Some Canadians are fortunate enough to get great workplace benefits. These often include health and dental coverage, a company pension and company share ownership options. Another common benefit is company life insurance (known in the industry as group life insurance).

There are several advantages of company life insurance:

• It’s usually low cost.
• You’re typically covered as soon as you join the company or after a specified waiting period.
• You’re guaranteed to be accepted (up to the maximum amount allowed without completing a medical questionnaire).
• It’s easy to apply for. 

Not surprisingly, workplace life insurance is popular. Over 60% of Canadians who have life insurance coverage get it through their employer. However, this next stat is where the issues start: over half of those people only have company life insurance.

Given that workplace life insurance coverage is typically limited, most people have inadequate coverage. Let’s take a look at how much life insurance you actually need and what your life insurance options are.

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