Embedding insurance into the financial planning process

In today’s evolving financial landscape, clients want more than just products—they’re seeking personalized, integrated advice aligned with their life goals. According to KPMG’s 2025 Financial Planning Survey, 64 per cent of Canadians say tailored advice is essential to achieving financial objectives. For advisors, this is an opportunity to position insurance from a transactional option to a transformational tool.

The transactional trap

Traditionally, insurance has been positioned as a reactive, standalone solution—often seen as a “check-the-box” product. While this strategy meets immediate needs, it misses the chance to embed protection into a client’s long-term financial strategy. A 2023 IG Wealth Management Life Insurance Study found that 78 per cent of high-net-worth Canadians work with advisors, yet few discuss how life insurance can minimize tax burdens and strengthen financial and estate plans, showing a significant gap that advisors can fill.

Transformational insurance: A strategic enabler

Transformational insurance advice is proactive, integrated and deeply aligned with a client’s financial plan. It’s not just about coverage—it’s about enabling finance resilience, tax efficiency and legacy planning.

When embedded thoughtfully, insurance supports:

• Risk mitigation across life stages
• Tax-advantaged growth and wealth transfer
• Liquidity at death to preserve estate value
• Efficient multi-generational wealth planning
• Whole-person planning with wellness-linked products

Advisor opportunity: The data behind the shift

Embedding insurance into planning is not just good advice—it’s good business.

Client retention

• An advisor who experiences a 5 per cent retention increase can boost their profits by up to 25 per cent.
• Clients with holistic planning are more loyal and engaged, making you their “go-to” for integrated financial planning needs.

Growth in Assets Under Administration (AUA)

• Integrated financial planning, including insurance options, drives higher AUA growth by influencing more client assets, including annuities and permanent insurance cash values.
• Firms offering whole-portfolio solutions capture more asset flows, specifically those earmarked for protection or legacy goals.

Intergenerational wealth transfer

• Canada is currently undergoing a historic wealth transfer, with $1-2 trillion CAD expected to move between generations in the next 10 to 20 years, according to a report by Canadian company Willful. Advisors who build multi-generational relationships will likely benefit from the largest wealth shift in Canadian history.
• Insurance can also be the entry point for family conversations, especially when discussing education funding, legacy planning and charitable giving.

Embedding insurance: Practical strategies

To kickstart conversations with clients on how to best embed insurance into their portfolios, start by looking at their financial plan. Insurance conversations gain traction when they are anchored in client goals, such as positioning insurance as a key component of succession planning for business owners or linking life insurance to legacy goals for families.

Advisors can demonstrate how insurance can work as a solution by framing it as a risk management tool and showing the benefits of how it can protect a financial plan in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Advisors can also leverage digital tools, like Life Design Analysis, to show how coverage can impact and integrate into financial plans effectively. Working with tax, estate and investment experts can also help deliver an integrated strategy featuring insurance to clients.

It’s important that advisors also consistently make insurance part of regular conversations with their clients by embedding insurance reviews into annual meetings and using life events to trigger updates.

The future is integrated

Moving from transactional to transformational advice benefits both clients and advisors by:

• Deepening relationships through trust and personalization.
• Driving retention and growth via holistic engagement.
• Boosting profitability through cross-selling opportunities.
• Strengthening client confidence with aligned strategies to meet broader financial goals.

The future belongs to advisors who integrate. By leveraging data-driven personalization and technology and positioning insurance as part of an integrated financial plan, advisors become indispensable.

Integration isn’t optional—it’s inevitable. Become a leader for your clients and start the conversation today. Be the advisor your clients can’t imagine planning without.