Life Insurance Canada News

As reported in the December 2009 issue of the Insurance Journal, sales of Primerica term life products have been decreasing. The company’s recent prospectus filed on November 5, 2009 states that Primerica sold more than 115,000 policies in the six months ending June 30, 2009, compared with more than 121,000 policies in the first six...

As stated in the November/December issue of the Insurance Journal, the Fraser Group recently ran down the list of the Top 10 Group Insurance Companies in Canada. The top 10 companies combined comprise 95% of the market. Great West Life 22.3%* Sun Life 21.6%. Manulife 21%. BlueCross 10.5%. Desjardin 5.9%. SSQ Financial 3.9%. Green Shield...

As reported in the November/December issue of the Insurance Journal, group insurance premiums are increasing in Canada. Insurers had profits of 29.1 million from their Canadian group insurance activities in 2008, according to the Frazier Group’s Group Universe Report 2008. Insurers also saw an increase of 7% in revenue coming from group insurance activities over...

You can still get life insurance once you have bariatric surgery. photo by Colin Rose We all know that North America is the heaviest continent in the world and for those who've tried dieting and exercise countless times with no success, often the only option they see for themselves is Bariatric Surgery. Even celebrities have gone under the knife, people like Carnie Wilson, Randy Jackson and Sharon Osbourne -- just to name a few. However, even with such an invasive surgical procedure, you can still get life insurance. It's very important to be aware of the following underwriting guidelines because insurance companies will be basing their verdict on the factors below:

While the number of long-term care policies being sold in Canada is rising, the number of Canadians who are properly insured is still extremely low. In some instances, its due to misunderstanding and myth. The following are five myths surrounding Long Term Care Insurance: “My Family Will Take Care of Me” This would have been...

BMO Insurance‘s Guaranteed Life Plus is only available through BMO’s call centre and not through its broker network. The plus with the plan is there are no health questions, but the plan does not pack a lot of insurance for your premiums dollar. The death benefit on non-accidental deaths is also limited to a return-of-premium...

Numerous websites offer so-called preferred rates when quoting online life insurance rates. Many of these websites use preferred rates as their default premium in their instant quote calculators, even though less than 30% of all applicants qualify for these preferred rates. Numerous variables can disqualify individuals from online carriers’ preferred rates. These variables include: 1....

photo by Garry Knight This significant report from the Bank of Canada is released biannually, and covers the most important aspects of the domestic financial markets. The main focus is to discuss the possible risks which may affect the Canadian financial system. In the last three issues (December 2008, June 2009, and the latest, December 2009) the bank has identified five key sources of risk, and has followed their development. From the current report, it is apparent that the overall risk has declined since June. However, potential threats have not disappeared.

Canadian Tire is better for home hardware than life insurance. photo by Shirley Buxton Canadian Tire started offering term life insurance, underwritten by Canada Life, in 2005. In March of 2009, they tweaked the details of the plan and began rolling out a new marketing campaign, complete with TV commercials. On the plus side the plan is available with no medical tests but does have a series of health questions. The convenience of not having to meet with a nurse comes at a steep price. Canadian Tire's term life plan is nearly double the cost of competing Term plans. As illustrated below, Canadian Tire's Term 5 Life Insurance Plan is twice as much as the competing term 10 plans. With competitors, you can get double the term for half the price. Moreover, Canadian Tire premiums are only level for five years and the plan is not convertible without a medical to a permanent plan. The following is a list of rates showing how Canadian Tire Term Life Insurance stacks up with the competition:

Find out TD Term Life plans fall short before it’s too late. photo by Craig Cloutier TD Term life insurance has been offering life insurance for approximately 10 years Now their offering plans through their TD Life Insurance division and Transamerica Life. The TD life plans are available on a Term 10 basis. The Transamerica policies are the same policies offered by Transamerica independent brokers, but TD agents are unfortunately limited to only selling Transamerica’s Term 10 and Term 20 policies. The application process breaks down like this: