New Survey: How Is COVID-19 Affecting Estate Planning and Life Insurance?

At Fabric, we believe financial planning for parents should be simple. But as the current health pandemic continues for potentially many more months or even years, parents’ to-do lists also continue to grow.

People are worried about everything from how the coronavirus will affect their finances to the myriad ways kids are acting up in quarantine.

That doesn’t leave a ton of head space for future planning. But at the same time, the pandemic has forced a lot of parents to think about the steps they’re taking to help protect their families, particularly in light of an uncertain future.

To get a pulse on how parents nationwide are thinking about the future, Fabric conducted a study via The Harris Poll. Here are some key results: 

• 25% of American parents with children under 18 say COVID-19 has made them realize estate planning should be a priority for them. That’s roughly 16 million parents of kids under 18. 

Despite juggling a million things at home—working, homeschooling, keeping their families afloat—one in four parents has come to the conclusion that creating a will and having life insurance is more important than ever. (That often includes deciding between term and whole life insurance, especially for young families.)

• Since COVID-19 began, 10% of surveyed U.S. parents with children under 18 have purchased or increased their life insurance and 8% have made or updated their will.

To us, that indicates that millions of parents have somehow found the time to work on their estate plans in a pretty short time, despite being swamped with Zoom calls and screaming toddlers and struggling to actually savor time with their families. 

This is something that so many parents put off for so long—we’ve spoken to plenty of customers who’ve put off life insurance for a year or more before finally applying and getting it off their to-do lists!

The global pandemic has been incredibly challenging and difficult for so many of us. One small ray of light in the darkness is that many parents are using this experience as an excuse to finally get their financial houses in order and plan for the future.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Fabric from April 16-20, 2020 among 2,030 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact fabricpr@dottedlinecomm.com. 

Fabric exists to help young families master their money. Our articles abide by strict editorial standards.

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