Consumers are happy with the life insurance cover they have within a super fund, but they don’t know anything about the policy, according to Canstar Head of Wealth Management Stephen Mitchell.

“The industry talks about terms and conditions, but forgets to tell the client,” he told the Financial Services Council life insurance conference.

“People are intimidated by life insurance, but most people who went through the process are happy with what they have done.”

Mr Mitchell says the problem is getting the consumer to start the process of taking out life insurance.

“Consumers do research life insurance, but if they want advice they only get a name and a phone number which they are expected to ring.

“They want flexibility and they need insurance they can understand.”

Macquarie Bank Division Director Gary Limbet says a recent survey found more people now don’t know about their life insurance cover.

Macquarie ran a survey of life insurance coverage in 2006 and again this year.

In 2006 3% of respondents said they were not sure of their cover, but this grew to 12% this year.

However, the number of people saying they did not have enough cover has declined. In 2006 16% said they were not well covered, but by this year it had dropped to 12%.

The number of people who though they had “reasonable” cover has also increased, up from 58% in 2006 to 62% this year.

However, the number of people thinking they were “very well covered” has dropped from 22% in 2006 to 14% this year.

Mr Limbet says cost and the insurance offered in super were usually given as the reason why people don’t have individual life insurance.

“People without (individual) life cover don’t see it as a problem,” he said. “Peace of mind is only for those that believe they have adequate life cover.”

Mr Limbet says the survey also found people couldn’t see a difference between having a stand-alone policy and their cover within a super fund.

“So many people have no idea about buying life insurance,” he said. “And those with a stand-alone policy didn’t agree it was easy to buy.”

CommInsure GM Retail Advice Tim Browne told the conference the life insurance industry did a good job during the global financial crisis.

“We survived the global financial crisis by paying claims promptly and instilling confidence,” he said. “It is time we focused on consumers to get them thinking about life insurance.”