Families often putting luxuries before life insurance

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Families in the UK are putting luxuries, including their annual family holiday, ahead of taking out any financial protection for their family and loved ones. Indeed, there are 21% of families who are prioritizing booking their annual holiday this year, this is compared to just 3% planning to buy life insurance policies.

These are the findings of the latest Aviva Family Finances Report which also shows that half of families are happy to pay for satellite TV, often spending an average of £35 a month on it, whilst only 40% have life insurance, spending an average of £20.88, almost half of the amount of satellite TV.

Insurance for mobile phones is also a bigger priority for many families (14%) compared to critical illness cover (13%) and more people have taken out an extended warranty on electrical items (13%) than have income protection insurance (10%).

The results have shown that the majority of UK families are failing to think about what might actually happen to their dependents if something were to happen to the income earners of their family. This tends to boil down to the fact that many of them find discussing the topics of finances and death far too uncomfortable.

More than a quarter of all families have said that they would not want to discuss their debts with their family members, whilst 24% would not even discuss their general finances. The only topic that would make families more uncomfortable than finances is sex, with more than half saying this is the case.

"No one likes to dwell on poor health or mortality, but by denying that illness - or worse - is even a possibility, people are stopping themselves putting measures in place to protect their loved ones," says Louise Colley, head of protection sales and marketing at Aviva.

"Too many people assume that someone else will step in and look after their families if they weren't there to provide for them, but the reality is very different."