Life insurance in Markham, beyond what work gives you.

Ask most salaried professionals in Markham whether they have life insurance and the answer is usually "yes, through work." It's a reasonable answer. It's also, in almost every case, an incomplete one — and the gap only becomes visible at the worst possible time.

Here's what group life insurance typically actually is:

• One to two times your annual salary. On a $120,000 income, that's $120,000 to $240,000 of coverage. Set that against a Markham mortgage and the shortfall is obvious.
• Not portable. The coverage belongs to the employer's plan, not to you. Change jobs, get laid off, or retire, and it generally ends.
• Not guaranteed to continue. Employers can change carriers, reduce benefits, or drop the plan. You'd find out in an email.
• Priced for the group, not for you. If you're young and healthy, an individual policy is often cheaper per dollar of coverage than you'd assume.

What to actually do about it

Not cancel your group plan — it's usually free or nearly free, so keep it. The move is to treat it as a bonus layer rather than your foundation, and hold a personal term policy underneath it that you own, that follows you between jobs, and that's sized to your real obligations rather than to a multiple of salary someone else picked.

One more thing worth checking: many group plans include a conversion privilege that lets you convert to an individual policy within a short window after leaving — often 31 days — without new medical evidence. It's genuinely useful if your health has changed, but it's easy to miss and the window is unforgiving.

Standard life insurance advice quietly assumes a particular household: two working-age adults, some kids, one mortgage. It's a fine default. It just doesn't describe a lot of Markham.

In households where parents live with adult children, or where money moves upward to support parents here or abroad, the coverage question changes shape. A few things worth thinking through:

Are you supporting people who aren't on the mortgage?

If your parents rely on you for housing costs, medical expenses, or day-to-day support, that support ends with your income. It belongs in the coverage calculation even though no lender is tracking it. This is one of the most commonly missed line items we see.

Can I insure or name family outside Canada?

You can name almost anyone as a beneficiary, including relatives living abroad — the death benefit pays to whoever you designate. What's generally not possible is insuring someone who isn't a Canadian resident under a Canadian policy. The insured has to live here; the beneficiary doesn't.

What about coverage on my parents?

If your parents are Canadian residents, they can be insured — though options narrow with age and health history. This is where no-medical policies come up most often, typically to cover funeral costs and final expenses rather than income replacement. Coverage amounts are smaller and premiums higher, but approval is far more accessible.

If English isn't the language you'd rather have this conversation in, say so when you get in touch and we'll do what we can to accommodate it.