Life Insurance in Canada

Losing your mobility due to an unexpected accident connected to work or sport - that is the traditional explanation of the word ‘disability’ for most people. But as we can understand from the statistics, the reality is quite different: twice more people end up handicapped because of a serious illness (cancer, diabetes or heart disease) than due to an accident.

You and becoming handicapped?

People under 65 years of age are twice as much likely to get long-term handicapped than to die due to accident or illness. But course~naturally} with growing age, also the chances that a person will become handicapped are increasing:

• 3 in 100 children under 14 years of age become handicapped
• 4 in 100 young adults between 15 to 24 become handicapped
• out of every 100 adults between 25 - 44 years, 7 are handicapped
• 17 in 100 adults between 45 to 64 become handicapped
• 40 in 100 adults 65 and over become handicapped
• out of every 100 adults over 75 years, 53 are handicapped

4.4 million of Canadian inhabitants (14%) are officially handicapped at the moment.

What can you expect when you apply for disability insurance?

There are different people who have different needs and get into different situations, therefore the selection of different types of insurance is quite wide. Life insurance, for example, is offered to provide a sufficient cash coverage for those that are hit by the sudden loss not only emotionally, but also financially. On the other hand when a person becomes (completely) handicapped, not only the person is not fit to maintain sufficient income for themselves and their family, but on the top of that the extra medical and other care for this person takes even more money out of their pocket, or the pocket of their family that has to provide the extra care for the once self-supporting. So the disability insurance is often more profitable than the life insurance. Nevertheless, there are different definitions of disability, meaning that some handicapped people are able to have some kind of a job, but the statistics tell us that some 15% of people filing for bankruptcy are giving illness or accident as a reason. Handicapped people can sign up for some government contributions, but this is only a limited option. The coverage group plans won’t match your present income either: they mostly cover only 50% to 60% of your net income.

If you are thinking about enrolling for disability insurance, first think about the possibilities you would have in case you couldn’t earn a sufficient amount of money.

You might decide to:

* place the confidence in your spouse/family
* rely on your savings or retirement funds
* get rid of your property or other assets
* get a loan
* have a reliable disability insurance that covers your missing income

After last year collapse, American International Group (AIG) shares are on the bottom (value decline from $55 to $1.2 in one year). What does it mean for clients of AIG Life of Canada? Are there serious reasons to concern about their policy safety?

Nothing special, for three reasons:

1. AIG Life of Canada was recently bought by Bank of Montreal for $375 million in cash. This bank with its $416 billion in assets represent solid and respectable partner, who guarantees you security.

2. AIG Life of Canada wasn’t financially connected to AIG. Both companies were doing independent business, with own assets, on different markets. AIG suffered large loss related to housing market collapse in the US. AIG Life of Canada hasn’t experienced such problems, due to different investment structure.

3.Insurance policies in Canada are backed by Assuris, which protects Canadian policyholders (100% up to $200000, then 85% of the original face amount or $200,000). This protection covers not only life insurance policies, but also disability insurance policies and other. Assuris proved its function three times in Canadian history.

Everybody should be careful and protective, when talking about personal finance. On the other hand, cancelling your existing AIG life insurance policy may cause you lot of expenses, which should be deeply considered!

If you are not sure to decide whether leave your AIG policy or not, ask independent broker, who is not bounded to any company and has the best motivation to help YOU!