Life Insurance for Climbers

[ericb]

So I'm taking advantage of a quiet fall, trying to take care of some personal administrative/financial stuff. I recently met with a financial planner and realized that my current life insurance policy (work benefit.... X times salary) was probably inadequate to protect my family in the event of my untimely death, and have been doing some research on term life insurance. I've been very loyal to my current insurance company, but admitting to 1) "Climbing a mountain" or 2) "rock climbing" in the past 3 years or planning to in the next year jacked my premium from ~ $68/month to almost $232/month....Ouch.

 

I'm just curious if any of you have found companies that are sophisticated enough to understand the risk profile of a recreational climber in his/her home range, and didn't overly penalize you. A couple of my friends that I've talked to have just maxed out there work benefit for this reason, but the danger here is that if you leave the company you lose your life insurance and bear the risk of higher premiums.

 

I want to be able to work with a company that I can be honest with, so a climbing accident wouldn't leave my family unprotected (i.e. don't want to lie on the application).....any thoughts, ideas, or contacts would be appreciated.

 

[JayB]

There's been a few threads on this topic where folks have shared the names of some good companies/agents/brokers. Might be worth looking into disability insurance as well, as you are way more likely to be disabled than killed, and the financial consequences of un-insured disability could be at least as bad or worse than death if you require extensive medical care.

 

I'm working on putting disability coverage together right now, and will let you know how things go if you are interested in looking into this kind of coverage.

[ericb]

Thanks for the input, and please pass this along your learnings on Disability insurance. Also, if anyone can find any of these earlier threads, i'd appreciate it. I'm a little slow figuring out how to search the archives.

[edoc]

All insurance coverage depends on the policies preexisting conditions and limitations. Every company is different, ask around. If you're not honest and suffer death or disability as a result of non disclosure the insurer may null the payment(s). Remember the insurer wants to limit exposure by getting as much money as possible and hoping they don't pay out. I'm not in the business but mu bro's are. Thats why they belong to the country club and I don't (not that I would)

[rbw1966]

If you're not honest and suffer death or disability as a result of non disclosure the insurer may null the payment(s).

 

This is only relevant for the first two years of the policy. After that you're golden.

[ScaredSilly]

When I got my first policy State Farm removed the double indemnity clause and bumped the premium. But nothing like what you are talking about. After ten years they dropped the restrictions. I was very up front about the extra activities (climbing, diving, no ATV or flying). What made some of the difference is that 1) I taught climbing classes, 2) I did it regularly, and 3) did it at a high level (difficult climbs). Not sure shy the last made a difference but it did.

 

 

[wfinley]

My wife just asked the bank about this today... $12 / month in Alaska... but if you climb it jumps to $165 / month.

[JayB]

If you're not honest and suffer death or disability as a result of non disclosure the insurer may null the payment(s).

 

This is only relevant for the first two years of the policy. After that you're golden.

 

Care to expand on this one for us non-legal types?

[edoc]

If you're not honest and suffer death or disability as a result of non disclosure the insurer may null the payment(s).

 

This is only relevant for the first two years of the policy. After that you're golden.

 

Always look at the fine print

[mdidriksen]

Eric:

 

Make sure you shop around. What you will find is that different companies take very different views of the risk associated with climbing. If you are doing any high altitude stuff, you can expect to pay significantly higher premiums. If not, you may find a better deal with some digging. When I first looked into this, I got quotes from several different companies, one of which was much, much lower than the others (and from an "A" rated company to boot). They may or may not write policies where you live, but feel free to try them -- Lincoln Life.

 

If you are looking at USAA, don't bother. They told me it would not affect my premiums at all -- even put me on hold to purportedly confirm this with an underwriting officer -- and then after I'd been through a physical and everything they told me that although I would otherwise qualify for the best rate they could offer, because of the climbing they were tripling the premium and charging me a one-time fee. Ridiculous.

 

As for the 2 years thing, typically if you misrepresent something on your application the company cannot invalidate the policy because of this after 2 years. Besides the fact that I don't particularly like misrepresenting things in the first place, if you are looking to try and provide for your family it would seem counterintuitive to me to put them in a situation where the policy might not pay off. Things would already be bad enough at that point.

 

Hope this helps.

 

MD

[RichardKorry]

Steve Kobrin (www.stevenkobrin.com) was able to find me a policy that was about 45% cheaper than the best I could get through other insurance brokers. He's in NJ but everything was done by email, phone and FexEx so it was actually pretty painless.

[ericb]

Eric:

 

Make sure you shop around. What you will find is that different companies take very different views of the risk associated with climbing. If you are doing any high altitude stuff, you can expect to pay significantly higher premiums. If not, you may find a better deal with some digging. When I first looked into this, I got quotes from several different companies, one of which was much, much lower than the others (and from an "A" rated company to boot). They may or may not write policies where you live, but feel free to try them -- Lincoln Life.

 

If you are looking at USAA, don't bother. They told me it would not affect my premiums at all -- even put me on hold to purportedly confirm this with an underwriting officer -- and then after I'd been through a physical and everything they told me that although I would otherwise qualify for the best rate they could offer, because of the climbing they were tripling the premium and charging me a one-time fee. Ridiculous.

 

As for the 2 years thing, typically if you misrepresent something on your application the company cannot invalidate the policy because of this after 2 years. Besides the fact that I don't particularly like misrepresenting things in the first place, if you are looking to try and provide for your family it would seem counterintuitive to me to put them in a situation where the policy might not pay off. Things would already be bad enough at that point.

 

Hope this helps.

 

MD

 

You bet...USAA is my current insurance company so this was a great tip!. I'll check into it.

[ericb]

thanks - I'll check this guy as well