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Retirement savings nest egg

Life Health > Running Your Business > Marketing and Lead Generation

Consumer Interest in Asset Protection May Be Falling

By Allison Bell

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What You Need to Know

  • Americans may have more cash than usual.
  • More survey takers say a recession is coming.
  • About 82% worry about inflation.

An Allianz Life survey program has uncovered something strange: U.S. adults’ interest in products that protect savings from loss might be shrinking.

Just 60% of the 1,004 people the company polled in June said they think it’s important to have some retirement savings protected from loss.

That’s down from 64% in May 2021, 64% in August 2020 and 72% in May 2019. The level of interest in savings protection is up from 57% in April 2018.

At the same time, however, consumers are showing a strong interest in safe money: 65% of the participants in the new survey said they are keeping more money than they should out of investment markets altogether. That’s up from 57% in 2021, and up from 54% in 2020.

What It Means

Clients may have plenty of cash they can invest, if you can calm them down enough to persuade them to trust products with asset or income guarantees more than they trust the protective value of their coffee cans, shoeboxes or mattresses.

The Survey

Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America is a Minneapolis-based affiliate of Allianz of Germany.

It’s one of the biggest life insurance and annuity issuers in the United States, and it’s especially active in the markets for nonvariable indexed annuities, registered index-linked annuities and nonvariable indexed universal life insurance.

The survey takers were U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

More Results

Allianz Life found a high level of concern about the arrival of a recession.

The percentage who said they are expecting a major recession right around the corner has increased to 66% this year, from 48% a year ago.

About 82% of the survey takers said they are worried about inflation hurting their purchasing power.

The Mystery

One question about the results might be about why consumers are less interested in protected retirement savings products.

Some possibilities:

  • The demographics or psychology of the consumers willing to participate in surveys has changed, or Allianz Life is facing some other factor, other than consumer interest in nest egg protection, that’s throwing off comparisons of the new survey results with results from earlier surveys.
  • Market analysts in the media have convinced consumers that they don’t need guarantees because, in the long run, the investment markets always go back up.
  • Consumers are more skeptical about the strength of the guarantees.
  • Because of low interest rates and low earnings on bond portfolios, financial services companies have spent less on marketing products with guarantees, and consumers are hearing less about the value of guarantees.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

Allison Bell

Think_Allison

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