Life Insurance in Canada

With the title above, it might look like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot as a life insurance brokerage that specializes in the online marketing of life and health insurance. We have thousands of people visit our Internet page daily, and many visitors often approach us about whether they can purchase an insurance policy directly through our website. After pondering on this idea for a long time, we came to a conclusion that purchasing life insurance via the Internet would mean a disservice to our customers.
We have found the following few reasons why it’s not such a smart idea to purchase a life insurance policy online:

1. Life insurance policies should be always regarded as a part of an overall financial portfolio, which is not possible to do when you purchase it directly via a website as a single product. When considering life insurance, careful planning should be put into consideration why the insurance is needed, how much is needed and what’s the optimum type of life insurance for a specific person. It is quite difficult to do this without speaking to a broker over the phone or in person.

2. When you decide to purchase your life insurance via the Internet, you can get only a limited product offer. Most companies offering life insurance online limit their selection to a few carriers and in some instances, just one carrier with only a few of their products.

3. When you purchase your insurance online, there is a risk that you might not fully understand all its characteristics. When you purchase your life insurance online, you may be surprised later about some nuances - for example certain ten-year term policies are not renewable or convertible, or may have a higher than usual renewable premium, and so on.

4. Certain things are just too complicated to be sold online, and life insurance is one of them. There are too many features in some policies (for example Universal Life or Whole Life insurance) that cannot be disclosed when the policy is sold directly online. BMO’s Universal Life policy offers over 400 investment options. The product is too complex to be sold online.

5. If you wish to get in touch with someone from the insurance company, it would be most probably with a call centre and not a broker.

Do not get us wrong, we are not suggesting that the Internet is not a useful resource when purchasing a life insurance. Some websites can offer a lot of useful information concerning life insurance. You can find many useful web tools, for example our Instant Quote Calculator or Needs Analysis Calculator, which can help you a lot. But it is one thing to look for information and another one to actually purchase an insurance.

US life insurance sales took their greatest six-month drop since 1942, reported by LIMRA International. Bloomberg News reports that individual life insurance sales have nose dived 20% in the second quarter of 2009 because savers turned their backs on investments linked to stocks.

In Canada, LIMRA tells a different tale. In Canada these drops were only reported at 14% for universal life policies, a massive 6% difference to the US, using Steady Term Life and Whole Life policies to compensate for the losses. All told, there has only been a 1% drop in annualized payments so far in 2009.

Most financial planning consists of at the bottom line one type of Life Insurance even if the family cash flow is tighter in the US. Most households would find that there is a financial nightmare to contend with, if a family member dies without leaving adequate life insurance. For family members left behind, life insurance policies supply security from monetary problems.

Life Insurance plans don’t have to destroy the bank, there are ways to save on your premiums. We have put together some cash saving hints to get the utmost out of your life insurance.

Refrain from accidental death insurance. Lots of Canadian insurance companies heavily market accidental death insurance to unsuspecting consumers. Accidental death is extremely profitable for these companies, but produces only rare benefit to the consumer because less than 3% of all life insurance claims are paid out thanks to death-by-accident. Accidental death insurance can usually cost more than a comparable term policy.

Be wary of sales people that only sell for one company. They can only sell that business’s goods. Independent brokers often charge less expensive premiums set side by side to companies that employ captive agents. When an representatives is tied into one company’s policies they are unable to look for policies that best meet your needs or your pocket.

Less expensive policies can work out more expensive for you. The early premiums could be cheap, but work out the overall cost as it could be more expensive than purchasing a slightly higher priced policy in the first place. A gimmick insurance companies use to acquire your business is offering reduced premium introductory offers. Term insurance policies, which offer low initial premiums that rise as the insured ages, are appropriate if used for temporary insurance needs. The main problem with this attitude is we are not all the same, nor do we all have the same needs. A speedy sale without finding out what is the best policy and best price for your circumstances is something few brokers and representatives concern themselves with.

organizations that offer preferred rates are what you need to be searching for. The difference between preferred and standard rates can be very significant, notably for term policies. For example, buying a standard rate $500,000 Term 20 policy with Equitable Life would setback the normal 40 year old, non-smoking male just over $62 per month. Taking the equivalent details, using the preferred rates this policy would cost just about $20 less

Establish whether you are not over insured. By utilizing our Needs Analysis Calculator you can find out at a flash whether you are over or under insured.

Independent brokers are there to support you - employ them. However you must be certain he/she has access to a full breadth of companies not just two or three.

Stand up anybody who has ever collected anything in their lives. Most of people at some point started a collection of different things like toy cars, match boxes or bottle tops. Usually, after a certain period of time, these valued treasures have been put away or just disposed of.

For sure, there are those among us that have never given up this sometimes strange habit and have turned it into a lifelong passion There is, however, a certain kind of collectors, who have taken this passion to a higher level and have diversified their portfolios by investing in valuable coins or stamps.

So, who is the special insurance cover for? Consider this: normal household insurance is quite good enough if you just need to cover everyday items such as TV’s, computers and so on. However, collections of higher value need to be approached differently. In some situations, collections of low value might be covered, but if you need to claim from your insurer, more often than not this will end in failure. Most household policies normally only cover the material cost of lost or damaged property. It is relatively easy to claim for a damaged front door or smashed window, but try claiming for a priceless Blue Mauritius stamp.

Therefore, fellow collectors, what is the best approach to insurance if you collection is more valuable than your new car? Do you have nightmares, visualizing it being stolen? Fortunately, you won’t need to worry anymore. There are now special policies tailor made for these collections. AIG and Allianz are but two of many insurance companies that have specialist policies for valuable collections.

If you are a serious collector, then an ‘all risk’ policy would be your choice securing your collection against most imaginable risks, even nuke attack or ‘mysterious disappearance’. Mysterious disappearance cover is offered for in the Fireman’s Fund policy. Transportation and travelling shouldn’t be a worry as both are covered in all specialist policies.

Collections naturally increase in size and value over time and insurance companies tend to offer this in their policies as a way of appearing more customer friendly. New additions to your collection can be insured easily with a simple phonecall to your policy provider. If you are nervous about going to pick up a new addition, then a simple phone call to your insurer prior to going and your new investment is insured.

Obviously nothing can replace your cherished collection, should it be destroyed by fire or stolen by some hard-hearted thief.

Nevertheless, if you can be compensated financially for the full value of your investment, then the pain should be more bearable.

Strange as it may seem, it is true that weather insurance not only exists, but it is one of the oldest types of insurance at all. Weather has been the crucial factor for farmers and their earnings, ever since the beginning of agriculture. The modern weather insurance can cover much more than crops.

Rain is the most common target of weather insurance. The good news is that rain insurance is quite common and quite easy to find. Regarding rain policies, you can pick rain accumulation policies (for this, you need to determine how much rain would still be acceptable for your event and how much would already waste it) or dry hours (how many hours in a period of time were without any rain). Analogically, you can insure your event against snow - either determine the amount of inches snowed per one session or per one storm. Municipalities and public organs can buy a particular version to cover extra costs – snow removal insurance.

And that is only where the whole business begins. There is wind insurance against bad wind conditions, great for instance for a hot air ballooning show. An ice cream promotion can buy temperature insurance to secure the investment in the face of bad weather.

Normally you can choose your own combination of the different policies suitable for your event. Typical clients are film productions (and many insurance companies tailor special policies just for the film industry, for example conditions of underwater visibility or lack of snow). Managers of sports events, concerts, festivals or trade shows are also typical clients of weather insurance. But also other people, who don’t earn money depending on weather, like me, selling life insurance, but who are enjoying some free time activities or going for holidays, can buy such insurance.

This quite new product is just acquiring clients around the world. You can get some of your money back if it rains more than usually during your holidays - this is for sale by certain French travel agencies, in cooperation with Aon France. Equally, German airline Lufthansa has made available a new sunshine insurance. Passengers from Germany can pay €20 ($31.24) for a simple insurance policy, which will give them €20 back for each day during their holiday that was spoilt by more than 5mm of rain.

Naturally, weather insurance is probably not needed when you are travelling to Tunisia or Greece. However, when travelling to Vancouver, weather insurance might not be available. But just asking is for free.

Life insurance, long term care, disability insurance - we all have bought at least some of these products. They are well known options to shield financial safety of our everyday life. The selection of insurance types is quite wide, however conservative it may look at the first sight. But don’t be surprised when you find out about the unexpected variety even in the insurance world. Strange or at least a bit funny, that is how some special policies look. You can for instance purchase insurance for your special events.

Imagine yourself organizing a wonderful wedding ceremony full of romance - taking place on the beach, with roses all around and guest count going into hundreds. But in the worst possible scenario, it may happen that just before the ceremony starts, you step on your veil, slip and end up with a broken leg. For such cases, there is a special insurance policy available, if only to limit the damage to the minimum. No matter if you need to insure a birthday party, a wedding ceremony or a bar mitzvah, almost all attributes of the event can be covered if you choose a suitable product. The most often used insurance types are liability and cancellation insurance, but you can tailor the insurance according to your specific needs. But what to do if you have dreamed of an outdoor ceremony and the weather shows you its unfriendly face? No problem, if you buy the insurance in advance (around two weeks), you can ask also for this protection.

And there are many more options regarding your events insurance. If an unskilled photographer by mischance damages the pictures, the insurance will help you to retake it. You can also sign up for an insurance covering all the gifts, jewellery or rental property. And think about a case of a bride running away from the altar… Yes, believe me; you can cover cold feet too

Event insurance is in some of the most famous world insurers’ selection Allianz offers it via Fireman’s Fund subsidiary; Axa adds fireworks and Christmas light insurance, some other offer the option to cover alcohol related accidents. The basic coverage can often be bought a bit below $100.

Shortly said, all your events can be covered from the beginning till the end.

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

Life insurance forms the foundation of the majority of financial plans, yet so many continue to put it off and, for the past two decades, we have been dueling with that million dollar question, “Why?”

Canadians consider themselves too old. Many don’t notice that most Canadian insurance carriers~companies insure individuals Really, there is no need to hesitate because of your age.

They consider own health too weak. However, many life insurance Canada policies are accessible without a medical test and many other policies only require a handful of basic medical questions. Moreover, many clients who have a history cancer, heart attack or stroke in the family can still obtain life insurance in Canada. You can visit our Non-Medical Life Insurance Page for for more questions.

It’s too expensive. Wrong, life insurance premiums don’t have to extend $15 a month

What’s the point of life insurance?. Believe me, even in situations where you have no debt burden with no dependents, Life insurance can have a meaning for you to deal with final expenses. When you do havewith no dependents and/or debt, life insurance is a great way how to create instant cash when you and your dependents need it crucially.

I can’t understand all those terms and conditions. I completely understand this problem. Life insurance can be pretty confusing, but with my team of professional brokers we will help simplify it for you. You can also visit LSM Instant Life Insurance Needs Calculator to find out exactly what amount of life insurance you need.

Buying a life insurance policy is important step in your life. Everybody should be careful, on the other hand all information should be considered.

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!

I don’t have to remind you, how dangerous times for investment we are living in these months. Stock markets collapsed and buried eight years of growth. Real estate prices are falling down.

More, interest rate after the recent cut by Bank of Canada down to 50-years low value of 1.5% means your money in banks are making less than the inflation rate takes, because inflation in Canada is around 2%.

And we can expect $4 billion spending soon, due to government’s commitment to participate on the North America car industry bailout. This can get the inflation rate even higher, due to bigger government spending. Interest rate can hardly go higher in upcoming months, because FED cut the interest rate even lower - near the 0% value and the Bank of Canada is usually following FED’s steps.

So is there any risk free solution with guaranteed growth over the inflation rate? Yes, there is. Some Canada life insurance universal policies offer 4% guaranteed growth. How is this possible? Easily, these products offer festure you can find anywhere else. It’s name is tax shelter, which is not influenced by the financial market!

Primerica Financial Services is financial company, based in the USA, with subsidiaries in Canada (from 1986) and Spain (2000). Its “problematic” Multi Level Marketing structure is the main topic of many articles, blogs and discussions.

Their efforts to have a quantity of advisers for any price creates a lot of negative responses. But I want to write now about something different. I don’t want to write about their employees. I want to write about their products.

I has been in life insurance Canada business for 15 years and I think I have enough skills to point out 5 importante remarks about Primerica’ policies and their disadvantages.

1. It’s expensive. If you check prices of  competitors and prices of Primerica policies, you will recognize most of their products are overpriced - simply because there are too many people involved.
2. Stuck to the term life. I have nothing against term life of course, it’s very important part of my business, but it doesn’t fit everybody
3. Captive sales force - do you believe some company’s products can fit ANYBODY? Range of clients’ needs is much wider than any offer of one company. But Primerica advisers can/t offer you anything else…
4. Part-time advisers. Do you think it’s a good choice? Do they know more than you know about finance? go and read some articles about their “seminars” on the web!
5. Non convertible policies. don’t you want to think on the back door? Primerica doesn’t offer permanent policies, so if you are unlucky with health - you have problem!