LIMRA's research consistently has found that not enough Americans have life insurance. The coverage gap is so wide that it can be measured in the trillions of dollars. LIMRA research finds even though Americans largely know they need more life insurance, and recognize it's good to have, they still do not buy the coverage they need.
Just three years ago, the coverage gap — which LIMRA defines as total life insurance needs less existing life insurance — was $15 trillion. Now it's a trillion dollars more than that. (LIMRA used numbers from the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances to do the math.)
Alarmingly, for people who manage their household money, over half believe they would run into financial difficulty within a matter of months if they died unexpectedly.
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, when the industry touts the benefits of having life insurance. So what can the industry do?