How are Canadians investing their money so far this year? With how unpredictable the economy has been, knowing the most popular investment choices for Canadians in 2023 is more valuable than ever, especially if you want to invest for yourself!
In this article, we’ll go through where most Canadian investors put their money. We’ll explain what makes these investments popular, and what you can expect out of them.
No matter what happens, the stock market stays the king of investments worldwide, and it’s also true for Canadians. It’s a tried and true method of long term investing, with an exciting mix of risk management for people who would otherwise get bored of investing.
Buying a stock is buying partial ownership, or shares, of a company. When a company does well, their stock price increases. So if you invested in a company before they became successful, you can sell your shares later for profit.
Many stocks also distribute dividends, which are small shares of a company’s earnings. As a partial owner of the company, a stockholder is entitled to their fair share of the company’s earnings. If a company you invested in does well on a regular basis, dividends can be a reliable source of passive income.
While stocks remain the most popular investment for Canadians, they can still be one of the more risky investments. If your stocks do well, that’s great news for you! But unfortunately, stocks don’t always do well. With crashes becoming a more and more regular occurrence in the stock market, investing in stocks looks to be as risky as ever.
If you’re interested in investing in the stock market, make sure you understand the risks well so that you can plan for them better.
In spite of the recent market correction we saw in Canada’s real estate market, it remains a strong and reliable investment for Canadians to this day. Let’s see what makes real estate a mainstay in Canadian investor’s portfolios.
The best part about real estate is that it requires very little knowledge to get into. Everyone can learn how to buy and sell a house with relative ease. And unlike things like stocks or cryptocurrencies, you can see what you’re putting your money into. That makes real estate a more trustworthy investment for Canadians, especially older generations.
Real estate investments are usually big, because housing is expensive. But that doesn’t mean that you need a huge amount of money to start investing in real estate. With only $20 or $30,000 of downpayment, you can easily buy a $400,000 home.
If you have a steady income and will be able to pay your mortgage regularly, you won’t need to enter the real estate market with a lot of cash in the first place.
One of the main advantages of investing in real estate is that it’s one of the more inflation-resistant investments out there. No matter how the economy is doing, a home is a home, and people need roofs over their heads.
If you’re a risk-averse investor and want something reliable, real estate is a great choice for you.
One of the main drawbacks of investing in real estate is being a long term landlord. If you’re flipping house quickly, this is less of a problem. But for most Canadians, real estate is a long term investment.
And what comes with owning a home for many years? Maintenance, property taxes, having to manage tenants if you decide to rent it out, renovations… When compared to a stock, there’s a lot of extra work that comes with real estate ownership.
While not as popular as the stock market or real estate, fixed income investments have been on the rise due to the high interest rates coming from the Bank of Canada.
A fixed income investment is when you put money somewhere and are promised a fixed interest rate or dividend payment until your investment matures. After maturity, you get the initial amount of money you invested back.
Let’s say you put $10,000 on a fixed income investment that promises 5% interest over a year. After one year, you’ll get your $10,000 back, with 5% on top, for a total of $10,500.
There are multiple kinds of fixed income investments. Some of the most popular are:
The greatest asset that fixed income investments have is how reliable they are. With a GIC, your investment is “guaranteed”, it’s in the name. You know exactly what you’re going to get when your investment reaches maturity, no matter what. When compared to the volatility of the stock market or ups and downs of real estate, you can’t get a more reliable investment than fixed income.
On top of reliability, fixed income investments are some of the easiest investments to make. After all, all you’re doing is putting your money somewhere for a determined period of time. You can open a GIC over the phone with most Canadian banks in less than an hour currently.
The only real downside to fixed income investments is that you can’t expect that much out of them. 5% is 5%, and that’s far from nothing, but you’re not going to get much more than 5% out of fixed income. Compare that to what’s possible with the stock market, and the difference is striking. Low reward is the price you pay for absolute reliability.
Investing in crypto isn’t nearly as popular with Canadians as the other investments we mentioned, but it’s worth a mention because of how quickly it’s rising. While only 13% of Canadians owned crypto assets going into 2023, the market is projected to grow by 14% by 2027.
The crypto market is still young, and investors haven’t quite figured it out yet. Recently we’ve seen extreme volatility with cryptocurrencies, with big booms and catastrophic crashes.
If you’re the kind of investor that’s interested in exploring uncharted territories, and taking big risks for possibly huge rewards, then you could join the growing number of Canadians that are turning toward cryptocurrencies.
With how the economy has been doing recently, it’s more important than ever to find the best ways to invest your money. Smart investments are the best way to stay safe from economic instability.
When people think of investing their money, they don’t always think of life insurance. But life insurance is one of the most reliable investments out there, and it’s quite popular among Canadians (more popular than crypto!).
If you’re interested in protecting your family’s financial future, then life insurance is the right investment for you. Life insurance is reliable, low cost, and with potentially high rewards, especially if you get into it early.
Ontario announced reduced daycare fees in Ontario. This is great news for any family with a young child!
In this article, we'll go over the new government program helping reduce daycare fees in Ontario, and what that can mean for your finances if you have a young child.
The average Canadian family spends about $10,000 per year on a single child’s daycare (and this number goes up significantly in urban areas). It is by far one of the largest expenses for families with young children.
The added cost of daycare has been a deterrent for many young couples in Canada from starting their own families. If both parents work full time, there are very few options left other than shouldering the high cost of childcare.
To address the issue of rising daycare costs, the Ontario government issued a program to progressively reduce daycare costs. Their goal is to reach an average of $10 per day by September 2025.
By comparison, if you were to send your child to daycare for every business day, for a full year, it would add up to $2,500. While that’s still a lot, it’s a quarter of the 2022 yearly daycare expenditure.
On top of this, the government is investing in increasing the availability of daycare to all Ontario families. Childcare spaces are currently limited, and families often have to be put on waitlists in hopes of sending their child to daycare. The Ontario government aims to add 50,000 spaces to the current daycare infrastructure.
If you’re the parent of a young child and are concerned about daycare costs, then you’re in luck! These programs were designed to take that weight off your shoulders. Within the next few years, daycare costs in Ontario should be cut dramatically, together with more spaces for children.
This is great news for your child, because it means you’ll almost certainly be able to send them to daycare. You won’t need to compromise your own career goals to make sure your child is properly taken care of.
On top of all this, you’ll be saving thousands of dollars per year.
One of the main goals of the reduced daycare fees in Ontario program is to “put money back into parents’ pockets”, as Minister of Education Stephen Lecce puts it.
Now that you’ll have an extra few thousands of dollars to spare for your family, what’s the best use you can make out of it? The best thing you can do is invest your money so your child has a safe future ahead of them.
As a young parent, there’s no better way to protect your family’s future than by investing in a life insurance policy.
A term life policy lasts for a determined period, and if something were to happen to you during that time, your family will receive your life insurance payout. It’s the perfect way to make sure that your child will be financially protected until they become financially independent adults.
The best part about life insurance is that the younger you are, the cheaper it is. With the thousands of dollars the Ontario government is giving you back, you’ll probably be saving enough money to pay for a term life policy, and still have plenty left to invest elsewhere!
With these new policies, there’s never been a better time for Ontario families to invest in life insurance. From daycare to adulthood, you can guarantee that your child will be taken care of!
Statistics Canada released a new report outlining health in Canada. Generally, things are looking good for Canadians, but not without some notable differences compared to the previous decade. In this article, we’ll run you through this new report and tell you why the new developments in Canadians’ health matters for you and your family.
The pandemic really threw a wrench in Canadian lifespans. For the past 20 years, Canadian life expectancy has steadily increased. But since 2020, when the pandemic reached Canada, there has been an increase in mortality rate among Canadians of 7.7%.
COVID-19 made vulnerable Canadians even more vulnerable to premature death, which explains the increase in mortality since 2020.
Interestingly, Statistics Canada also found that the COVID-19 period also saw an increase in substance-related deaths, like drug overdoses. The reasons are unclear, but it could be because of lockdowns and the change of lifestyle Canadians had to go through.
The report found that the 10 leading causes of death in Canada were, in order:
Cancer and heart disease account for more deaths than the other 7 causes put together.
Interestingly, men accounted for a larger proportion of the mortality rate of every single category. Men in general can expect to live about 4 years less than women in Canada (79.5 to women’s 84.0).
The study found that lung cancer, which is the most killing cancer in Canada, has greatly decreased since the previous decade, especially among males. This is great news, and is likely explained by the shrinking popularity of cigarettes and tobacco products in general.
However, the study also found that other chronic conditions were increasing among Canadians:
Multimorbidity, which is when a person has multiple chronic illnesses (for example, diabetes and heart disease), was reported to be most among lower income Canadians. Higher income Canadians tended to be healthier, according to the study.
Statistics Canada claims that the Canadian youth is not exercising enough. Canadians above the age of 12 are seeing a decline in physical activity, as well as a decrease in the quality of their diets.
This is especially true for teenagers, who saw their activity levels decrease by 14% between 2015 and 2021. A majority of children were also found to not be meeting their recommended 60 minutes of daily activity.
For adults, the results were a bit more optimistic. The report showed a decrease in heavy drinking by about 4 percentage points. Smoking (both daily and occasional) also decreased by a whopping 6 percentage points.
What we can learn from this new report is that while Canadians can still expect to live a long and healthy life, things are slightly trending downward. While a lot of this trend can be explained by the impact of COVID-19, we can’t just hold COVID-19 responsible for all the developments in Canaidans’ health.
One thing that is clear from the report is that Canadians aren’t taking as good care of their health as they could be. Substance-related deaths are on the rise, exercise and diet patterns are getting worse (but at least tobacco use is going down!).
While you might not be able to control whether you get a chronic disease like cancer, you can definitely control your health and your diet. Taking steps toward having a healthier lifestyle is the best thing you can do to go against Canada’s decreasing life expectancy trend!
Working toward improving your health has more perks than just life expectancy. When it comes to life insurance, being as healthy as you can be is the best way to reduce your premiums and get the best possible deal out of your policy.
And if you suffer from a chronic illness (like more and more Canadians, according to the report), there’s no need to worry. We offer guaranteed issue life insurance policies that you can qualify for regardless of your health. We also have critical illness plans that are made to deal with having a serious condition like heart disease or cancer.
With how the economy did in 2023, it’s never a bad idea to find ways to cut costs. In this article, we’ll go through 4 easy ways to save money in Canada. The focus of this post is to give you simple solutions that won’t force you to compromise on your quality of life. If you even follow a couple of these steps, you’ll be on the right track to having better finances fast.
The best place to start is with the small things, like what you eat and what you drink. It may not seem like much, but getting your groceries in order adds up really quickly!
Cooking your own meals is one of the best ways to save money on a day to day basis. The main reason is that when you buy food from a restaurant, you’re paying for your food, but also the service. Forbes finds that eating out can cost anywhere from 3 to 5 times as much as cooking for yourself. And with the rising cost of groceries, that number is more important than ever.
According to StatCan, the main reason 40% of Canadians eat out is for convenience. They either don’t have time to cook or don’t know how to. If you’re one of those people, you shouldn’t worry! Meal-prepping is a great way to save time and money. You can prepare meals for the week during the weekend when you have plenty of time!
While it’s unlikely that saying no to Starbucks will make you a millionaire, you can definitely cut down on unnecessary spending. Since Canadians are some of the biggest coffee drinkers in the world, there’s definitely a few cents to be saved here and there.
The best thing to do is to buy your own coffee and avoid going to Tim Hortons or Starbucks as much as possible. CNET finds that making coffee at home is about three times cheaper than buying your coffee from Starbucks.
Groceries have been a big talking point for Canadians this year. With how high prices have soared, it’s more important to watch how you’re spending your money on groceries than ever before.
Remember that whole bunch of cilantro you bought to test out a new recipe? Most of it went bad in the fridge and you had to throw it out… Canadian households waste between 80 and 140 kilograms of food per year. Wasting food is already bad, but that’s dollars down the drain too!
Buying perishable foods in smaller quantities, so that you don’t end up throwing some (or most) of it out, is a great way to avoid paying for food you’ll never end up eating. Smaller packages are more expensive by weight than bigger ones, but if you throw out half of the bigger package, you won’t be saving any money.
The opposite goes for non-perishable food. Think beans, pasta, canned food, spices, salt. Since these don’t go bad, it’s best to save by buying in bulk. The best thing about buying in bulk is that once you buy something, you won’t have to worry about running out for a while!
A big part of our wasted money comes from our buying habits. We’re too quick to replace an item when repairing it would be just fine. Or we’re fixated on buying new rather than checking out used options.
Adopting buying habits that are geared towards saving money is a great way to reduce excessive spending without really compromising on the quality of your purchases.
Efficiency matters. For larger purchases like cars or appliances, consider long-term savings in fuel or power efficiency over the initial cost. It might be tempting to go for the cheaper choice, but more efficient models could save money down the line.
A fuel efficient car will cost you between 50 and 200% less in fuel than an inefficient car would. Given how much Canadians spend per year on gas, you could easily save hundreds per year just by choosing a more efficient vehicle.
You can use this tool to calculate your vehicle’s fuel consumption (as well as many other things), courtesy of the CAA.
The best way to spend money on things is to only have to spend money on them once. Buying items that will last you a lifetime, without needing to be repaired or replaced, will basically pay for themselves.
When buying things like household items and clothing, a long term approach is the way to go. Higher quality items might have a higher upfront cost, but they’re usually very much worth it.
If you’re unsure where to start, you can check out the Reddit BuyItForLife community that focuses on smart long term purchases.
Buying used doesn't only apply to cars. Many everyday items, from books to furniture, can be found in good condition at thrift stores or online platforms like Kijiji. It’s a great way to save money while reducing environmental waste.
In a throwaway culture, learning to repair your stuff, whether it's clothing, tech, or household items, is a green and budget-friendly choice.
There are countless online tutorials to help you get started on basic repairs. Basic repairs are much easier than you think and they can save you the cost of a full replacement!
Remember to take advantage of coupons and flyers. Sign up for free services like Honey, a browser extension that finds and applies coupon codes at checkout with a single click.
Flipp is a great app for finding flyers at grocery stores. And when you find good prices, don’t forget to price-match at your local supermarket to get the best deal!
Owning a home is expensive. Mortgages, property taxes, renovations and maintenance… It’s a lot of regular spending. But your home doesn’t have to be a money sink. It has the potential to be a source of income or savings if used wisely.
Paying down your mortgage faster reduces the amount of interest you’ll pay over the life of your loan. Simplifying your financial life as you approach retirement could also help you save money in the long run.
Things can get quiet around the house as you get older, especially if your kids have moved out. If you have empty rooms available, you could always look into renting them out to a student. It’s a bit of extra income and it’s not a big commitment.
Utilities can take up a large portion of your monthly budget. You can cut costs by using energy and water more efficiently. Simple steps like turning off lights, not letting water run, and unplugging devices not in use, can contribute to lowering your bills.
The Government of Canada has a great guide you can follow to help reduce your energy bill. It’s both a great savings tool and a way to be more environmentally responsible.
Finally, taking a comprehensive look at your financial health can make a massive difference to your savings.
Opening a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) for your child can assist in managing future education costs. The government of Canada contributes to some extent to your RESP, making it an excellent option for long-term savings.
It may seem obvious, but it’s crucial. Always make sure to pay off your credit card bills on time to avoid interest charges. If possible, pay in full to avoid spiralling into debt.
Finally, make sure you're taking full advantage of the tax benefits and grants offered by all levels of government in Canada. Speak with a financial advisor or use reputable online resources to identify further savings potential in this area.
You can check if you qualify for any benefits here.
Consider setting up automatic transfers to your savings account. Over time, this "out of sight, out of mind" tactic can result in a robust savings account without you even noticing. It's an excellent way to save without significant budgetary adjustments in your daily life.
Following these gentle steps can help ground you financially and take you closer to your money-saving goals in Canada.
Finding ways to save money is hard, but not impossible! With this post, we gave you some easy guidelines to follow if you want to save some extra cash on the side.
Remember that even following one step is great. You don’t need to do everything we mentioned here (and there are many more ways to save money than discussed in this post!). What’s important is getting started and slowly learning to manage your finances better.
At Insurance Supermarket, we’re all about making smart financial choices.
Changing your coffee drinking habit saves you about $30 a month, and that might seem small. But just that one bit of saving could be enough to get you a life insurance plan!
With our vast array of policy choices, we can guarantee we have the right kind of life insurance for you.
Life insurance provides financial protection to your loved ones in the event of your passing. It's an essential tool to secure your family's future and provide them with the necessary funds to cover expenses, such as mortgages, debts, and daily living costs. But is life insurance taxable in Canada?
In this article we'll be answering this question for you. Let's dive into this topic and explore how life insurance is treated under Canadian tax laws.
In Canada, the general rule is that the death benefit paid out by a life insurance policy is tax-free. This means that the money received by the beneficiaries is not subject to income tax. Whether it's a term life insurance policy or a permanent life insurance policy, the death benefit remains tax-free.
This tax-exempt status applies to both individual life insurance policies and group life insurance policies (employer-provided life insurance).
While your death benefit will generally be tax-free, there are some exceptions and considerations that you should be aware of. Let's explore these scenarios:
We covered the exceptional cases in which your life insurance may be subject to taxation. With that said, there are still a few things you should know about indirect forms of taxation:
If you purchase a life insurance policy to replace your income in the event of your passing, the beneficiaries' use of the death benefit may be subject to income tax. For example, if the beneficiaries invest the money and earn income from those investments, they may need to report that income and pay taxes on it. Consulting with a financial advisor can help you plan for income tax considerations.
If you have an investment-linked life insurance policy and the investments within the policy generate capital gains, those gains may be subject to capital gains tax. However, keep in mind that the death benefit portion of the policy remains tax-free.
It's essential to consult with a tax professional or a financial advisor who specializes in life insurance and taxation to understand your specific situation. They can provide guidance tailored to your needs and help you navigate through the complexities of taxation.
Life insurance can play a vital role in your financial plan, and understanding the tax implications ensures that you are making informed decisions to protect your loved ones.
So, is life insurance taxable in Canada? In Canada, life insurance benefits are generally tax-free. The death benefit received by the beneficiaries is not subject to income tax, making life insurance an attractive tool to secure your family's financial future.
However, there are exceptions and special circumstances where tax implications may arise. It's important to seek professional advice to understand the specific tax rules that apply to your life insurance policy.
Remember, life insurance provides financial protection, peace of mind, and a legacy for your loved ones. By comprehending the tax aspects, you can maximize the benefits of life insurance while planning for your family's future.
If you're considering life insurance or have any questions about your existing policy, Insurance Supermarket is here to help. Our team of experienced advisors can guide you through the process, ensuring that you find the right policy that meets your unique needs.
Life is expensive. And as more people are coming to realize, death is often expensive, too. And while things such as inflation and funeral expenses are often out of your control, what IS within your control is your preparedness to handle these matters. That's why understanding funeral costs has never been more important than now.
In this article, we delve into the matter of funeral costs in 2023, reveal how they could impact your family, and show you how effective life insurance solutions can mitigate these potential future burdens.
Let's begin!
Compared to a decade ago, the costs of ordinary life events, including funerals, have seen a significant increase. With rising inflation and cost of living, the average cost of a funeral in Canada today starts between $5,000 and $15,000.
However, this is just the basic cost. Add in extras like flowers, obituaries, venue rental, and catering for a reception and you could be looking at costs in excess of $20,000. And these costs are only set to rise each year.
But this is just for traditional burials. With how the costs of funerals are rising, more and more Canadians are turning to cremation instead of burials. Cremations are, on average, half as expensive as burials.
If you already know whether you want to be buried or cremated, that’ll help you figure out a big part of how much coverage you’ll need from your life insurance plan.
While covering funeral costs may not seem a significant burden when we're alive and earning, it can become a heavy financial load on the loved ones we leave behind when the time comes.
It’s also important to remember that funeral costs aren’t the only final expenses you may leave behind. Nursing home costs, privates nurses/PSWs, and personal debt are some common expenses associated with one’s end-of-life. Planning for these inevitable expenses early can help ease this potential future stress.
Luckily, there are solutions designed to do just that.
A Final Expense Plan is designed to cover these types of costs, so you don’t have to worry about burdening your family with them. It's an affordable, practical solution that offers a lump sum, non-taxable death benefit up to $50,000 to cover funeral and other final expenses.
If you’re not passing down a significant amount of inheritance to your family, a Canadian Final Expense Plan can be a useful alternative to ensure your family members are left with something to take care of your last expenses and more…without breaking the bank!
Life is unpredictable, but with a solid life insurance plan in place, the future doesn't have to be. A well-thought-out insurance strategy can provide the assurance of a secure financial future for you and comfort for those you leave behind.
Funerals are an inevitable aspect of life. Understanding funeral costs and planning for them now means less financial stress for your loved ones later. It’s best to get ahead of things, especially with how unpredictable funeral costs can be!
At Insurance Supermarket, we provide comprehensive life insurance solutions. Our Final Expense Plans that are tailored to your individual needs, providing you with peace of mind.
Are you ready to build a secure future? Discover our carefully designed Final Expense Plans and Term Life Insurance policies. Ensure your hard-earned money is there when your family needs it the most. Start planning your secure future with Insurance Supermarket today!
Let's Begin Your Journey. Get a quote Today!
When it comes to insurance, the underwriting process can seem mysterious. If you’ve had questions surrounding this topic, you’re not alone! What you need is an introduction to underwriting in life insurance.
In this article, we’re going to explain what the underwriting process is and how different factors can affect your insurance rates, as well as what you can do to lower them.
By the time you’ve finished this article, you’ll be on top of all things underwriting!
Underwriting is one of the most important steps in getting a life insurance policy. It’s when your provider evaluates your case and assesses its level of risk. The underwriting process is used to determine what policies and the amount of coverage you qualify for, as well as how much you will have to pay in premiums for your policy.
Since life insurance is, for the most part, centred around death benefits, the underwriting process is streamlined (although not always simple). In a nutshell, tt focuses on the risk of early death of the applicant. The higher the likelihood an applicant dies early, the higher the risk for the insurance company to insure the individual. That’s why some people are quoted cheaper premiums and qualify for more coverage than others.
The easiest way to understand the underwriting process is to know what key factors are examined.
As with any life insurance plan, age is the first and most important detail about an applicant. The older you are, the riskier you will be for your insurance provider. Because of this, as a general rule, younger people pay lower premiums than older people.
Your sex also plays a big factor into determining how much you should pay in premiums. In Canada, women’s life expectancy is at a staggering 84 years, which is about 4 years higher than Canadian men.
This means that depending on your sex, your age might not represent the same risk for your insurer. Women pay lower premiums than men across the board because they tend to live longer, work safer jobs and have safer hobbies.
Because the underwriting process is all about risk assessment, it basically comes down to measuring the overall health of a candidate. Things that put your health at risk or that actively worsen your health will always be a detriment to your life insurance’s underwriting process.
Smoking is one of the most obvious things to look out for. Smoking is usually a daily, regular habit, and its negative effects on health have been well-documented over the last decades. Because of this, the simple fact of being a smoker could double, triple, or even quadruple your insurance premiums, depending on other factors.
Medical history is a very important part of the underwriting process. Because of the way certain diseases work, knowing your personal as well as your family medical history is crucial for insurers to be able to do an accurate risk assessment.
If you have a history of critical illnesses like heart disease or cancer in your family, that will make you a riskier candidate than someone who doesn’t have a history of illness. As a result, your premiums will more than likely increase, depending on how serious your medical history is.
Medical history is also one of the main reasons why people’s applications get denied. If your medical history suggests too much risk for the insurer, then they might think it better to simply reject your application than take a risk with you.
However, the thing about medical history is that not all plans require a medical underwriting. Guaranteed-issue plans are an example of this. Make sure you understand whether the plan you’re interested in requires medical history as part of your underwriting process.
Together with your medical history, insurers will want to see how healthy you are currently. This is often done through what is called an Attending Physician Statement, where your doctor completes a questionnaire about your medical status for your insurer, and a medical examination.
During this process, you will undergo a number of tests to determine your general health, and whether or not you are experiencing any symptoms. The better the assessment, the lower your premiums will be. If you are deemed too unhealthy in your current state, then your application may be denied. But don’t worry, being denied once doesn’t mean you will be denied forever. You can always improve your health for your next application!
Here, your insurer will ask you about the different occupations you have in life, typically your job and hobbies. Depending on how dangerous these are, your provider could decide to increase your premiums.
For example, if you work an office job and you play golf on the weekends, your occupations won’t be deemed very risky. On the other hand, if you’re an underwater welder and you enjoy extreme sports in your free time, your provider will most likely increase your premium payments to compensate for your risky occupational habits.
The underwriting goes through multiple steps in order to assess your risk. These steps can vary from company to company and from plan to plan, but they generally follow a similar pattern. There are three big steps in the underwriting process:
The reason why underwriting is intimidating to a lot of prospective clients out there is because traditional insurance companies can take a very long time with the process. So people are left waiting for weeks or even months before they get a response.
At Insurance Supermarket, we focus on creating a smooth application process for our clients. Reducing the length of the underwriting process was key to achieving this. With some of our plans, you could be approved for insurance in just 48 hours!
If you’ve already been denied for a plan with one provider, that doesn’t mean you are uninsurable! Even amongst insurance companies, some are more inclusive than others. Some, like the major banks, may only accept those they deem low-risk. Others may accept applicants for certain plan types.
At ISI, we understand that often those who typically get denied coverage are those who need financial protection the most. In fact, many of our existing policyholders are those who had struggled to pass underwriting previously.
If you’ve been denied life insurance coverage in the past, you may still be able to qualify with our comprehensive suite of simplified-issue and guaranteed-issue life insurance policies. These policies have a more limited underwriting process that usually excludes medical history and medical exams, making them much more accessible.
By picking the right provider and the right plan, you’ll be maximising your odds of having a smooth underwriting process and getting the best possible rates for the plan that works best for you.
At Insurance Supermarket, one of our main goals is to make the application process as smooth and fast as possible. We know things can be stressful going in, so we want our clients to be at ease during the entire process.
It can be difficult sitting around waiting for a response from your underwriters about how much your life insurance is going to cost. Why not start today?
Many Canadians enjoy the benefits of life insurance through their jobs. But is your employer’s life insurance enough for you? Should you rely on the coverage you get from your work to protect your family’s financial stability?
In this article, we’ll focus on answering these questions. First, we’ll start by explaining what kind of life insurance your employer is providing you with. Then, we’ll go over some of the strengths and weaknesses of employer-provided life insurance. Finally, we’ll show what an individual life insurance plan does better, and how you could use an individual plan to supplement your job’s life insurance policy.
The kind of life insurance that an employer provides to its employees is called Group Life insurance. As the name implies, group life insurance is a policy that covers a group of people, in this case employees of a company.
With a group life plan, the policyholder is not the same as the insured party. The policyholder is the company, whereas the insured party is the group of employees like you. The big advantage of this is that the company is responsible for paying all or a majority of the policy’s premiums. This leaves you, the employee, with very little responsibility and all the benefits of your group life insurance!
There are two conventional ways for determining your group life insurance’s coverage amount. The first is a fixed amount that is identical for all insured persons under the policy. The second is a multiple of the insured employee’s salary, typically 2 or 3 years worth.
While we believe you shouldn’t rely too much on your employer’s life insurance, there are still great sides to it. It’s important to know what good comes from a Group Life plan to see where it falls short later on.
So let’s look at the upsides of a Group Life policy:
Accessibility: If your employer offers life insurance, you are guaranteed to be eligible for it upon being hired. And since it’s part of your benefits package, most of the administrative work will be done by your employer.
Cost: Your employer will either pay a majority or all of your policy’s premiums. Because of this, Group Life plans can be extremely cheap, if not free, for you.
Early coverage: If you’re still early in your career, you’re probably not thinking about life insurance. Or, you might not be able to afford it. Employer life insurance ignores these obstacles and just gives you coverage automatically.
Customizability: Despite being group policies, you will generally have some level of flexibility with what you get out of your life insurance package. This is especially true for employees who have spent a long time with a company and their life circumstances have changed.
Despite being a great (and guaranteed!) source of financial protection, there are some big issues with Group Life policies. It’s crucial to know exactly where your employer’s life insurance policy falls short.
Limited mobility & security: The thing about your job’s life insurance is that… it’s tied to your job. This means that your life insurance plan won’t be portable. If you are laid off, change jobs, retire, quit, or your employer goes out of business or sells, chances are, your current protection won’t carry over with you. Unlike a personal policy, life insurance that’s tied to a group policy has no guarantee of being in effect if and when you actually need it.
Not enough coverage: A Group Life policy will usually provide a coverage of around 2 or 3 times your salary. With the average Canadian salary floating around 50 and 60,000 dollars per year, that amounts to $100,000–$180,000 of coverage. While this is more than enough coverage for your 20 year old single coworker with no children, for example, it won’t be nearly enough if you have a family or dependants. If you have dependents, adequate coverage is generally considered to be a policy worth 10-15 times your annual income. Chances are, your group benefits aren’t nearly enough!
Personalization: An individual policy is made just for you. It’s not a general policy that is one-size-fits-all (which is in reality all too commonly one-size-fits-none). It’s a plan that you build together with your provider, going over the exact details so that it perfectly suits your needs. This is where nothing can beat having your own bespoke policy.
Take advantage of your age: No matter how old you are, now is the youngest you’ll ever be. Since life insurance premiums are dependent on age, locking in a personal policy today allows you to keep your rates lower than waiting. Don’t make the common mistake of waiting until your group plan lapses or until a health scare comes up to realize your coverage may not be enough.
Reliability: There’s no middleman with individual plans. It’s just you and your insurance provider. Your death benefit won’t be dependent on your job and employer, and you won’t lose it if you decide to move to another job or retire. As long as you pay your premiums, your coverage isn’t going anywhere, regardless of what happens with your career!
Coverage amount: An individual plan will allow you to get a much bigger coverage than most Group Life policies. According to Investopedia, it’s best to aim for a coverage of about 10 times your current salary. It’s very unlikely that your employer’s plan will be able to cover you for that amount.
Add-ons and riders: An individual plan allows you to take advantage of the variety of extra features, such as riders, that they offer. You can additionally cover specific cases such as accidental death or injury, or certain serious diseases. Due to employers wanting to keep overhead costs low, most group plans don’t offer additional coverage that would otherwise be beneficial.
Adaptability: Your individual plan can evolve with your situation. If you want to use your individual plan to simply supplement your employer’s life insurance and cover its weaknesses, that’s an option. Later on, if you lose your employer’s coverage, you can renegotiate your individual plan and expand it as needed.
If you’re looking into getting an individual plan, there are a few options to choose from. Here’s a quick rundown of the two most common types of life insurance plans that are available to you.
Term Life Insurance is the most basic and affordable type of life insurance. It provides coverage for a fixed period called “term”, usually ranging from 5 to 30 years. If you die during this period, your beneficiaries will receive your death benefit. But once your term ends, your policy expires. It’s a great choice for people looking to protect the financial stability of their families through a specific period at an affordable rate.
Permanent Life Insurance is the more sophisticated type of life insurance. It has no expiry date, so as long as you’re paying premiums, you’ll stay protected forever. Permanent Life Insurance has more advanced things you can do with your plan, like borrowing against it or using it for estate planning. The added usability and reliability of permanent life insurance comes with a higher price tag.
Want to learn more about Term Life and Permanent Life insurance? Check out our Life Insurance 101 blog for a more detailed explanation!
When a job offers life insurance as a benefit, it’s always a blessing. With little premiums to pay, it’s a great bonus for employees of a company. What we tried to show in this blog post is that it’s best to think of your Group Life policy as just that: a bonus.
Because of the nature of Group Life policies, they end up being too generalist in their approach and too rigid to be relied upon by individuals. While we believe everyone should take advantage of whatever benefits their job offers, we also think it can be risky to rely on these benefits too heavily.
If you have an employer-provided life insurance policy, the best thing you can do is to supplement it with an individual policy of your own. This way, you’ll cover up any weaknesses that your Group Life policy has, and you’ll have a financial safety net that won’t go away if your job does. (And, you’ll be surprised to learn how affordable insurance can actually be, potentially starting at just a dollar a day.)
A problem with employer-provided life insurance is that it makes people forget how important having your own plan is. And the earlier you start, the cheaper your premiums will be. So there’s no better time than now to get the best plan for your needs!
With our group of experienced advisors, we’ll be able to help you figure out what you need to supplement your work’s life insurance plan. We’ll help you get started today - it’s easier than you think!
Planning for retirement involves simplifying and looking ahead, especially when it comes to finances. Life insurance is an essential part of that planning. So we decided to give you a hand with making life insurance easy for retirement.
In this article, we'll look at :
We'll explore how a simple, straightforward life insurance policy can provide you with the peace of mind you need, and how to make the most out of your retirement.
Retirement is a time to reflect on your career, discover your passions and enjoy the fruits of your labour. But it’s also the time to make smart financial decisions that can pay dividends in the future. The cornerstone of those decisions is financial protection. Investing in life insurance is one way to continue providing your family with financial security.
And Canadians agree with this sentiment. Two-thirds of Canadians believe that life insurance is a good way to take control over unexpected situations in life.
Life insurance can provide a death benefit to your loved ones, thus reducing their financial burden at a time of loss. It also provides people with peace of mind as they can rest assured knowing that their family's financial future is taken care of. For older Canadians, this means reassurance knowing that your loved ones will be cared for in the event of an unexpected death. Having the comfort and peace of mind from financial protection during retirement is essential for people like you to enjoy your golden years to their fullest.
Life insurance isn't something most people think about because it’s hard to know when you really need it. This can be especially true for seniors, who may struggle to find the right policy due to age and health limitations. However, with Insurance Supermarket, there's no need to worry. We offer a wide range of life insurance plans tailored to your situation that are both reliable and affordable.
Our quick and easy online application process means that Canadian seniors can get the policy they need without the intimidation of traditional applications. Our website has digestible content that makes it easy to understand the basics of life insurance. And our team of knowledgeable advisors are always on hand to answer any questions and guide you through the insurance process.
Did you know? According to InsuranceBusiness, 52% of Canadians don’t have life insurance, and the main reason for them not getting it is that they are intimidated by the complicated application process.
It's true that there are a variety of insurance plans available on the market, but with Insurance Supermarket, Canadians in retirement (or Canadians looking to retire soon) can benefit from our simplified approach. We make it simple by providing you with coverage that fits your individual situation and needs. We also make sure you know exactly what you need to do to get insured, with no guesswork or mystery.
40% of Canadians don’t understand what term life or permanent life insurance are, and about half of Canadians don’t get universal life insurance. This is part of the confusion that is usually associated with life insurance. At Insurance Supermarket, we’re committed to getting rid of this confusion.
Our plans are designed to be easy to understand. We explain all the important details in layman's terms, so there are no surprises. Plus, our comparison tools make it easy to compare plans side-by-side and select the most suitable one. We believe everyone should be able to have to life insurance, and so we want to make sure that everyone can understand it easily.
Life insurance isn't a one-time decision—it takes ongoing effort to stay on top of changing needs and advancements in the insurance industry. Fortunately, education about the ins-and-outs of insurance doesn't have to be boring or complicated.
Lifelong learning is a cornerstone of retirement. There is no better place to benefit from its advantages than with Insurance Supermarket. Whether it's through our helpful website content, interviews with experts, or lifestyle articles on making the most out of retirement, older adults can take advantage of the tools and resources we provide to get the most out of your life insurance policy.
35% of Canadians say they don’t have any kind of life insurance. With age, policies may become more expensive or difficult to obtain, while overall health and lifestyle can limit insurance options. But it's never too late to protect your loved ones with life insurance. Therefore, it's important to act now to lock-in the best rate before rates increase.
At Insurance Supermarket, we understand and are here to help. Our easy to follow online application process and knowledgeable advisors are always dedicated to helping older adults in Canada and your families.
We also offer guaranteed issue life insurance options. These are designed for people above the age of 50 who would have a hard time getting traditional life insurance policies. You can check them out here.
Life insurance isn't always top of mind when it comes to retirement planning. However, with the right plan and the right provider, it can prove to be an essential and invaluable tool for providing your family with financial protection.
At Insurance Supermarket, we believe in making insurance simple and straightforward. We provide older Canadians with reliable, affordable coverage that protects their families, without the intimidating array of jargon, fine print, and confusion. With our helpful website content and highly knowledgeable advisors, we make it easy for Canadians in retirement to understand what they need to get insured. All while providing you with the peace of mind needed to truly enjoy your retirement.
It's time to unlock the financial protection you and your family need without the added stress of dealing with traditional life insurance providers. At Insurance Supermarket, we make insurance simple and straightforward.
Our quick, easy online application process takes the intimidation out of traditional applications, while our comprehensive guides and website content provide simple, digestible information to demystify insurance.
Remember, our knowledgeable advisors and dedicated customer service are always on hand to answer any questions and guide you every step of the way.
NerdWallet found that 75% of people are hesitant about getting life insurance, with their main concerns being affordability and confusion over the different types of policies. What they need is help taking the stress out of life insurance.
As a busy parent, you may have these same hesitations. Insurance can be intimidating, with industry jargon, offputting convoluted product descriptions, and a myriad of different policy types.That’s where we come in.
In this article, we’ll focus on some of the key questions that young parents have about the life insurance process. Our goal is to answer these questions for you in a quick and simple way, so that you’ll feel much more comfortable when approaching the world of life insurance.
The world of life insurance is big. According to LIMRA, 46% of people are putting off buying life insurance because they find it too intimidating a process. Taking that first step can be intimidating if you’re going in blind. But taking the time to understand the basics in a straightforward, stress-free manner could make all the difference for you and your family.
To get started, begin by creating a list of your needs and wants: things that you absolutely must have in your policy, and things that you’d like to have as a bonus. This helps you to avoid the temptation of being sold policies that may not exactly align with what you’re looking for. It’ll also help you eliminate providers quickly if they don’t offer you what you need.
Take the time to research life insurance companies and compare policies, and if you're unsure of anything, don’t be afraid to reach out to the various companies and ask them questions. A knowledgeable agent will usually be available to guide you through the finer details of life insurance.
When you begin researching various policies, bear in mind that there are two types of life insurance; term and permanent. Term life insurance provides coverage over a limited period of time, while permanent life insurance remains active until the policyholder's death. Generally, life insurance becomes more expensive with age, so deciding when to purchase a policy, according to your needs, is an important factor.
Life insurance jargon can be a bit of a minefield. Trying to decipher between whole and term life insurance, or calculating the cost of premiums — it can all feel a little daunting. It's important to understand the basics of different types of life insurance policies and key insurance terminology, so that you can make an informed decision when choosing the right policy for your family.
To get started, we can look at a few common life insurance terms and see what they mean:
A big pain point with life insurance is the price tag. A lot of people already have so much on their table that adding in life insurance costs can feel impossible. But affordable life insurance exists! And the good news is that the younger you are, the cheaper your life insurance will be. So it’s best to start now!
Life insurance prices can vary a lot from company to company, so make sure you compare providers when you shop around. Before looking at the policies they offer, you can look at the companies themselves. Companies that are more financially stable and have higher user ratings are usually a safer bet. But of course, your priority is in comparing the policies that are being offered and finding which company offers the best-suited policy for you.
Next is premiums. There are a lot of way to optimize your premium payments and get them as low as possible. If you are going for permanent life insurance, some companies offer annual paying premiums and term policies will offer quarterly or even monthly premium payment plans, so that financial burden is spread out and easier to manage.
Additionally, you can lower your premiums by lowering your risk as a client. It’s pretty simple: the healthier you are, the lower risk you will be deemed in the underwriting process. Getting in better shape and quitting smoking will do wonders for your premiums! On average, smokers pay between 2 and 4 times MORE in premiums than non-smokers do!
We know that you’re busy enough as is. Between juggling your own job and taking care of your family, you don’t have a lot of extra time on your hands. With that in mind, going through all the steps to getting life insurance might be too much to handle. Knowing who can help you through the process is key to making it past the finish line.
The best place to start is to seek the help of a professional. Insurance experts live and breathe insurance, and with their help you’ll have a much easier time finding the right policy for you. With a professional, you can get help:
The key to taking the stress out of life insurance is to create a streamlined process. Traditional life insurance takes a long time to set up, with so much paperwork and inquiries you have to go through before getting insured. At Insurance Supermarket, we focus on a fast and easy process for our clients. With some of our plans, you could end up insured in 48 hours without ever having to leave your house!
Going through all this trouble just to be denied in the end is a major roadblock for people. A lot of people think that you can do everything right and still be denied coverage because of the mysterious underwriting process. But that’s not the case! You can make sure that you get life insurance no matter what.
Just like we mentioned with affordability, eligibility improves the younger you are. If you’re still in your 30s or 40s, you’re very likely to be eligible for the majority of life insurance plans. A lot of denials come for older individuals who waited too long before getting a policy and are now deemed too high-risk for providers.
Some people are concerned about their eligibility because of their family’s medical history. If your family has a history of cancer or other serious health conditions, it can damage your eligibility for some plans. Luckily, there are several plans that don’t require medical exams or a detailed inquiry into your medical history. Simplified-issue plans have fewer eligibility requirements. There are no medical exams required or extensive medical history questionnaires to fill out. Make sure to ask your provider what simplified-issue options they offer.
If a simplified-issue plan isn’t enough, then guaranteed-issue plans have guaranteed eligibility.
There are a lot of questions that are on your mind when thinking about getting life insurance. With this article, we addressed a lot of the questions that were making you hesitate, and tried to help with taking the stress out of life insurance. With the knowledge you now have, you should feel confident about looking into getting a policy for yourself.
Remember that the best time to start protecting your family’s financial future is now. Now that your questions are answered, don’t delay any longer and find the right life insurance policy today!
Looking for life insurance should be a process that is straightforward and simple…and it CAN be! At Insurance Supermarket, we simplify the process by providing fast, transparent policies tailored to meet the needs of busy parents. Our experienced advisors are here to assist you every step of the way, so you can feel confident knowing you and your family are covered for all circumstances.
