life insurance is important to American families, but they procrastinate.  According to LIMRA (life insurance and Market Research Association):

• life insurance beat out all other sources of financial assets or income that Americans expect to use to help pay bills, and to maintain their lifestyle if the primary wage earner dies.

• About 7 in 10 middle-market households agree life insurance is the best way to protect against premature death of a primary wage earner.

• The top two reasons Americans have life insurance is to cover burial and final expenses, and to help replace the income of the primary wage earners.

Americans do want professional help.  According to LIMRA:

• One in four households plan to buy life insurance for themselves or another household member in the next 12 months.  But many are unlikely to follow through with their plans.

• Twenty-four percent of households with children under 18 want to speak with a financial professional about their life insurance needs, but they may not proactively initiate contact with an agent or with a life insurance company.

• About 1 in 4 middle-market households ($35,000 to $99,000) admit they don’t know how to obtain or reach their financial goals.  Nonetheless, 18 percent of them want to speak with a financial professional about life insurance.

• Almost eight in ten American households currently do not have a personal life insurance agent or broker to turn to and most of them say they never did.

As more and more people turn to the Internet for their life insurance needs, these statistics should be improving.  Like other types of purchases, the Internet has made it easier for consumers to contact reputable companies and purchase their life insurance online.