According to the latest research from Canada Life almost 6 million people have either bought or considered their life assurance situation during the pandemic.
That’s over 10% of the adult population.
Overall, the Insurer estimates that almost 20 million people do have some form of life cover, but that still leaves over 35 million people (60% of the population) who do not have any cover in place.
That is a real concern and should not be the case when you consider that on average cover starts from around £11 per £100,000 depending on circumstances. That’s less than a quarter of the average spend on streaming services in the UK. Ask yourself what’s more important, online content or life cover for your immediate family? Well, unsurprisingly the research shows that streaming is more popular! Less than 20% of people said that health insurance was in their top three financial priorities.
It is still a priority for many people though. Research from The Exeter found that two thirds of people were worried about accident and illness cover. But only 20% have any cover for income protection. This falls below 10% for the self-employed.
Still protection cover remains an in-demand product which according to the industry paid out over £6 billion in claims during 2020.
There is some suggestion in the research that the benefits of cover for income and life protection are not being explain, with only around one in twenty saying that their adviser has mentioned protection. That’s surprising since it forms an integral part of any initial fact find.