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Survey: Life Beats Death

By Staff Writer

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Consumers tend to be more concerned about covering expenses while they are alive than they are about leaving money for beneficiaries.

Researchers at AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, New York, a unit of AXA S.A., Paris, have published that finding in a summary of results from a Web-based survey of 1,116 U.S. consumers that was conducted in February. The consumers were ages 25 and older, and they had annual household incomes of at least $50,000.

About 59% of the participants identified “death benefits” as a top financial concern, but 69% identified having “guaranteed income for life” as a top concern, and 65% listed “ability to pay everyday expenses if you lose job” as a top concern.

“Protection from outliving your retirement savings” tied with “death benefit” for third place.

Women expressed more intense feelings about most of the types of financial concerns included in the survey questionnaire.

A significant minority of men appeared to be reacting more aggressively to the current financial turmoil. Many men and women said they were trying to cope by paying down debt, but 28% of the men said they had responded by buying or investing in a new product, compared with 20% of the women.

About 26% of the men who participated and 18% of the women said they had responded by adding funds to existing financial products.