The peace of mind that a life insurance policy offers makes life better all the way around for the policyholder, especially those desirous of living a "good life."
That's what a just-released study conducted by the research firm Greenwald & Associates found. The company, working on behalf of client New York Life, interviewed 2,069 individuals, some with life insurance coverages, some going bare.
The results: Those with coverage were generally considerably happier with their lives, felt their lives had improved compared to five years ago, saw being better prepared financially to weather life's uncertainties as a good thing, and just plain felt better about themselves.
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The study is part of New York Life's Keep Good Going campaign to promote "the good that is all around us." It's an upbeat initiative designed to demonstrate the value of financial security in daily life.
The Greenwald report asked the same questions about quality of life of all respondents, breaking out the responses by insured/uninsured.
The largest gap — 13 percent — occurred when people were asked whether they felt their quality of life was "better than the average American." Of those insured, 64 percent responded in the affirmative, while only 51 percent of those without life insurance said "yes."
There was a 10 percent gap (42 percent vs. 32 percent) among the same groups when asked whether they were "very happy with their life."
When asked whether they thought they having enough money "to protect family against life's uncertainties is important to living life as a good person," most said "yes," although 7 percent more with life insurance agreed with the statement.
However, when asked whether they felt "being self-sufficient in retirement is important to living life as a good person," 91 percent of those insured and uninsured agreed with the statement.
But really, who would say "no" to that one?
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
