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The Gender Risk: What’s the Difference?

When primitive men and women discovered fire, it changed their very existence. Food and shelters could be heated, not to mention providing illumination and some degree of protection from the animal kingdom predators that roamed the planet. Not quite as dramatic except to those of us in the life insurance industry, the employment of actuarial science in the late 17th century provided kindling to the underwriting fire. This included the production of life tables and application of compound interest to the challenge of calculating the present value of the future liability, the very foundation of life insurance premiums.

What does this have to do with gender? In the early days, not very much. It was all an actuary could do to wade through individual birth and death records to calculate premiums based on the still most important risk factor, the age of the life being insured. No distinction between male and female was made and, as a result, unisex pricing was the norm. Around 1880, the rate of male mortality started to rise and astute actuaries the world over eventually began to reflect those differences in the pricing of life insurance rates. (1). The mortality/gender gap is especially pronounced in older lives, where 57% of all those aged 65 are female and by age 85 women make up 67% of the population (2). In Canada, women, on average, live 4 years longer than men, making the actuarial argument that men should pay more for life insurance (3). While Canadian insurance companies take these differences into account when pricing life insurance, it is not always the universal view. Since 2012, the European Union prohibits pricing based on gender for life, health and even auto insurance, raising the age-old question of fairness; should a lower risk group, in this case women, subsidize the higher-risk group, male policyholders (4)? Continue reading “The Gender Risk: What’s the Difference?” →

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The Gender Risk: What’s the Difference?

CIDI: Enhancing Your Client’s Benefit Package

As an Advisor, you probably get this question all of the time: which is more important, disability or critical illness insurance? But as an Advisor, you also know that both types of insurance can be equally important and most clients should have both in their insurance portfolio.

Disability insurance (DI), whether part of a group plan or even as a stand-alone policy, generally will not cover a client’s full income. This is a concern since out-of-pocket expenses typically increase anytime something medically prevents people from working for an extended period of time. Likewise, any additional supplemental costs may only partially be covered by your client’s health insurance – depending on their coverage. Your client could be faced with a shortfall even with full disability coverage; this is where critical illness (CI) can help fill the gap.

Medical expenses currently rank as the number three cause of bankruptcy in Canada. Despite this, CI sales continue to get outpaced by life insurance quite dramatically in Canada. In fact, in 2022, only 8% of insurance applications were for critical illness insurance.

This gap signifies an opportunity for you, the Advisor. Below are some typical concerns that your client may express and how to address them when discussing the prospect of bundling CI with a DI policy: Continue reading “CIDI: Enhancing Your Client’s Benefit Package” →

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Enhancing Your Benefits with Critical Illness and Disability Insurance

A Focus on Women Clients

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A lot has changed over the past 30 years – the world in which our mothers and grandmothers lived is certainly not the same as the world in which our daughters and granddaughters will continue to live. And although this industry has seen some much-needed changes over these decades, we still have a lot to learn when it comes to our women clients and their financial needs.

It seems obvious, but there are things that make a woman client different from a man client. In response to that, your sales style, sales process, assumptions and sales strategies may be different when communicating. The truth is that the future success of your business could depend on understanding that there are indeed differences and acting accordingly. Continue reading “A Focus on Women Clients” →

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Evolving Dynamics in Planning for Sound Financial Futures

What’s Your Why

It’s hard to imagine an industry that has a greater positive influence in society than ours. You as an Advisor truly make a difference – you are there to help your clients when they are going through their most difficult moments. In spite of this, there remains a perception that an Advisor’s focus can be to make a commission. However, if you’ve managed a claim on behalf of a client, you know how unfair that idea can be. It is also not reflective of the genuine value Advisors provide to Canadians every single day.

At its core, “what” you do is really quite simple: you provide access to insurance planning, as well as potential investment and financial planning, to your prospects and clients. That’s important for sure, but is it emotionally compelling? Most people would say that it’s not. However, the reasons “why” people go through the financial planning process are often rooted in love, compassion and consideration and that is the truly compelling part. Yet, sometimes Advisors focus on the “what”, rather than the “why”. If asked about the role, it can be difficult to articulate the value you bring in an emotionally compelling way – even after years of being successful in the business. Continue reading “What’s Your Why” →

INFOclip: RRSP vs TFSA

Putting some money away for the future is always a sound idea. However, with so many investment opportunities, some of which may require tax payment on income earned, which one is the right fit for your client and their savings goals today?

Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) and Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) are both available savings tools and can house many of your client’s investments while helping to defer or reduce their tax obligations. But there are a few things to consider… Continue reading “INFOclip: RRSP vs TFSA” →

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INFOclip: RRSP vs TFSA

Advisor Best Practices

As an Advisor, you want to run, grow and elevate your practice in the best ways possible. But where do you start?

From business building and how to market yourself to delivering engaging advice and expanding your technical knowledge, Sun Life has compiled a series of Advisor best practices to help you be the best that you can be and excel in your practice on all levels. Continue reading “Advisor Best Practices” →

The Greatest Hits: Your Client’s Top 4 Insurance Tools

Insurance options, estate planning and retirement income… we’re revisiting our top 4 tools! Go ahead and share these with your prospects and clients to help them better understand their insurance options and guide their financial course in the year to come. Continue reading “The Greatest Hits: Your Client’s Top 4 Insurance Tools” →

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The Greatest Hits: Your Top 4 Financial Tools

Learning From Experience: The Carte’s Story

Sometimes a story with a not-so-happy ending leaves readers wanting more, as in this installment of ‘Learning From Experience’. Readers will likely want to know how the siblings faired after they settled their issues, or even wish they could turn back time to encourage their parents to better plan for the peaceful transfer of the family legacy.

As their Advisor, you play a pivotal role in encouraging your clients to plan ahead wisely and intentionally so they can ease, rather than contribute to, the toll of their passing. And you can never overemphasize the importance of proper estate planning.

Read, and share the Carte’s story with your clients to help them understand and remember the wisdom in communicating with their heirs about estate plans and the value of exploring options to cover taxes so their legacy remains intact and can transfer harmoniously to the next generation. Continue reading “Learning From Experience: The Carte’s Story” →

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Learning From Experience: The Carte’s Story