According to the US Census bureau about 2.5 million people die every year in the United States. That’s from all causes and all ages. Assuming all days are equal that means that about 6850 people die every day in our country.

This is going to get a little deep with numbers here but  I promise a clear synopsis in the end. There are about 314 million people in the US right now. A recent LIMRA study says that 52 million people who make between $50,000 and $250,000 in annual income don’t have any life insurance. Just with that figure alone using my math means that 1139 people in that income range die every day without life insurance. The Limra study also points out the another 28 million in that income range admit they don’t have adequate life insurance (because they bought whole life). So another 613 middle income people die every day without enough insurance to adequately take care of their family.

By the way. LIMRA used to stand for Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association. Now they says it stands for LIMRA. Go figure.  I tried to nail down the obvious missing chunk of information which LIMRA didn’t provide, life insurance statistics for those making under $50,000 a year. Since LIMRA didn’t give any information about how many were adequately insured in middle America, and knowing there are more people making under $50,000 than between there and $250,000, for the sake of this post I’ve decided that there are 92 million making under $50,000 that don’t have life insurance and 38 million in that group who would admit they don’t have adequate insurance. That means in the low income families of America 2016 people die every day without life insurance and another 832 die without adequate insurance.

Before I go any further let me make it clear that this isn’t the insurance industry making up numbers to get people to buy more life insurance. These numbers are the result of an exhaustive study of people who told LIMRA that they didn’t have any life insurance or that, in their own opinion, they didn’t have enough life insurance. And one other thing. This post and LIMRA’s study isn’t about life insurance to make families wealthy. It’s about replacing the income that is suddenly and tragically lost.

So, moving on I found that something near 2% of the country make more than $250,000 a year. I was going to just leave them out, but just because they make more money doesn’t mean they aren’t normal. So, if my math is holding together that means that 137 people who make over $250,000 a year die every day without life insurance every day.

Now that I’ve covered the spectrum let’s take a look at the ugly truth. Keep in mind that life insurance is less expensive today than it has ever been…..ever.  It might not be enough insurance to be “adequately insured”, but some insurance for just about everyone is cheap. Except for the poorest people I think it is fair to say that the cost of some life insurance, if not all the life insurance you need to be adequately insured, falls somewhere well within the range of the amount of money that people waste.

So, here are the life insurance statistics you need to know. Out of the 6850 people that die every day, 3292 die without any life insurance at all. Another 1445 die without adequate insurance by their own admission. So, 48% of people who die every day leave no life insurance benefits behind and another 21% don’t leave enough (their calculations, not LIMRA). So does that mean that 31% of Americans have adequate life insurance? I really doubt it. I think if LIMRA could pull off a study of all income ranges who claimed they had plenty of life insurance, the number would drop to 20% or below. My disclaimer is that I was good at math, but not that good. What I do know for a fact is that I talk to people every day who make up excuses to avoid buying life insurance. That’s just a fact.

My fellow Americans, ask not what you can do for yourself, but what you can do for your family! Even if my figures aren’t accurate, even if I’m off by 50%, that’s pathetic. LIMRA says the number one reason that so many people don’t have any life insurance at all is because they have never been asked whether they would like to look into it. Listen up America. Life insurance is family saving, intelligent planning kind of stuff. Would you like to hear more about it? Hello!!! Would you like to hear more ab0ut it?

Bottom line.Personally I don’t buy the not being asked excuse. Most of us blow way more money than we would ever need to buy life insurance. Read the paper if you still get one. How often does a person die in your community and there are donations for the family being accepted at a bank? People with life insurance proceeds don’t need charitable giving. The ones that have adequate life insurance are the obituaries where they say “don’t send flowers, donate to the American Cancer Society”. If you have any questions about what it takes to have some life insurance to cover your responsibilities, or enough to cover all of them, contact Hinerman Group. You can also call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.