A study by Legal and General has found that Britons think it is more important to protect their mobile phone from loss or theft than it is to insure themselves against critical illness, accident or death.

The most surprising result from the survey highlights the fact that possessions are more likely to be insured than the person owning them. Most people surveyed, over 54%, had no protection policies whatsoever, while 22% had their phone insured compared to 17% who had critical illness and life assurance. Income protection was considered important by only 14% of those questioned.

Furthermore the survey finds that significantly more people have insured their home contents than their life, with over two-thirds of those questioned saying they have insured their home against 41% who say they have insured their life. Time and again the insurance industry reports that there is a huge gap between the amount of cover that UK citizens

have taken out and estimates how much should actually be taken out to cover everyone, and this survey suggests that gap is in no danger of closing.

Legal and General’s protection sector Marketing Director Bonnie Burn’s thinks it is a worrying trend. She said:

“The priorities of the nation seem mis-guided, with people more concerned about the loss of their mobile phone than how they would cope financially if they could not work, through illness or serious accident. We all hate facing up to our mortality, but when insuring our life is considered less important than insuring our possessions, then perhaps it’s time for something to be done.”

The fact that people are willing to pay for relatively expensive phone insurance, but not for life or critical illness cover is particularly depressing news for the UK industry. When you compare life insurance cover pound for pound against mobile phone insurance the figures make sobering reading. For example paying an average premium of £4.99 a month would result in paying almost £60 a year for a phone worth around £150 – over a third of its value in one year. Many people take out this insurance unaware that they may also be covered for mobile phone loss or theft on their home contents policy. On the other hand a 30 year-old man wanting £200,000 life cover would pay on average only £13 per month; a lot more cover for your money! It appears that even through the majority of us have it ahead of any other protection cover mobile phone insurance most definitely works to the benefit of the insurer.

This news comes on top of the news issued by government that estimates that almost seven million working Britons are not making enough provision for their pension. That combination of inadequate income, critical illness and life cover, and pension provision suggests that many Britons are financially ill-equipped to face the future, and could face real hardship if the worst should happen.