In short

• Young people are still less likely to have life insurance, because the risks can seem distant and the benefits unclear.
• Insurers are educating young people on the platforms they use, such as TikTok and Instagram, with some using influential celebrities to get the message across.
• There is a push to bring young insurance advisers on board, so young people can get advice from their peers.

Getting young people interested in life insurance cover for events they don’t expect to occur for decades has been a perennial challenge for the sector, with cohorts of life insurance policyholders skewing to an older demographic.

In Australia, new customers aged under 40 make up only 10 per cent of AIA’s male customers and 17 per cent of its female customers. And, in New Zealand, just 8 per cent of under 35s have sought professional financial advice. The average age of a new customer at New Zealand’s Fidelity Life is 37. 

Bronwyn Kirwan, chief commercial officer at Fidelity Life, says that across the life insurance industry in New Zealand the insured population is declining because young people are under-represented and, increasingly, policies are lapsing due to greater financial pressures.

Research commissioned by Fidelity Life — titled Advice for good: Rethinking New Zealand’s relationship with financial advice — delved into why younger people are less likely to take up life insurance.

The statistics are telling: 37 per cent of 18–24-year-olds feel overwhelmed about their financial situation; 66 per cent of 18–34-year-olds lack confidence with making money and finance decisions; and 41 per cent of New Zealanders under 35 don’t know where to get financial advice they can trust.

Educating a generation

Delivering educational content about life insurance to the younger demographic via social media — TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn — is key, says Kirwan.

She points to the work of Josh Cuttance, a young Dunedin-based financial planner producing clear and straightforward financial content aimed at a younger audience. Cuttance posts a large number of talking-head videos across social media.

Each is less than a minute long and covers basics such as ‘insurance — choosing a provider’ and ‘is insurance expensive?’. 

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