People Have Too Much Life Insurance? The Facts Say Otherwise

How much life insurance do you need?

Most people have too much. This 5-step process can help pinpoint your needs.

These were the headlines for an article in The Chicago Tribune on Aug. 12, 2010. While the article itself is relatively reasonable, the headlines are misleading. Most people do not own too much life insurance. In fact, a LIMRA International report, which was released Aug. 27, 2010, shows that only 44% of Americans own individual life insurance, and 30% own no life insurance at all. Eleven million households with children under the age of 18 own no life insurance. Zero, zip, nada, none.

While the article does a fair explanation of how to determine the appropriate amount of life insurance you might need, I think it is reasonable to assume, based on the LIMRA statistics, that most people are, in fact, under insured, not over insured when it comes to life insurance.

The LIFE Foundation is dedicated to educating these consumers on the importance of life insurance and making sure they understand not just what it is, but what it does. This is our goal for September, which is Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM). LIMRA’s statistics make it all the more imperative for us to achieve this goal.