In a world of way too much tax there still a tax strategy that Canadians should take advantage of. This strategy is to decrease your tax burden, and the tactic is purchasing a life insurance policy that allows for tax deferred growth.

Many insurance companies have life insurance contracts that can be used as a tax advantage and an investment tool.

The basic concept is to pay as much money for the least amount of insurance. This is not to say that the insurance portion is overpriced, but rather the over funding goes into a separate account inside the policy and any growth is tax deferred.

This type of policy can be very advantageous to the owner. RRSPs allow for a limited amount of saving and if you want to save more money you get no further tax advantage.

Most Canadians approaching retirement have worries about having enough money. They have worked hard for many years, hoping to retire to a lifestyle of traveling, entertaining and living well.

Considering the ups and downs of the stock market it would be wise to diversify your retirement saving.

Over-funded life insurance can be an excellent solution. First of all you need not worry that you will leave nothing for your heirs. You can spend your retirement money on yourself and the death benefit from the life policy will always leave a legacy for those loved ones you leave behind.

If you are maximizing your RRSP contributions and still looking for a tax friendly way to save call us today for free quotes and detailed explanations of how an over funded life insurance policy can work for you.

Rather then going to a captive agent (like you will find at the banks or a specific insurance carrier for example) please consider speaking with www.life-insurance-quotes.ca. We will compare and contrast the competing insurance company’s offers and find you the best deal.

Some other important advantages exist within a program like this, including but not limited to, tax free growth. No income tax is due on growth or interest earned on cash values in a life insurance policy, and no income tax is due on loans from the policy. A loan can be made on the cash inside your policy and it is generally considered a debt, not a taxable distribution.

Upon your repose and under certain circumstances the death benefit is paid to your beneficiary Tax Free and is not subject to withholding for estate taxes. It also can not be held up in estate or subject to probate fees.

Your life-insurance-quotes.ca agent, along with some advice from a pool of accountants and lawyers (who work with our agents) will assist in setting up the ownership and beneficiary designations properly.

Please note that this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered legal or accounting advice.

Thanks you for reading and please feel free to comment.

Ian Baker
The Insurance Blogger

In the last couple of years insurance companies have introduced an insurance product called Long Term Care. This product was created to protect Canadians form the cost of dealing with a loved one if they become ill and are no longer able to do the regular duties of life.

These duties include the ability for a person to care for themselves. Most long term care contracts define these functions.

Sales of the product have been sluggish here in Canada due to several factors. Canadians count on Provincial care to cover long term care cost and do not want to pay long term care premiums. Also the products require in depth explanations. Most advisers are closer to claiming long term care then are willing to learn new products and then selling the product. The average age of the insurance advisor in Canada is around 60. Why start now with learning a new product. Thirdly, there are really no long term care insurance reviews for people or agents to turn to for research or recommendations.

The most important aspect is that when you are young you do not think about long term care and when you get older the premiums become cost prohibitive.

Once again HealthQuotes.ca has the solution for most of these issues. First of all we have a young and vibrant sales force that have taken the time and effort to research the market place and can now make recommendations based on the true value of the long term care insurance company.

One of the best ways to purchase Long term care insurance is using a hybrid conversion plan. Several companies have policies that allow for a client to convert a disability insurance plan into a long term care plan once the client retires. Without getting too technical you can buy a disability insurance plan now and convert it to a Long Term Care plan at age 65.

The client gets the benefit of Disability protection while they are working and it simply coverts to a Long term care plan at a certain age or when they retire.

The key is to purchase your Disability insurance while you are still young. When you get older or if your health changes it’s too late. You buy Disability/Long Term Care Insurance with your health not your money. If you have a pre existing condition or wait until your health changes it is too late.

Based on the growing demand for health services Long Term Care planning is a must for every Canadian. Based on the conversion privileges from companies like Ontario Blue Cross, it makes great sense to cover your Disability insurance needs now and protect yourself and your family with long term care coverage for the future.

Call us today for your free no obligation long term care quote. We will compare long term care companies for you. We will inform you of long term care cost or premiums. Long term care rates can be very different so we will also provide long term care insurance reviews. It is important that you understand the product and that the insurance company understands you. We can arrange for an agent to visit you or you are welcome to speak on the phone with a trained professional. All calls are confidential and all reviews are free. When you’re ready to purchase, we can help with that too.

Don’t wait, call us today.

Thank you for reading my blog and as always we would love your comments or reviews.

Ian Baker
The Insurance Blogger.

In the past the large life insurance companies offered career opportunities for young people and recent graduates as a sales person. After a careful screening, successful recruits would be chosen from a group of trainees, and given a sales position as a "career agent".

The career agent would receive the benefit of a complete training program from the sponsoring insurance company. This would include two weeks intensive product training, along with sales concepts, presentation techniques and of course closing skills. At first the new agent would be expected to speak with friends and relatives about their need for insurance products.

This was called "your natural market" and it took a lot of courage to approach these people. Often a stigma developed and life insurance agent became the "person you do not want to talk to". Your family and friends began to hide from you because they were afraid to say no or got tried of hearing about insurance all the time.

In the eyes of the insurance company if you proved yourself in the natural market then you had what it took to be a sales person for them. The new agent would then go into the field and starting knocking on doors in their surrounding neighborhoods looking to drum up interest for sales.

After pounding the pavement for a day or two the agent would begin to book some appointment to speak to the prospect about how insurance products can work for them.

The agent would have a series of product they were expected to sell. This included life insurance, RRSP, annuities, health insurance and even group benefits if they prospect was a business owner.

The sales manager would spend time working with new agent and even go on sales call with them in order to help them learn how to present their solutions and assist in closing the sale. A successful agent would door knock during the day and book two evening appointments and if they could sell 3 or 4 deals a week they would be able to earn a decent living and support their families.

Wow, things have changed. Most insurance companies no longer offer sales career opportunities and time has become the real commodity for Canadians. Customers are no longer satisfied with one option from one insurance company. The value of having a broker shop the competing companies is what today savvy customer is looking for. Add to this the fact that people do not have the time to have an agent visit them in their homes. HealthQuotes.ca on line fulfillment capacities have become a recipe for success.

HealthQuotes.ca saw these changes coming and has taken advantage of the web as a top source for Canadians looking to purchasing insurance products. HealthQuotes.ca made its first submission to a search engine, Altavista, back in 1997. Web searches for insurance products grow everyday.

If you search for insurance quotes on Yahoo, Bing and of course Google you will find HealthQuotes.ca as a page one number one result for insurance products. Products like health insurance, group insurance, life insurance, and travel insurance all appear as a top organic listing result.

On average HealthQuotes.ca gets over one thousand visits a day from customers looking for insurance solutions.

So a new career opportunity in the insurance business has arisen. Our agents no longer spend their time prospecting. Instead they focus on helping customers with the products that they are looking for. The stigma of not wanting to speak with an agent is being dispelled by our friendly agents because they do not push the customer to purchase insurance products that they may not necessarily be interested in buying at the time. Our agents help the customer with what they are interested in rather then following the agenda of the commission hungry sales manager.

If you have ever considered insurance as career path then please call us right away. I promise you will enjoy helping qualified customers with products they know they need and are ready to purchase.

Thanks for reading and I am delighted to speak with you about your opportunity at HealthQuotes.ca.

Ian Baker
The insurance Blogger.

Life insurance a simple concept and there are really only two types, whole life and term life.  This article will focus on whole life.

The basic concept is you buy life insurance with your health not your money. If your health changes it is too late to buy insurance even if your have the money to do so.

With whole life a person can lock in a price for there whole life. Based on your age and health you will pay a premium and that cost will not change. Your premiums stay the same and the policy will pay a tax free death benefit to your beneficiary upon your repose.

Whole life is a great investment when you are young and healthy. For example a healthy non smoking 30 year old male can get $500 000 for as little as $150 per month. When you reach age 80 you will be delighted to pay the $150 premium and have a great legacy to leave your loved ones. As you get older and earn more money it will seam like the greatest bargain in the world.

If you wait to buy your whole life insurance it can become cost prohibitive. At age 80 purchasing life insurance is hard to get and it is expensive. You would need to pay $4500 per month to get $500 000 and that is if your still in perfect health.

Canadians often put off their life insurance purchase because when they get around to getting a quote it seams so inexpensive that they feel they can wait. Other reasons people use for not purchasing is that there is a stigma associated with a having to deal with a pushy agent who wants to visit them and then meet all their friends and family as. Also, they are not sure if the agent is trustworthy. They may feel uncomfortable having to say no.

To find out more about whole life insurance and how it fits into your future please call us and we will be delighted to assist. You can also get online, instant life insurance quotes any time you choose.

Life insurance has always been an important part of a financial plan for Canadians. Some Canadian life insurance companies have been around since the late 1800 and 99.9% have never failed to pay a claim. Life insurance pays upon the death of the insured and we all have an expiry date.

Recently Canadian banks have taken a more aggressive stance on entering the life insurance market. Certain banks now have great products and I welcome them to the market place. In fact our company sells life insurance for a couple of the "big five" and often they are a great solution.

However, when you’re getting coverage for your mortgage certain products offered by the banks are far inferior compared to what the more traditional life insurance companies offer.

With most mortgage insurance offered to a bank customer (who is getting a loan for a home), the death benefit follows the amortization schedule of the loan. This means that the coverage goes down as you pay off your debt. Your benefit goes down but the price you pay stays the same. A gap is created.

This gap is great for the bank as their obligation or payout drops as you pay them back. The customer’s beneficiary or estate loses out on what most people assume would be a fair policy or practice.

Buying a house is an emotional time for most buyers and they don't want anything to go wrong on the most important purchase of their life.

Banks play on your emotions and hold you as captive.  I recently purchased a new home and even though my Bank has known me for years and know very well that I sell life insurance, they pushed their products on me. When I refused coverage I needed to sign five different pages, wait and waste my time as my "personal banking" officer needed to make copies, see the manager of the branch, and possibly take a DNA sample (just kidding about the DNA) for me to get out of paying for a product that I know was more expensive and offered less coverage then I could get from as many as 20 different insurance companies in Canada.

At a certain point I felt that the loan I was getting was in jeopardy if I continued to refuse to buy their life insurance (and also what they call "mortgage disability").

As you can imagine I did not take the mortgage insurance offered by the bank, and I still got my loan.

I would advise all Canadians to refuse the bank’s offer until they have at least checked out what else is available. Trust me, if you are approved for a loan, the bank won’t take it back if you refuse their insurance products.

It is real easy to get life insurance quotes at our web site. You can instantly see offers from many competing insurance companies and even apply online or over the phone!

Ian Baker,
President,
HealthQuotes.ca Inc.
www.life-insurance-quotes.ca