Foresters Financial Life Insurance Review (Canada)

Foresters is a fraternal company, so all of its policyholders become members. That surprises most people, and it’s behind the extras that come with a Foresters policy, like the charity benefit and the member programs.

What this review covers

Term 10, 20 and 30Advantage Plus whole lifeAdvantage Max whole lifeLive Well Plus critical illnessReal underwriting outcomesService after you buy

Foresters’ simplified issue products (fewer health questions, no medical exam) are sold under the Canada Protection Plan name, which has its own Canada Protection Plan review. This page covers Foresters’ own fully underwritten plans.

Who Is Foresters Financial, and How Does Canada Protection Plan Fit In?

Foresters is the parent company, and Canada Protection Plan operates as a separate entity under it. Foresters Financial itself is the trade name of The Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal benefit society headquartered in Toronto that has been protecting families for more than 150 years.

Fraternal means that buying a policy makes you a member of the society. That’s why Foresters calls its policies certificates, and why members can use benefits that sit outside the insurance contract.

If you’re unsure which one you’re dealing with, check the company named on your application and policy. Canada Protection Plan’s plans are issued by The Independent Order of Foresters or its subsidiary, Foresters Life Insurance Company, depending on the plan, and that issuer is who handles your service and any claim.

Foresters also sells life insurance in the US and the UK. Those are different products under different rules, so US reviews and comparisons don’t describe what a Canadian buys.

OSFI’s supervisory target for the total capital ratio is 100%, so 188% leaves a wide cushion. If the bigger worry is what happens when an insurer fails, here’s what happens if a life insurance company goes bankrupt in Canada.

What Foresters Term Life Insurance Costs vs the Lowest Quote

I wouldn’t send anyone to Foresters if its pricing was way off, and for healthy non-smokers in their 30s and 40s it isn’t. When I run 20-year term across 12 fully underwritten insurers, Foresters comes in $1 to $2 a month above the lowest quote at those ages. From 50 on, the gap widens to roughly $5 to $13 a month.

Monthly premiums for non-smokers at standard rates, compared across 12 fully underwritten insurers. At 66, 10-year term is shown because Foresters’ 20-year term isn’t available past 65. Based on current carrier rates, illustrative only, subject to underwriting and change.

On $500,000 of 20-year term at 35, a $1.35 gap works out to about $16 a year. That’s small enough that how Foresters’ underwriting reads your health should decide it, not the price. From the mid-50s, $11 to $13 a month is $130 to $150 a year, and that’s where I’d compare term life quotes across insurers before settling.

When Foresters Is a Good Fit, and Why an Early Read Isn’t a Promise

Foresters is one of the carriers where I’ve had a high level of success with type 2 diabetes, where the rating, or lack of rating, is muted. That holds when the diabetes is the only thing on the file. When other health factors pile on, the early read and the final offer can land far apart.

These three type 2 files show the range. A 150% rating means the health-based part of the premium runs one and a half times the standard price, and 275% is nearly triple.

The third file shows how stacking works. Diabetes on its own takes an applicant out of Foresters’ accelerated underwriting program, and so does blood pressure or cholesterol medication, so he went straight to a paramedical exam (a nurse visit for measurements, blood and urine). A pending vascular ultrasound then held the file for weeks, and severe sleep apnea turned up along the way.

What I take from these files: an early read on one condition is a read on that condition, not on you. Before a type 2 application goes anywhere, I want to see:

• Every current medication, including blood pressure and cholesterol pills
• Your most recent A1c result
• Any sleep study, plus CPAP records if you use one
• Any test or specialist referral still pending

Treatment records can still help after an offer: on the third file, Foresters offered to take back part of the rating if the sleep clinic confirmed he was using his CPAP. On the amount, it is always easier to go back than it is to go up, so apply for what you need and reduce it if the offer comes back rated. I compare how other insurers treat diabetes in my look at life insurance companies for diabetics.

Where a Written Pre-Assessment Pays Off

An early read is most useful on conditions no published guide covers. I sent Foresters’ underwriting desk an anonymous file on a school-age child with autism and ADHD; its published guide has an ADHD entry but nothing on autism.

That’s why I ask before applying. The family knew where they stood before anything was on record, and the written answer travels with the application.

Foresters also has a formal route for files that hinge on medical records. The application is marked “TRIAL APP,” and its underwriters pull the doctor’s records first and give a tentative assessment before ordering any exams.

Foresters Life Insurance Pros and Cons

Any life insurance policy in Canada can name a charity as a beneficiary. The difference with Foresters is the extra 1% it pays to a registered charity you choose, on top of the death benefit, and most of its other strengths are just as specific.

Foresters Term and Whole Life Plans

All insurers let you convert a term policy to a permanent one, but some have better permanent products than others, and that can influence which carrier I recommend at the term stage. Foresters keeps its lineup short: term in 10, 20 and 30-year lengths, two participating whole life plans (Advantage Plus and Advantage Max) and a Non-Par Whole Life plan.

Older reviews still list EZ Term, Term 100 and Advantage Plus II. EZ Term and Term 100 are no longer sold, and Advantage Plus II is now simply Advantage Plus.

Foresters Term Life Insurance: Term 10, 20 and 30

When a client wanted to keep a smaller 30-year policy over more coverage for 20 years, I told him I would rather have him covered with the right coverage for the next 20 years than the incorrect coverage for the 28 years left on his old policy. That’s how I’d choose a term length, and Foresters gives you three:

Up to $5,000,000 on each. Issue ages and minimums match current quotes. Renewal schedules follow Foresters’ current term rider rules, which end coverage at 85; a standalone policy’s exact renewal and end dates are in its certificate.

How much medical evidence to expect on term

Foresters randomly re-checks a share of accelerated approvals after issue by ordering doctor’s records, so complete answers on the application matter.

One structure I like with Foresters is layering a shorter rider on a longer base. On one file, a $250,000 20-year base carried a $450,000 10-year rider, so the client had about $700,000 of coverage for the first 10 years and $250,000 for the next 10, on one certificate with one policy fee.

Ask whether a rider can be added to the specific term plan you’re applying for. More on how life insurance riders work.

Foresters’ term riders convert to its permanent plans without a new medical up to the anniversary nearest your 71st birthday. If you hold a standalone Foresters term policy, the exact conversion deadline is printed in your certificate.

Foresters Whole Life: Advantage Plus vs Advantage Max

With Foresters, truth be told, I place far more term than whole life, because whole life is a different type of product, geared towards permanent coverage. When it’s the right fit, the choice is between two participating plans, Advantage Plus and Advantage Max, or Non-Par Whole Life, which pays no dividends.

Clients often ask what participating means. It means the policy can share in Foresters’ participating account through dividends; dividends aren’t guaranteed, but the premiums and the basic coverage amount are.

Before you apply

• No exam on either plan up to $1,000,000 at ages 16 to 50, or up to $500,000 at 51 to 55.
• If you’re rated, 20-pay and 10-pay are only offered up to 2.5 times the standard rate; pay to 100 goes up to 4 times before age 75.
• Foresters has told advisors its participating 20-pay is often cheaper than its Non-Par Whole Life, so compare both, along with permanent life insurance quotes from other insurers.

We do have the ability to convert a term rider, which is why I like pairing one with whole life. One couple I placed each took $100,000 of 20-pay whole life with a $50,000 30-year term rider: permanent coverage paid up in 20 years, plus a temporary layer they can convert to permanent coverage, without a new medical, until the anniversary nearest age 71.

Foresters Critical Illness Insurance: Live Well Plus

Live Well Plus is Foresters’ critical illness insurance plan. It pays a tax-free lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a covered condition and survive the waiting period set in the policy.

• Coverage up to $2,000,000, for ages 18 to 65
• No medical exam or blood work up to $100,000
• A report from your doctor from $250,000 (above $100,000 from age 61)
• A juvenile critical illness rider for children up to 17

Older material also lists a smaller Live Well plan, but Foresters’ current underwriting requirements cover Live Well Plus only. The exact list of covered conditions is in the policy wording.

Foresters’ critical illness underwriting is stricter than its life underwriting. Its own underwriting guide shows the same history getting a life offer and a critical illness decline:

Possible assessments from Foresters’ underwriting guide. Every application is assessed on its own details.

When there’s health history, life coverage and critical illness coverage can end up at different insurers. Compare critical illness insurance quotes separately rather than assuming one insurer suits both.

Foresters Underwriting Rules on Smoking, Cannabis, Newcomers and Travel

Even though vaping or a nicotine pouch isn’t smoke, it’s nicotine, and that’s what underwriting is actually reacting to. Foresters charges smoker rates for any tobacco or nicotine product used in the 12 months before you apply, but cannabis up to three times a week can still qualify for standard non-smoker rates.

Smoker status is the biggest single price switch on an application, so here’s how Foresters sorts the common cases:

Nicotine rows cover the 12 months before you apply, and cannabis rows assume no tobacco. Nicotine pouches aren’t named in Foresters’ guide; the treatment shown is what I see in practice. Based on Foresters’ underwriting guide and point-of-sale requirements; every file is assessed on its own details.

If any of these apply, put it on the application. A wrong smoker or travel answer can put a future claim at risk, and once you’ve quit, it takes 12 months nicotine-free before non-smoker rates apply. More on smoker rates and reclassification.

Newcomers, Work Permits and Students

I placed a $500,000 Foresters term policy for a work permit holder in about a month; it needed a paramedical exam, blood work and a copy of the work permit. Foresters can cover newcomers from arrival, within limits that count every policy you hold or have applied for with any insurer in Canada:

• Permanent residents: every plan; under 12 months in Canada means a paramedical exam, blood and urine tests
• Caregivers: life up to $250,000 and critical illness up to $100,000
• Other work permit holders: life up to $1,000,000 for skilled professionals or $500,000 for other workers, with no critical illness
• Students: life up to $500,000 for post-graduate studies or $250,000 otherwise, and critical illness up to $25,000 from age 18
• Convention refugees: life up to $250,000 after three months in Canada
• Refugee claimants and seasonal workers: not eligible

Work permit holders and students also sign a statement that they intend to stay in Canada. More on life insurance for work permit holders.

Canadians Living Outside Canada for a While

Foresters underwrites where you intend to live, not just your citizenship. A couple I worked with, both Canadian citizens with a home in Canada, were spending about a year and a half abroad for work and their child’s schooling, and Foresters postponed both applications until they came back.

Other insurers I’ve placed in the same situation hadn’t raised it, but the fix was simple once they returned. We can essentially reactivate a file if it’s been less than a year, so there was no new application, just a travel questionnaire covering 24 months back and ahead and confirmation they’d be living in Canada. Both were approved about four weeks after the file reopened.

Don’t leave planned time abroad off an application to get around this. Foresters’ accelerated program already screens out anyone planning more than 12 weeks outside Canada in the next year, and a wrong answer can put a claim at risk. More on foreign travel and life insurance.

Foresters Member Benefits and What They Mean for Your Family

They do member events, they do wills, and a few benefits that matter far more if something goes wrong. Buying a policy issued by The Independent Order of Foresters makes you a member, and members can use these extras, but none of them are part of the insurance contract, so Foresters can change or end them.

The orphan benefit, orphan scholarships and terminal illness loan need an in-force certificate of at least $10,000. Amounts as listed on Foresters’ member benefits page; all benefits are non-contractual, depend on eligibility and can change or end without notice.

They’re add-ons, and you never need to take advantage of them, so I treat them as a tiebreaker when Foresters is already close on price and underwriting, never as the reason to choose it. That said, a client of mine used the will service while updating a beneficiary, which beats leaving a will on the to-do list.

Foresters Life Insurance Reviews: Why the Source Matters

I wouldn’t get caught up on reviews online, because the reviews you’re seeing could be for different product lines. It could be employee reviews.

A client once told me Foresters might be cheap, but everything they’d read about it was bad. When you look at where those reviews come from, very few describe a Canadian buying a Foresters term or whole life policy:

What’s worth checking instead is financial strength, how its underwriting reads your health, and what service looks like after you buy. Here’s the service side, from my own files and Foresters’ rules:

Term has no cash value, so cancelling it pays nothing back and leaves nothing owing. Advantage Plus and Advantage Max build guaranteed cash value by year 6, which you can take by surrendering the policy or borrow against.

If Your Foresters Term Is About to Renew

Older Foresters term renews at a much higher premium when the level period ends, and I’ve replaced a number of these at renewal. Clients are often a little wary of surrendering before the new coverage is sorted, and they’re right to be:

1. Check the renewal premium on the letter and decide how much coverage you still need.
2. Compare new coverage across insurers at your current age and health.
3. Apply, and keep paying the Foresters policy while you wait.
4. Once the new policy is approved, in force and to your liking, send the surrender letter in writing.

Converting a term rider to permanent coverage can beat a renewal if your health has changed, since there’s no new medical; your certificate shows the exact deadline. More on what to do when term life insurance expires.

Foresters Life Insurance FAQs