When you are in your twenties and early thirties, you are probably still putting down roots and establishing yourself in life. You might still be single or just now starting a family. You might have just bought your first home or started to advance through your career. You might just have been able to really start saving money for the future. With so many present-day goals to meet, you might not be thinking a lot about life insurance.

Life insurance is something that many people don’t think they need until they get older. After all, it’s not a policy that will pay out until you die, and for younger people, this might not seem like something that is likely to happen very soon.

Don’t be so quick to brush it aside, however. Life insurance is something that anyone can benefit from at any stage of life. In fact, younger people who have life insurance, and have invested in it early, have some of the best guarantees of coverage that is both customizable and affordable. It’s not something that just protects your financial future. From the moment you buy it, you’re providing yourself with a financial safeguard for the present day.

Consider just a few reasons why getting life insurance early is in your best interest.

Eligibility for More Coverage

As you get older, you become a higher risk for a life insurer to cover. After all, as you age, you will begin to accrue more financial assets, and your mortality risk will increase.

Older people, obviously, have a generally higher risk of death than younger people. Even someone in their mid-forties has a higher risk of death or seriously than someone in their twenties. Additionally, they might begin to develop chronic health conditions which, while they might seem minor, still could cause an insurer to increase the applicant’s risk rating. Since they will likely have to undergo a medical exam when applying for coverage, then the life insurer will likely notice these issues.

Plus, someone in middle age likely has more financial need for a high-value life insurance plan. Therefore, they could not only die sooner but also trigger a higher death benefit payout from their plan.

Because of these risk factors, certain older life insurance applicants might be limited in their eligibility for life insurance. Some insurers might deny their application, and others might only be able to offer them policies that provide a more limited set of benefits.

As a result, if you get life insurance while you are younger, then you will likely qualify for the widest breadth of policy options, and your application is more likely to be accepted. Therefore, you will have more choice to choose the plan that is best for you.

More Favorable Rates

Younger and healthier people are more likely to receive optimized premiums on their life insurance policies. After all, since your mortality risk is lower when you are younger, then insurers are more likely to offer you a lower premium. Like all insurance premiums, life insurance rates are based on multiple risk factors. Your overall risk of death is one of the most important, and one of the most likely to either raise or reduce your premiums.

Additionally, if you have a low life insurance premium right from the start, then you are likely to continue to maintain them throughout the life of your policy, even as you age. Though life insurance premiums can rise over time, having a lower overall rate to begin with can prove to your advantage, since any future rate increases can remain manageable.

Better Investment Opportunities

If you are interested in investment opportunities provided by life insurance, then you should consider buying a whole-life insurance plan. Whole life policies will last from the time you buy them until your death, no matter when your death occurs. This contrasts with a term life plan, which only lasts for a certain number of years.

Additionally, whole life policies offer cash value investment opportunities alongside their standard death benefits. When you pay your premium, a portion of that money will go into an investment account, which the insurance company will manage, and which will accumulate value over time. You can draw on this cash value amount while you are still alive, and therefore use it as a source of income when you need it.

If you start a whole life policy with cash value options early, then your cash value account has a longer time to accumulate value and mature. Therefore, your rate of return on the investment will be able to grow for a longer time and will provide more assistance when you do choose to withdraw funds.

All in all, the earlier you get life insurance, the more you can take advantage of its many financial benefits. Therefore, you’ll have more choice and better financial options to help you maintain and maximize your plan to your advantage.