T100 insurance: rarely term, more often whole life

Term to 100 (T100) insurance is considered by insurers to be a form of permanent insurance. Many even refer to it as non-participating whole life. This is according to a survey conducted by the AssuranceINTEL product information centre, which polled contributors to its comparison tables. 

“We consider T100 products to be non-participating whole life insurance policies in our sales analysis,” Sun Life told AssuranceINTEL. “However, unlike other non-participating whole life policies, T100 products do not include any cash surrender value,” the insurer added. 

Operating exclusively in English Canada, Serenia Life informed AssuranceINTEL that its T100 product does not offer a cash surrender value or reduced paid-up values either. Even so, the insurer says it classifies the product as whole life and reports it as such to insurance regulators. 

To highlight the distinction, Beneva has chosen to list a pair of Term to 100 products in AssuranceINTEL: Enriched Term to 100 (TE100) and standard Term to 100 (T100). The mutual insurer explained that its TE100 product includes cash values and reduced paid-up insurance, whereas its T100 product does not. 

“We view the cash values and reduced paid-up insurance in our TE100 product as added value,” says Beneva. The mutual insurer compares them to additional guarantees, embedded in a T100 product rather than in a traditional whole life product. “The values available under our TE100 product are not as generous as those of whole life products,” Beneva adds. 

T100 classified as whole life 

A number of insurers shared details about their T100 offerings with AssuranceINTEL in response to its surveys for non-participating whole life comparison tables. Participating insurers include BMO Insurance and Empire Life, both of which offer a T100 product called Term to 100. Neither offers a cash surrender value or reduced paid-up insurance. In the same comparison table, BMO Insurance and Empire Life each list a whole life product with both cash values and reduced paid-up values. 

UV Insurance, for its part, includes in the T100 comparison table a product it refers to as Whole Life Payable to Age 100. 

Although it does not offer a T100 product, Assumption Life responded to the AssuranceINTEL survey about the nature of T100. The New Brunswick mutual insurer offers a non-participating whole life product with values. It views T100 as insurance without a cash surrender value or reduced paid-up value before age 100. 

In its competitive intelligence monitoring, Assumption Life observes that T100 may or may not be paid up at age 100, which would make it, in the mutual’s view, a permanent product “but with no cash surrender value.” 

“It may also terminate at age 100, which would make it a term product,” Assumption Life adds. “Most T100 plans sold today are considered permanent insurance because they are fully paid up at age 100.” 

For instance, Wawanesa Life states on its website that premiums for its T100 product remain level until age 100 and that coverage continues for life thereafter. 

Here is the list of insurers offering T100 insurance. Typically, this type of term insurance is not convertible. Manulife stands out by allowing policyholders of its Family Term or Family Term with Vitality Plus T100 products to convert to a permanent product at the policy anniversary nearest to their 75th birthday.