How life insurance can help protect your assets — even if you’re young and single

Brooke Robinson was ambitious starting out in her career, with both professional and personal goals laid out. “Owning a house was part of that. I knew I would eventually get married and maybe have kids,” she says.

So, at age 25, she sat down with a financial advisor to build a plan to meet those goals. “They suggested I think about both critical illness and life insurance for myself,” Robinson says. Given that breast cancer runs in her family, the recommendation made sense to her.

 

As the advisor pointed out, her age was an advantage. “It was such a minimal monthly payment that it made sense to do it. It was important I not leave my family in a dire state if something did happen to me,” Robinson says. She opted for both life insurance and critical illness insurance.

Like Robinson, many young Canadians don’t have life insurance top of mind when starting their adult lives. “While we noticed that more recently, millennials 25 to 34 years old are more conscious of their finances, they still don’t consider life insurance as part of their financial portfolio,” says Jean Salvadore, senior director, life and living benefits at RBC Insurance.

In fact, an RBC Insurance poll in March 2021 found that while 71 per cent of Canadians in the 25–34 age group agree insurance coverage is a way to gain control over an unpredictable situation, they are also the least likely group to have it, whether through private coverage they purchased (23 per cent) or their own/spouse’s workplace coverage (23 per cent).

In partnership with RBC Insurance, we look at how life insurance can help protect your assets and why you should consider it, even if you’re young and single.

For Robinson, it turned out breast cancer was not the reason she needed insurance coverage. “I was diagnosed in April 2015 with multiple sclerosis and by October 2015 I was walking with a cane,” she says. “The critical illness coverage helped me get through an experimental stem cell treatment without the added financial stress. If I hadn’t had that treatment, I could have eventually been paralyzed and bedridden, and my family probably would have also had to use that life insurance.”

While Robinson had no warning about the health challenges that lay ahead when she was 25 and looking into insurance policies, she says she’s thankful she lined up life insurance when she did. Based on her diagnosis, she would likely be ineligible for life insurance today — and the cost could be prohibitive, regardless.

“There are a number of different reasons to get life insurance when you’re younger. People think it’s only for when they’re older, but the reality is, if you get it early, you could save a lot of money in the long term,” Salvadore says.

For Robinson, the combined coverage was $30 per month — similar to the cost of a streaming service or two today.

So where to start if you are interested in life insurance? No need to gather all your health history right away. “Your best bet is to start with an insurance advisor who can walk you through options that make sense for you personally based on where you’re at in your life, what concerns you and where you are headed,” Salvadore says.

Also keep in mind that what you line up at age 25 will need revisiting as you move through stages of life, such as finding a partner or becoming a homeowner or a parent.

“There are also other life changes you may not necessarily think about when revisiting life insurance,” Salvadore says. “Say you move in with your partner or change jobs. An advisor can help look at your benefits at work and see how much coverage you have and how it’s changed.”

Taking on new debt, such as a major renovation, would also be a good time to take another look at your portfolio. “Any time you do an annual review with your financial advisor is a good time to check in and see what’s changed in your life and see if everything you have is still good for you,” Salvadore adds.

Today Robinson, now 38, lives in her home in Toronto with her family and feels thankful about the decision she made more than a decade ago. “People today are living longer. But the reality is: that’s not the rule for everybody,” she says. “However, I was able to have that peace of mind knowing my family would be okay if something happened to me. Because you never know what’s going to happen around the bend.”

Have questions about life insurance or wondering what coverage might be right for you? Visit RBC Insurance.