Engaging the Next Generation of Life Insurance Consumers

Throughout my career in the life insurance and financial security industry, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside leaders who share a common mission: to help families prepare for the future and protect what matters most. From my years leading the American Council of Life Insurers to countless conversations with CEOs across the country, I’ve seen both the enduring strength of this industry and the urgent need for it to evolve.

That evolution has never felt more necessary than it does today. Millennials and Gen Z are rewriting the rules of engagement—not rejecting life insurance’s purpose, but expecting it to be delivered in ways that reflect their world. They want transparency, speed, and authenticity. They expect a customer experience that matches the personalization and ease they enjoy in other parts of their lives, whether that’s how they bank, shop, or communicate.

Life insurers know this through intuition and experience, but it is not easy to bridge the gap. The industry’s greatest strength, its stability, reliability, and long-term orientation, can also make rapid transformation difficult. Companies are investing heavily in technology, but it can be a challenge to move quickly enough. Others are experimenting with artificial intelligence and digital tools, while striking the right balance between innovation and the personal touch that defines trust.

Meanwhile, competition for consumer attention has intensified. Younger generations are managing student loans, rising costs of living, and an economy built around instant gratification. In that environment, life insurance can feel distant or outdated—not because its purpose has changed, but because it hasn’t yet been translated into the language and lifestyle of those it hopes to serve.

And yet, I believe this moment represents an enormous opportunity. The largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history is underway. Millennials and Gen Z are becoming caregivers, household decision-makers, and stewards of family legacies. They are ready to engage with financial protection, but they expect experiences built on clarity, compassion, and convenience.

That conviction is one of the reasons I recently assumed the role of Chairwoman of the Empathy Alliance, a coalition of leading life insurance carriers and financial institutions, including MetLife, New York Life, TIAA, MassMutual, Allianz, Munich Re, and others, working alongside Empathy to advance innovation with purpose. The Alliance exists to bring compassion and technology together to help people, families, and institutions navigate life’s most challenging moments.

Empathy is leading this effort by example, showing how technology, when designed with care, can transform moments of complexity into experiences of clarity and connection. The breadth of collaboration across leading life insurers demonstrates the growing recognition that consumer-tech-enabled innovation can elevate the claims process into a more seamless, human experience.

What makes this broader effort remarkable is not just the technology it is already advancing, but the collaboration it represents. Leaders across the industry, competitors in the marketplace, are coming together to share insights, explore new approaches, and collectively raise the standard of care we offer families. Together, we are rethinking how preparedness, loss support, and life transitions can be made easier and more humane through responsible innovation.

For more than two centuries, our industry has stood for long-term promises. We help people face uncertainty with confidence and protect what matters most. That purpose remains timeless, but how we fulfill it must continue to evolve. The next generation will measure trust not only by financial strength, but by understanding—by how well we see and support them through the moments that define their lives.

If we meet that challenge with imagination, collaboration, and compassion, we’ll do more than maintain relevance. We’ll not only maintain but strengthen the social promise that has always been at the heart of life insurance: that protection is ultimately an expression of love and responsibility, passed from one generation to the next.