Study finds consumers still rejecting advice on insurance

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Consumers still think financial advice for life insurance is too expensive, and as a result, are relying on online information and direct insurance providers, recent research says. 

The research - Life Insurance in Australia Consumer Behaviour Transformation Research Whitepaper - by NobleOak said the trend would continue since consumers are now being provided with excellent resources for researching the best avenues. 

  • Twenty-five per cent of consumers would or have used an adviser as their primary source of life insurance advice

  • About 32 per cent would use the internet

  • Just over 56 per cent would not pay anything for that advice

  • About a quarter would pay up to $100 for advice

  • About 17 per cent would pay up to $1,000 for advice

  • Under two per cent would pay more than $1,000

  • Over 70 per cent of consumers would be confident in buying a life insurance or income protection policy online with no financial advice if the right resources were available

  • About six per cent have purchased life insurance products online

  • Over 38 per cent would buy life insurance online or via a mobile device if they needed it

  • Over 73 per cent of respondents felt there was enough information online to make sense of the different types of insurance available

This is a value perception problem, the paper says, since advisers have high upfront costs. The survey was conducted on 1,000 Australians.