The 11 insurers listed by InsuranceINTEL for this comparative table offer a combined total of 13 universal life insurance products in the Canadian market. Equitable Life offers two, namely Equation Generation IV and Generations. Similarly, Manulife offers two, namely Manulife UL and Manulife UL with Vitality Plus.
Universal life insurance differs from other individual life insurance products because it combines insurance and investment. A universal life insurance contract has an account in which the portion of the premiums that is not used to pay the cost of insurance can accumulate as savings.
The savings will grow in the universal policy account according to the investment options chosen. The options fall into two broad categories: guaranteed interest accounts and variable return accounts. Guaranteed interest accounts have a very low guaranteed floor, often 0%. The return on variable accounts is usually based on financial market indices.
Customers have more than one insurance cost option to choose from. Those who want to maximize their savings on payments may decide to choose a term insurance cost. Others will prefer the security of a level insurance cost, equivalent to that of a 100-year term (T100).
Variable costs
At its simplest, a universal policy will offer an annually renewable term (ART) insurance cost up to age 100 and a uniform or level cost, often referred to as T100. This is what Beneva offers with Universal Life Insurance, Equitable Life with Equation Generation IV, and RBC Insurance with RBC Universal Life.
Others add several variations to these base costs. For example, iA Financial Group offers a T100 cost on its Genesis product with the option of accelerated payments over 10, 15, or 20 years. Its ART cost is free of premium payments at age 90. This is also the case with ivari’s product ivari Universal.
Desjardins Insurance offers 10-year (T10) and 20-year (T20) term insurance. With Universal life insurance, Canada Life offers a cost of insurance increasing annually until age 85 or until age 100. BMO Insurance's Wealth Dimensions and Life Dimensions offer to pay ART costs up to age 85 or for 20 years, similar to the two Manulife products.
The following table shows the extent of universal life insurance capacity. In particular, insurers may agree to underwrite high amounts of insurance coverage, sometimes up to $25 million. Some say they do not impose a maximum, but ask to be consulted when a client wishes to exceed their limit.
