Why you need to help millennials understand life insurance

Financially, millennials have a lot on their plates, from paying off student debt and managing day-to-day expenses to buying houses for their growing families.

So it’s not surprising that they may be forgetting something else: life insurance.

A recent survey by TD finds more than half (55%) of millennials surveyed don’t have any life insurance, although one-third have thought about how it might help their loved ones in worst-case scenarios. The top financial priorities that trump life insurance are paying down debt (25%) and saving for a house (21%).

Aside from other having other priorities, respondents said the top barriers to purchasing life insurance were cost (55%) and not having dependents to worry about (37%).

Overall, the survey says millennials don’t seem to be aware of the types of the costs that life insurance can cover. Most (68%) listed end-of-life expenses such as funerals.

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About the survey: Results are based on an online survey of 1,000 Canadian adults (aged 18 years and over). It was conducted May 8 to 12 by Environics Research Group.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.