Life Insurance in Your 30s and 40s — Get Covered Before It Doubles in Price (2025)

You know you’re starting to get on a bit when you turn on the radio and don’t recognise a single artist.

Actually, just being able to *turn on* the radio marks you as an oldie.

My kids just yell

Alexxxxxxxxxa

at the dashboard. (My kids are dopes.)

And now look at you — reading a blog about life insurance.

It’s over, my friend.

Make peace with becoming a curmudgeon, watching The Late Late Show, and finding outrage at every turn.

But before you start shouting at the telly, let’s look at getting you insured.

If you’d like to understand exactly how age impacts your premiums and medicals, see our complete guide on how age affects life insurance.

Why Age Matters (and How It Bites)

Each birthday nudges your premium up. It’s not personal — it’s maths. The older you are, the higher the risk of a claim, so insurers adjust accordingly. They don’t care that you’ve started drinking green juice or doing Pilates — the clock’s ticking, and they price for that.

Take two identical people buying the same €500,000 policy:

• Age 30: €27.71 per month → €9,975 total over 30 years
• Age 40: €59.85 per month → €21,546 total over 30 years

💡 Waiting 10 years more than doubles the premium — that’s around €11,500 extra over 30 years for the same cover.

Why It Matters

Those savings aren’t just numbers — that’s money you could spend on holidays, home improvements, or keeping the kids in football boots that they’ll outgrow by Christmas. It’s real money you’ll never see again, all because you waited.

Types of Cover to Think About

1. Life Insurance: Your family gets a tax-free lump sum if you die. If you don’t have a family, your cat’s about to dine out on caviar.
2. Mortgage Protection: Clears your mortgage if you die — but doesn’t replace your income.
3. Income Protection: Pays you up to 75% of your income if you can’t work due to illness or injury.
4. Serious / Critical Illness Cover: Pays a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a covered condition (like cancer, heart attack, or stroke).

In Your 30s — Build a Base

You’re still relatively young (even if your knees disagree). This is your cheapest decade to buy cover — it only gets pricier from here.

• Get level term life insurance. Think of it as future-you’s thank-you present.
• Add a conversion option — it lets you extend cover later without another medical (because who wants to be poked and prodded again at 45?).
• If you don’t yet have kids or a mortgage, start with income protection — protect the thing that pays for everything else: your income.

In Your 40s — Protect What You’ve Built

Now you’ve got more responsibilities — mortgage, kids, career, and a car that smells permanently of football boots and coffee. This is when you protect what you’ve grafted for.

• Life insurance → replaces your income and protects your family’s lifestyle.
• Mortgage protection → clears the loan so your family keeps the house.
• Income protection → your safety net if you’re unable to work for months or years.
• Serious illness cover → optional add-on for a one-off lump sum to cover immediate health bills.

Key Tips to Keep Costs Down

• Act before your birthday: you can often back-date your policy to your previous age if you’re within six months of application.
• Go for affordable cover now: better some cover than none — you can top it up later when your finances (or your back) are stronger.
• Use a broker (not a bank): banks only sell one insurer’s product — we compare all five major Irish insurers and actually give you options.

Example Quotes (2025)

💶 That’s around €11,500 extra over 30 years for the same cover — all because of age.

Over to You…

Taking out life insurance in your 30s or 40s doesn’t have to be a pain. Once it’s in place, you can forget about it — like cancelling that gym membership you never use, only this one actually helps your family if life goes sideways.

Next step: use the quick calculator or complete the short questionnaire for a personalised recommendation. Or call us on 057 93 20836.

You can also check out 2000+ client reviews to see how real Irish families found cover with Lion.ie.

Related Guides

• How Age Affects Life Insurance & Mortgage Protection
• Life Insurance in Your 50s / Funeral Cover
• Life Insurance in Your 60s