What Did The 2019 Insurance Barometer Study Tell Us?

Taking the pulse of the insurance world is a critical exercise in understanding how the industry is evolving and what customers can and should be doing to stay on top. Life Happens and LIMRA team up to create an annual Insurance Barometer Study, with the results of the 2019 version being published earlier this year. You can read the full 2019 Insurance Barometer Study here, but here are some of the most important takeaways from this report.

Disability Insurance: Not Enough Americans Are Covered

Disability insurance is a critical tool to ensure you don’t descend into debt because of an unavoidable accident that puts you out of work. While some employers offer disability insurance, it is by no means automatic. The 2019 Insurance Barometer Study found that only 1 in 5 Americans currently has disability insurance. You don’t want to be caught by surprise, so make sure you’re not in that group who has ignored disability insurance.

Perception Of Insurance Costs: Way Overestimated

Unfortunately, there are many factors behind households not having the right type of coverage. Whether it be a lack of understanding, paralysis of choice, or not knowing where to start – many Americans may choose to ignore their insurance needs because they don’t think they can afford the expense. To combat this, the 2019 Insurance Barometer Study asked average people how much they thought different policies would cost, and it showed that this perception is, in fact, false and insurance is much more affordable than the average person thinks. For example, a majority of Americans overestimated life insurance cost by a factor of 3, while over 40% of millennials surveyed overestimated the cost of a life insurance policy by over a factor of 5.

Desire To Learn About Insurance: High!

The takeaway from the 2019 Insurance Barometer Study is that the number of American consumers who are eager to learn more about insurance is high. The Barometer Study points to the fact that there are 42 million people who are currently seeking out financial guidance in the United States. More specifically, the ways in which people are learning about these financial tools are expanding, with almost 40 percent looking for financial help do research via social media.

Find out more information about insurance policies by contacting Schechner Lifson Corporation today!