What is it?

At its core, life insurance offers a tax-free benefit at the time of the insured’s death.  This benefit can be used to

pay off debt
replace lost income
cover tax-liabilities
leave a legacy

the list of possible uses goes on.  Most importantly, life insurance is a foundational component to your financial well-being.  We’ve outlined a handful of traditional life insurance products below.

What types of Life Insurance policies are there?

Term Life Insurance

  • Term Life insurance is an affordable, convenient, and simple solution for a multitude of circumstances.  Whether you have a mortgage to protect, income to replace, a key employee to cover, or have one of many other scenarios to plan for, term insurance ranging anywhere from 10 years and on offers a timely, flexible, and budget-conscious solution.

Universal Life Insurance

  • Universal Life insurance offers tremendous security as a result of its permanent nature while also promoting the growth of wealth via its tax-deferred investment component.  Consequently, the product is an excellent fit for individuals or businesses endeavoring to leave a legacy or inheritance, those who can benefit from tax-advantaged asset growth, those who look to secure long-term income replacement, those with an expected tax-liability at death, and for many others with unique needs.
  • Whether you prefer a hands-on or hands-off approach to investments, our vast catalogue of Universal Life products ensures the discovery of a suitable solution.  The cash value of Universal Life insurance affords the owner unmatched flexibility; permitting both premium holidays and early surrenders resulting in a cash-payout.

Whole Life Insurance

  • Whole Life Insurance offers the unique combination of permanent insurance, guaranteed cash values, and tax-advantaged growth.  This product is an ideal fit for clients and businesses looking to accumulate wealth, defer tax, protect against tax-liabilities, transfer wealth to the next generation, or solve a plethora of other unique financial puzzles.  Whole Life insurance is a straight-forward permanent insurance solution that fits neatly within a diverse range of financial portfolios.

Within each of these categories, there is a myriad of specific products sold by various insurers.  Paradigm Insurance Inc. acts as a broker for all products offered by 

  • BMO Insurance
  • Canada Life
  • Empire Life
  • Great West Life
  • Industrial Alliance
  • Ivari
  • The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife)
  • Olympia Benefits
  • Sun Life.

Generally, all life insurance products under a particular heading bear the same fundamental components but differ in the minutia.  For example, some term life insurance products may require biometric analysis for all face amounts over $500,000 while other insurers may set the biometrics-threshold for their products at $1,000,000.  Moreover, insurers often offer unique auxiliary benefits and features to clients when a product is selected from their shelf.  For example, services such as Best Doctors where the client obtains exclusive access to a network of medical experts, or compassionate benefits where advances on life insurance death benefits are provided to the terminally ill, are often added onto insurance particular policies as additional benefits at no extra charge. 

As the broker, Paradigm Insurance Inc. stays up-to-date with the multitude of different offerings from the various insurance companies to ensure that each client receives the perfect piece for their unique financial picture.

How does it work?

Life insurance is a fundamental building block of your financial pyramid.  Ensuring that your assets and future earnings are protected must be done prior to engaging more complex financial matters like securing a mortgage, investing in real estate, etc.  The first step in placing this block is to understand your needs.  This is commonly done by use of a needs analysis tool like this one.  These tools define key variables such as 

Income
Savings
Debt
Age
Smoker Status

then perform a basic calculation to determine the recommended amount of life insurance.  Other factors unique to the client will be taken into account by the supervising broker and be used to finetune the result.  

Once this figure is in-hand, it is essential to gain an understanding of your short and long-term goals.  Some individuals may only require life insurance for a defined period of time, say, to protect a mortgage.  In cases such as these, Term Life insurance may be the best choice. Others may have sizeable tax-liabilities which will come payable at death; this client may require a permanent insurance solution.  Once the amount of coverage and the type of coverage is determined, an exploration of available insurance policy riders is to be done.

A life insurance policy rider is an add-on benefit which comes at an extra cost.  Term insurance policies such as term critical illness policies or term life insurance policies, can be added onto existing policies as a rider.  Oftentimes, this strategy is economically optimal when compared to maintaining two separate policies as only one policy fee is charged to the owner.  Beyond adding new coverage, the following policy additions are often available as riders:

Accidental Death

This rider adds a defined amount to your death benefit shall they die as a result of an accident.  This rider often comes at minimal cost.  It’s suitable for situations where a sudden death would result in additional funds being required above and beyond the policy’s face amount.

Disability Waiver of Premium

This optional addition waives your life insurance premiums if they become disabled for a defined period of time. The result is the guaranteed maintenance of your life insurance policy if cash flow becomes a point of concern.

Child Protection Rider

For a notably small cost, the child protection rider offers a small amount of life insurance coverage on your children until they reach adulthood. If you do not have the room in your budget or do not have the need for standalone life insurance on your children, this rider is a great option.

Guaranteed Insurability

For a fee, this rider guarantees the ability to purchase more insurance without the need for a medical examination. This is a great option for individuals who see an increase in both cash flow and insurance needs in the future while desiring to hedge against the risk of becoming uninsurable.

Once the optimal strategy is designed, the next step is to apply for the coverage.  Often, the insurance company will offer interim life insurance coverage to the applicant if certain conditions are met.  This means that if the applicant were to die prior to the insurance being approved, the death benefit would still pay out if their application was to be approved.  

Paradigm Insurance Inc. often utilizes non-face-to-face application methods to maximize efficiency.  This means that an application can be completed and the policy can be issued solely through telephone and email communication.  Alternatively, if preferred, you can attend our Winnipeg office to complete the application in person.  On average, applications take less than 15 minutes to complete. 

Paradigm Insurance Inc. works with a wide array of insurers to guarantee the delivery of the best product, at the most competitive price, in the most client-friendly manner.  Currently, we can offer clients under the age of 50 $1,000,000 of life insurance without medical underwriting being required up-front.  By use of artificial intelligence, most applications that fall within those parameters will be issued within days of completion.

Once approved, the applicant can decide whether or not to accept the policy as offered.  If they elect to decline the coverage, there are absolutely no fees payable.  If the applicant accepts the policy, they begin paying the premium as described in the contract.

Who benefits from it?

Primarily, life insurance exists to ensure that your survivors are not unnecessarily burdened in the event of your passing.  The resulting tax-free benefit that life insurance delivers offers great liquidity and flexibility to the beneficiary of the policy or the insured’s estate.  These funds can be used to cover capital gains which come payable at death, act as income for your family, eliminate outstanding debts, or be used in numerous other manners. Furthermore, if you has an affinity for a particular charitable cause, you may decide to leave the proceeds of their life insurance policy to a registered charitable organization.  Paradigm Insurance Inc. specializes in strategies of this sort.  More can be learned this subject here.

Who can apply?

By representing a plethora of insurers, Paradigm Insurance Inc. is able to market any individual case to numerous insurance companies assuring the delivery of the optimal product at the lowest price. Our extensive industry experience has resulted in the development of key professional relationships which support our firm’s ability to find fitting solutions for even the most challenging of cases.

Generally, anyone up to age 71 can apply for some form of life insurance. It is sometimes believed that only objectively healthy individuals can apply for life insurance. Though it is true that the better your health the cheaper your premium, it is not the case that those in poor health are automatically disqualified from coverage. As a matter of fact, certain products brokered by Paradigm Insurance Inc. are specifically designed for cases where the insured is in poor health. These policies often place a cap on the insurance amount and may carry a higher premium, however, they are issued with ease and can act as an excellent solution when other options are exhausted.

Join our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter!

Join our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter!