Life Insurance & the Pandemic
Covid-19 brought people to change in a variety of feelings, thoughts, emotions, and ideas. Perhaps because of being told to stay home to flatten the curve or being in quarantine, individuals had more time to think about their future. This resulted in life insurance applications increasing in 2020, especially among younger adults. According to the MIB Group, life insurance applications were up over 7 percent in 2020 for those under 44 years old.
Typically, young adults see themselves as invincible, thinking that there is no need for life insurance as nothing is going to happen to them. This age group, in fact, needs life insurance more than any other age group as they are the ones with young children and carrying the most debt. The majority of life insurance today is term insurance meaning you only have it for a certain number of years (typically 10-30) since it is less expensive than other life insurance. Term insurance is essentially a means to an end for young adults and that is what many started thinking about with all their extra time in 2020.
Covid-19 made these young adults realize that not only could they get Covid-19, but they did not know how it would affect them versus their neighbor. Would they be the unlucky one to die from it? What would their family do if they did die? Did they have enough insurance to–
- pay off debt
- replace lost income
- pay for childcare
- pay for college
- pay for burial expenses
Suddenly in 2020, it was like it clicked with many young adults that they were underinsured in the event of an untimely death. They realized they did not want to leave their family without the ability to continue living as they were accustomed to living. If anything positive can come out of 2020, it will at least be knowing many young adults are now insuring themselves at a
more appropriate level in case anything should happen to them.
This article has been provided by Houchens Insurance Group.
