Jason Fisher One of the potentially dangerous hobbies we have to discuss with applicants is sky diving.
Life insurance for sky divers will be more expensive than those who don’t jump, but you can save yourself a lot of hassle and expense by applying to the right company.
Our process embraces the risks attributed to skydiving, and our process embraces the differences in the carriers so we can leverage it to your advantage.
When you work with us, we spend the extra time up front to find the one who matches your situation best.
Life Insurance For Sky Divers | Score Lower Premiums Easily.
When you’re looking to buy life insurance as a sky diver, it’s a much more straightforward purchase than many other hobbies.
For the most part, your rates are affected by just a few factors.
Unfortunately for some, there is little wiggle room to find a cheaper policy for these same reasons.
While deaths are reported annually, it’s a very small number given the large number of attempts in total. For this reason, there are few questions asked of you to discover how risky of a sky diver you are:
- How long have you been sky diving?
- How many jumps do you complete annually (average)?
- Are you paid, in any capacity, to jump?
- Are you a member in jump club?
- Do you participate in any experimental jumps or use any experimental equipment?
- Do you (or have you) jump in hazardous terrains?
Experience
How long you have been jumping and how many jumps you’ve made since your initial leap is important because it establishes your level of experience.
This is key, especially for those who don’t tandem jump, as experience tends to lend itself to safer jumps.
Those who are new to sky diving by themselves are the highest risk.
The actual number of jumps you complete on an annual basis, however, has much more weight in your final rating for life insurance. By most carriers, it’s the single greatest factor, assuming you’re a recreational sky diver only.
There are several “bands” when talking about total annual jumps.
- Band 1: <50
- Band 2: 51-100
- Band 3: 101-200
- Band 4: >200
While companies vary slightly, most categorize as such. Each band, in turn, has it’s own flat extra fee, usually in $2.50 per thousand increments.
In other words, less than 50 jumps annually will see a charge of $2.50, 50-100 would be charged $5.00, and so on.
Paid Jumpers
If you’re a paid sky diver, you will likely be asked a few additional questions to individually assess your risk.
As a paid sky diver, it may be your profession in several capacities: photography/videography, instruction and training, remote access jumping, and more.
Because of the variety, each person is viewed on a case-by-case basis.
This won’t necessarily hurt your premiums, as the basic questions are still the main focus (such as frequency, terrains, etc.), but it still needs to be reviewed.
Sky Diving Clubs
Next to how many jumps you do annually, your club or organization membership is the next most important aspect of getting cheap life insurance as a sky diver.
For example, being an active member in the United State Parachute Association or the National Skydiving League will afford you better premiums with private insurers.
If you aren’t a part of a club or organization, you can still get covered.
However, the flat extra fee attached to your policy will increase, sometimes as much as doubling the fee. By simply being an active member, this can be avoided entirely.
It’s assumed a more involved, educated jumper will be safer, and more likely to jump with others, which is also a point of safety.
Local clubs may get the same recognition as national organizations where approved by the issuing carrier.
Other Risks
There are other classifications beyond recreational. These specialized areas, such as using wing suits, are significantly harder to insure, although not impossible.
If you are unable to be insured strictly due to your particular sky diving risks, you can request a policy with an exclusion.
These work by allowing your policy to pay out as a normal life insurance policy would, with the exception to any sky diving related death. See the chart below to see which carriers may have an allowance for this.
Where To Apply
Here is a quick snapshot of possible ratings:
| Band 1 | Band 2 | Band 3 | Band 4 | Exclusion | |
| AIG | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | Yes |
| Assurity | $2.50 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| AXA Equitable | $2.50 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Banner | $2.50 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | Yes |
| Fidelity | $2.50 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Genworth | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| ING Reliastar | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| John Hancock | $2.50 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Lincoln | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | Yes |
| MetLife | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | Yes |
| Minnesota Life | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Mutual of Omaha | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Nationwide | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | Yes |
| Principal | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | Yes |
| Protective | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Prudential | $2.50 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| SBLI | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
| Transamerica | $3.00 | $5.00 | $7.50 | $10.00 | x |
For Band 1, non-membership participants will not receive less than $5.00 flat extra fees.
As you can see from the chart above, you can see how the rates are different from one to the next, and some have exclusion availability, and others don’t. To understand how much a difference of $.50 is when flat fees are quoted, here’s a quick break break down:
Case 1: For a $250,000 policy that has a base premium of $1,000 per year, the total after a $2.50 flat extra would be $1,625.
Case 2: For a similar policy, the total where a $3.00 flat extra is used would have a final total of $1,750.
Where it might look like a $.50 difference, it’s actually $125 per year!
Now, this is also just looking at a top down view. Not every carrier strictly rates on bands, so the difference could be much larger.
This is why our process involves assessing your risk entirely, and even asking the carriers directly for their rate before we even apply.
What To Do Next
We recommend speaking to us before you apply anywhere.
Just because you may think you are a small risk as a sky diver, there are other factors, like your health, your family history, and even driving history which all have to be accounted for in addition to the hobby.
Grab an instant quote and we’ll be with you shortly to help you proceed in the right direction.
