Lock It In Early: Brian Steiner on Why Young Buyers Can't Wait

Paul Tyler (00:28) Hi, I'm Paul Tyler with another episode of The L&A Hub. We're recording from the floor of the LIMRA Annual Conference in Texas, talking to leaders about how the industry can better close the protection gap for millions of individuals across the country and around the world. We have a lot of international people here as well. With me is Chris Curran, who heads global brand and marketing for LIMRA. Chris, do you want to introduce our guest?

Chris Curran Yeah, definitely. And Paul, thanks for having us. This is a great conference so far, with lots of excitement, lots of people here, record numbers. I'm really excited to sit down with Brian. Brian Steiner is executive director of Life Happens, a very good partner of LIMRA's. Brian, thanks for being here.

Brian Steiner It's a pleasure. Thank you very much, Chris and Paul. Great event so far, LIMRA 2026 at the Gaylord in Grapevine, Texas. So off to a good start, and excited to talk a little Life Insurance Awareness Month.

Chris Curran Good. Let me start with a question that feeds into Life Insurance Awareness Month, and that's the Barometer study we do with you. We've been doing it for 16 years, and it's been really successful. Lots of our members use the information. Tell me a little about how that started, where it's going, and how it feeds into how Life Insurance Awareness Month works.

Brian Steiner Absolutely. Life Happens is a nonprofit with a mission very focused on educating consumers on the importance of financial protection, rooted in life insurance. LIMRA, of course, is a research-based group. One of our creative leads, Maggie Laus, and some of your past leadership connected 16 years ago to kickstart what has become the Insurance Barometer. So much of the information that comes from it covers misconceptions, buying misconceptions, coverage gaps, all of the things we're trying to navigate to help put the right protection in place. That collaboration, for more than a decade and a half, has been really powerful. The research drives not just the marketing we build for consumers, but it complements the marketing communications from a lot of our carrier partners, which help drive this industry for the agents and advisors out in the field. It's incredibly important work, I'm really proud of what we've done, and I look forward to what we're going to do.

Chris Curran It's great. The number of members who reach out to us about the Barometer study and ask, "Can I use this information? Can I do this?" is phenomenal. The reach is incredible. I think it could be our number one downloaded report. Maybe I'm speaking out of turn.

Brian Steiner We'll say it is. Let's roll with that.

Paul Tyler This is great. I remember working in the industry when you first launched, and I thought it was a great effort then. The carrier I worked for at the time strongly supported it. Maybe changing the definition of barometer a little bit, in terms of awareness: where is the barometer today? How close are we to where we should be as an industry?

Brian Steiner Based on the numbers, and Dave shared this morning, we've seen an uptick in the last couple of years in protection, in both the life space and the annuity space. But when you look at it, we still have 100 million Americans without coverage. So while we can say the industry has done good work, there's a lot of work to be done. A lot of the challenge, too, is misinformation. We all talk about AI and people going to social platforms for all types of information, including information about protection. Organizations like ours, LIMRA and Life Happens, are trying to position ourselves as a trusted third-party voice, meeting consumers where they are and helping them simplify what can be a very daunting conversation. Our goal is to get people to think, feel, and act. It's easy to have people recognize, "Yeah, I need to get insurance. I'm having a baby, I'm getting married, I bought a business," whatever it may be. Getting them to take action is harder. So it's not just the education. The role of the advisor and the agent out there, getting people across the goal line, is incredibly important.

Paul Tyler You mentioned AI. This is a topic I'm really passionate about, and Chris knows that. There's tremendous power in making the information much more accessible. On the other hand, it also carries the danger of perpetuating misinterpretations and misunderstandings of insurance. From a glass-half-full perspective, how will AI help accelerate what you're doing?

Brian Steiner I think it's going to help consumers, because they'll be able to access even more information. It's about making sure the information they access is right. And you've got a lot of people active on social, whether it's Instagram or LinkedIn or Facebook, so we have to weed out the misinformation. For Life Insurance Awareness Month this September, our campaign slogan is "Life insurance is for real life." So while AI is absolutely going to play a role, there's still the humanizing of the conversation, the authenticity behind it. Getting sick, dying, getting hurt: those aren't things people want to talk about at the dinner table. So while people may gather information, we still need to find ways to simplify. We do that through our Real Life storytelling program and our scholarship program, getting people to understand that this is a big conversation, but it's simpler to have than you think. It's a conversation people need to put time toward. Alongside Life Insurance Awareness Month, we also did a recent study, and it says people spend more time on social media in a week than they do all year on their financial plan.

Paul Tyler That's crazy.

Chris Curran It's kind of alarming.

Brian Steiner It doesn't take much to write out your plan and sit down and talk to somebody about it. But to say you spend more time on social media than on something that will affect your and your family's future? That's a big opportunity. And it's very consistent. We did some additional research in the spirit of the campaign, with similar results. People would rather clean out their garage. People would rather do pretty much anything. But regardless of your age or point in life, life insurance is a foundational element of every financial plan. We want to encourage young professionals getting started: contribute as much as you can to your 401(k), your IRA, whatever it may be. Make sure you have money set aside for an emergency fund. But if you're not having the life insurance conversation at the outset, you're doing yourself a disservice. No pun intended, life happens. People can get sick. We don't know what tomorrow brings. Getting young people to take action early locks in their insurability. It gives them coverage. That's not to say their circumstances won't change as life progresses, but having that foundational element gives you choice.