· 
When Should You Get Life Insurance? The Real Cost of Waiting
Written by Parvesh Benning | Licensed Life Insurance Broker | independent since 2007
It’s important not to take for granted getting coverage today, because tomorrow may bring something else.
I’ve had clients wait, and then something else came up health-wise, and what they qualified for before was no longer an option. That’s the part of waiting nobody prices in. The premium creeping up with age is real, but it’s usually the smaller problem.
Updated: October 29, 2026
When Should You Get Life Insurance in Canada? What Waiting Costs
Written by Parvesh Benning
Licensed Life Insurance Broker, independent since 2007
It’s important not to take for granted getting coverage today, because tomorrow may bring something else.
I’ve had clients wait, and then something else came up health-wise, and what they qualified for before was no longer an option. That’s the part of waiting nobody prices in. The premium creeping up with age is real, but it’s usually the smaller problem.
Updated: October 29, 2026
The longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes, because age is the primary pricing driver. Wait 15 years and reapply, and the same amount of coverage is dramatically more expensive. And there may be health changes by then.
Age sets the expected price. Your health decides whether that price is still on offer.
This guide covers when buying life insurance makes sense, what a few years of waiting actually adds to the monthly premium, why your price can change six months before your birthday, and the situations where waiting really is the right call. That last part matters more than people think. Applying while a test is still pending can cost you more than waiting a few months would.
Quick answer
Get life insurance when someone would struggle financially without your income, or would be left holding your debts, and apply while your health is still on your side.
As I tell clients who are on the fence: starting anywhere is still better than not having anything there. Where you start depends on which of these sounds like you.
BUY NOW
Someone depends on your income, a mortgage is closing or a baby is on the way, and your health is stable.
Each year adds to the price, and at many insurers it steps up six months before your birthday.
BUY A SMALLER AMOUNT NOW
The budget is what’s holding you back, not the need.
Lock in a base amount at today’s age. Adding more later means applying again, so it only works while you still qualify.
WAIT, BRIEFLY
A test, scan or specialist result is still pending, or a medication was just changed.
Many insurers will want the results first. Applying too early may lead to a postponement, depending on the reason for the investigation.
Not sure which one you are? The full decision logic is in Should You Apply Now or Wait?
READ IN ORDER, OR SKIP TO YOUR PART
- When Should You Get Life Insurance? the short answer
- What Waiting Costs: Premiums by Age the numbers
- Should You Apply Now or Wait? the decision
- How Insurance Age Works, and Backdating to Save Age the birthday rule
- Life Insurance by Age and Life Stage where you are now
- What Happens If You Wait Until Your Term Ends renewal and conversion
- Is It Ever Too Late to Buy Life Insurance? later in life
- Common Questions quick answers
When Should You Get Life Insurance?
The time to get life insurance is when you have a genuine need for coverage: someone who relies on your income, or a debt that would land on someone else if you died. My approach is always the same. It’s something you should want to have because you have a need for it, and every situation is different.
So the age on your birth certificate isn’t really the trigger. What’s changed in your life is.
Buying years before any need exists, only because it’s cheaper at 27, isn’t automatically the smart move. You’d be paying for protection nobody needs yet. The exception is when you can see the need coming, a mortgage in two years, kids on the plan, because in your late 20s and early 30s the price barely moves. A health change is the bigger risk.
If you’re buying life insurance for the first time, the next question is the amount. How much life insurance you need usually starts with the mortgage plus a few years of income. And if you’re still not sure life insurance is worth it at all, that’s the place to start.
What Waiting Costs: Life Insurance Premiums by Age
Life insurance won’t get cheaper in the future: every year you wait raises the premium, and after 35 the jumps get steep. Based on current carrier rates, a $1,000,000 20-year term for a non-smoking man starts from about $52 a month at 35 and about $80 at 40.
That’s the part people feel. Here’s the whole curve.
$1,000,000, 20-year term, non-smoker: starting monthly premium by age
Male Female Percent change is against five years earlier
Monthly, lowest available standard non-smoker rates when we run the numbers across carriers, assuming standard health. Rounded to the dollar. Based on current carrier rates, illustrative only, subject to underwriting and change. A rated or impaired-risk applicant pays more.
Look at 30 versus 35. Almost nothing. Then 35 to 40 adds about half again, and every five years after that adds more. See what a 20-year term costs at other amounts or the broader picture of what life insurance costs in Canada.
THE TWO-SHORT-TERMS TRAP
If you’re waiting ten years to shop again, you’re ten years older, so the premium is higher regardless. Two ten-year terms back to back can end up costing more than one 20-year term up front. Same 35-year-old, $1,000,000, non-smoker, 20 years of coverage either way:
Man
One 20-year term at 35: about $12,528 over 20 years
10-year at 35, then a new 10-year at 45: about $13,306
About $778 more, and he has to qualify again at 45
Woman
One 20-year term at 35: about $8,964 over 20 years
10-year at 35, then a new 10-year at 45: about $8,748
About $216 less, but only if her health still qualifies at 45
Totals use the exact monthly starting rates before rounding, multiplied out over the months of coverage, undiscounted, at current rates for both ages. Illustrative only. The second policy assumes standard health at 45, which nobody can promise.
So the cheaper path on paper carries a bet on your health ten years from now. That’s usually the wrong bet to make for a mortgage that runs 25 years. More on choosing a term length and what a 10-year term really costs.
From a real file, details changed
A man in his early 50s, $500,000, 20-year term, approved at about $192 a month. Waiting one more year was quoted around $213. Waiting five years, around $354. That’s if his health stayed exactly the same, which is the optimistic version.
One honest wrinkle: buying at 40 instead of 35 isn’t only a bigger monthly bill. Your 20 years of coverage also end five years later, at 60 instead of 55.
Should You Apply Now or Wait?
Apply now if your health is stable and nothing is pending. Wait, briefly, if a test, a specialist appointment or a medication change is still unresolved, because insurers will usually want those results before they decide.
I tell people this straight: I don’t want us to answer anything incorrectly just to get the application submitted, as that could put your coverage at risk. And typically, if there’s any sort of specialist appointment booked where results are pending, insurance companies will want to see those results first.
HOW I WORK THROUGH IT BEFORE ANYTHING GETS SUBMITTED
QUESTION 1
Is a test, scan, biopsy or specialist visit booked with results still to come?
YES: USUALLY WAIT FOR THE RESULTS
Many insurers postpone until it’s done, depending on what the test is for. Never delay the test itself to get insurance.
No, keep going
QUESTION 2
Did a medication start or change in the last few months?
YES: OFTEN LET IT SETTLE
In my experience, often 60 days up to about six months, depending on what changed and the insurer. Some changes matter far less than others.
No, keep going
QUESTION 3
Is there health history an underwriter will ask about?
YES: CHECK BEFORE YOU APPLY
An anonymous check with an underwriter first, then apply where the answer is most likely yes.
No to all three: you’re usually ready to apply. Every month you wait from here is mostly age, and age only goes one way.
One caveat: a symptom you haven’t had checked yet still counts. See your doctor first, then tell your broker.
The questions are a starting point, not a verdict. Before deciding, I look at what any investigation is for, any symptoms, past records and that insurer’s own requirements. The answer depends on the full file.
One thing people mix up. A pending test means something specific that’s booked and the results aren’t back, like an MRI scheduled for next month. Routine screening is different. Mammograms, PSA checks, your annual follow-up: insurers don’t usually flag those the same way.
WHAT LEAVING IT OFF CAN COST
A woman called me after a policy she’d bought through another broker was being cancelled. She read me the insurer’s letter: nondisclosure of a medical issue at the time of application, premiums refunded, no coverage. A specialist appointment had been pending when she applied, and it never made it onto the application. She said she wasn’t asked about it.
Material nondisclosure can lead an insurer to cancel a policy or dispute a claim, especially in the first two years, depending on the facts. Leaving a pending appointment off the application doesn’t beat the clock. It’s one way claims end up denied.
WHAT DRIFTING CAN COST
A young client took four months to decide. By the time we applied, a treatment change had started weeks earlier, so the file moved to next spring. The postponement wasn’t the expensive part. The four months before it were.
My job is to protect you from sending in an application that gets postponed or declined. A decline follows you. Future applications commonly ask whether you’ve ever been declined, postponed or rated, and information from an application can be shared with other participating insurers through the Medical Information Bureau. So I’d rather do a preliminary check than blindly submit, though not every insurer still takes them, and it’s only worth doing when there’s actually something on your file. More on why applications get declined, which medications insurers look at, and applying with a pre-existing condition.
NEED SOMETHING IN PLACE WHILE YOU WAIT?
A simplified plan is a bridge. Fewer questions, some coverage in place while the full application resolves, then we re-evaluate and replace it once the better policy is approved. It’s usually a shorter term at a lower amount, and it costs more than fully underwritten coverage.
A pending test isn’t a way around this. On Assumption Life’s Platinum, Golden and Silver Protection forms and iA Access Life’s questionnaire, a pending investigation or test result sends you to the guaranteed tier. At iA Access Life Guaranteed Access, a natural-cause death in the first two years returns premiums, not the full benefit. How the tiers compare: simplified issue vs guaranteed issue.
If you’re a clear “no” on all three questions, you can compare term life insurance quotes now. If one of them is a yes, tell me what’s pending on a quick call, and I’ll tell you which side of the line you’re on.
How Insurance Age Works, and Backdating to Save Age
Many insurers price you at your age nearest birthday, so your premium can step up about six months before your birthday, not on it.
People think it’s always the birthday. It’s not. It’s actually six months prior to your birthday that matters, because insurance companies date us closest to next birthday. Then they date you one year older, and the premium is a little bit higher.
ONE YEAR, TWO PRICES: SOMEONE BORN MAY 14
May 14: turns 34
Nov 14: insurance age changes, still 34 on paper
Next May 14: turns 35
The quick way to find your date: take your birthday and go back six months. Apply before that date and, at an insurer that uses age nearest, you’re priced at your current age.
This isn’t true of every insurer, so check the specific one. BMO and Sun Life both use age nearest on their fully underwritten term. It’s also why the dates around your application matter more than people expect.
Backdating to save age
Sometimes we backdate a policy by a few weeks or a couple of months to save the age, which can lower the premium. You pay the premiums from the earlier start date, so it only makes sense when the saving outweighs that.
How far back you can go varies by product
Two ends of the range, from each insurer’s current product material. Many fully underwritten plans fall in between, and some simplified products don’t allow backdating at all. Rules change, so confirm on the specific product before relying on it. BMO also doesn’t allow backdating as a way to qualify for its no-fluids accelerated underwriting.
WHEN IT PAID OFF
A couple, $2,000,000 each, 25-year term. Backdating a few months saved about $240 a year, roughly $6,000 over the term. It did mean paying annually and starting the policy in July.
WHEN I SAY DON’T
Typically it makes sense to current-date a policy, especially when several months of back premiums would be due. The exception is when the backdate period is fairly small.
Backdating also helps when waiting is the right call. Say someone is holding off until they’re 12 months smoke-free so they can apply as a non-smoker. If their birthday lands right around then, we look at whether a short backdate keeps the lower age. The full mechanics are in backdating and saving age, and the no-fluids limits are in our guide to accelerated underwriting.
Life Insurance by Age and Life Stage
The best age to buy life insurance is whenever a real need shows up, and the earlier that is, the easier it tends to be. At many insurers, both the price and the medical requirements step up around 40, 50 and 60.
It’s once you get above certain thresholds, or once you’re older, that the medical requirements kick in. Where you are on this line changes what the process looks like.
YOUR 20s AND EARLY 30s
Usually triggered by a first home, a partner or a first baby. Healthy applicants often go through without blood work at many insurers, and the price step from 30 to 35 is small. The risk here is a health change, not the birthday.
More on life insurance for young adults and buying in your 20s.
MID 30s THROUGH YOUR 40s
Kids, a bigger mortgage, maybe a business. This is where life insurance in your 30s starts costing noticeably more each year. On the fully underwritten side, BMO’s no-fluids limit is up to $5,000,000 through age 40, then $3,000,000 from 41 to 50, subject to their underwriting.
See family life insurance and coverage for a stay-at-home parent.
YOUR 50s
After 50 the requirements to qualify change quite a bit. A lot of providers require more after age 50, so a nurse visit and blood work become more common. BMO’s no-fluids limit drops to $750,000 from 51 to 60.
What actually happens at the life insurance medical exam.
60 AND UP
As we get older, premiums increase quite a bit. It’s a lot easier to qualify before 60. After 60, medicals, blood work and doctor’s reports are more often required, and the term lengths on offer get shorter.
Covered below in is it ever too late.
Requirements vary by insurer, amount and health history, and any insurer can ask for more on a given file.
The life events matter more than the age bands. A new home, a baby, a business loan, a divorce: any of them can be the moment. Here are eight life events where life insurance becomes necessary, and how to handle coverage during major life changes.
THE DIME FORMULA
A quick way to size coverage. Add up four things.
D Debts (car loan, lines of credit)
$0
I Income: 60% of $150,000 x 10 years
$900,000
M Mortgage balance
$350,000
E Education for the kids
$0
Starting point
$1,250,000
60% stands in for after-tax take-home pay. Ten years is a common starting point I use. The right number depends on your kids’ ages, your savings and any coverage you already have.
That’s the same math I run on the first call: wipe out the mortgage first, then replace a decade of take-home pay. And it’s often worth rounding to a clean figure. Insurers price in bands, so at some insurers $1,000,000 can cost less than $900,000.
What Happens If You Wait Until Your Term Ends
If you wait until your term ends, you’re usually choosing between a renewal premium far above market prices and reapplying at your current age and health. Conversion is the third route, but only while the contract still allows it.
Insurance companies will give renewal offers, but the renewal offer is usually much higher than what the marketplace is. That’s the price of continuing without a medical and without any questions. And 10 years goes by real quick.
$60 to $600
A renewal I’ve actually seen, per month. Ten times the original premium for the same coverage. Most renewals aren’t that extreme, but they’re rarely small.
Your 10 or 20 years are up. Three ways forward:
RENEW
No medical, no questions. The price jumps, and on most policies it keeps jumping at each renewal.
Makes sense when your health has changed and nothing else will take you.
REAPPLY
A new policy at today’s age and today’s health. Usually far cheaper than the renewal, if you still qualify.
Start this a year or more before the renewal date, not the month of.
CONVERT
Switch to permanent coverage without re-qualifying medically. Priced at your current age.
Only until the contract’s cutoff, commonly around 70, earlier or later depending on the policy.
The conversion privilege falls off at a certain point. You’re typically not able to convert after about 70, though it varies by contract: some end sooner, and some run later, to 75 on certain policies. So check your policy now rather than at renewal. Each insurer’s rules are in our guide to extending or converting term life insurance.
A WINDOW NOBODY FLAGGED
A retiree came to me about ten months after her right to switch to a longer term had passed. Her health had changed since. We can’t unfortunately go back in time on it. We can only go forward.
If an insurer offers a late conversion, get these in writing first:
- Whether the new premium is guaranteed
- The effective date, and whether it’s backdated
- The amount payable now
- Credit for premiums already paid
- When the new coverage expires
- The deadline to accept
One thing that surprises people: rates don’t only go up. Some insurers have cut term pricing. One client’s 11-year-old policy, $300,000 on a 10-year term, cost $25.29 a month, and the same coverage bought new, at his older age, came in at $23.94. Nobody can promise that will happen again, but it’s why reviewing your policy every year is worth the 15 minutes.
Already near the end of a term? Here’s what to do when term life insurance expires, how to handle an RBC term renewal, and what to do when Sun Life renewal rates jump. If you’d rather let a policy go, understand what a lapse means first.
Is It Ever Too Late to Buy Life Insurance?
It’s rarely too late to buy life insurance in Canada, but the choices narrow with age. Term coverage generally has to end by about 85, so past your mid-70s most new options are permanent, simplified or guaranteed issue.
And older doesn’t mean simplified by default. For a client who’s okay having a nurse come out and wants the most cost-effective plan, fully underwritten can make absolute sense. Insurance companies understand that as we all age, health conditions come up. When they’re controlled, like blood pressure or cholesterol, it can almost read as a positive, because you’re dealing with it and there’s no surprise.
What’s still on the table: fully underwritten, non-smoker, $100,000
| Buying at | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 80 | 85 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-year term | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 15-year term | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| 20-year term | Yes | Yes | Few | No | No | No |
| 25-year term | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Permanent (to 100) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Small | Small |
When we run the numbers across carriers, at $100,000 for ages 60 to 75. “Few” means fewer than three insurers quote it. “Small” means quotes at $25,000 to $50,000 only. Based on current carrier rates, subject to underwriting and change.
So yes, at 70 you can still buy a 10-year term. Based on current carrier rates, $100,000 for a non-smoking man starts from about $147 a month at 70, against about $81 at 65. Five years of waiting nearly doubled it. The maximum age for term coverage is generally 85, after which permanent coverage is what’s left. More in our guides to life insurance for seniors and getting coverage after 70.
One warning for anyone shopping late. Some plans sold straight to seniors start cheap and climb as you age. Read about the hidden costs behind those plans before signing anything, and see which companies tend to work for seniors.
Common Questions About When to Buy Life Insurance
Q
Does it matter when in the year I apply for life insurance?
Yes. Many insurers price you at your age nearest birthday, so your premium can go up about six months before your birthday, not on the day. If that date is close, apply before it, or ask whether a short backdate makes sense.
Q
What is the best age to buy term life insurance?
The best age is when the need starts, and earlier is usually cheaper. Based on current carrier rates, $1,000,000 of 20-year term for a non-smoking man starts from about $52 a month at 35 and about $133 at 45. Here’s why millennials often start early.
Q
Should I quit smoking or lose weight before applying?
Usually, apply now and improve the rate later. If you’ve just quit smoking, one option is a shorter term at the smoker rate now, then circling back once you’re 12 months nicotine-free to apply as a non-smoker. Whether that’s the right bridge depends on how much coverage you need and what else is available.
Weight works similarly. A rating doesn’t follow you forever. Once things improve, you can ask the insurer to review it, depending on its rules. BMO, for example, will consider reviewing a rating once the policy has been in force at least two years, with its form and any medical requirements. See how height and weight affect life insurance and how risk classes work.
Q
Do I need my will and guardian sorted out before I apply?
No. You don’t need the guardianship and trustee arrangements finalized before applying. Move ahead with the insurance while you work on the estate planning side, so coverage isn’t delayed for no reason. The legal pieces belong with an estate lawyer in your province. Meanwhile, here’s how a beneficiary designation and your will fit together.
Q
What happens if my health changes after I buy?
On individually owned coverage, once the policy is in force, a later health change has no impact on your existing coverage. Your rate and terms are locked, as long as your application answers were accurate. You’re qualified as of the day you’re approved. Until the policy is actually in force, though, a change in your health can still matter, so tell your broker. If you need more coverage later, you can hold more than one policy, but the new one is underwritten fresh.
Q
How long does it take to get approved?
It can take a few days for a straightforward application, or several weeks if a nurse visit or a report from your doctor is needed. Some insurers offer temporary coverage while the application is reviewed, under a temporary insurance agreement with its own conditions and limits, and not every application qualifies. The steps are laid out in how to buy life insurance in Canada.
