If we can strip away all of the bias, all the marketing, and start with basic principles then life insurance isn't that hard to understand.

And if we understand life insurance, we're well on our way to getting the best life insurance coverage at the best prices - hopefully that's our goal.  

Working with Canadian families for decades, we've developed this three step process to explain life insurance - follow these steps in order and you're well on your way to actually understanding what it is and confidently determining the best policy for you.

How much life insurance do I need?

For any type of insurance we look at the loss to determine the appropriate amount of coverage.  So we just need to figure out the loss in the event of our premature death. That's not the mortgage, it's not our savings, it's not debt.

If our goal is to replace our family's standard of living, that standard is determined by our income.  And in the event of our death, we now have a defined loss - our income, which in turn drives our standard of living. So we just need to determin how much of our income we need to replace, over how many years, and we've arrived at how much life insurance we should have.  Thankfully, we have a calculator to help us out.

Best type of life insurance?

There's only one type of life insurance - the type that pays a specific amount of death benefit.  Everything else is either a distraction or incidental and secondary.  

So what actually determines the different types of life insurance? It's just the premium structure - how we pay the cost of insurance over time.  We want to find the cheapest insurance over the timeframe that we need it for.  So, just determine the timeframe we need coverage for (you would have done this in step 1) and the best type should be come clear.

Life insurance quotes

Now you know the amount of coverage, and you know the best type, how much is all this going to cost? What's the best company?  Where can I get quotes?

Our online quotes are different - read 'better'. Here at The Term Guy we go beyond quoting just the premiums (though we certainly do that to).  Our instant online quotes compare premiums and important policy benefits.  

And then to top it all off, we review a variety of discounts not found online - discounts you won't find elsewhere.  Putting it all together, that gets you the least expensive policy with the best coverage in Canada.  So last step, get a life insurance quote online: