Lower Income Households and Single Women struggle to afford financial products like health, life insurance and pensions, according to new Aviva research
4 in 10 people cannot afford Health Insurance
3 in 10 can’t afford a pension
A lack of financial resources is preventing more than half (53%) of the Irish population from taking out the financial products and services they would like to have in place such as health insurance, life insurance, a pension, and a savings account. New research from Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland DAC (Aviva) found that of 1,000 adults* surveyed across the country, women, particularly single women, and unsurprisingly, those on lower incomes are most significantly impacted by affordability issues when it comes to being able to purchase some insurance products that they would like to have, as well as a pension and having savings for a rainy day.
Highlights from the Aviva survey include:
- More women (59%) than men (47%) face notable difficulties when it comes to being able to afford financial protection products. More than 2 in 3 single women (69%) said affordability is preventing them from taking out financial products that they would like to have - while just 49% of single men struggle to the same extent.
- With age comes greater financial capacity - with just 39% of those aged 55+ saying that there are financial products they would like to have but cannot afford – compared to the national average of 57%.
- Lower income households struggle more to buy financial products – 64% compared with 47% of ABC1s.
- Health insurance is the most desirable financial product with 4 in 10 people stating they would love to be able to afford it.
- Life insurance, pensions, savings, and income protection all feature on the top five wish list of financial products that consumers would like, as approximately one third of respondents say they would like to have these if affordability was not an issue.
- While investments did not feature in the top five of the priority list for most people – however, 4 in 10 people aged 55 – 65 said they would like to hold some investments.
The findings of our latest survey shows that people really want to be able to financially protect themselves and their families. Health insurance, pensions, and savings are key pillars on which a secure financial future is built. Other supports such as life insurance and income protection allow people to live with the peace of mind that they and/or their family will be provided for should the unthinkable happen. “The stark reality, however, as evidenced by this survey is that many people feel they simply cannot afford to put these financial protections in place. Of course, affordability is always going to be an issue for some – and according to our survey, women are markedly more impacted. Half of the single women who responded to our survey said they would love to have private health insurance but cannot afford it. This is compared to just 37% of their male counterparts.
Eoin Kennedy, Aviva
“Furthermore, a quarter of single women (23%) stated they would like to have specified illness cover in place if they had the money for it compared to only 15% of single men and perhaps this is indicative of the income disparity that exists between women and men”.
“Undoubtedly, the positive to be taken from this survey is that money concerns do not prevent 47% of the population from taking out the financial/ insurance products they believe they need. But it would be remiss to ignore the 57% who feel they are not sufficiently provided for in terms of financial protection and planning because they simply cannot afford to put the measures in place to do so. This leaves individuals and families financially vulnerable to future events", concluded Eoin Kennedy.