How much would it cost to leave something behind?
Most people arrive at this question from the same place: someone they love would be left sorting things out, and they want to know what it would cost to make that easier. It is a practical question with a practical answer, and it is usually less than expected.
The estimator above asks for your age, sex, coverage amount, tobacco use and general health, then shows monthly price bands for 10-year term, whole life and guaranteed acceptance, side by side with what a decade of each costs. Below, what an underwriter is really doing with those answers — and where you have room to move the number.
Life Insurance Cost Estimator
Enter your details to see roughly what each type of policy costs per month. The three product types are priced very differently, and which one is right depends far more on your health than on your budget.
Estimates built from published Canadian market ranges, shown as a band because carriers price the same applicant differently. Not a quote — only an application produces a real rate.
What an insurer is really weighing
Underwriting is an estimate of how long a policy is likely to stay in force before it pays. Age sets the baseline. Tobacco use is the largest single adjustment a person can make to their own file. Health enters not as a list of diagnoses but as a judgment about control and recency: a condition you and your doctor have managed steadily for years reads very differently from one diagnosed last spring or still being investigated.
That distinction matters more than the diagnosis itself. Blood pressure, cholesterol and type 2 diabetes on stable treatment sit comfortably inside simplified-issue underwriting at the coverage amounts families typically want for final expenses and a modest legacy. Recent hospitalisations, active treatment and unresolved test results are what push an application toward guaranteed acceptance, where no health questions are asked, nobody is refused, and the price and the two-year waiting period both reflect that.
Where you can still change the number
The honest answer is that most of the inputs are not negotiable — your age is your age. But two levers are real. The first is tobacco: smoker rates are loaded heavily, and most carriers will consider reclassifying you as a non-smoker after twelve consecutive tobacco-free months. That review does not happen automatically, so mark the date and ask your insurer for it.
The second is not assuming the worst about your own health. Applying for a simplified-issue whole life policy costs nothing but a short set of questions, and a great many people who expected to be turned away are not. Set the estimator's middle health option and look at the distance between the whole life column and the guaranteed acceptance column. If that gap would matter to your household, it is worth the application before defaulting to the product that asks nothing.
Matching the product to what you are protecting
The three products protect different things. A 10-year term policy is the cheapest way to cover a finite obligation — a mortgage running down, years where children are still at home. It expires at the end of the term, and buying again afterwards is priced at your age then, which is why term is a poor fit for a need that has no end date.
Whole life is built for the need that does not end. The premium never rises and the coverage never lapses, so the money is there whenever it is needed, which is what makes it the usual choice for funeral costs, final debts and something left to the people you name. Guaranteed acceptance does the same job when health closes the other doors, provided the household can carry the higher premium and understands the first two years.
Frequently asked questions
Will my family have to pay tax on the money?
In Canada, a life insurance death benefit paid to a named beneficiary is generally received tax-free and passes outside the estate, which also means it is not held up by probate. Naming a beneficiary rather than leaving it to the estate is what keeps it that way.
Can I use the payout for anything, or only a funeral?
Anything. The benefit is paid to your beneficiary as cash with no restrictions attached, so it can cover the funeral, clear a line of credit, settle a final tax bill or simply go to the person you named. Smaller policies are often called final expense coverage because of what they are usually spent on, not because of any rule.
What happens if I miss a payment?
Policies carry a grace period, typically around thirty days, during which a late payment keeps the coverage in force. Past that the policy can lapse, and reinstating it may require new health questions or a new application at your current age. If money is tight, a smaller face amount you can sustain is better protection than a larger one you cannot.
Is it worth buying coverage if I am already in my seventies?
The premium per dollar of coverage is higher, but the arithmetic is the same as at any age: a modest permanent policy still delivers a benefit that is generally larger than the premiums paid, arrives when it is needed, and spares the family from finding the money themselves. Run a smaller coverage amount in the estimator to see what fits comfortably.
Why does the estimator show a range instead of my price?
Because carriers price the same applicant differently, using their own claims experience and their own thresholds for what counts as a managed condition. The band shows what is plausible and which product to pursue. Nothing here is a quote — only a submitted application produces a rate you can rely on.
Other free tools
See the full set on the tools index.