Most people don't like to even think about life insurance, much less pay the monthly premiums. But as responsible adults who care deeply for our loved ones, we know that life insurance is something that we need to have if we are going to leave family and loved ones financially secure should something happen to us.

Before we talk about ways to save money and get discount life insurance here in Nevada, we need to understand what the two primary types of life insurance are. When purchasing life insurance you basically have a choice between whole life and term life.

Term life insurance is life insurance that lasts for a specified number of years. During those years the premium you have agreed to pay remains constant ? but once the term of your policy expires, so does your insurance coverage. If you wish to take out a term policy for another set of years, you will have to pay a new (and higher) premium, based on your current age.

Whole life insurance, on the other hand, lasts your whole life. Whatever premium is in effect at the time you buy your policy is the premium you pay every month until you die.

While the premium for whole life insurance is higher ? initially ? than the premium for term life insurance, over the long run you may save more on whole life insurance, especially as you get older and may have a more difficult time paying the ever-increasing rates of a term policy.

Another thing to look for are discounts based on the size of your policy. The larger your policy, the greater the monthly premium discount. When comparing companies, also compare the prices for various size insurance policies. In many cases the difference in monthly premium between a $750,000 policy and a $1,000,000 policy is just a few dollars.

Whichever life insurance policy you choose there are several things you can do in order to bring down the cost of your premium and save yourself considerable money over the long run.

First, if you smoke ? stop. Smokers pay a tremendous penalty for their addiction. Smoking takes years off your life and contributes to several respiratory illnesses ? and that drives up the cost of life insurance.

If you have a dangerous job, consider changing careers. The more likely you are to be seriously hurt or killed in your occupation, the more you are going to pay for life insurance.

If you drive a sports car or other muscle car, consider selling it. Again, anything that puts your life at greater risk than the normal person will drive up the cost of your life insurance.

Also, get insurance young. Each year that passes, each birthday you celebrate drives up the monthly cost of your premiums.

The final tip for saving money and getting discount life insurance is to get online and compare policies and prices among several different companies. Once you fill out the form on a site, all it takes is the click of a mouse and you can compare the prices of up to five or six different companies.

Remember, every dollar you save on your monthly premium adds up to real money over the course of a lifetime ? so spend the time to compare today and save for the rest of your life.