Executive Summary
- 52% of American adults have some life insurance, yet 38% — about 92 million — say they need coverage or need more (2026 Insurance Barometer Study, LIMRA and Life Happens).
- Ownership is not the same as enough: even among owners, 18% say they do not have enough.
- An annual review looks at the contract you have, the job it was bought to do, and whether a different rate or path may belong later — not at a quote engine.
Ownership is common. Enough is not.
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, an industrywide campaign coordinated by Life Happens. The useful habit is narrower than the campaign name.
Look at what you already own.
The 2026 Insurance Barometer Study, LIMRA and Life Happens, found that 52% of American adults have some life insurance — individual, group, or both. In the same study, 38% of adults say they need life insurance or need more. That is about 92 million people. The need-gap is not only people with nothing. Nine percent of adults are owners who want more; even among owners, 18% say they do not have enough.
A declarations page can make a household feel finished. A review asks whether the face amount, the term remaining, the workplace layer, and the beneficiary line still match the people who would cash the check.
That is information, not a verdict that you must apply.
September is for the policy in force
Awareness campaigns often point people toward buying. This site does not. If you have coverage, the first job is to read it.
What type is it — term, permanent, or a group certificate through work? What is the face amount? When does a level term period end? Is there a conversion window? Who is listed as beneficiary, and is that person still the person?
Households change faster than forms. Jobs change faster than group certificates. A policy issued in a different year was built for a different budget and a different set of names.
If the coverage still does the job, the honest outcome of a review is to leave it alone. If it does not, the next question is path — not a rate from a website.
A review is not a quote
Coverage decisions are made in underwriting — not by a quote engine. Carriers evaluate data, not intentions.
A quote engine cannot see prior applications, prescriptions, the conversion privilege already sitting in your contract, or the group life that ends if you leave the job. It cannot tell you whether replacing term would help or whether it would create a file you did not mean to create.
Just 32% of consumers believe they are knowledgeable about life insurance (2026 Insurance Barometer Study, LIMRA and Life Happens). You do not fix that with another illustration. You fix it by lining up the policy, the household, and the facts a carrier would eventually evaluate — before anyone files.
That conversation is a 15-minute annual review. It is not an application.
Understand how to protect your insurability before applying.
Discuss the coverage you already have in a confidential 15-minute annual review with Gregory M. Sloan, CLU®, ChFC®, Licensed Insurance Representative.
Call 800.365.TERM (800-365-8376)
Information only. This article is not tax, legal, or investment advice.