{"id":17574,"date":"2019-11-20T00:02:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T05:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/more-canadian-households-own-life-insurance-finds-limra\/"},"modified":"2019-11-20T00:02:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T05:02:45","slug":"more-canadian-households-own-life-insurance-finds-limra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/11\/20\/more-canadian-households-own-life-insurance-finds-limra\/","title":{"rendered":"More Canadian households own life insurance, finds LIMRA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Those who are concerned about a decline in life insurance coverage among Canadian households will surely find some relief from LIMRA<\/a>\u2019s latest research.<\/p>\n

In the 2019 Canadian Life Insurance Ownership Study \u2014 Household Trends Report<\/em>, LIMRA said that the number of Canadian households with life insurance coverage has increased since 2013 to reach 12.6 million. With that growth in volume, penetration throughout the population has remained at a decent level, with more than two thirds of households having either group or individual insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very confident about our report\u2019s findings,\u201d said Jim Scanlon, senior research director at LIMRA. \u201cThey\u2019re consistent with trends in the Canadian economy and the population overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data showed that the number of households with individual life insurance coverage has grown 41% since 2013, while those with group insurance have increased by 35%. From Scanlon\u2019s vantage point, that growth makes perfect sense as the 2013 numbers are symptomatic of a lingering contraction following the global financial crisis; a few years after that, Canada\u2019s economy would be sent reeling by a collapse in oil prices that smothered Alberta\u2019s booming energy sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re an employer facing financial difficulties, you might cut back employee benefits, or reduce your manpower,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cBut as soon as you\u2019re in a better financial position, you\u2019re more likely to hire people, add benefits, and make life insurance available as an employer-paid perk.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, the unemployment rate in Canada stood at roughly 7%; as of September this year, Statistics Canada reported the number at 5.5%. With that growth in employment, more households have become not just eligible for group life insurance, but also able to pay the premiums for individual life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also found an increase in life insurance ownership among lower-income households,\u201d Scanlon said, clarifying that the report is silent on coverage amounts. \u201cThere\u2019s also been a jump in individual life ownership among those under 35, and we know it\u2019s not just from a broad economic rebound from 2013 because the ownership rate in that segment is actually higher than the pre-crisis 2006 figure we have on record.\u201d<\/p>\n

That leap in ownership among the pre-35-year-olds, to Scanlon, reflects the traditional increased propensity to buy life insurance as one starts a family. In line with that, LIMRA found a rising prominence of income replacement as a reason for life insurance ownership; the top reasons \u2014 final expenses, seeing it as a necessity, and for wealth-transfer purposes \u2014 remain unchanged from the organization\u2019s 2013 study.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting life insurance as an employment benefit has also become one of the top five reasons for ownership in this year\u2019s survey,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cThe fact that it\u2019s become more available in the marketplace for a variety of reasons is a great thing for the industry and the consumers. But it\u2019s only a partial solution; we\u2019ve found that those with both individual and group life insurance have the best level of financial protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning that people benefit from two different forms of coverage may sound like a blinding flash of the obvious. But the fact is that only one in four Canadian households surveyed own both individual and group life \u2014 the same level as in 2013.<\/p>\n

That gap may be due to the inherent complexity of life insurance as a product. According to LIMRA, Canadian consumers struggle to decide on the right insurer, the amount of coverage they need, and whether they should get term or permanent products. The need for qualified education and guidance is also apparent among three quarters of Canadians households with life insurance, who said they bought it from an insurance advisor, agent, broker, or other financial professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other sources of life insurance available right now, but the Canadian space has historically relied on agents that provide education and other valuable services,\u201d Scanlon said, acknowledging the use of online platforms by a minority of consumers. In Canada to this date, they largely prefer to work through agents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, the carriers will learn more about consumers\u2019 needs and develop a mix of different distribution options that provides a balance of utility and economy,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think it\u2019s really more a question of consumer preference than technological capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the original article at https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/rss\/ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who are concerned about a decline in life insurance coverage among Canadian households will surely find some relief from LIMRA\u2019s latest research. In the 2019 Canadian Life Insurance Ownership Study \u2014 Household Trends...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}