September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. Are you aware of these three troubling life insurance statistics?
[Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published on September 2, 2015. The content has been updated.]
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. Even though I feel that EVERY month should be Life Insurance Awareness Month, I embrace every opportunity to bang the drum about the most important product mankind has ever created.
I will say, however, that Life Insurance Awareness Month usually brings with it some interesting and compelling stats. Here are 3 stats that caught my eye (and concern me) this year:
(These figures come from the 2015 Insurance Barometer study performed by Life Happens and LIMRA.)
Troubling Stat #1
Less than 3 out of 5 people (57%) own some kind of life insurance. 12% of Americans only have policies through their employers. If those people ever leave that job, they may lose their coverage.
This is the lowest life policy ownership rate this country has seen in 50 years. The last time I checked, the mortality rate hadn’t changed (in other words, there’s still a 1 in 1 chance you’ll die).
Troubling Stat #2
If the primary wage earner died, 50% of American households would feel the financial impact within one year. In total, 43% would feel the crunch in 6 months or less.
Despite that fact, 56% of all Americans have absolutely no plans to buy life insurance in the next year. Another 19% are only “slightly likely” to buy.
What’s the deal with that?
Even though most people seem to understand how important life insurance is, many of them continue to put other financial decisions ahead of protecting their families. For example:
- 22% of people rank day-to-day recreational activities as a priority ahead of buying coverage
- 49% admit that expenses such as internet, cable, and cell phone bills are a higher priority for them than life insurance
My question is, what could be more important than protecting your family?
Troubling Stat #3
Most consumers have no idea how much life insurance costs: 80% of the people surveyed overestimated how much they’d have to spend by a significant amount.
One of the major reasons people don’t buy life insurance is because they think it’s going to cost too much. But it’s actually much more affordable than most people realize.
When asked how much they thought a healthy 30-year old would pay for a 20-year, $250,000 level-term policy, they guessed $400 per year.
About 1 in 4 guessed it would cost at least $1,000 per year! In reality, the cost would be about $160 per year.
What Are YOU Going to Do?
If anyone depends on you financially, you probably need life insurance.
If you’ve worried that it will cost you too much to get the right amount of coverage, NOW is a perfect time to find out exactly how much you’ll have to pay. There’s an 80% chance it costs a lot less than you think!
It won’t cost you a penny to find out how affordable a life policy can be for you. Click here to get a free quote. Or if you’d rather talk to a live person, call us today at 800-442-9899.
For more information on life insurance, talk to AccuQuote. We can provide quality, competitive life insurance quotes from the top-rated, brand-name insurance companies you know and trust.
