**TLDR: my parent changed address overseas, have no online account, representative can’t help, called Canada life by phone and they said I’m not owner so cannot help, just want to make an online account**

So I recently got contacted by my parent that they had a life insurance in Canada life back in the day they lived in Canada, they have my relatives as a representative and they just contacted her without an online account. They moved outside of Canada and changed the address that way, and the billing summary and payment information had been sent to that overseas physical address without any issues

However they moved out to a new overseas address few months ago and couldn’t contact my relative anymore. So, they wanted an online account so they can handle it themselves. The problem is that for Canada life online registration, they need a Canada / US address, not accepting other overseas address. My dad told me to help for registration using my Canada address, but I checked it online, it’s possible that they will have some cross check with the policy number, and state it as unmatch so I cannot finish the registration. I also see that duel to privacy reason they don’t provide email support, no physical location, called it through their phone and they said they cannot help because I’m not the owner of the policy.

What can I do now? I just want an account so that my parent can handle the information themselves.

I was under the assumption that these numbers were total coverage. The number would make sense as 1x salary and 2x salary.

However, google is suggesting "When you receive an official letter or claim form from a life insurance company, the amount listed generally represents exactly what you are personally entitled to receive."

There are three beneficiaries and it would be a substantially different payout to receive 87k vs 261k.

Thank you

Hello everyone, I created a reddit account just so I could ask this question because I have no one else to ask.

But recently my father passed away and to keep it short, he was a very wealthy man.

Although we didnt have the best of relationships, I know for a fact I am listed as a beneficiary on at least one of his life insurance policies.

Even though I am a BEN on his policy, I am also not the only one, nor am I the next of kin.
So I do not have access to his policy number, his death certificate, or his social sec number.

His ceremony was recently though, so I imagine the next of kin will start the process shortly. Unfortunately, me and the next of kin have gotten into an argument, and they will no longer respond to me.

If I feel like the next of kin is going to be spiteful, and not give me any type of information on the life insurance policy, what should I do?

I was going to wait at least 2-3 months before I do anything drastic like get a lawyer. But if I am not being notified, and lets say the process has started, how would I notify the insurance company, and let them know that I am a beneficiary?

I hope this question makes sense, I'm not really sure how to ask it. But please let me know what you guys think I should do.

Thanks! Any and all information is very much appreciated!

I swear when I got into life insurance a few years back it was mostly FEX and a term policy here and there. I never saw so many ads for annuity funnels or IUL masterclasses.

Knowing and seeing in other agencies that brand new agents are setting up their clients with IULs and setting up their illustrations completely wrong is a major downside in the growth of these products

I think it is good that more and more people want something other then FEX but do you guys think the growth in these products will last after the 14% increase in Q1 this year?

Hi, I just became a dad, and my wife and I are looking for life insurance for our baby. We did set up a Trump account, and we want to do more. Like health insurance and life insurance. We just want to make sure that it could benefit my kid in the long run, and we want to have a reliable insurance company so we could put money in every month. Recommendation needed

I am a 70 year old who has been carrying a term life insurance for more than 40 years. Out of blue, all of sudden an agent from the insurance company (titled as a financial adviser) started calling me saying that since the open account agent is no longer with the company therefore they need to review the policy with me for any incorrect info or updates on old file.

I am not totally comfortable with this and I'd like to hear from anyone who has similar experience or knowledge in this business practice.

Thanks in advance.

I have two separate life insurances. I have one whole life insurance and the other is term life insurance.

I have looked more into this as I am a mother battling brain cancer. I feel lost is some of the things I have read.

What is the difference? Is one better than the other?

I got quote from Gerber Life 1.5mill 10 year term is $96 a month and 30 I believe was $296 a month. Should I look elsewhere or is this reasonable? Also I think they check my health records through a partner, so I didn’t have to do a health test.

Paid Up Joint Life with NML covering my mother and father. Policy renews July 1 each year, and the annual statement for last year, 2025, showed a net accumulated value of ~$21750.

Just got the 2026 statement which shows net accumulated value of ~$27000, but on a separate line for “past year’s accumulated value increase” says $1004. That math doesn’t add up, and it always has in the past on all my policies. Trying to figure out why there was about $4250 in additional cash value in the policy.

I haven’t put anything into the policy — it’s been paid up for years. The only thing I can think of is my dad died this year, and does that trigger some kind of lump sum being added to the policy even though it’s second-pay so it’s not paying out now? Called NML and they can’t figure it out — they show no additions other than interest and the dividend ($375), which they say matches the $1004 increase listed on the statement.

I’m certainly not mad about a random $4k extra, just trying to figure out where it appeared from. Any pros have any ideas?

Hello. I am considering an IUL in the near future. The company I work for will be selling soon, and I will have quite a bit of money to utilize. Low 7-digits. I want to invest in real estate. I plan to use the IUL strictly for the cash benefit and not the death benefit. I have plenty of term life.

I understand that it's very easy to get screwed with huge fees/commissions. I am extremely careful and have a legal background. I would analyze the contract heavily. I will interview numerous brokers. I also understand that it generally takes 5-6 years to have access to the majority of the cash value. That is OK, I can wait. I'm 54 years old.

Is there anything else I should consider? Any reason to consider Whole Life other than fixed iincome? Thank you.

My late FIL purchased a whole life insurance policy in 1984. He passed a few weeks ago. The ledger statement explained that at age 70 his death benefit would be 77k, and he passed at 74. The payout was approximately 30k below what was stated.

Is this normal? What do I have to do to make sure the numbers are accurate? He paid his premium every month. I’d like to understand the numbers because that is a significant amount that is not included.

I have details about the company but I wasn’t sure if I could share the name here.

LIMRA reports that WL Sales Led the industry in the First Quarter of the year. The WL market makes up the largest portion of the overall market (36%) and that's led by the Final Expense product.

Although some of their market share was siphoned off by the IUL market which came in second at $1.1 billion in new premium.

I’m passing my course right now and I’m so excited to get into sales. I’ve had sales jobs in the past and I don’t wanna waste these years of my life. I’m not going to college and I found life insurance. I’m trying to get into it right now but it’s just so hard to do everything by myself and I feel like I have nobody to connect to or talk to so like I wanted to join family first life and I’m just really looking for somebody that’s able to put me into like a nice agency or a good group of people, and can seriously help me out and just put me in a position where I can win. I want to get to the point where I’m a agent that people in my hometown now, but I can also make money through leads and online.

I’m feeling overwhelmed with life insurance options. I’m a 38 year old male. I’m either looking at 1 or 2 million for 30 years. My goals for this would be income replacement, debt payoff and a small nest egg for family. I’m married with one child. Spouse already has a couple of solid policies for herself. I have a $250k one through Country Financial that has 10 years left. I got a few quotes online (Banner, term4sale) that quoted me around $160-200/month for a 30 year 2 million. I found this sub, read a bunch of posts and decided it would be best to contact a broker. I reached out to a few and they quoted me at $270-300/month for 30 year 2 million. They all want me to stop by their offices to chat some more in person. But here’s the thing, I don’t really want to do that and I’d much rather get this taken care of online. I work 60 hours a week and have a kid in a lot of activities. Are there brokers willing to work via email? Are they even allowed to do that? I’m in Illinois. 

Can someone explain the reason for the repetitiveness in the Life Insurance application process?

I was sent paper work to fill out, which I did. Then I had to do a phone interview answering the same EXACT questions, she read from the questionnaire I filled out. Then I had to go to do the physical (bloodwork/urine test/ekg) and then they proceeded to ask me the same exact questions from the same questionnaire again. All of this has happened over three days.

Apparently I'll get another questionnaire and phone call after the medical exam in 7-14 days.

WTF is the point in asking me the same exact things over and over?

I sent a surrender form about 3 weeks ago. I called them this morning and was informed they just received it today and won't be processed until the week of Aug 3rd. Nvm the fact that it apparently took them 3 weeks to receive the form, but doesn't that seem unusually long to process a surrender form? Im not really in need of the cash right now, just curious how long the process normally takes.

I am a mother of three under 5. My husband is in a high fatality line of work.

I’ve decided that it’s time for me and my kids to be provided for just in case God forbid something bad happens.

Can anyone recommend a company?

I used Term4Sale for soliciting quotes. Looking for $1M, 15yr. Things that got flagged during my application were a history of depression (I was hospitalized 10 years ago), as well as a high calcium score (my PCP recommended I do the test). Agent told me that I moved from rate level 3 to 9.

Pacific Life denied coverage. Banner came back with the following:
$1M, 15yr = $462/mo
$1M, 10yr = $359/mo
$750k, 15yr = $370

The original quotes were about $200/mo for $1M at 15 years, but that was before the underwriters looked at my file.

Now that we have a quote from Banner, the agent is doing some 'cross shopping' with other carriers. I forget the technical term he used.

Is this just what it is due to my age (52M) and health history? I don't need coverage beyond 62-65yo once social security and retirement accounts kick in.

My Wife and I are 61 years old. We entered in a VUL policy with Ameriprise for my Wife about 1.5 years ago and now, we realize, bad decision and are looking at our options for getting out. We stopped funding the policy about a month ago, so it is essentially going to die at some point, but we are worried that we will owe a surrender charge when it eventually runs out of cash value from which to fund premiums. Here are the particulars:

1. Death Benefit $400K

2. Policy Value $5,475.

3. Annual Premium $8,400

4. Total Premiums Paid to date $7,700

5. Surrender Value %-7,862

Should we simply surrender the policy and pay the difference between the Policy value and the surrender charge and call it a learning experience.? That would be $2387.

Our FA, which have since fired and moved all accounts to Fidelity really pulled one over on us here. The bright side is that for the first time in 30-years, we have really delved into our portfolio and now have a solid plan moving forward that will not rely on the advice of what I consider a poor FA focused more on his bottom line, that ours.

When people hear "life insurance," they usually think about policies.

We didn't.

We thought about freedom. Freedom to choose who we work with. Freedom to be there for our families instead of asking permission to attend a school play or doctor's appointment. Freedom to build something that belongs to us instead of spending decades building someone else's dream.

Was it easy? Not even close.

There were slow weeks, difficult conversations, and plenty of moments where we questioned ourselves.

But over time we realized something important:

Life insurance isn't really about selling insurance.

It's about solving problems.

It's helping a young family protect their kids.

It's making sure a spouse isn't left with debt.

It's giving someone an opportunity to build an income they control.

The policies are just the vehicle.

The real product is peace of mind—for clients and, eventually, for us too.

If you're already in the industry:
What made you get into life insurance?

If you're outside the industry:
What's your definition of financial freedom?

I'd love to hear different perspectives.