Single Parents & Life Insurance

Children living with single parents are now found in 26.6% of households: 17.2 million single mom
households and 3 million single dad households. The number of single parent households is growing
every month compared to 10 years ago when only 11.8% of households were single parents. That
number has more than doubled in 10 years. Nearly half of single parents with kids under 18 years of age
have no life insurance. The demographic gets worse for single parents with 3 or more kids. Over 70% of
this group has no coverage.

You might be asking yourself, why aren’t single parents buying life insurance? Research finds 58% of
parents who do not have life insurance think it costs too much. Parents are overestimating the cost of
life insurance by more than triple the actual cost of it. Millennials are even overestimating the cost of
life insurance by more than five times the actual cost. Clients who have purchased life insurance
reported that only 17% of them made the purchase based on a broker’s advice. Most clients preferred
to do their own research, indicating a lack of trust in advisors due to misinformation in commercials and
social media advertising.

How do we build the trust of the potential life insurance buyer, specifically single parents?

First, show them you are a broker who is there to protect their family, especially their kids. Gain their
trust by knowing their names and their background. Use their health history to determine the top 3
policies suited best for their needs. When you start the conversation about life insurance with a
prospect, especially a single parent who is pressed for time, expect them to want background material.

Allow them the time to do their own research before coming back to you. If you have the patience to
use tools like drip email marketing to educate these prospects, it can really pay off.

Second, know how much they can afford per month and build them the best policy that will protect
their family. Some of the time they may choose a simple term policy due to a smaller monthly budget or
a permanent policy with cash value if your client is looking for long term protection and cash value.

Third, always show them the quoting tool so they can find, compare, and select the best policy for their
budget. Allow them to see the difference in price if their health rating changes. It’s also a really good
idea to look at each individual product with them because the cheapest policy is not always the best
one. For example, a policy that might cost $5 more per month might have living benefits and can be
converted into a permanent policy before age 65. This will show your client that you really know the ins
and outs of all your life insurance products.

Research has found that singles parents who really take their time to research the products end up
buying permanent policies over less expensive ones. Once you break through the barrier of resistance,
usually caused by a lack of knowledge, many single parents understand how valuable life insurance is
and are willing to make the investment.