How different people choose different insurance

It can be said that people of different social classes perceive issues and problems differently. It is a fact that the lower socioeconomic groups exhibit a characteristic of 'impulse following' that involves free spending; that is, buy now, pay later. On the other hand the higher socioeconomic groups are characterised by 'impulse renunciation'; that is, renouncing a variety of their satisfactions or gratifications, for example, they buy life insurance. This leads to the connotation of 'deferred gratification', which refers to the postponement of satisfactions when higher socioeconomic groups feel that they should save money and invest in insurance.

When considering insurance and other financial products, we can categorise the various social classes according to their perceptual attitudes towards their financial outlook. The 'sophisticated investor' segment - upper class, upper-middle class. The 'time consuming' segment - upper-middle class, middle class. The 'caution first' segment - lower-middle class, lower class. The 'rainy day' segment - lower-middle class, lower class.

In addition, it looks as though non-investment saving appeals more to lower status groups, who tend to go for something tangible such as savings accounts, which they can point at and display. They tend to take less risk and prefer something that can be readily changed into cash. On the other hand the higher the status a person has the more likely it is that his or her savings will take the form of investments. Such people tend to take more risks, involve themselves in longer-term commitments for their family and education.