No one wants to think about dying. It’s a morbid topic. But there are two certainties in life, death and taxes, and we can’t control either events. So if it happens it’s a good idea to protect your loved ones. There are 28 million Canadians insured with life insurance. The traditional life insurance acquisition scene is a bit old school, involving a lot of back and forth with an insurance broker. Here is my PolicyMe review.
Updated September 2022
According to PolicyMe, it takes an average of 10 weeks to get insured. In addition to that, many life insurance brokers/ salespeople have personal incentives to ‘up-sell’ you on insurance products to get more commission. This is where PolicyMe comes in, they aim to change the current status quo of life insurance in Canada by offering life insurance online.
Most people don’t realize that insurance brokers/ sales people see you as a walking dollar sign, because of the high commissions that they can get if they sell you whole life insurance. Just the other day, someone we know tried to sell us an insurance policy for our toddler, saying it is a really good deal if we start now, and we can take money out later on and it makes a great investment.
No one wants to take insurance out, no one wants to think that bad things will happen to them, but even if we don’t want them to happen, magical thinking doesn’t work- as we learned. So it makes sense to protect your family and loved ones from financial hardship (and ruin) if something bad were to happen. Just like you buy home insurance in case a flood happens, you should get life insurance if your dependents are relying on your income.
Related: End of Life Planning Checklist in Canada
What is PolicyMe
PolicyMe was founded in Toronto to try and change the life insurance domain, sort of like a Fintech for life insurance. PolicyMe used to be an online life insurance broker but as of March 2021, they now offer their own term life insurance policies directly.
Yes, you can get life insurance online from the comfort of your own home without having to spend your precious time on meetings with insurance brokers.
They also state that they have the most competitive pricing in Canada, and can be at least 5% cheaper than their direct competitors, and can be 10-20% cheaper than other Canadian insurers.
PolicyMe policies are provided by Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company, one of Canada’s most reputable life insurance companies. Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company has served over 2 million customers since 1955.
PolicyMe is 100% online and most applicants do not need a medical exam, also, when you apply, you find out if you are approved and find out your monthly premium costs within minutes.
PolicyMe is available in all provinces in Canada except for Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. However, these provinces will be added soon.
Right now, PolicyMe is not available in New Brunswick.
Here are some of the rate comparisons between PolicyMe and other notable life insurance providers in Canada for women and men.
This post contains affiliate links. Please see genymoney.ca’s disclaimer for more information.
How much coverage can you get with PolicyMe?
The coverage amount is between $100,000 to $5,000,000.
The terms available with PolicyMe are 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 Year terms.
Applicants for PolicyMe insurance have to be between the ages of 18 and 75.
Who Needs Life Insurance
Not everyone needs life insurance. I had mortgage insurance before when my mortgage was $600K (gulp). It did give me peace of mind should I have died then my partner at the time wouldn’t have been on the hook for such a large mortgage. I got it through my mortgage lender (Royal Bank). I didn’t have term life insurance, except the group life insurance through my workplace (employee life insurance definitely isn’t as robust as term life insurance).
Who needs life insurance? Basically, you should get life insurance if:
- You have dependents and your liabilities (e.g. ginormous Canadian mortgage and car payments) are large and you do not have assets to pay it off
- If anyone (your aging parents, your children, your SAHP – stay at home parent- spouse) depends on you (and the income and assets you bring to the family table) for financial support and without you around, it would be a huge financial burden
Many people with young families generally should get term life insurance because typically, at this time in your life, you will have a large mortgage and very young dependents.
As your mortgage shrinks and your children become less dependent, you can take less and less out so your premiums will not be as high.
If you’re not sure if you need life insurance, PolicyMe has a free Life Insurance Calculator you can take that will ask you questions about your family’s lifestyle, your financial commitments, and your family’s savings, monthly expenses, and income.
If you don’t need life insurance, PolicyMe will tell you so.
You do not have to enter your email to receive the answer.
What is Term Life Insurance
Not all insurance is the same. In Canada, there is term life insurance (which is the one that is most recommended) and there is permanent life insurance (which I do not agree with because the premiums can be very costly among other things).
Term life insurance is for a certain length of time- e.g. if you have a mortgage for the next 25 years, you definitely should think about term life insurance for a large portion of that time because if you died during that time, and no one was able to pay the mortgage, your dependents would be in big trouble. After that term passes, and you don’t die (hurray!) you are not insured anymore nor do you have to pay the premiums. This is especially important in the beginning, when you have a lot to pay off with your mortgage.
The other life insurance option is permanent life insurance. Permanent life insurance is more expensive compared to term life insurance, but it guarantees that your beneficiaries get paid. Many life insurance brokers label this as an ‘investment’ (more on another post later).
Canada Life Insurance Calculator- Quote
You can do a quick quote to see the general amount you might have to pay on a monthly basis depending on how much insurance you want to sign up for and how long the term is. It takes a few seconds.
PolicyMe will ask you a ton of detailed questions, including what age your children and what health conditions you have.
If you want a more detailed quote, you can complete a more comprehensive questionnaire (including how old your children are) and if you have chronic diseases. The finished answer will mailed to you by email along with a monthly quote of how much each insurance provider will cost.
When you are younger the life insurance cost is less, obviously.
Here are some of the PolicyMe pros and cons I identified in this PolicyMe review:
PolicyMe Pros:
- Convenience. You can get a quote in seconds without having to talk to anyone, you can do it in the privacy of your own home. You can get a life insurance quote at 12:20AM while wearing pyjamas if you wish. This is great for millennials like me who are not used to waiting for things or talking to people 😉
- I really like that PolicyMe seems honest and trustworthy, in fact, they say that if you do not have dependents, you do not need life insurance.
- I like how PolicyMe does not recommend permanent life insurance
- PolicyMe states they can save 50% on your life insurance compared to if you went to talk to an insurance broker. According to the PolicyMe CEO, Canadians are overpaying for life insurance by an average of 36% (see the Bloomberg article).
PolicyMe is the only insurance provider that offers free life insurance for your kids when you buy a policy with PolicyMe.
Their Family-First features include a Couples Coverage Discount which is a 10% discount on the first year of the policy.
Given that the Co-Founders of PolicyMe all have young children of their own, it makes sense to give a little help to parents! Parenting is hard enough, as they say.
PolicyMe Cons:
- Although they have a number of insurers available, they do not have an exhaustive list- there are other term life insurance providers in Canada.
Although I don’t have term life insurance, it was interesting to review what my current life insurance costs would be given my age and smoking status through PolicyMe.
If you’re interested in checking out what your life insurance costs could be, check out PolicyMe.
Reviews of PolicyMe
PolicyMe has a reviews page and there are a TON of five star reviews- 576 reviews so far with an average 4.84/5 rating. People that wrote these reviews are verified buyers.
Here are some of PolicyMe reviews so far:
In summary, my PolicyMe review is positive since it seems like a great fintech solution to the flawed process of buying life insurance in Canada. Instead of settling with some of the worst life insurance companies in Canada, you can be rest assured that the life insurance you chose was not pushed on you because the broker gets higher commission.
It’s definitely a step in the right direction for an area of personal finance that is often nebulous, and frankly, probably a game changer for the insurance industry.
Click here if you want to find out more about PolicyMe.
Did you ever get life insurance? Term or permanent life insurance?
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What is your PolicyMe review?
GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates, a free dividend yield spreadsheet, and the free Young Money Bootcamp eCourse.