Women pay less for Life Insurance
It may seem unfair to the guys, but women generally pay less for life insurance. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Aussie men have an average life expectancy of 78 years compared to 82 years for women. Statistics also show that it is more common for a male to pass away earlier than females because of health issues such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and prostate cancer.
Women are at risk of life-threatening diseases including breast and cervical cancer but are considered more likely to seek medical help faster than men, increasing their chance of surviving those illnesses. Men are also regarded as being bigger risk takers than women, another factor life insurance companies consider when setting premiums for life insurance.
Reasons for not taking Life Insurance
Despite the prospect of spending less on life insurance premiums Aussie women are among the most underinsured in the western world. The latest findings by Lonergan Research show more than 60 per cent of Australian mums don’t have life insurance.
This number is truly staggering considering 83 per cent of women surveyed admitted their untimely death would place a significant financial burden on their family.
Many women claimed they were uninsured because the idea of their early death was simply too awful to consider, the research involved in taking out life insurance was too complicated and insurance-related advertising campaigns were both depressing and disengaging.
Although many would consider a visit to the doctor or dentist as being “painful”, the majority of women surveyed said they’d rather have a Pap smear or dental exam then research life insurance!
This is even more concerning when one considers that more than 60 per cent of the women surveyed were in charge of household administration. This means that more than 60 per cent of Australian families are uninsured.
Ironically, mothers more than anyone else know the vital importance of safeguarding their families. In spite of this, the mere notion of wading through masses of paperwork and jargon is totally off-putting.
