corporate Insights in Care
A Survey of 5,000+ U.S. Caregivers
In June of 2023, The Holding Co. and McKinsey & Co. conducted an extensive consumer insights survey to understand the behaviors of today’s caregivers across a range of demographics, care types, purchasing power, and spending habits. What follows is additional detail on the care categories, survey methodology and content.
methodology
Who did the survey?
More than 10,000 consumers entered and completed part of the survey. This sample was representative of the US population in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, income, and geography. Approximately 50% were terminated from the survey early, either because they are non-caregivers, or they entered invalid information. From these participants, we collected basic demographic information and responses to a short set of questions on attitudes towards caregiving.
The other 50% (5,010 participants who provide care for children and/or adults) completed the full survey by answering questions that covered demographic information as well as attitudes towards caregiving and interest in select product ideas.
The other 50% (5,010 participants who provide care for children and/or adults) completed the full survey by answering questions that covered demographic information as well as attitudes towards caregiving and interest in select product ideas.
WHAT DID WE CAPTURE + HOW?
Each respondent answered a series of questions specific to their reported care responsibilities, whether adult care, childcare or both as “dual caregivers.” Across care types and caregiver demographics, the survey assessed respondents’ interest across 18 product concept descriptions, including willingness to pay and key buying factors, for example, overall usefulness of the product, overall interest in the product, likelihood of a loved one other than themselves being interested in the product, etc.
In addition to utilizing insights from this caregiver consumer survey, the team conducted moderated and unmoderated qualitative interviews with 23 users to gather their feedback on visualizations of six of the top product concepts (out of the 18 concept descriptions from the survey). These product concept visualizations are featured in the insurance and consumer finance pages of the Corporate Guide to the Care Economy.
In addition to utilizing insights from this caregiver consumer survey, the team conducted moderated and unmoderated qualitative interviews with 23 users to gather their feedback on visualizations of six of the top product concepts (out of the 18 concept descriptions from the survey). These product concept visualizations are featured in the insurance and consumer finance pages of the Corporate Guide to the Care Economy.
what descriptions did we test for the concepts?
We tested 6 different concepts, below are the descriptions for each.
One-stop-shop
When major life events happen (e.g., illness, injury, divorce), you want to make sure that your family members are protected no matter what.
This is a bundle of insurance and other financial products designed specifically to help you navigate these life events if they happen. This bundle would include products and services such as disability insurance and life insurance, as well as access to a financial advisor that specializes in family financial planning and an attorney to help you write your will.
Upon purchase of this bundle with a one-time fee, a dedicated account manager would help you purchase and set up the individual services all at once through a streamlined, centralized platform. This could help you get these services all set up quickly for you and your loved ones.
This is a bundle of insurance and other financial products designed specifically to help you navigate these life events if they happen. This bundle would include products and services such as disability insurance and life insurance, as well as access to a financial advisor that specializes in family financial planning and an attorney to help you write your will.
Upon purchase of this bundle with a one-time fee, a dedicated account manager would help you purchase and set up the individual services all at once through a streamlined, centralized platform. This could help you get these services all set up quickly for you and your loved ones.
Care overload
Caring for multiple people (including yourself!) can be challenging to balance with work and other priorities, especially when several people have significant care needs at the same time.
This is a new type of insurance that would insure against “care overload.” It would pay you a predetermined amount if two immediate relatives that you care for (which could include yourself) have qualifying medical events with physician sign-off within a defined period.
As an example, you could receive funds that could help pay for in-home aids, home modifications, and physical therapy if your mother had a heart attack and father-in-law had hip surgery within 12 months of each other.
This is a new type of insurance that would insure against “care overload.” It would pay you a predetermined amount if two immediate relatives that you care for (which could include yourself) have qualifying medical events with physician sign-off within a defined period.
As an example, you could receive funds that could help pay for in-home aids, home modifications, and physical therapy if your mother had a heart attack and father-in-law had hip surgery within 12 months of each other.
Protected bank account
This is a normal bank account with an additional feature that restricts the types of financial transactions that are the most common financial fraud tactics.
A bank account enables [name of person they said they care for] to conveniently and securely deposit/withdraw funds, make payments, and transfer money to/from any other person or institution. [Name of person they said they care for] can monitor their own account balance on an online platform and sign up to receive notifications whenever certain transactions are made (for example, for any transactions over $10).
This new feature would alert emergency contacts of any transactions that are common signs of financial fraud (e.g., gift card purchases, wire transfers to unknown accounts, online payments to websites that are not on a pre-approved list) and require approval for any of these transactions over a certain threshold (e.g., $200).
A bank account enables [name of person they said they care for] to conveniently and securely deposit/withdraw funds, make payments, and transfer money to/from any other person or institution. [Name of person they said they care for] can monitor their own account balance on an online platform and sign up to receive notifications whenever certain transactions are made (for example, for any transactions over $10).
This new feature would alert emergency contacts of any transactions that are common signs of financial fraud (e.g., gift card purchases, wire transfers to unknown accounts, online payments to websites that are not on a pre-approved list) and require approval for any of these transactions over a certain threshold (e.g., $200).
financial planning
Often times, one person in a relationship or family is primarily responsible for managing family finances. While this can be a great way to divide up family responsibilities, it can be risky for only one person to know all of the necessary information about the family’s financial and insurance matters – because if something were to happen to that person, all of that information could be lost.
This is often a major concern for couples as they age and face a higher risk of medical emergencies.This service would help you prepare to manage ongoing financial matters before you need to. You would be assigned a dedicated financial planner to jointly help you and your partner understand all aspects of your joint finances and plan for the future. This could ensure that you and your partner both have all of the information you need to manage your finances and insurance policies if something were to happen to the other.
This is often a major concern for couples as they age and face a higher risk of medical emergencies.This service would help you prepare to manage ongoing financial matters before you need to. You would be assigned a dedicated financial planner to jointly help you and your partner understand all aspects of your joint finances and plan for the future. This could ensure that you and your partner both have all of the information you need to manage your finances and insurance policies if something were to happen to the other.
home equity
This is a new product that would give your aging loved one a new source of income to invest in their home’s maintenance, upgrades, and taxes during Retirement. As they get older, it can be really difficult for older adults to upkeep their home on their own. At the same time, services that help older adults with home maintenance, repairs, and upgrades are often very expensive – especially for older adults that don’t have any new income coming in during retirement – and difficult to manage and coordinate all at once.
This product aims to address both of these challenges with an innovative payment model that enables older adults to invest the wealth they have accumulated through home ownership back into their home. [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] could exchange a share of their home’s value (e.g., X%) for help maintaining and living in their home for the rest of their lifetime. This help would include:
- Access to free home maintenance and repair services (e.g., plumbers, electricians, exterminators, roofers) and a construction manager that would oversee the process
- Access to free home modifications to make the home more accessible and safe for seniors if they need it at any point in the rest of their lifetime (e.g., adding wheelchair ramps, shower rails)
- Access to a free snow shoveling and lawn mowing service
- Funding to cover the cost of annual property taxes on the home
Your aging loved one could then live in a safe, well-kept home for the rest of their lifetime with these services. The family only has to pay back these services when they no longer live in the home (e.g., if they pass away or move into long-term-care). At that time, the family would have a year to determine how they’d like to pay back the services (e.g., pay them back directly or sell the home and use X% of the proceeds to pay for the services). If this happens significantly sooner than expected (within a predetermined threshold – e.g., 3 years), there would be protections in place so that the heirs would receive compensation for the largely unused services.
This product would be sold by a reputable bank or insurance company that you and trust would give you a fair, transparent deal.
linked bank account
This is a normal bank account with an additional feature that would let you see [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for]’s account details alongside your own to help them manage their finances and make sure their bills are paid.
A bank account enables [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] to conveniently and securely deposit/withdraw funds, make payments, and transfer money to/from any other person or institution. [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] can monitor their own account balance on an online platform and sign up to receive notifications whenever certain transactions are made (for example, for any transactions over $10).
This new feature would help you help [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] watch after their finances. When you log into your own bank account, you could easily see both your account details and [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for]’s account details on the same screen without having to log into their account separately. [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] maintain(s) full control over their own account(s) and can adjust what you can see (e.g., they could give you full visibility, or only visibility into topline balances, or only visibility into topline balances and the amount of any transactions over $250). You could use this to keep an eye on their account to make sure they are paying their bills, aren’t running low on cash, and don’t have any suspicious activity on their account.
A bank account enables [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] to conveniently and securely deposit/withdraw funds, make payments, and transfer money to/from any other person or institution. [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] can monitor their own account balance on an online platform and sign up to receive notifications whenever certain transactions are made (for example, for any transactions over $10).
This new feature would help you help [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] watch after their finances. When you log into your own bank account, you could easily see both your account details and [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for]’s account details on the same screen without having to log into their account separately. [Name(s) of person/people they said they care for] maintain(s) full control over their own account(s) and can adjust what you can see (e.g., they could give you full visibility, or only visibility into topline balances, or only visibility into topline balances and the amount of any transactions over $250). You could use this to keep an eye on their account to make sure they are paying their bills, aren’t running low on cash, and don’t have any suspicious activity on their account.