Forbes
It’s time to bring life insurance back. So says Jeremy Hallett, co-founder of Quotacy.com, an online term life-insurance company.
It’s not something Gen Xers and Millennials are rushing into. That may be because Gen Xers are overestimating the cost of life insurance by 119% and millennials are overestimating it by a whopping 213%.
“This is the time when people have their families and their careers are starting to take off,” says Hallett. “And we’re trying to get them to understand how inexpensive it is to get coverage for something that can be so devastating.”
Hallet talks about the unwelcome lifestyle changes that came for a neighbor of his whose husband died of cancer leaving her with two children. “She was left with a lot of debt and within a year she had sold her home and moved into an apartment and was really struggling” he said. “It is all too common of an occurrence.”
A recent study by LIMRA, which conducts research and does consulting for the financial services industry, found that nearly one third (30 percent) of Americans believe they need more life insurance and more than 2 in 5 (43 percent) say they would feel a financial impact within 6 months if the primary wage-earner died. However, the majority of Americans (54 percent) say it is unlikely they will purchase life insurance within the next 12 months.
“We’ve consistently seen, over the last five years, that consumers think life insurance is more expensive than it really is, and now we’re seeing many are also confused as to what factors determine the cost for life insurance,” said Marvin Feldman, president and CEO of Life Happens, a non-profit organization that advocates for life insurance and which also co-released the study.
When compared with other kinds of personal insurance, life insurance can be a bargain. “Medical insurance can be $1,300 a month, auto and home owners insurance you’re paying $300 plus for those a month. A half a million dollar life insurance plan, if you’re in good health, can be $30 a month,” said Hallett. “It might be $50 if you have some health issues.”
The process of fitting your life insurance is more involved, said Hallet. “A fully underwritten, it takes more time to accomplish. It may take a month or two to get done because they take your blood and urine and it is comprehensive. But it may get your a policy for $30 a month. Or you may pay $80 for simplified products.”
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