The author is president and owner of Agency Services, a life and health insurance brokerage general agency based in Memphis, and serves on the LIFE Foundation Board of Directors.

OK, you’re ready to finally sit down and buy that life insurance you know you’ve needed for some time. Maybe it’s a new home, your first child, whatever the reason, I’m glad you have taken the important first step in deciding that you need the insurance. Hopefully, you’ve had the benefit of professional advice from an agent, and maybe even used the life insurance needs calculator on www.lifehappens.org/lifecalculator.

You’re probably wondering, what’s this going to cost?

Well, the answer depends on several factors and being prepared BEFORE you begin the underwriting process will help you navigate the whole thing. Several important factors are “baked into” life insurance pricing:

1. Gender. Statistically, women live longer than men, so females generally pay less.
2. Age. Things get better with age – or so the saying goes. Except when buying life insurance. The older you are when you buy, the more it’s going to cost you.
3. Smoking. Smokers (and all tobacco users) often pay more than two times more life insurance than non-smokers. Don’t like this? Quit smoking, lay off it for 2-3 years and your rates will reduce dramatically.
4.Other factors. Most insurance companies have several price points in categories such as “ultra preferred”, “preferred”, “super-standard” and “standard”. Besides things like age, gender and smoker status, insurers analyze other important factors such as:

If this all sounds too confusing, it doesn’t have to be that way. Working with a professional advisor, you can get a pretty good idea of how your price would be calculated. Be sure to be completely honest when you discuss things. Thinking that “it’s OK to only tell the agent or the company the things they want to hear” won’t work in the long run. All insurance companies independently verify your past medical, financial and family history during the underwriting process. Almost always, you can expect to be required to submit to certain physical examinations, blood and urine tests. You can expect the process to be thorough and complete. After all, you’re often asking the insurance company to enter into a multi-hundred thousand dollar (or greater) contract with you. Think of underwriting as “due diligence” by the insurance company. You’ve done the same in selecting which carrier you want to do business with!

If you have certain pre-existing or ongoing medical issues, don’t give up. Certain carriers even specialize in handling what’s called “hard to place” risks. Experienced insurance agents know the carriers and which specializes in what. Don’t make a mistake and overpay for coverage. For example: something as simple as smoking only cigars can make a huge difference. Some carriers offer cigar smokers “smoker” rates. Others offer more competitive “non-tobacco” rates.

Check out the opinions from LIFE’s most recent survey about what factors affect life insurance pricing. Click here to read my responses to five fictional carriers applications for life insurance and what each of the following (George Jetson, Batman, Popeye, Fred Flintstone & Elmer Fudd) might pay for life insurance.

The LIFE Foundation also produced a report on underwriting that you may also find useful. To read it, go to www.lifehappens.org/costofcoverage.