How to Buy Life Insurance in Canada in 7 Steps

What I’m very passionate about is making sure people know what they’re getting, because the surprise is always the worst part. Premiums that start going up. Finding out your guaranteed issue plan only refunds premiums, not the full benefit, if you die of natural causes in the first two years.

Nearly every one of those surprises traces back to a step that got skipped or rushed. Each step below covers what you’re deciding, what the insurer is actually checking, and what to look at before you sign.

On this page

• Step 1: How much coverage you need
• Step 2: Which type of policy fits
• Step 3: Buying through an agent or broker
• Step 4: Comparing quotes properly
• Step 5: The application
• Step 6: Approval and how long it takes
• Step 7: Reviewing your policy
• What to know before you buy
• Frequently asked questions

Determine Your Coverage Needs

First things first is determining how much coverage you need, and once we know that, how long the coverage is for. Two numbers. An amount and a length.

People buy life insurance for all sorts of reasons, but the amount nearly always comes back to one thing: if you’re not here, your income disappears. So what does that leave unpaid, and for how long?

Here’s what that looks like on a real file. A first-time buyer: first home, first baby on the way. The million dollars we landed on pays off the mortgage, and then it gives about four years of runway with his actual income replaced.

That’s the sentence you want to be able to say about your own number. Our coverage calculator is a good place to start, since calculators help guide you on what to consider. But you should understand why the number came up in the first place.

How long the coverage should last

The length follows the people depending on you. Typically with a baby you do a 20-year term at minimum, simply because you’re trying to get them to at least 20. There’s more on that in our guide for new parents.

Still torn between 10, 20 or something longer? Choosing a term length goes deeper. And if your honest answer to “how long” is “for life,” that’s a policy-type question, which is the next step.

Figure Out Which Type of Policy is Right for You

Most people do term insurance, and it’s completely, completely fine. Permanent coverage comes in when part of the need lasts your whole life. Once you know which of those you have, the main types of life insurance mostly sort themselves out.

You don’t have to pick just one

What I usually suggest: do the longest term that makes sense, especially while the kids are young. Then for the rest of the amount, if you want something that keeps going forever, we size it to the budget. Holding more than one policy is normal.

There’s another route. Many term policies can be converted to permanent later without new medical questions, but only before a deadline written into the contract, so it’s worth knowing yours. Here’s how extending or converting term works across insurers.

The second choice: how much the insurer checks

Whichever type you pick, there’s a second decision, and it’s about the application route. At one end is fully underwritten. They might send a nurse out to do blood work and urine, ask for a report from your doctor, and ask every medical question. At the other end is guaranteed issue: basically name, address, beneficiary and payment.

In between is simplified issue, the hybrid. I deal with a lot of bush pilots who fight forest fires. Fully underwritten can be very expensive for them, depending on the insurer. A simplified plan can work because it only asks certain questions.

On the simplified plans I use, the application is usually 13 to 17 questions. A simplified plan builds a risk rating in up front, so the premium is usually a bit higher than fully underwritten, but coverage is a lot easier to get. Guaranteed issue is usually the priciest route. With the guaranteed plans I place, if death from natural causes happens in the first two years, premiums are returned instead of the full benefit. Read more on simplified vs guaranteed issue.

Healthy and on the younger side? Some insurers now skip the nurse visit through accelerated underwriting, within their age and amount limits. With a health history, the route usually matters more than the type, and Step 5 covers which application to send first.

Consider Working With an Agent or Broker

If you get a quote from one insurer, it’s no different than getting a quote from a second person at that same insurer. For the same product, amount, term and health class, the price is the same, because the insurer sets it, not the broker. So the real choice isn’t who quotes you; it’s how many insurers get a look at your file.

There are three ways to buy. A captive agent works with one insurer and sells its products. An independent life insurance broker holds contracts with several insurers and can place you with any of those, but only those. And you can buy direct, from a bank or straight from an insurer by phone or online; the bank’s mortgage insurance is a different product from life insurance you own.

The labels aren’t always clean, since some agents hold more than one contract. The useful question is simple: how many insurers can this person actually place me with?

Reach matters because insurers don’t see the same file the same way. Their height and weight charts differ, their rules on permit status differ, and so does how they word their questions. Your height and weight might not fit everywhere, but it only needs to fit one place.

That’s how I run it. I start with the most cost-effective option and go backwards until I find who will take the file with a work permit, no issue. And just so you’re aware, the difference might only be $10 a month. Here’s more on life insurance on a work permit and how height and weight affect approval.

What about the cost of using a broker? There’s no bill to clients. Insurance brokers work like mortgage brokers or home insurance brokers: the insurer you end up with pays the broker, so there’s no separate fee to you.

Whoever you deal with, make sure they’re licensed in your province, and be wary of anyone who pushes you to sign fast. Here’s how to spot fake agents and calls.

Compare Quotes From Different Insurers

Ultimately, a quote has to fit the amount you’re looking for, the term you’re looking for and your health history, and it’s not as simple as just looking at the premium. There should be more to it than that. Can you convert it? Can you change the term? How does it hold up if your life changes?

Small structuring choices, like individual vs joint, 20 vs 30 years and differences in convertibility, can materially affect cost and long-term flexibility. And those don’t always show up clearly in emailed quotes alone.

A real comparison, start to finish

A recent file: a couple, 55 and 56, both non-smokers. They had an older policy with term riders coming up for renewal and wanted to see four different structures across six insurers. We narrowed it on a call. The one that fit was a step-down ladder on one policy covering both of them, with more cover for the first decade and less for the second. Here’s how couples usually structure cover.

Here’s what the chosen policy actually does over 20 years. The cover steps down when the need does, and so does the premium.

Cover drops 59% in year 11, while the premium drops 39%. One couple’s file, de-identified. Illustration only, not a quote, and subject to underwriting.

Twelve days from their first email to approval, three days from signed application to approved. And when they asked whether the final premium could come back different from the quote, the honest answer was: more than likely it’ll be exactly as quoted, but the insurer has to finish underwriting before it’s confirmed.

Where quotes quietly differ

Two things trip people up when they compare on their own. First, preferred and elite non-smoker rates aren’t always available at lower coverage amounts. Each insurer has its own minimum thresholds, so even with great health, smaller amounts can get quoted at standard rates.

Second, price bands. Insurers often discount at certain amounts, and $250,000 is a common one. So moving from $250,000 to $300,000 doesn’t necessarily raise the premium proportionally, and the step just below a band can be the poorer value.

Monthly cost per $1,000 of cover on the lowest-priced lifelong universal life plan quoted for a 49-year-old male non-smoker: $220.84 a month at $200,000, $255.02 at $250,000 and $306.02 at $300,000. Illustration only, based on current carrier rates and subject to underwriting.

So once two quotes are within a few dollars, the tiebreak should be the contract. The questions worth asking:

• Can I convert it to permanent coverage, and until when?
• Is the premium guaranteed for the whole term, or for life on a permanent plan?
• Could I ever have to pay extra to keep it in force?
• Which riders are built in, and which cost extra?

A difference of a dollar or two a month is usually less important than the features built into the contract. Our guides to getting the best rates and the life insurance companies in Canada go further, and if you’re pricing a 20-year term specifically, here’s what a 20-year term costs.

Complete the Application Process

It’ll probably take us about 20 minutes or so to do the application. It’s a guided call: the insurer’s questions get answered one at a time, and at the end everyone gets a link to e-sign.

The questions are worded exactly as they appear on the application, so answer them as written. Not what you think they meant. And if something has changed since the quote, like a new prescription or a test you’re waiting on, say so now, not later.

One form isn’t from the insurer at all. It’s a compliance document showing I’m licensed, that your information is confidential, the amount of insurance being recommended, and your authorization. Getting all of this right is what protects the claim later; here’s why life insurance claims get denied.

How I route health-history files before applying

With a health history, the order you apply in matters more than people think. With your authorization, insurers that belong to MIB (the Medical Information Bureau) may report certain coded underwriting information from an application, and other member insurers can check it when you apply with them. It’s coded health information, not a record of whether you were approved or declined. Separately, some simplified applications ask whether you’ve been declined, rated or postponed before, and what that means varies by plan.

A starting point, not a rule; every file depends on the full history. If guaranteed issue ends up being the answer, there’s no harm in that application going in first, since it’s guaranteed as long as the age and amount fit. And after a major diagnosis, I often find many more cost-effective options opening up around the three-year mark.

On those files, starting with an informal underwriting assessment before submitting any application is the right approach. There’s no need to share any medical details by email. It’s done properly, through the underwriter. The guide to life insurance with a medical condition covers how this plays out by condition, why applications get denied explains the common causes, and you can compare no-medical life insurance quotes if simplified looks likely.

Two small choices on application day

Illustration only, based on current carrier rates; your figures depend on underwriting. More on backdating and saving age and the dates that matter when you apply.

Wait to Be Approved

Sometimes it’s very quick, and sometimes they’ll manually review it at random. It just depends. A healthy applicant inside an insurer’s no-medical limits can get a decision within minutes; extra evidence like a nurse visit or a report from your doctor adds days or weeks.

If you get pulled aside for a nurse visit

It’s sort of like going through airport security and getting pulled aside. In my own files, roughly one in every eight to ten applications that would otherwise go through without a medical gets randomly picked for extra screening, even with no health concerns at all. That’s separate from the medical requirements insurers set automatically for larger amounts and older ages. Lucky winners of free medicals, I like to call it.

It isn’t a verdict. We have the option of either proceeding with it or aborting and just going to another provider:

• Proceed. A paramedical company comes to you, not a hospital, and the insurer pays for it. Worth it when that insurer has a feature nobody else offers on your file.
• Move. If another insurer offers a like-for-like policy at a similar price, we can apply there instead, and it may approve without a medical; sometimes that happens on the same call. The same answers go on the new application, and it may ask about other applications you have pending.

Nervous about a blood pressure reading at the visit? That’s common enough to have a name: white coat syndrome.

The four answers you can get

A rating or a decline from one provider doesn’t mean the next one comes back the same; they don’t all view a condition alike. What matters is picking the right next insurer, not firing off five applications at once. Here’s what goes into life insurance risk classes and what insurers treat as high risk.

On timing, I’d rather tell you it’s going to take that long and hope for quicker than say a few weeks and have it take longer.

Review and Understand Your Policy

When the policy arrives, there’s usually one thing for you to sign, a delivery receipt, plus any amendment or health declaration the insurer needs at delivery. Before you file it away, check it against what you applied for while the free-look window is still open.

That window is commonly 10 days from when you receive the policy; it’s 10 days in the RBC and Canada Protection Plan contracts I’ve checked. Inside it you can cancel for a refund of premiums paid. Confirm the exact wording in your own contract.

On number 2: on a 2026 RBC YourTerm 20 contract, cover starts on the latest of the policy date, the date the first premium is received, and the date you receive the contract and any signed amendments, provided there has been no change in your insurability. Other insurers word it their own way, which is exactly why it’s worth reading.

On number 3: renewal is usually guaranteed, but it’s literally that expensive. Most people don’t keep a term at renewal prices; we’d look at converting, reducing or reapplying instead, depending on health and need at the time. Here’s what to do when your term life insurance expires.

On number 5: here’s how life insurance beneficiary rules work, and how a beneficiary designation interacts with your will.

Two more things before you put it in a drawer. If you’re replacing an older policy, I’d recommend keeping both plans in place until the new coverage has been approved and is in force. And keep your premiums current: on that same RBC contract, the grace period for a missed premium is 31 days, after which the policy can lapse.

Then tell your beneficiaries the policy exists and where the copy lives. Families often end up hunting for one later; here’s how to find a life insurance policy after someone dies. After that, a quick look every year or two is enough, and this guide on when and why to review your policy covers what to check.

What You Need to Know Before Buying Life Insurance in Canada

Before you buy, know what happens in the first two years of a policy, what insurers count as smoking, how the payout is usually treated, and what protects you if an insurer fails. Surprises are the worst part, and a lot of them live in that first two years.

This is why honest answers in Step 5 matter so much. More on the two-year suicide clause and how it works in Canada.

Four things people assume, and what’s actually true

And one more, for anyone who already has a policy: newer isn’t automatically better. I’d much rather recommend keeping coverage that already serves you well than have you spend more on something that doesn’t meaningfully improve your protection or your premium. If you’re weighing timing, see when to buy life insurance.

Frequently Asked Questions About Buying Life Insurance

Ready to Start? Talk to an Independent Broker

Protect Your Wealth is licensed in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Comparing insurers in your province? See the insurers we place most often in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.