Survey Reveals That Nearly Half of All Hispanics Say They Don’t Have Enough Life Insurance

Results of a recent study by the LIFE Foundation show that 93% of Hispanics believe that it is important to own life insurance, but nearly half (49%) say they don’t have adequate coverage. The survey was conducted by the LIFE Foundation in support of Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), a month-long public education effort aimed at encouraging people to evaluate their life insurance needs.

Hispanics Less Likely Than Non-Hispanics to Have Coverage
The survey found that 44% of adult Hispanics have no life insurance coverage at all, compared to 37% of non-Hispanics. Of those with coverage, Hispanics are slightly more likely to have group coverage through work than they are to own individually purchased insurance (39% vs. 37%).

Reflecting their lower ownership levels, Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to be worried about how their families would manage financially in the event of their premature death (63% vs. 55%).

“There’s anxiety in the Hispanic community because many people realize that their families are financially vulnerable,” says LIFE Foundation spokesperson Jose Rodriguez. “It’s clear that Hispanics understand the importance of life insurance and want to protect their families, yet they aren’t taking the necessary steps to get the coverage they need.”

Why Hispanics Lack Adequate Coverage
Of those Hispanics who say they don’t have enough life insurance coverage, the top reasons they cite for not having adequate protection are cost (58%), a lack of knowledge (29%) and procrastination (25%).

“The key to getting people the coverage they need is education, and that’s what Life Insurance Awareness Month is all about,” says Rodriguez. “The reality is that there are policies to fit any need and budget, and procrastinating only puts your loved ones in further financial jeopardy. Make September the time to get educated and meet with an insurance professional in your community for a life insurance review. ”

To help people get started, the LIFE Foundation responds to some of the most common misconceptions that prevent people from obtaining the coverage they need:

- Life insurance is too expensive. Life insurance has never been more affordable. The cost for basic term life insurance has fallen by about 50 percent over the past ten years. A healthy 35-year-old can buy a 20-year, $500,000 policy for about a dollar a day.

- Only the main wage earner needs life insurance. The reality is that if someone depends on you, financially or otherwise, you need life insurance. Even stay-at-home parents and people who care for aging relatives need life insurance. Think about it. If they were suddenly gone, the many functions they perform would be costly to replace.

- The coverage I have through my employer is enough. Even if you have coverage through work, chances are that it’s not enough to meet all of your needs. Many employers provide, at their own expense, a “basic” life insurance benefit, often equal to one to two times your base salary. While this is a nice benefit to have, insurance experts believe that most people need somewhere in the range of 10 times their annual income and sometimes even more.

For more information about life insurance, visit www.cosaspasan.org. The LIFE Foundation’s site even has a Life Insurance Needs Calculator to help give you a general sense of how much life insurance you need to protect your loved ones.

About Life Insurance Awareness Month
Held each September, Life Insurance Awareness Month is an industry-wide effort that is coordinated by the nonprofit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE). The campaign was created in response to growing concern about the large number of Americans who lack adequate life insurance protection. According to LIMRA International, an industry research firm, 68 million adult Americans have no life insurance. Those who own life insurance have an average of four times their annual income in coverage, which is considerably less than most experts recommend. For more information on life insurance and to find a qualified insurance professional in your area, visit LIFE’s Web site at www.cosaspasan.org.

About LIFE
The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) was founded in 1994 in response to the public’s growing need for information and education on life, health, disability and long-term care insurance. LIFE also seeks to remind people of the important role insurance professionals perform in helping families, businesses and individuals find the insurance products that best fit their needs. To learn more about these topics, please visit www.cosaspasan.org.

The LIFE Survey was conducted by Kelton Research between August 12-18, 2008 and surveyed 1,275 Nationally Representative Americans ages 18 and older, (this includes an over-sample of 268 Hispanic Americans) using an online questionnaire. The survey has a margin of error of 2.7 percent. The margins for the subgroups are slightly higher. “

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