Last year more Americans were interested in life insurance, wills & trusts

As the coronavirus pandemic made the reality of death more realistic, more Americans turned their attention to life insurance, wills and trusts. The number of life insurance applications from people under age 44 increased by more than 7 percent in 2020, according to the MIB Group, a data sharing service for insurance companies, which tracks life insurance applications.

While several factors contributed to the spike, experts point to the pandemic and the insurance awareness it brought on. “People are looking at mortality like they’ve never looked at it before..”

More than 22 million jobs disappeared during the early stages of the pandemic, and only 12 million were recovered, forcing many workers to leave behind their employer-paid life insurance through their employee health benefits packages.

About 54 percent of Americans had life insurance earlier this year, most of them through their employers, experts said. “If you leave your job, that life insurance goes away. People who were losing their jobs or being furloughed were losing their insurance coverage and looking for ways to replace it”

Experts in the estate planning industry estimate that the number of people drafting wills and trusts is also on the rise because of the pandemic, which has “raised awareness and put the fear of God in people,” said Evelyn Zohlen, national chair of the Financial Planning Association.

A recent LegalZoom.com survey found that 32 percent of people ages 18 to 34 drafted wills because of Covid-19 Twenty-one percent of that group drew up the paperwork because they knew someone who had contracted the virus.

Eestate planning, which includes wills and trusts, can involve estate planning lawyers, accountants, trust officers who manage accounts for clients, insurance and financial advisers and philanthropic officers in charge of leaving money to charities. While the work can be done by a lawyer with estate planning experience, it’s not necessary in many states.

Please take the time an have the tough discussion with your family and professionals.  If you don’t have a preferred professional, call us, we can get you several names.

PJ