Older U.S. consumers were out shopping for life insurance policies in February.
Application activity for shoppers ages 71 and older was 4.2% higher last month than in February 2021, as the overall level of individual application activity dropped 3.8%, according to MIB.
MIB is a Braintree, Massachusetts-based group that helps life insurers share some of the information used in life insurance underwriting. It uses its own application-checking volume data to provide an early look at life insurance shopping activity.
MIB figures reflect the performance of part of the retirement planning market as well as of the protection life insurance market, because many of the applicants expect to use their policies to provide cash in retirement, or to support long-term care plans.
Overall life application activity was strong in February, but it suffered from tough comparisons with February 2021 activity, MIB says.
Social distancing hurt application activity starting around April 2020. When the restrictions eased later that year, pent-up demand for life insurance created a surge in application activity.
Even though overall activity was lower in February 2022 than in February 2021, it was 3.2% higher than in February 2020, according to MIB.
