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SALT LAKE CITY -- It is not mandatory, there are a lot of people out of work, and fewer agents are out there selling individual policies -- those are some of the reasons why the insurance industry says the number of individual households carrying life insurance is at its lowest rate in 50 years.
USA Today reports about 11 million households with children have no coverage.
"The economy would certainly play a role here," said Steve Johnson, Draper branch manager for Raymond James Financial Services. "Even within my own family, I can see younger members of my family are stretched and saying ‘Well life insurance will probably not be the higher priority.'"
Johnson recommends younger people carry at least enough insurance to cover the mortgage. But his bigger concern is with older families.
"I would be more concerned about a two-income family, you know 40-50 years old, with no life insurance; or a husband that works and the wife's at home and he has no life insurance," he said.
Surprisingly, the industry says premiums for term life are lower than they've been in a long time.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
