How does permanent life insurance work?
How to help protect your family in the event of your death is one of the most important decisions you can make. Permanent life insurance provides you with the ability to plan your estate effectively to cover your final expenses, replace the loss of future income, minimize the impact of taxes on other taxable assets in your estate, and more. Browse a few benefits of permanent life insurance below to learn more about how the right policy can meet your goals.
Premiums
Lifetime coverage - Fixed or variable premiums
Death benefit
- Paid tax-free to beneficiaries when you pass away
- Sum insured plus fund value or sum insured
Cash value
- Offset taxes and minimalize taxable assets
- Leave behind a financial gift to your favourite charity
What are the different types of permanent life insurance?
While financial protection is at the heart of permanent life insurance, unique policy features such as flexible premiums and guaranteed cash growth can help to differentiate your coverage options. We offer three types of permanent life insurance with a diverse range of policy options suited to your needs.
Plans | |||
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Coverage amount | $50,000 to $20 million | $50,000 to $20 million | $50,000 to $35 million |
Who can buy | Ages 0 to 80 | Ages 0 to 80 | Ages 0 to 80 |
This product may be right for you if you are looking for: |
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Premiums | Guaranteed level premiums payable until age 100 | Flexible premiums | Guaranteed premiums that are payable for 10 years, 20 years or to age 100 |
Medical exam required? footnote 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Access to BMO Insurance Health Advocate™ Plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Optional Riders | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Permanent insurance may be right for you if you want: |
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How to apply for life insurance
Follow our simple application process to secure life insurance.
Consult
Contact your insurance advisor to review goals and set your plan.
Get a quote
Speak to your insurance advisor about coverage that’s right for you.
Apply footnote 1
Complete your application with your advisor to obtain coverage.
Frequently asked questions about permanent life insurance
For Term 100, use the Term 100 Get a quote tool and speak to an insurance advisor.
For universal life and whole life products, speak to an insurance advisor about coverage that’s right for you.
Depending on the plan, there are permanent life insurance plans from BMO Insurance available to those between the ages of 0-80.
It depends on the type of permanent life insurance you choose. With Term 100 from BMO Insurance, you get lifetime coverage as long as you pay your premiums (until age 100).
With universal life and whole life plans, you have more flexibility to select how long you pay premiums.
With BMO Insurance Whole Life, you can lower your premiums with the optional “Premium Switch Option”.
Consult your advisor for all available options if you want to change your coverage.
An underwriting exam may be required, subject to underwriting requirements.
Term life insurance and permanent life insurance are designed to protect your loved ones if you pass away. With unique benefits, premium’s structure and coverage lengths, both insurance policies have distinct features that will help you select the right one for you.
Term life insurance is all about flexibility. You can choose a specific protection term period, renew your policy and even convert your policy into permanent life insurance. Your premiums will stay the same for the entirety of your term period, but may increase after you renew. Your coverage will end at a certain age (usually age 85).
On the other hand, permanent life insurance can provide stability in the form of lifelong coverage where your premiums will stay the same throughout your life. Some permanent plans also have investment components and cash values which can help maximize the amount of wealth you can leave behind. With permanent life insurance you can use guaranteed interest and equity-linked investment accounts to maximize the amount of wealth you can leave behind.
Term LifePermanent LifeCoverage timeframeUsually varies: 10 to 40 years, with the option to renew for another termFor lifeCoverage amounts$50,000 - $25,000,000
Amounts depend on type of product and age of insured.
$50,000 - $25,000,000Medical examMay, or may not be required depending on the term productTypically requiredTax-free death benefitYes footnote starYes footnote star
Insights and tools
Life Insurance Calculator
How much life insurance do you need? Tell us a bit about yourself and we’ll calculate the amount of life insurance you need to help protect your family.
Estate planning with life insurance: how the right policy can help
Estate planning is an emotional task with major financial consequences – it can feel overwhelming at times. On the bright side, you have many helpful tools at your disposal.
Who should own your life insurance?
You’ve decided you need life insurance. Now it gets more technical: who should own the policy? Here are five factors to keep in mind.
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Get a quote
Use the Term 100 get a quote tool and speak to an insurance advisor.