GIC from Insurance Companies? | GIC discussions | Discussion forum

regsmith1 said

Has anyone used insurance companies for GIC purchases?
It has come to my attention that insurance companies also sell GICs at higher rates than the banks and even credit unions.
Has anyone stepped into this market at all? My source says they are insured just like the CDIC and I noticed that a few are insured with the CDIC although not a lot. He said 3.5 would be available.
I just reinvested in a 5 year annual interest 2.85 GIC from a 4.9 interest rate, losing several hundred dollars. This is hard to take since we also got a new property assessment....everything is going up, water, power, gas....it's never ending and I see my income (fixed) going down, down, down.

Any comments are appreciated and any opinions, please have your say.

Thanks.

regsmith

First I must say.....everything going up and beyond what one can make in interest or wage increases....time to revolt!!!....ever wonder why it is all cash in some European countries???

Here is what Manulife has http://www.manulife.ca/canada/.....oncashable

Tell us what insurance company is offering more??? What is the minimum deposit, term and % rate?

I recently moved my investments from Peak to Manual Life...then my adviser told me he was retiring....I knew for months we were going to change companies but did not know he was going to retire too!!! I guess he sucked me in to sell his customers intact to a junior adviser....I feel somewhat let down because I would have done some shopping for a new adviser closer to home. Never the less I will give the new guy a chance...but on the other hand have also decided to leave, when the timing is right, because insurance companies are greedy and often short change their customers when it comes to paying out insurance policies....and I am not going to help them make more money from my investments!!!! This is what I looked at to make my decision https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&tbo=d&noj=1&q=manual+life+sucks&oq=manual+life+sucks&gs_l=serp.3...3794.5464.0.5975.7.7.0.0.0.0.120.671.4j3.7.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.xBw3ijq8ycA

Think twice before you deal with an insurance company!!!

Like I said it is time to revolt.
Our BC govt has so many off shoots like the Transit Authority (Translink), Vancouver Metro etc. Each level of govt and their off shoots are trying to take our dollars away and they have lost what the overall impact is on us. Not once has the provincial or local govt said they were going to reduce the tax load and freeze it for the the next 5 years...they just keep asking for more and more....and we hear little to no ideas or updates of where there is an effort to save, consolidate or reduce costs. If every one keeps taking 2-5% more per year, in the next few years we will have to adjust and not buy car insurance, or go to a restaurant, and will have to cancel our cable TV etc. We NEED to revolt...and have the elected officials understand that they are working for us to make good decisions.

regsmith1 said

Has anyone used insurance companies for GIC purchases?
It has come to my attention that insurance companies also sell GICs at higher rates than the banks and even credit unions.
Has anyone stepped into this market at all? My source says they are insured just like the CDIC and I noticed that a few are insured with the CDIC although not a lot. He said 3.5 would be available.
I just reinvested in a 5 year annual interest 2.85 GIC from a 4.9 interest rate, losing several hundred dollars. This is hard to take since we also got a new property assessment....everything is going up, water, power, gas....it's never ending and I see my income (fixed) going down, down, down.

Any comments are appreciated and any opinions, please have your say.

Thanks.

regsmith

Reg, are you going to tell us what you found and what company??

regsmith said

I am sorry not to have seen the replies.

My husband is against us using this fellow so it is no longer relevant to me.

However, having said that, he did not tell me which place the GIC was with. So I am saying, case closed. But I appreciate the replies. Thanks
regsmith

Good decision. For some reason I would be against it too. Overall insurance companies in Canada are NOT that reputable. That is my opinion and I am sticking with it.

I was just reading about an advantage that deposits with insurance companies may have, in terms of estate planning. Apparently (and I would want to get verification of this) if you buy what are essentially GICs from insurance companies, if you die while the money is invested, it passes to your beneficiary without passing through probate etc. This gives you more privacy and presumably saves your estate a lot of money. Also, I expect it only works with non-registered investments.
See the last few paragraphs in this article: https://www.rdba.ca/item/five-things-gic-investors-need-to-know
Does anyone have any experience with this coming into play?
Also, apparently they are insured up to 100,000 with Assuris, which I think is the insurance industry's own insurance system.

kanaka said
Like I said it is time to revolt.
Our BC govt has so many off shoots like the Transit Authority (Translink), Vancouver Metro etc. Each level of govt and their off shoots are trying to take our dollars away and they have lost what the overall impact is on us. Not once has the provincial or local govt said they were going to reduce the tax load and freeze it for the the next 5 years...they just keep asking for more and more....and we hear little to no ideas or updates of where there is an effort to save, consolidate or reduce costs. If every one keeps taking 2-5% more per year, in the next few years we will have to adjust and not buy car insurance, or go to a restaurant, and will have to cancel our cable TV etc. We NEED to revolt...and have the elected officials understand that they are working for us to make good decisions.  

While I agree that these myriad entities and levels of government sort of "muddy the waters" in terms financial transparency and accountability, the problem, as I see it, is largely with public sector labour unions that seem to think if they don't get at least a 1-1.5% average annual wage increase on top of already overly generous gold-plated defined benefit pension plans, indexed to inflation, and retiree health & dental benefits, that the government is being "unfair" to them. It's true that not all government workers are treated equally in terms of pay (BC Ambulance Service paramedics come to mind, who are often employed as "temporary, part-time workers" with no benefits and below average pay whilst police and firefighters practically laugh their way to the bank!) and there's also contracted out workers. I just think there's a lot of "bloat" in the system and if we cut back on all of that plus overly generous Crown corporation executive and Deputy Minister compensation packages, we wouldn't need to cut things like transit service.

Also, if the government would stop questionable spending on questionable First Nations art & culture initiatives and the B.C. Arts Council, I think we'd have more money to spend on better things, like public transit, libraries, art galleries, etc. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug

Might be useful in some circumstances, although not very many, considering the difference in rates from regular GICs.
The ideal candidate may have a short life expectancy and isn't sure they trust their executor or POA or can't find one, and has a beneficiary who is not able to assume these roles. They may also be on bad terms with certain greedy relatives whom they want to cut out of the loop of both inheritance and information. May help avoid future lawsuits against the estate/executor. It could be an alternative to a joint account, where you want to maintain control while you're alive but do wanat someone else to have the proceeds when you're gone. Also potentially useful if you have maxed out insurable limits in every other FI that you are willing to deal with!
I doubt that very many people will find these suitable, but worth remembering they exist.

The GIC's issued from CDIC member Sun Life Financial Trust are just regular GIC's. Those are not accumulation annuities that have possible beneficiary designation.

The accumulation annuity type of GIC's would be issued from life insurance company Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. No CDIC coverage. Coverage under Assuris.

Nehpets said

Doug,

In the case of Sun Life, I noticed that Sun Life Financial Trust Inc. is a CDIC member. I presume it is under that corporate umbrella that GIC's are sold...is that correct, or would those products fall under their re-insurance carriers' coverage?  

Norman1 is correct, Sun Life Financial Trust-issued GICs have CDIC coverage.

I am not aware of annuity-type GICs, though they sound similar to bank or trust company-issued GICs, I'll have to look in to them. Norman1 would also likely be correct as Assuris provides certain coverage, though I'm not certain if it would be "guarantee of principal" or more of the standard "guarantee of principal, possibly subject to a maximum limit, in the event of the issuer's insolvency," sort of like CIPF. I'd recommend looking in to it further.

Do you know any good websites with insurance company-issued GIC rates (both CDIC and Assuris coverage)?

Cheers,
Doug