Longitudinal study of attitude of Russian citizens toward insurance and investment institutes

Insurance sphere is an integral part of modern Russian society and economy. Insurance became the important way of protection of legal entities and individuals from critical events thanks to assumption of covered risks, their accumulating, control and partial transferring to reinsurance and to financial markets. Insurance system has created conditions for economical balance, increase of citizens’ social security level and it as well promotes attraction of investments to economy. Private insurance and investment - it is the source of “long” money, when for provision of insurance payments the major assets are accumulated. Insurance underwriters are ready to realize the long-term investments taking into consideration the sustainable period of loss occurrence. In such a way, in contradistinction from many other economic institutes, insurance companies are the guarantors of financial system stability (companies, which assume serious financial risks in the result of underwriting, are the exception). There are presented the results of longitudinal method of observation over insurance and investment behavior of Saint Petersburg’s insurants during the last thirteen years. Sampling consisted of both male and female consumers of insurance services of different age and income level. Besides the study of genesis of citizen’s attitude towards state insurance policy, the prolonged observation allowed to define the typology of insurants. The following psychological characteristics of economic behavior of citizens served as criteria for dividing insurants into one or another type: profit (advantage), rationality, trust, anxiety and attitude to risk.