As an independent insurance broker I represent most of the major carriers operating in Canada, and I represent them equally. And when I say equally, that it means the best policy for your needs wins regardless of carrier.

Most people experience insurance via home & automobile protection. It’s mandatory, and while most people understand that it makes sense - to transfer the risk of paying for an accident to an insurance company, generally, it’s viewed as a common sense safeguard and a mildly annoying fact of life.

This is probably also true of most people’s view of Life Insurance as well. The average person gets some coverage via Term insurance at their workplace, or a policy has to be put in place to guarantee a mortgage or other large borrowings. These are temporary policies with a defined end date designed to protect your family from loss of income, in case the worst outcome occurs. Term insurance offers prudent protection but little else.

However, the wide range of financial products available through insurance is so much more. There are policies to protect against Accident & Sickness as well as extended healthcare. It can be a way to invest and profit share in the insurance industry itself. There are also a wide range of policies that act more like investments and offer a balance of risk mitigation and capital growth. Some of these can be held in a registered plan and sheltered from taxation. And there are more complex policies for savvy investors who seek to increase the return of their portfolio by adding alpha while reducing overall risk and volatility.

I get a commission from the individual insurance carriers based on a percentage of the sale. This number varies a small amount from carrier to carrier and from policy to policy, but it’s roughly equivalent across the board, so there is no undue influence from my commission to sell any particular policy of company's product.