Not enough women taking out life insurance

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Even though women are more financially interested integral than ever before, a recent study has found that many of them were completely unaware of their importance to family finances.

Astonishingly, over a third of women believed that it was not necessary for them to take out life insurance cover whilst a quarter of them had never even thought about the prospect.

It was also revealed that only one in five women had critical illness cover, an alarmingly low number.

However, a study by insurance giant AXA Life has revealed that the massive surge in female employment over the last few decades has resulted in 27 percent of women that have dependant children also having sole responsibility for paying off their mortgage.

30 percent of these women pay the household bills and 29 percent pay for childcare cover.

For women that do not have any dependants only 30 per cent of them have any kind of insurance protection in place.

The women that do decide to protect themselves were also found to underestimate their worth considerably as the average cover is a relatively low £90,000 for life insurance and an even lower £80,000 for critical illness, this would only really cover two years of the average working woman’s life, no where near enough.

Director of protection sales at AXA Life, Jamie Mclver commented:

"I would encourage women to start focusing on their financial wellbeing, so that they avoid the potential financial meltdown they could find themselves in if they aren't protected."