Every September, the industry runs its awareness campaigns, and every September, the same data point shows back up: most people who don’t own life insurance will tell you, straight up, that they need it. This isn’t an awareness problem. People are aware. Something else is going on.
I’ve sat across from enough people to know what it actually is, and it’s rarely the reason they say out loud first.
“I’ll get to it” is doing a lot of work
Ask someone why they don’t have life insurance and you’ll usually get one of three answers: it’s too expensive, I’m not sure how much I need, or I just haven’t gotten around to it. That third one is the real answer more often than people admit, and it’s not laziness. It’s that life insurance is a decision with no natural deadline attached to it. Nobody’s mortgage servicer calls you about it. There’s no renewal notice from a policy you don’t have. The task just sits there, correct and unfinished, until something forces the issue.
The thing that eventually forces the issue is almost never good. A friend’s spouse dies unexpectedly. A health scare of your own. A new baby. These moments work, but they’re also the worst possible time to be starting the process, because now you’re shopping for coverage under stress instead of from a place of just handling it.
The cost guess is almost always wrong
The second real reason is a guess about price that’s usually off by a wide margin. Ask most people what a healthy 35-year-old pays for a $500,000 term policy and you’ll hear numbers two, three, sometimes four times the actual cost. That’s not their fault. Life insurance doesn’t get talked about the way a car payment or a phone bill does, so the only reference point most people have is old assumptions or a policy their grandparents had decades ago, priced for a completely different mortality table.
I’ll put a real number on it: a healthy, non-smoking 35-year-old can often lock in $500,000 of 20-year term coverage for somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 to $35 a month. That’s less than most people’s streaming subscriptions combined. The gap between what people think it costs and what it actually costs is, in my experience, the single biggest thing standing between “I should look into that” and actually doing it.
Underinsurance is quieter than no insurance
There’s a version of this problem that’s less talked about: people who have coverage and still aren’t covered enough. A $50,000 group policy through work feels like something, and it is something, but it’s rarely close to what a family would need to replace years of income, pay off a mortgage, and fund a few years of childcare or education. I see this constantly with people who haven’t looked at their coverage since they were hired, sometimes a decade or more ago, while their income, their mortgage, and their family have all grown around a policy that stayed flat.
What actually gets people to act
In my experience, it’s rarely a sales pitch that finally moves someone. It’s a specific number. When I tell a client “here’s what your family would actually need to replace your income and pay off the house,” and they can see the gap between that number and what they currently have, the decision usually makes itself. The vague fear of “something happening to me” is easy to ignore. A concrete gap in black and white is a lot harder to walk past.
If Life Insurance Awareness Month is good for anything, it’s this: a reason to actually run the number instead of estimating it. Takes about ten minutes on a call, no obligation, and you’ll walk away either with a plan or with the peace of mind that you’re already covered.
Frequently asked questions
How much life insurance do I actually need?
A common starting point is 10 to 12 times your annual income, adjusted for outstanding debt like a mortgage, plus future costs like college. It’s a rough guide, not a rule, and your real number depends on your specific situation.
Is the life insurance I get through work enough?
For most people, no. Employer group policies are usually a flat amount, often one to two times salary, and typically don’t follow you if you change jobs. It’s a good supplement, not a replacement for an individual policy you own and control.
How much does term life insurance actually cost?
For a healthy person in their 30s, a substantial term policy often costs less than a car payment, sometimes under $40 a month for $500,000 of coverage. The best way to know your real number is to get an actual quote rather than guess.
Why do people wait so long to buy life insurance?
The most common reasons are a guess about cost that’s usually too high, uncertainty about how much coverage they need, and the simple fact that there’s no deadline forcing the decision the way there is with other bills.
Is September actually a good time to buy, or is that just marketing?
The timing is somewhat arbitrary, but using an awareness campaign as the nudge to finally get a real quote instead of guessing is a perfectly good reason. The best time to buy is while you’re healthy and insurable, and that clock is always running regardless of the calendar.
If you’ve been meaning to look into this, this is your sign. Call or email me and I’ll run your actual number, no pressure, no obligation.
Tom Hinerman is an independent life insurance broker based in Nathrop, Colorado, licensed in all 50 states. Call 719-539-4790 or email tom@fishcreeklife.com.
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