The only insurance guide you need. Everything you need to know in one easy-to-read article

For Daniel Stinson and his wife Brigitte, money is tight. When Brigitte, 34, resigned from her job last year to be a stay-at-home mom to their 14-month-old daughter Rachelle, she lost the life insurance coverage she had through her employer’s plan. “That got me thinking,” says Daniel, a 36-year-old compensation specialist in Toronto. “We have a mortgage and child costs, so we’re making more critical decisions about what we spend money on. I’d like to avoid paying higher premiums for life insurance as I get older and switch jobs.” For that reason, Stinson is opting out of his group life insurance plan and replacing it with a 20-year term policy with fixed premiums. “Locking in a price now when I’m in my 30s will be more cost-effective in the long run.” Stinson knows that life insurance is essential if you have a family or dependants who rely on your income. If you die without proper coverage, your spouse and kids may be unable to pay the mortgage or meet daily expenses. The key is getting the right kind, and for most people that’s term life.

With term life insurance you pay a fixed premium that covers you for a specific period—usually 10 or 20 years—after which you would need to renew and face much higher premiums. The other category is permanent insurance—such as universal life and whole life—where the premiums start out higher but stay level throughout your life. Permanent policies are unnecessarily costly for most young families, whose priority should be getting adequate coverage at a reasonable rate. Start by doing a needs analysis. How old are your children? Would you need to pay for daycare if a spouse died—or, if you’re a single parent, if you died. “Your life insurance should cover your mortgage and personal debts, as well as replace 10 times your income if you have kids under age 10—five times your income if your kids are older than 10,” says Marr. Stinson, who has a $300,000 mortgage, three kids under 10, and a salary of $100,000 would need a 20-year policy with a death benefit of $1.3 million—minus whatever savings he already has.

If you have a mortgage, you have probably been offered a policy that would pay off the balance if you die. Moore doesn’t recommend these policies: not only is mortgage insurance more expensive (by several hundred dollars a year), but your coverage decreases as you pay down the principal. With term life, the death benefit stays the same over time. “So if you bought $500,000 in term life insurance at age 30 and your mortgage has $50,000 remaining when you die at age 40, your family will get the full $500,000 payment—not just the $50,000 to pay off the mortgage, which is what mortgage insurance would pay out,” says Moore.

Three years ago, John Kates and his wife Miriam, were on a trip through Europe to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary when John started having severe heart pain in his Paris hotel room. He was immediately taken to a hospital, where he had a triple heart bypass and spent six weeks recuperating. His wife stayed at a local hotel during that time. The final bill? $200,000. Luckily, Kates had spent $300 on travel insurance to cover him for the 17-day trip. His insurer, a Canadian bank, also handled all payments to the hospital, so Kates didn’t have to open his wallet and ask to be reimbursed later. “I know people who have had to sell their home because they had medical emergencies outside Canada and no health insurance,” says Kates. “My policy covered being transported by ambulance to the Paris airport on my return flight, as well as a nurse to accompany me home. I don’t know how I would have been able to do the planning and paperwork for the flight back myself. My wife and I travel several times a year and we always get good travel health insurance. It’s worth every penny.”

Before booking a vacation, travel insurance should be at the top of your list, says Tim Landry, a living benefits specialist in Montreal. “I have a client who went to Florida and had some stomach tests done. The ultimate remedy was Pepto-Bismol—and $30,000 in medical bills. It can bankrupt you if you’re not careful.” There are several ways to keep costs down. Start by checking your employer benefits plan to see if you’re already covered. Some credit cards also include travel medical and trip cancellation insurance. But check your policy closely to make sure you understand what coverage you have. Insurers often limit how much they’ll pay out for claims and restrict coverage to shorter trips—typically seven days or so. Travel agents usually sell travel insurance and may offer it when you’re booking your trip. “These policies can often be much more expensive than getting insurance from an online provider” says Gavin Prout, vice president of Special Benefits Insurance Services in Port Perry, Ont.

To compare costs, use a service such as Kanetix.ca. You’ll get quotes from several providers on the spot. If you travel more than twice a year, it’s cheaper to simply buy an annual plan. An added benefit? If you just want to go across the border for a weekend, you’ll have a plan already in place. Just search online for ‘Canadian travel insurance brokers’ to find a list of providers,” says Landry. Organizations like the CAA or the Canadian Snowbirds Association also have plans tailored to their members, and they’re usually cheaper. Family plans can be considerably less expensive than covering each individual separately. “The premium is based on two individuals, so the kids are free,” says Landry. And finally, if you’re returning to Canada after more than six months away—teaching English in South Korea, say—you have to reapply for provincial health insurance, and there is usually a three-month wait. “Get insurance for those three months,” says Prout.

Car insurance premiums vary by the type of vehicle, your driving record and city you drive in, and also from company to company. But by remembering a few key tips, you can scoop up big savings no matter what your situation. Three years ago, I added my two grown children to the family’s car insurance policy. And while this bumped our annual premium by $2,000, that’s a lot less than the $2,000 to $3,000 they would each have paid if they owned their own vehicles and were primary drivers. “Anyone can stay on someone else’s insurance policy for as long as they’d like—there are no restrictions,” says Adam Mitchell, president of Mitchell and Whale Insurance Brokers in Whitby, Ont. The key is to maintain a solid driving record while being covered by some form of insurance. Mitchell says a membership in a car-sharing service such as Zipcar—even if you hardly ever use it—can be a good way for an inexperienced driver to establish a track record. A 10-year member could get their own insurance on a new vehicle for $1,200, he says, compared with $6,000 or so for someone who has a license but no driving record for that period. Those are great savings for an annual membership that costs less than $100.

A second option for lowering your costs is to consider telematics—technology your insurance provider puts on your car to measure acceleration, braking and cornering. “You could get up to 30% off your premiums if your driving shows you are in a low-risk category,” says Mitchell. “You can get a 10% discount for just signing up.” Of course, some auto coverage—like third-party liability insurance—is mandatory. This is your first line of defence if someone sues you. You have some say over the amount of coverage you get, but don’t skimp in this area. What happens if you run into an 18-wheeler or Greyhound bus? Bumping up your coverage from $1 million to $2 million only hikes your premiums by about $50, and it’s well worth it. “If you’re involved in a lawsuit, the difference could be bankruptcy,” says Mitchell.

The accident benefits portion of your policy looks after medical expenses not covered by your province’s health insurance—everything from physiotherapy treatments to crutches. “Collision” covers damage to your vehicle resulting from an impact with another vehicle or object—including crashing into a fire hydrant, like I did one rainy night in a mall parking lot. “Comprehensive” coverage takes care of theft, vandalism, fire and hail. Don’t waive collision or comprehensive unless your car is so old that the increase in premiums you’d face when making a claim exceeds the value of the vehicle. Think $3,000 or less. In total, collision and comprehensive will set you back $100 to $400 annually.

If you frequently rent cars, consider adding rental coverage for about $50 a year: that may be more affordable than paying for insurance every time you rent a car. To lower your premiums, consider raising your deductible: the amount you need to pay out of pocket when you make a claim. Raising the deductible from $500 to $1,000 can save you 5% on your premium. You may be able to get bigger savings if you boost your deductible to $5,000, but that’s risky. To get the best rates, enlist an independent broker rather than going directly to one provider. And finally, don’t forget to look at the group packages offered by professional associations and university alumni societies. If your association consists of dentists who drive BMWs to work, say, they may be able to offer you a lower rate than you’d get from an individual policy.

Few people know the details in their home insurance policy. I certainly didn’t when one of our trees fell on a neighbour’s property and my husband spent hours of his own time chopping it up and hauling it away. Had I checked our policy, I would have discovered that our home insurance policy would have covered the cost of removal. So lesson number one: read your policy. If you don’t know what’s covered by your home insurance, it won’t do you much good.

The basics of home insurance are simple. If you rent an apartment or home, then you need contents insurance—also known as tenant’s or renter’s insurance—to replace the contents of your unit due to loss, theft or damage. It also provides you with personal liability coverage should someone hurt themselves while visiting your home, or if you cause an injury to someone else anywhere in the world. “So if you bump someone on a cruise ship and they fall down the stairs and sue you, you’re covered,” says Mitchell.

If you’re a homeowner, you’ll want a comprehensive policy, or “all perils” insurance that covers you for all conceivable disasters except a list of excluded events—typically earthquakes and floods. Just be sure to read the fine print. “One company may exclude water damage, while another company includes it,” says Mitchell. “Or some policies may restrict coverage during home renovations, while others have no such clause.” You can pay extra to add “riders” to your policy to cover items on the exclusion list, and if you live in an earthquake-prone region like B.C., there’s a case to be made for buying earthquake insurance separately. But for most Canadians, sewer backup is the one optional coverage you really need. “It’s the most common claim these days, and it often costs up to $1,000 for $50,000 of coverage,” says Mitchell. If your basement is finished, that’s well worth the cost. “But if you only have a few items down there sitting in some Rubbermaid storage bins, you could save yourself several hundred dollars by opting out.”

So how much home insurance coverage do you need? Don’t confuse the value of your policy with the market value of your home, which includes the land it’s sitting on. Your policy only needs to provide you with the money to rebuild or repair your home if it gets damaged. These days most policies simply include full replacement value and do not set a maximum dollar amount, so you’re covered even if the insurance company underestimated how expensive it would be. Remember, though, that when you renovate, you have to let your insurance company know, as it will affect the replacement cost. You can reduce your premiums by including a security system, a sprinkler system as well as by kicking the smoking habit. Also consider upping your deductible and only putting in a claim if your independent broker advises it’s worth the cost of future premium increases.

If you want to save more money, consider bundling your home and auto policies together. “This can save you up to 15% off the final bill,” says Marr. Or, pay your home and auto premiums annually instead of monthly. Insurance companies build in a financing charge of about 18% if you spread out the cost over a year. Whenever your policy comes up for renewal, ask your insurance company if there are ways you can reduce your costs without giving up significant coverage. A little negotiation could mean thousands of dollars of future savings.