Insurance Offers in Canada
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Life Insurance
Simplified
What is Insurance?
Insurance is financial protection from a possible event taking place. When you make a contract with an insurance company, you pay a fee known as a premium in exchange for the company paying you a certain amount of money if the insured event ends up happening. There are many kinds of insurance including home, car, event and tenants’ insurance.
How Much Does Insurance Cost in Canada?
Home
With home insurance, there are many factors considered when calculating the overall cost. With recent weather changes exacerbated by climate change, home insurance prices have increased across the country. The average home insurance can cost around $960 a year, according to Ratehub. Provinces like Alberta and Ontario have seen a sharp increase in insurance rates, with Alberta premiums growing 140% over ten years to reach $1,779 and Ontario at 64% to reach $1,284.
Car
Across most Canadian provinces, the cost of car insurance has fluctuated but generally has trended upwards. The average Canadian insurance rates are $1,832 in British Columbia to $717 in Quebec at the high end. You can see the average premium rate and find out how that may impact your financial decisions, from a financial institution.
Health
Thankfully, for most Canadians, healthcare is subsidized for basic healthcare services. While services differ from each province, Canadian citizens have access to these services. For services not covered like optical, dental and pharmaceutical care, the average private health insurance can cost up to $756 per person or $63 per month. This can increase significantly for non-residents or foreigners to $3,162 per year per person.
Life
Life insurance policies are not created equally. Factors including your age, sex, coverage type and daily habits will come into play when determining the cost of your premiums. For example, a 40-year-old male non-smoker may pay $183 per year for 10-year term insurance, whereas a female with similar status may pay 10-25% less than that rate. These figures may not be accurate for your situation, so you must get a quote from a trusted insurance specialist.
What Types of Insurance are Available in Canada?
There are many types of insurance available in Canada for people in different life stages. The major insurance types to consider include:
Life insurance: This insurance provides a lump sum benefit to your beneficiaries upon your death.
Health insurance: Insurance that covers the gaps that provincial and territorial health insurance plans do not cover.
Auto insurance: Auto insurance protects you against financial loss in case of an automobile accident or theft.
Credit or debt insurance: Credit insurance pays off one or more existing borrowers’ debts if they are injured, disabled, or die.
Property insurance: Also known as home insurance, property insurance provides a homeowner against financial loss if there is damage to property or any of its contents.
There are also optional insurance options that include:
- Comprehensive insurance
- Broad insurance
- Rental insurance
- Mortgage insurance
Each has its function and can protect you from financial harm. When looking to purchase any type of insurance, it is crucial to identify your needs to ensure you have the best possible protection at all times.
What Types of Insurance is Required?
While some insurance types are complementary, a few are either legally required or highly recommended. Car insurance is the first of the major insurance types required by law to operate a vehicle. To be eligible to drive in Canada, most provinces need you to have at least third-party liability insurance.
An honourable mention would be property insurance. While not legally required by law, this type of insurance will save you thousands should any unfortunate event happen to your home.
Insurance Companies in Canada
There are thousands of small, medium, and large size insurance companies specializing in different aspects of insurance. In the Life and Health insurance field alone, over 150 insurers are operating in Canada. Despite setbacks from COVID, the industry is still growing and showing signs of profitability heading into 2021. With so many options available, deciding on which companies are the best may be a challenge.
To get started, looking at the biggest companies first may help you narrow the process and assess your current insurance needs. Based on annual revenue, the biggest insurance companies in Canada include Manulife Financial, Canada Life, Sun Life Financial, iA Financial Group, and Desjardins. These companies offer a mix of insurance products including life, health, car, mortgage, and travel insurance.