Life Insurance and Skydiving. What you need to know

Can I get Life Insurance if I Skydive?

You’re a thrill-seeker. You like to take risks and walk on the wild side. Your weekend hobby, no doubt, is jumping out of airplanes. Even the most daring among us have families or loved ones that they want to protect and support and so the question of whether or not life insurance and skydiving can and do go together is one the insurance industry gets all the time

What You Should Know About Life Insurance and Skydiving

You’re a thrill-seeker. You like to take risks and walk on the wild side. Your weekend hobby, no doubt, is jumping out of airplanes. Even the most daring among us have families or loved ones that they want to protect and support and so the question of whether or not life insurance and skydiving can and do go together is one the insurance industry gets all the time.

Knowing that the life insurance industry bases everything on the level of risk involved, it seems strange that insurance companies would even consider placing life insurance and skydiving together in the same sentence. In reality, however, most insurance providers will insure someone who skydives, but it depends on the frequency in which they jump out of planes and the amount of money they’re willing to pay for premiums. What’s more is that people actually have a greater chance of dying in a car accident on their way to work than they do of dying while skydiving—just a little food for thought.

Occasional Skydiver

If you’re an occasional skydiver, say you’ve gone twice in the last year, the amount of money you pay is going to be much less than someone who makes a living jumping out of planes with other thrill-seekers. You will, however, be made to pay a flat extra (anywhere from $2.50 per thousand to even $5 per thousand) for your policy. If you make this your profession and have jumped more than say 200 times in the last 12 months, however, insurance is going to get pretty costly unless you tack on an exemption.

For some people, putting an exemption in their policy that says their death benefit will not be paid if they die as a result of skydiving could be the most cost-effective solution. For others, however, this just won’t satisfy their insurance needs and a solution could be to take out two separate policies; split the amount of coverage you want between two policies, one with full coverage and the other with an exemption.

The good news is that for those who had life insurance policies before they took up this hobby, the typical life insurance and skydiving implications won’t affect them.