
When buying insurance, should you go with a broker or a direct-to-consumer insurance company?
Neither is consistently cheaper than the other, but they do have meaningful differences.
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Founded in 1892, iA Financial Group is the fourth-largest life and health insurance company in Canada. The company does business across the country and is headquartered in Quebec City. In 1987, Industrial Life and Alliance Nationale merged to become Industrial Alliance (Industrielle Alliance in French). It rebranded itself as iA Financial Group (iA Groupe financier in French) in 2015.
iA Financial Group offers individual insurance and wealth management products to retail customers, as well as group insurance, group savings and retirement products to businesses (which they then offer to their employees).
Unlike most of the large Canadian life and health insurance companies, iA Financial Group offers property and casualty insurance for homes, cars, and recreational vehicles. The company also has a full-service brokerage, which offers stocks, bonds, and other types of investments
iA Financial Group bought investment and wealth management firm HollisWealth from Scotiabank in 2017, making it one of the largest non-bank wealth management firms in Canada. And in 2019, iA Financial Group launched a virtual assistant, which can be accessed using Google Assistant on Android or Apple devices as well as Google Home.
iA Financial Group offers both term and permanent life insurance products, but it has many additional permanent insurance options.
Term insurance is for a certain period of time, such as a 10 or 20-year period, while permanent insurance coverage is for your entire life. Premiums for term insurance stay the same for the length of the term and rise if you renew your insurance. On the other hand, premiums for permanent insurance usually stay the same.
Permanent insurance
Policy name | Who’s it for? | Max. policy value |
---|---|---|
Whole life | For people looking to protect their family’s financial security. | $10-million |
Access Life | For people whose health may prevent them from getting regular life insurance or who don’t want to go through a medical exam. | $500,000 |
Child Life & Health Duo | For parents who want to insure a child and receive financial support in the event the child is stricken with a critical illness. | $500,000 |
Life and Serenity 65 | For people who want lifelong coverage as well as additional protection in the event they end up with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, paralysis, or loss of autonomy. | $1-million |
iA Financial Group also offers universal life insurance products, which is a form of permanent insurance. Universal life combines life insurance with an investment account and it’s up to policyholders to determine how they invest their premiums.
Its two universal life products — Equibuild and Genesis — are targeted towards individuals, families, young professionals, upper-income earners, and corporations. Genesis is similar to other universal life products, whereas Equibuild has some unique features. For instance, a bonus will be earned each year, which will increase a policyholder’s coverage. There’s also a guaranteed cash surrender value that the policyholder can use for retirement or for other things, such as home renovations.
Term insurance
Policy name | Who’s it for? | Terms | Max. policy value |
---|---|---|---|
Access Life | For people who have trouble getting life insurance due to their health, age, or where they’re from. | 10, 20, or 25 years | $500,000 |
Pick-A-Term | For young families with loans and a mortgage, and want insurance when their children are financially dependent. | 10 to 40 years (can choose 18, 22, etc.) | $10 million |
iA Financial Group is one of the largest life and health insurance companies in Canada, with a solid track record of meeting its financial obligations. It’s also been around for more than a century, having survived the Great Depression and the financial crisis of 2007-08.
American credit rating agency A.M. Best gives iA Financial Group an A+ rating, which is the highest rating possible. According to A.M. Best, an A+ means that the insurer has “a superior ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations.”
Even though the company isn’t as well known outside of Quebec and Ontario, the company is stable, which is important for insurance buyers. If you still have questions about iA Financial Group, you can always ask your insurance broker.
Before deciding whether or not to choose iA Financial Group as your life insurer, keep in mind that:
Besides life insurance, iA Financial Group also offers:
Neither is consistently cheaper than the other, but they do have meaningful differences.
Opened a joint bank account? Added your partner to your car insurance policy? Bravo, lovers.