This article concludes our four part series on how various underwriting factors can contribute to your life insurance costs. In the past three articles, we've covered how weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, asthma (including other breathing disorders), and alcohol abuse can affect life insurance costs. This month will focus on how extreme sports and activities can impact the amount you pay for life insurance.

There are many daredevils out there engaging in activities like bungee jumping, parachuting, hang gliding, mountain climbing, deep-sea surfing, and scuba diving. Many people count extreme activities as their primary source of income, such as pilots, instructors of aviation or scuba diving, mountain climbing guides, and professional surfers and racecar drivers. Unfortunately, all these people have more in common than their love of these activities and professions; they can expect higher life insurance premiums.

If you think of it logically, it makes perfect sense. Life insurance companies tailor their rates to the average person. Anyone that varies from the average increases their chance of paying more for their policy. Those persons that dramatically vary from the average, such as those that engage in extreme sports and activities on a regular basis, may see their life insurance rates double or even triple. The bottom line is this: if you are risking your life on a regular basis, you are much more of a risk to insure.

Most life insurance companies will charge you a flat extra on your premium to cover the risks incurred for participating in extreme sports and activities. Typically, this flat extra will double your rates, but as you get older (age is a major factor in underwriting), your rates could nearly triple.

Keep in mind, however, that such an extreme reaction by Insurers to extreme sports and activities is not an all or nothing directive. If you try bungee jumping once on your birthday, it is not going to affect you as much as someone who bungee jumps on a regular basis. The same theory generally applies to a riskier-than-average profession: If you are a licensed and experienced pilot, your costs should still be on the reasonable side. In fact, many insurance companies do not charge commercial pilots any flat extra. There are also policies that will exclude specific extreme sports. If you are a deep sea diver, for example, you would be covered for everything except deep sea diving. Your monthly costs would be lower, but your policy would not be paid out if you were to pass away while performing the excluded activity.

The best way to find your best possible coverage if you are involved in extreme sports or activities is to shop around for insurance. Premiums to cover risk-takers can vary significantly from company to company. If you are involved in a relatively new high-risk sport, many companies may not have developed their rate policies for such an activity, while others may be charging way too much since they are one of the few to cover it.

If you are an adrenaline junkie, or your profession involves putting your life at risk more frequently than most, be sure you shop around and compare rates before buying a life insurance policy. Also try to be as educated as possible about your sports or activity; if there are licenses you can get, get them, if there are classes you can take to make you more experienced in this activity, take them. Also, if you decide to quit your bungee jumping or sky diving habit, be sure to tell your insurance company that you have done so. Your rates will usually drop immediately after you cease putting yourself at risk.

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