For the past little while it seems that insurance companies have been increasing rates left and right due to the low interest rate environment we are in. Premiums have only been getting more expensive and in this new world of prolonged interest rates premiums are at record highs.

What do you do, if you want to give back to the community? Maybe volunteer for aiding elders, sick kids, send donations etc. Well recently our group benefit team, Melanie and myself volunteered by sponsoring  and preparing a meal at the The Yonge Street Mission - Evergreen Centre for Street Youth. We where joined by our Sunlife Account Executive - SunAdvantage Group Benefits, Marjorie.

Foresters is not your typical life insurance company, with foresters you have added benefits when you become one of their members of their over 1 million. They offer an array of complimentary benefits including Grants and scholarships, family events, well-being benefits and community and volunteering opportunities.

I strongly believe that everyone should have life insurance. Many people feel that life insurance is for the unhealthy but the fact is life insurance is really for the healthy (you need to apply while healthy). When you become diagnosed with something that affects your health, the rates for life insurance can become substantially higher, that is if you can even qualify for life insurance at all.

Many Canadians will need their term insurance protection for more than 10 or 20 years, but you may still not have the need for permanent life insurance. One of the problems is that renewing your coverage or even buying a new plan in 10 or 20 years down the road comes with some risk.

Often times the owner of life insurance policy is the person whose life is insured. Owners can however include; parents, spouses and corporations. Once a contract is taken out there are varying circumstances where a policy holder would elect to transfer ownership to another person. Below are a few examples;

I am asked many times about life insurance with Group Employee Benefit plans versus individual life insurance and whether people need one or the other, or both.

There is one theme that I keep hearing when life insurance carrier wholesalers visit me. That is that Life Insurance Policies as we know them today may not be around in a few years. The insurance industries landscape may look very different. With regulatory pressures and market conditions it seems these changes are inevitable.

Many employers offer group insurance programs to provide security for their employees, Budget conscious business employers are also looking for where they can get the biggest bang for the buck and an ASO (Administrative Services Only) plan might be for them. In Canada there are basically four different methods of funding benefits:

It is often important to appreciate the financial implications of death. Ensuring that you have a valid and a well-structured Will in place for you and other family members can be very important.

In these uncertain economic times many of us have or may have to deal with the painful experience of loss of employment and along with that we must face the loss of our employment benefits such as health and dental.

What if illness or injury made it impossible for you to work? Who’ll pay the bills? Who’ll pay the mortgage?

If you can’t cover the bills, who will?  Set your mind at ease, you can get Critical Illness, Disability Insurance, and Life Insurance all in one!

What do you think of when you think about a “successful retirement”? Travel? The Spa? Golfing? Time spend with friends and family? For most Canadians, part of that vision involves being debt-free. Manulife Bank conducted a survey recently and found that nearly nine in 10 homeowners list being debt-free as very important to their vision for a successful retirement. This was right behind “good health” and about the same as “having sufficient retirement income”.

Premature death is not something that we often think about, but sometimes we need to take time to plan for our future including the future of our loved ones.

We all have reasons why we choose to buy life insurance, most of us do so to protect the standard of living of our families. Life insurance helps to provide protection by providing a tax-free lump sum of funds to our beneficiaries.