegans because of the risk calculations for the underwriters. Vegans tend to be healthier; they exercise and have favorable builds. So even though there is not such a product called vegan life insurance, I still get excited when I find out my client is vegetarian. Here is why.

There are fourteen different rating tiers of risk levels in standard life insurance. They range from best preferred to table 10 or J. The average consumer roughly 60% fall into the standard category of life insurance risk. There are four better ratings than standard.  They are Select, Select Plus, Preferred and of course, Best Preferred. The person’s age, build, life style, health, occupation, tobacco or drug use and medical history determine the person’s rating tier. The best preferred rating is less than 4% of the population can qualify for this rate. This is the rate used by most insurance company advertising to get you to call. I have found that most people that are in this class are vegetarians. This can really save this client a lot of money over time. Each rating class can change a premium depending on the insurance company 4% to 8% per tier. Just to round out the table ratings which are used for people with serious medical conditions or high risk occupations, each table rate increases premiums 4% to 12% per table up to the table 10 or J rating. Anything past table 10 is uninsurable. These people are forced to buy a guaranteed issue plan which is known for their modified claims tables. In other words the longer the insured lives the more the death claim paid out to the beneficiary. These plans are certainly not a first choice plan of security.

Let’s look at some ballpark sample rates of best preferred to standard to table 10 premiums. Let’s use a 35 year old female non tobacco vegan in great health to purchase $500,000 in 20 year level term with a nationally known company. Her monthly rate would be $19.60 for 20 years. The same exact female that is not a vegan, but non tobacco and is in average health, remember 60% of the population, would cost $40.69 per month or 208% more than her vegan self. Now let’s take the same female in extremely poor health with tobacco use for the same amount of insurance. Now her monthly cost is $319.16 for 20 years or 784% higher than standard rating and 1628% more than best preferred for the same person! Even though there is no such thing as vegan life insurance clearly a vegetarian has a huge advantage for purchasing life insurance.

If you or someone you know has switched to vegan recently and living a healthier lifestyle, now is a great time to get a life insurance policy review. You could be sitting on an annual savings of hundreds if not thousands of dollars. We always recommend using an experienced independent life insurance broker who can professionally shop the market for the right product at the best price for your unique situation. Keep up the good work!

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian.” ― Paul McCartney

Image by Serge Bertasius at www.freedigitalphotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 27 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.