Life can seem particularly tough for today’s 18 to 35-year-olds. Their employment prospects are likely to be far less certain than those of previous generations; it’s been suggested that they could have as many as a dozen different jobs during their careers.
As for owning a home and having a family, these life stages are being reached much later. With property prices high and wages marking time, millennials often find themselves postponing these major decisions until they are well into their 30s. Today, 8.5 million people opt to rent property, a trend that is growing across all age ranges.
So, all this means that millennials are less likely to be thinking about taking out life insurance. The traditional stages of life that acted as prompts for past generations aren’t happening as they once did.
Why taking out insurance makes good sense
However, there are some compelling reasons to think about life insurance. Signing up for life cover at a younger age could make a big difference to the affordability of premiums, as the older you are at the start, the higher the premiums are likely to be.
Rising personal debt is another major reason to think about a protection policy. Young adults can often be burdened with student loans, personal loans and credit card debts. Taking out life cover would mean that there would be funds available if the unexpected were to happen and would ensure that partners and family members wouldn’t need to worry about your debts.
There are two other types of insurance cover that millennials should think about; critical illness and income protection. Critical illness cover pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a serious illness, as defined in the policy. Income protection replaces a percentage of your income should you become ill or unable to work for longer than the ‘deferred period’. It means you can continue to pay your bills until you are able to return to work.