A viewer told me he'd gotten interested in earning a pilot's license after reading Becoming Your Own Banker. He asked whether it would hurt his life insurance. For the policies he already owns, it won't. A policy that's already been issued isn't affected by a hobby you take up later. For any new policy, it probably will. He got the full answer in a video on whether hobbies affect your life insurance, which includes both of the climbing stories below.
Flying small planes is on the list of activities insurance companies treat as risky. So are things like rock climbing and scuba diving. Underwriting, which means the carrier's review of your health and lifestyle before it sets your price, takes them seriously. Depending on the carrier and the activity, you might get a lower health rating, which raises your cost for as long as you own the policy. Some carriers add a flat extra charge instead. Some offer a rider that leaves out deaths from the activity rather than charging more.
I've seen what it does. One client who rock climbs came in at standard, a middle rating, when their health alone would have qualified for preferred plus, the best rating. That gap means paying more for the same coverage every year of the policy. Another client, also a climber, came back with a table rating, which means an extra charge stacked on top of the standard price. It was around table 5, and it made the policy so expensive that we scrapped it.
The application will ask two things: whether you've done any of these activities in the past two years, and whether you plan to in the next two. Answer truthfully. If it's truly not in your plans, no is the accurate answer. If you're seriously considering it, say so. You're allowed to change your mind later. Nobody takes coverage away over a hobby you picked up after the policy was issued.
What you can't do is hide plans you already have. For the first two years a policy is in force, called the contestable period, the carrier can review the application if you die. Say you wrote that you had no plans to fly, and then you died in a plane crash during that window. The carrier would investigate. If the application wasn't true, it can refuse to pay the death benefit. My understanding is they'd refund the premiums, but that's cold comfort to a family that was counting on the coverage.
So if a hobby like this is anywhere in your plans, get your life insurance in place first, at an amount you're happy with. Build in room to put in more money later without a new application, which means buying enough death benefit now that the policy can take more premium as your income grows. Raising what you put in when your income goes up covers how that room works. And if you're the one taking up flying, look at a policy on your spouse too, if your spouse isn't flying with you.
If you're thinking about lessons, call your agent before you pay the deposit and ask what rating you'd get today, before you've flown or climbed at all.