Gen Z Coming Up Short on Disability Insurance

The sample did not include the full range of Gen Z Americans. To participate in the survey, a worker had to be employed full time; have an annual income of at least $25,000; and be in charge of or share responsibility for financial decision-making in a household.

Gen Z Details

About 23% of the Gen Z survey participants have children, and 28% own their homes.

Here’s how many of the Gen Z participants said they thought certain events were very or somewhat likely to affect them within the next 10 years:

• Needing to provide care for a family member: 47%
• Their own need for costly dental work: 42%
• Lack of ability to contribute enough for retirement: 37%
• Their own premature death: 24%
• Their own disability: 21%

Given that the risk of disability for a young worker is much higher than the risk of premature death, which is less than 3%, the results seem to indicate that the Gen Z survey participants were not familiar with the relatively high chance that a worker will become partially or totally disabled, according to the SOA team.

The Gen Z participants turned out to be similar to the millennial participants, or heading in that direction.

One area where older millennials — survey participants ages 35 through 42 — were much different from the Gen Z participants was retirement savings: about 57% of the older millennials said they were afraid of not being able to save enough for retirement.

(Image: fizkes/Adobe Stock)