Only 1 in 10 Singapore millennials has their gadgets insured: survey

This is despite almost 80% saying they would be distressed if they lose their gadgets.

Only one out of 10 Singapore millennials have their gadgets insured despite almost 80% of respondents who said they would be distressed if their smartphone, tablet or laptop would be lost, according to a survey by insurtech startup, KoverNow.

Over 500 millennials of an estimated 1.5 million millennials living in Singapore were involved in the survey.

The survey found out that the vast majority of respondents already own health insurance (73.9%) and life insurance (72.6%). However, despite almost 80% claiming that they would be distressed if their smartphone or tablet was lost or stolen, and 70.8% who would be distressed to lose their laptop, only 12.2% actually said they have insurance cover for these items. This is not because they are unwilling to pay for protection and peace of mind. In fact, the survey found that on average the respondents would be willing to pay to insure their electronic possessions.

Fewer respondents said that they would be distressed with the loss or theft of fashion items such as jewellery (40.5%), luxury watches (36.7%) and luxury handbags (32.2%) however, they would still be willing to buy insurance cover for their luxury goods. 

Of the millennials surveyed, around 45% said that they search for information about purchasing financial products or services through online search engines. Whilst word of mouth recommendations were also a preference, nearly 40% said that online reviews, articles and/or videos informed their purchasing decisions.

The findings also show that millennials in Singapore would be open to using a mobile app to purchase insurance, and the top four most common insurance products they would consider buying through an app are health, mobile device, life and travel insurance.

“The results of this research offer compelling evidence that millennials are open to buying insurance using an app if it can be made easy and straightforward for them – historically complex transactions from front-to-end, such as insurance, have not been possible using an app, but our research shows that Millennials are prepared to use this channel. They are also willing to spend money to insure what is important to them, but they are looking for the kind of digital service they are used to getting from their bank,” Stephan Kaiser, CEO of KoverNow said.