Stories Related to The 9 Biggest Myths About Life Insurance

Thinking about your death is hardly the most enjoyable way to spend your life. But that’s not the only reason people avoid shopping for life insurance. Life insurance can be an uninviting topic, with a lot of misperceptions surrounding the purchase process. That confusion is part of the reason 54% of Americans say it’s unlikely they’ll buy life insurance within the next year, according to the 2015 Insurance Barometer Study from Life Happens and LIMRA. Here are some of the most common myths about life insurance, along with facts to help you better understand it. Myth 1: It’s expensive. The biggest misconception about life insurance is its cost: 80% of those surveyed overestimated the price for a given policy, according to the study. “People think it’s more expensive than it is for protection that they truly need,” says Marvin Feldman, president and CEO of Life Happens. That is particularly the case for millennials, who overestimated the cost by 213% on average, and Gen Xers, who overestimated by 119%. When asked the annual price for a 20-year, $250,000 term life insurance policy for a healthy 30-year-old, respondents gave a median estimate of $400.