We work for you, not the insurance companies.

Montreal Life Financial Group is an independent insurance and financial advisory firm based in Quebec, working with families and business owners across Canada.

Because we are independent, we are not tied to a single insurer. We compare options from a range of Canadian providers and explain the differences in plain language, so you can decide what fits.

Our work covers life insurance, disability insurance, critical illness insurance, and mortgages and loans. An initial consultation is free and carries no obligation.

You start by deciding roughly how much coverage you want and for how long. Those two choices shape the premium you are quoted.

From there the insurer reviews your application, a process called underwriting. It typically considers your age, health history, lifestyle and occupation, and depending on the policy it may involve a questionnaire, a medical exam, or records from your doctor.

Once the insurer makes an offer and you accept it, coverage begins and stays in force as long as premiums are paid. If a claim is made, the insurer pays the benefit to the beneficiaries you named.

We prepare the application with you and stay involved through the insurer’s review until a decision comes back. Requirements and timelines vary by insurer and by your own circumstances, so we will tell you what to expect for your application.

We are independent, so the starting point is your situation rather than one insurer’s product shelf. We compare across a range of Canadian providers and show you the trade-offs, not only the lowest number.

We also work in plain language. Insurance contracts are dense, and the parts that matter most, such as exclusions, waiting periods, and what happens if your circumstances change, are usually the parts that get skimmed. We go through them with you before you sign anything.

An initial consultation is free and there is no obligation to buy. If the right answer is that you do not need additional coverage right now, we will say so.

It starts with a conversation. Request a quote through this site or call our office, and we will arrange a free consultation at a time that suits you.

In that first meeting we go through your situation: who depends on you, what you already have in place, and what you are trying to protect. From there we compare the options available to you and explain how they differ.

When you have chosen, we prepare the application with you and stay involved through the insurer’s review until a decision comes back. We will also be clear about how we are compensated before you commit to anything.

Most policies sold in Canada fall into two broad families.

Term life insurance covers you for a set period, commonly 10, 20 or 30 years. It is the simpler of the two and generally costs less at the outset, which suits a defined need such as the years while a mortgage is being paid down or children are still at home. When the term ends, coverage stops unless the policy is renewed or converted, and the cost at renewal is normally higher.

Permanent life insurance is designed to stay in place for life as long as premiums are paid. Whole life and universal life are the common forms. Permanent policies cost more than term for the same benefit and may build a cash value over time, which brings features and considerations that term policies do not have.

Which one fits depends on what you are protecting, for how long, and what you can comfortably sustain. It is worth talking through rather than guessing at.

No. Life insurance is one part of what we do.

• Life insurance for the people who depend on your income.
• Disability insurance to help replace income if illness or injury keeps you from working.
• Critical illness insurance, which pays a benefit on the diagnosis of a condition covered by the policy.
• Mortgages and loans, where we help you arrange or review financing.
• Estate planning, including wills, powers of attorney and beneficiary structuring.
• Wealth management, covering RRSPs, TFSAs, investments and retirement income planning.
• Tax reduction, where we plan income splitting and tax-efficient structures alongside the rest.

Many people come to us for one of these and end up reviewing the others, because the gaps tend to sit between them. We are glad to look at the whole picture with you.

Being declined by one insurer does not mean you are uninsurable. Insurers weigh health, age, occupation and lifestyle differently, and a situation one company rates heavily may be assessed differently by another.

There are also alternatives worth exploring. A policy may be offered with a higher premium or an exclusion rather than declined outright. Simplified-issue and guaranteed-issue policies ask few or no health questions, though they generally cost more for a smaller amount of coverage. Group coverage through an employer or an association is sometimes available without individual underwriting.

If you have been turned down before, tell us. It changes where we look, not whether we can help, and we will be straightforward about what is realistic in your case.