10 Hobbies that drive up Life Insurance Rates!

Behind the wheel of your favorite vehicle, thumbs excitedly pacing along the top of the steering wheel. You say aloud, "This is what drives me." You exhale and slap your accelerator to the floor burning perfectly good rubber on pavement. Thrill seekers seek exciting and potential dangerous activities to spike their adrenaline. Heck yea right? There are several of these hobbies that can raise your term life insurance rates higher than your average Joes.

Life Insurance - Adverse Effects of Dangerous Hobbies
If you participate in what insurance companies refer to as "dangerous activities," you run the risk of paying higher premiums for term life insurance. Some companies may exclude you all together if they see you as too much of a risk. Think of it like this: insurance companies are looking for safe bets, and people who take extreme risks "up-the- ante." If you have a thrill-seeking streak, you should make sure you have enough term life insurance coverage, and make sure you are getting the best rate you can.

What Is Considered a Dangerous Hobby by Life Insurance Companies?
Some dangerous activities which could affect your term life insurance rates are:

1. Bungee jumping

Bungee jumping (also spelled "Bungy" jumping) is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that has the ability to hover above the ground. The thrill comes as much from the free-falling as from the rebounds.
When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord snaps back, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the energy is dissipated.

2. Car/bike/powerboat racing (drifting)

Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally over steers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle prior to the corner apex, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. As a motor sport, professional drifting competitions are held worldwide. Drift racing challenges drivers to navigate a course in a sustained sideslip by exploiting coupled nonlinearities in the tire force response.

3. Hot air ballooning

Hot air ballooning is the activity of flying hot air balloons. Attractive aspects of ballooning include the exceptional quiet (except when the propane burners are firing), the lack of a feeling of movement, and the bird's-eye view. Since the balloon moves with the wind, the passengers feel absolutely no wind, except for brief periods during the flight when the balloon climbs or descends into air currents of different direction or speed.

4. Caving

Caving-also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom-is the recreational pastime of exploring wild (generally non-commercial) cave systems. In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment.
The challenges involved in the activity depend on the cave being visited, but often include the negotiation of pitches, squeezes, and water (although actual cave diving is a separate sub-specialty undertaken only by very few cavers). Climbing or crawling is often necessary, and ropes are used extensively for safe negotiation of particularly steep or slippery passages.

5. Rock climbing/mountaineering

Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains, it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists of three areas: rock-craft, snow-craft and skiing, depending on whether the route chosen is over rock, snow or ice. All require experience, athletic ability, and technical knowledge to maintain safety. The UIAA or Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme is the world governing body in mountaineering and climbing, addressing issues like access, medical, mountain protection, safety, youth and ice climbing

6. Scuba diving

Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater.
Unlike early diving, which relied exclusively on air pumped from the surface, scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas (usually compressed air), allowing them greater freedom than with an air line. Both surface supplied and scuba diving allow divers to stay underwater significantly longer than with breath-holding techniques as used in snorkeling and free-diving.
According to the purpose of the dive, a diver usually moves underwater by swim fins attached to the feet, but external propulsion can come from an underwater vehicle, or a sled pulled from the surface.

7. Skiing

Skiing is a group of recreational activities using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding.
Skiing can be grouped into two general categories. The older of the two disciplines originated in Scandinavia and uses free-heel bindings that attach at the toes of the skier's boots but not at the heels. Types of Nordic skiing include cross-country, ski jumping and Telemark. Alpine skiing (more often called "downhill skiing"), originated in the European Alps, and is characterized by fixed-heel bindings that attach at both the toe and the heel of the skier's boot.

8. Skydiving

Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft or jumping off of a tall structure, and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal velocity.

9. Surfing

Surfing is a surface water sport in which a person (the surfer) rides a board (the surfboard) on the crest of a wave as it carries the surfer towards the shore.
Two major subdivisions within stand-up surfing are long boarding and short boarding, reflecting differences in surfboard design, including surfboard length and riding style.

10. White water rafting

Rafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this activity as a leisure sport has become popular since the mid-1970s. It is considered an extreme sport, as it can be dangerous.
Things you may not consider dangerous can also have an affect your insurability for term life coverage. According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), more people get hurt each year playing pool than mountain climbing. Even more surprising, in 2006, more people were hurt fishing than playing tennis, ice hockey, racquet ball, mountain biking, and water skiing combined!
Definitions from Wikipedia

Things you may not consider dangerous can also have an affect your insurability for term life coverage. According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), more people get hurt each year playing pool than mountain climbing. Even more surprising, in 2006, more people were hurt fishing than playing tennis, ice hockey, racquet ball, mountain biking, and water skiing combined!

What They Don't Know Can't Hurt Me
Our parents always told us to tell the truth, and this situation is no different. If you fail to mention something in the application that is relevant to the policy and how it was approved and issued, it can be used to contest payment of the policy if you die during what is called the "incontestability period," which is generally two years for most companies. After this period expires, and lacking evidence of fraud, the insurance company cannot contest a claim by a policy holder's beneficiaries. So, if you decide to leave out the fact that you're a member of a rock climbing club, or have one punch left on your skydiving loyalty card, you could be ultimately jeopardizing your family's claim to your life insurance proceeds should you die as a result of such conduct during the first two years of the policy.
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