If you ask millennials about life insurance, many will say they know they need it but are unsure they can afford it. The latest data reflects the conflicted relationship many millennials have with life insurance. Here are some of the most recent findings from Insuranks which surveyed 1,000 millennials regarding their views on life insurance:
- 53% of millennials do not own life insurance although 45% want to have it.
- 28% of millennials without life insurance do not believe they need it.
- 17% of married millennials said they would experience financial hardship within one month if their spouse passed away, and 50% said they would experience financial hardship within six months.
- 25% indicated their difficulty affording life insurance.
- 25% were concerned about paying for their existing insurance premiums.
- 29% of millennials reported regretting not getting life insurance when they were younger, with 19% saying they purchased life insurance when they were 21 or younger, however, on average, millennials with life insurance purchased it at age 27.
What Prompted Millennials’ First Life Insurance Policy?
As is evident from the Insuranks survey, millennials have a yin-yang relationship with life insurance. For those that do have life insurance, the drivers vary. For example, for 33% of those surveyed, their first job was when they got life insurance. Starting a family prompted 27% to buy their first life insurance policy, and for 14%, marriage was the motivator. Over 55% of these millennial life insurance holders have whole life insurance while 40% have term insurance. Paying for end-of-life expenses, meeting family costs of living, providing for children, and reducing debt were all reasons why millennials purchased life insurance.
What’s Preventing Millennials’ Purchase of Life Insurance
For those millennials without life insurance, their reasons for not buying this coverage are varied. Sixty six percent (66%) say that it is too expensive, while 55% cite they do not understand the process involved for getting life insurance. Both of these reasons present an opportunity for insurance markets to target millennials with educational information that dispels their belief that life insurance is too expensive and simplifies the process of purchasing a policy. These two measures could move those still uncertain toward a purchasing decision.
