low incomes prefer long-term endowment plans – these plans provide high returns at low premiums, as well as life protection. High-income buyers are more return oriented – they prefer short term, high return policies. Hence, they have a preference for money back polices. They would also be looking at policies that offer a higher degree of flexibility, since they would like to allocate their investments to the most profitable portfolios. Unit linked policies are therefore popular with this segment.Effect of marital status: Married people prefer long-term policies, which have mainly a protection component. They also invest in pension plans. Unmarried buyers, on the other hand, are not too concerned about life insurance-they are more return oriented and invest in short term money back policies or unit linked schemes.Effect of number of children: People with large families have been found to prefer endowment policies and children money back plans. However, while these people buy several policies, these policies are usually for small amounts.Effect of Risk orientation: It is intuitive that the greater the risk orientation of the buyer, the greater the preferences for the high-risk high return unit linked products. However, according to agents, risk orientation is a personal trait and is difficult to predict. It is only over a period of time, by observing the buyer's investment history, that it is possible to figure out the risk orientation of the buyer....
