If you have children, siblings, and other people who depend on you for their livelihood, getting life insurance is crucial. A life policy ensures that your loved ones are protected and cared for in your absence. This is the most thoughtful and selfless gift you could ever give them.
When shopping around for a suitable life insurance policy, you’ll realize that various factors affect how much you spend on a plan. Some of the biggest ones include the amount of coverage you’re looking for, age, gender, health history and occupation.
For this article, our focus is on occupation and inside, we break down six careers insurers consider high-risk. Let’s dive in!
Police Officers
Police officers do a risky job. Whether that is to respond to distress calls or to charge toward a mentally-ill person brandishing a knife at the gas station, they are almost always in danger. This is the kind of thing insurance companies consider before picking up a client for life insurance.
That said, this will heavily depend on the nature of an individual’s job. For example, if you work at the call desk and help dispatch and direct different units to the needed location, you wouldn’t be considered as high-risk as a front-line officer.
Construction Workers
Have you ever tried roofing a home in July? We haven’t either, but from what we’ve heard, it’s no mean feat. According to stats, 36.5% of workplace fatalities result from falls. That’s a significant figure.
It’s no wonder insurance companies consider construction workers to be high risk. Other than falling off a roof, there are many other ways in which one could get fatally injured while working at a construction site.
Pilots
Flying aircraft is another career that raises eyebrows when applying for life insurance. Although technological advances have made it such that airplane accidents rarely ever happen, they still do occur- especially for pilots driving smaller, older planes.
A safe flight depends on many things: good weather, a well-serviced plane, and a well-trained pilot. Sometimes, these variables don’t all align, and accidents happen.
If you’re a pilot, you may need to contend with paying (slightly) higher premiums because of the risky nature of your job or hobby.
Offshore Fishers
Insurance companies also classify people who participate in offshore fishing as high-risk. This goes for people in larger ships and people who go out alone or in small groups.
Offshore fishing is risky because the people are so far from shore they wouldn’t be able to receive help in the event of an actual emergency. Your insurer would like to know if this is what you do for a living.
Extraction Workers
An extraction worker is a broad term used to describe anyone involved in extracting a product from the environment. Whether you extract minerals from the soil or work in an oil rig, these activities require using special heavy machinery that may put you at risk of a potentially fatal injury.
People who work at mines or in deconstructing and cleaning up construction sites also fall under extraction workers. If this describes you, you may have to shop for an insurer that doesn’t charge you too much.
Firefighters
Although firefighting is considered a high-risk occupation by most insurance companies, firefighters are likely to get life insurance without breaking the bank. While it is true that firefighters put themselves at risk while putting out flames, they use special equipment and protection gear. They also undergo intensive training to ensure they can put out fires without harming themselves.
According to a report by the US Fire Administration, only about 102 firefighters passed away while on duty in 2020. 44 of these were people that volunteered at the site and weren’t career firefighters.
While this number is still significant, it pales in comparison to the number of firefighters actively on duty. This shows that while this career poses some risks and threats, being a firefighter shouldn’t necessarily mean you pay higher premiums.
You Can Get Affordable Life Insurance, No Matter What You Do For A Living
If you work in a high-risk career, then this is all the motivation you need to seek a life insurance cover. Remember, while your career might make you a high-liability client to an insurance company, you can still get a good deal on your insurance.
In some instances, you may be asked to pay for add-on benefits or take out alternative policies like this income protection plan.
When looking for life insurance, we recommend you be completely honest about your profession. When asked, inform your potential insurer of the perils you face while on the job.
This should give them a clear picture of what you do, making it easier for them to come up with premiums that work for you. Good luck!
