Typical advice for saving on these types includes shopping around, bundling with other kinds of insurance, and raising your deductible to lower premium payments.
You can also ask for discounts, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada: if you are mortgage-free, claims-free, or have upgraded your home against fire and flooding, you can likely get a better deal on your home insurance.
For drivers, installing a theft deterrent or a usage-based insurance app which tracks your driving habits can reduce your auto premiums. Keeping a clean driving record is also key, the bureau advises. Your broker or insurer can help find savings within your policy.
Non-mandatory insurance is a lesser-known game, however.
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Younger Canadians are often underinsured for health and disability
In terms of other valuable items worth protecting, there’s your health, your ability to work, and your life.
And young people are vastly underinsured, said Kenneth Doll, a Calgary-based financial planner with Wealth Architects and a life insurance consultant who offers fee-based advice. “It’s like many things in life—there needs to be a trigger,” he said. “There needs to be an event that takes place that leads them to purchase insurance. It could be buying a house, having children, getting married.”
Photo of Kenneth Doll by The Canadian Press / HO-University of Alberta Faculty of Law
Or sometimes there will be a tragic event that spurs them, said Rob Tétrault, head of the Tetrault Wealth Advisory Group at CG Wealth Management, in Winnipeg. Perhaps a friend dies and their spouse is left without insurance, he pointed out, and a young family to support alone.
“Most people need a push in order to get insurance,” Tétrault said. “And then they’ll say, ‘What happens to my kids if that happened to me?’ Insurance doesn’t feel urgent, right? It’s just something that’s on the back burner, kind of like making a will. Until it’s too late, and then one day you’re not insurable.”
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