Your age and health will affect what you pay for your life insurance.

If your lifestyle is too risky, you're in the military or you have unhealthy habits like smoking or drugs.

However, even if you're not the healthiest person out there, there are still ways to save on your life insurance.

1) Don't count on being able to save as much if you are no longer employed. Before you make any big decisions on retiring or becoming unemployed, be sure to check and see if your employer will continue to split life insurance costs with you.

2) Be honest in your responses to questions. If you smoke, you should admit to it rather than trying to hide it. This may cost you at first but will save you money in the long run.

3) Typically, you can pay your life insurance premium once a year, once every half-year, once a quarter, or once a month. Paying quarterly or monthly might seem easier to fit into your budget, but some companies charge high fees for paying premiums frequently. If a company levies high charges for paying more frequently, try budgeting so that you can pay your premium only once or twice a year.

4) If you are in poor health, there are companies that specialize in high-risk applicants, although the premiums for these policies can be expensive and in many cases the face amount is limited. If you are in truly poor health it may be worth considering one of these companies as an alternative and comparing rates.

5) Be careful of "churning." While most life insurance agents are honest, watch out for ones that try to "sell" you too much or get you to sign up for policies you are not comfortable with. Agents only get paid when a sale is made so sometimes they can be overly aggressive.

6) Lose weight! Being overweight costs more than most can imagine - overweight people spend more on life insurance because increases in weight are related to increases in diseases and bad health.

7) Keep your plan flexible! Special clauses known as riders can always be added to your policy. Two common clauses available with term insurance, the renewable and convertible clauses, are especially good to get for those seeking cheap life insurance.

8) All policies are not the same. Some provide lifetime coverage, while others provide coverage for a fixed number of years. Some build up cash values and others do not. Some policies can still offer benefits while you're living. Your choice should be based on your needs and what you can afford, so that you get truly affordable life insurance.

9) Consider low load policies. High immediate cash surrender values are carried as an asset on the corporate books so no assets leave the corporation, reducing your risk. Some life insurance providers also use low load policies to fund employee benefits using corporate dollars.

10) There are often hidden costs in life insurance policies, such as fees and large commissions, that you may not find out about until after you purchase the policy. I recommend hiring a no-fee life insurance advisor to research all this for you and provide an objective analysis.