2019 Insurance Barometer Study
Each year Life Happens and LIMRA, a not-for-profit research trade association, partner to do the Insurance Barometer Study. Now in its ninth year, it tracks the financial perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of consumers in the United States, with an emphasis on life insurance.
In addition to the broad tracking the study does, it focuses on several “hot topics” each year. This year those include:
- Simplified underwriting
- Combination products
- Social-media use in financial services
Some facts of note:
- Almost half of Americans (47%) say they’re more likely to buy life insurance using simplified underwriting versus traditional underwriting approaches.
- The majority of Americans (53 percent) are at least somewhat likely to purchase a combination life insurance product. One in five (roughly 42 million Americans) say they are “very” or “extremely” likely to buy a combination product.
- 1 in 5 Americans are actively looking for a financial professional to work with, of those, a third say they’ll use social media to help them in the search. This rises tomore than half of Millennials.
Bridging the Education Gap
The study also examined what consumers say they know about different insurance products, along with their perceived need of these products and whether they own them. Overall, consumers are most likely to say they are knowledgeable about life insurance (46 percent). Knowledge levels drop significantly for disability insurance (38 percent), long-term care insurance (35 percent), and annuities (35 percent).
The study shows there is a correlation between lower product knowledge, and the gap between perceived need and ownership for the product.
“It’s clear that education about life insurance and related products is key to helping people get coverage. If they don’t understand what it is and more importantly why they—personally—need it, they won’t be motivated to buy the coverage,” says Faisa Stafford, president and CFO of Life Happens. “That’s an important reason we at Life Happens are so focused on our consumer-education efforts, as it has an ever-widening circle of benefit.”
For more information, you can access the press release here.
To download the study, log onto your Life Happens Pro account here.
The 2019 Insurance Barometer Study is available to Life Happens Pro Premium or Plus subscribers. If you are having issues, please contact support@lifehappens.org.