You’ve got some good news and you’ve got some bad news when it comes to life insurance underwriting for scuba divers.
The good news is that there are still plenty of opportunities out there for preferred plus and preferred rates for those recreational divers who don’t go below 100′. And let’s be real, 95% of recreational diving takes place at depths above 70′, so allowing 100′ at the best rate class really covers recreational.
Advanced open water is where the real shift in underwriting has occurred. Genworth Life and Annuity used to be open to the idea of best class down to 130′ on a “case by case” basis, and Prudential didn’t make any bones about, preferred best was allowed down to that depth. Now Genworth has gone to a standard rate for those who swim below 100′ and Prudential wants to charge $2.50 per thousand dollars worth of insurance extra, but will still take a case by case look at it for better premiums.
The glint of gold in the pan for those going below 100′ is John Hancock who will still go preferred down to 120′. The only catch with John is that their minimum face amount for term insurance is $750,000.
Bottom line. Scuba will never take the hit that sky diving does, but for those advanced divers who didn’t take advantage of Genworth and Pru before, oh well!!
January 15th, 2009
One in six men who reach age 26 in our country will not make it to age 64. For women it is one in nine.
I live in a small town in the “Heart of the Rockies”, Salida, Colorado. Around here when someone passes away, everyone knows it. When someone passes away at an age that is far too young, everyone talks about it. Today’s Mountain Mail lead article was about a 57 year old teacher who died suddenly while elk hunting.
We buy life insurance because you just never know. An early 50’s couple in Nebraska purchased policies through Hinerman Group a few years ago. The wife was concerned because her husband was an EMT helicopter pilot, kind of risky especially in the winter. Several months after the policies were put in force she called to say he had died of a stroke.
Another couple in California, in their 40’s, put policies in force when the husband decided he was going to learn to fly. We were able to find him good rates as a student pilot and were planning on getting even better rates once he got his private pilot’s license. He and his instructor died on his first cross country flight. His wife Karen wrote to me, “Life Insurance? Thank God John had done that. He and Ed had established a policy to cover in the event he had an accident, even tho it was NEVER going to happen! I will forever be grateful for that….John was only 49. I have had five friends lose their husbands before they reached 52. Strange things happen. To me, Life insurance is not optional, it is a real necessity.”
Another man took out a policy after successfully escaping the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11. He died at age 51 of lung cancer after smoking most of his adult life.
It’s like any paper, any day will provide you with all the impetus it should take to make life insurance a priority. These widows would have had a much different life without their husband having done the right thing. It would have been hard for some, devastating for others.
And even though there are literally no people out there that don’t know personal stories just like these, I will still hear, “But what if I spend all that money on term insurance and don’t die?” So, you spent some money and did the right thing!! The same logic could be used to not buy your wife birthday or anniversary gifts because there’s a chance you may end up divorced. But buying those gifts is the right thing because we love our wives. Making sure they’re OK if we die suddenly is the right thing for the same reason.
Bottom line. One in six don’t make it to 64!!!!!!!
January 15th, 2009
