Younger Consumers Applied for Life Insurance: MIB
The positive MIB activity number for people ages 0 to 44 was the first recorded since June 2018.
MIB Group Inc. is reporting the first year-over-year increase since June 2018 in younger U.S. consumers’ individual life application activity level.
For U.S. consumers ages 0 to 44, the individual life application activity level was 4.6% higher in November than it was in November 2018, according to MIB.
(Related: Older Consumers Keep Submitting More Life Applications: MIB)
The overall U.S. individual life application activity level climbed 6%. The overall increase is the best MIB has recorded since March 2018.
The Index
U.S. and Canadian life insurers use MIB to share some of the information they use to check life and health coverage applications.
The Braintree, Massachusetts-based organization comes up with the life insurance application activity data by looking at MIB system application checking volume.
Activity by Age Group
MIB reports life activity data for applicants ages 0 through 44; ages 45 through 59; and ages 60 and older.
From January through October, application checking levels have been strongest for the consumers in the oldest group, and weakest for the consumers in the youngest age group. Even though activity increased for the youngest group in November, the youngest age group continued to have the weakest activity numbers.
Here are the group-by-group numbers for November:
- Ages 0-44: +4.6%
- Ages 45-59: +7.2%
- Ages 60 and older: +8.2%
Reasons
MIB analysts did not speculate about the reasons behind younger consumers’ sudden increase life insurance application activity levels, or for the strong overall activity level.
Life insurers have talked about shifting to new products, based on new mortality tables and reserving rules. The surge in November could be related to the product shifts.
Other factors could include the start of employers’ benefits enrollment periods and the start of the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period.
Some worksite marketing programs may lead to flurries of life insurance applications that are processed through MIB systems, and some of the consumers who are signing up for individual health coverage for 2020 may also be buying life insurance.
Still another possibility is that life insurers or brokers ran especially effective marketing campaigns in November.
Google Trends search activity charts suggest that search activity for Guardian Life, Bestow Life and SelectQuotes may have been especially strong in November.
Resources
A copy of the latest MIB life activity update is available here.
— Read Where Did the Young Life Insurance Applicants Go?, on ThinkAdvisor.
— Connect with ThinkAdvisor Life/Health on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.