Let's start by giving a shoutout to all the Canadian businesses out there who offer their employees life insurance coverage.
If you're currently working for a company that offers you life insurance - consider yourself blessed!
But is it enough?
It's important to understand the basics of how life insurance with your employer works.
The first thing you need to understand about your employer's life insurance policy is that you don't own it - your employer does.
If the company decides to switch up your life insurance plan, they can do so without your permission.
If they decide to increase your premium, they can do so without your permission.
The worst part is, if you decide to leave your employer - you can't take your life insurance policy with you, because you technically never owned it! (However there are some employers that will allow you to port your life insurance policy).
So is your employer's life insurance policy enough?
You need to first have a look at your current employer life insurance plan.
According to an article from Cision, life insurance provided as a work benefit is typically worth 1-2 times an individual's salary. So if you're making $75,000 a year, your payout would be on average between $75,000 - $150,000. Let's say it's 150K.
If you were to pass away today, would your loved ones be able to live their current lifestyles with an additional $150,000? If so, for how long?
Would $150,000 cover your families current liabilities?
These are the questions you need to ask yourself.
In most cases, your employer's life insurance is not enough. A top up from a personal life insurance policy is recommended.
While an employer-based life insurance plan is great, I would consider it as a "bonus" or an "add-on" to your personal life insurance coverage, since you really don't have much control over it.
With personal life insurance, you dictate your coverage amount, the length of your term, how often you'd like to pay, and you can cancel it whenever you want!
My philosophy when it comes to life insurance is simple:
"making sure my clients have the coverage they need, at the lowest cost."
To calculate how much that top up would be, feel free to give me a call or send me an email to setup a time to chat.
Together, we can look at your existing coverage and determine whether it's adequate, and if not, what would be adequate.
Thanks for reading!
- Dan
