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Manulife and Sun Life are known mainly for being two of Canada’s biggest life insurers.
These Toronto-based insurance companies also offer mutual funds, asset management operations, and workplace benefits and retirement services to organizations.
For this comparison of Sun Life vs Manulife, however, we’ll be focusing on their life insurance products.
In terms of life insurance, the company offers term life, whole life, participating life, and universal life insurance.
There are different types for each category. For instance, there’s the Sun Life Go Simplified Term Insurance which has coverage of $50,000, $75,000, or $100,000 with payments staying the same for 10 years. All you have to do is answer three health questions.
For Sun Life Go Term Life Insurance, you can get coverage from $100,000 to $1 million with payments staying the same for 10 or 20 years. You just need to answer eight health questions and a medical exam may be required.
The costs do vary for a $100,000 policy when using Sun Life’s quotation tool. For example, for a 30-year-old male who lives in Ontario and hasn’t smoked in the past 12 months, the cost is:
For a female who meets the same criteria, the cost is:
With SunSpectrum Term Insurance and SunTerm Insurance, you can get coverage of up to $15 million and the premiums will stay the same for up to 30 years. You do need to speak to an advisor to get a quote for this.
Sun Life also offers permanent (coverage up to $10 million), participating life (coverage up to $15 million), and universal life (coverage amount isn’t stated) insurance. There are three options for each type of insurance and, again, you’ll need to talk to an advisor for a quote.
unLife doesn’t always include the minimum coverage amount for the types of insurance it offers.
There are usually options to bundle life insurance with critical illness or disability insurance if you wanted one of those as well.
Getting a quote with Sun Life is fairly straightforward. You can get a quote for both Sun Life Go Simplified Term Insurance and Sun Life Go Term Life Insurance at the same time, making the process easier. You then need to follow a few more steps to begin the application process.
If you need to contact customer support, they’re just a phone call away. The hours of service are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
Like any type of insurance company, there are pros and cons with SunLife.
Manulife offers term, whole life, and universal life insurance.
There are a number of term life insurance options:
Manulife CoverMe Easy Issue term life insurance for $75,000 of coverage (the maximum amount) costs $20.50/month for a male and $13.45/month for a female (10 years).
This quote is based on a 30-year-old living in Ontario who doesn’t smoke, is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and answered no to the two medical questions about life-threatening conditions.
With those same credentials, the Manulife CoverMe Term life insurance costs $12/month for a male and $10.20/month for a female (10 years).
For the costs of the other term life products, you’ll need to speak with an advisor.
The types of permanent life insurance products available are:
Manulife doesn’t state what the maximum coverage amounts are for its permanent life insurance products, nor does it provide the option to get a quote.
Like Sun Life, you can also usually bundle disability and critical illness insurance products with life insurance.
Manulife: Accessibility and Customer Service
There’s a number to call if you need help before, during, or after receiving your quote, although the process is pretty easy. It takes a little longer to get a quote for the two types of insurance mentioned above since there are two different sets of questions.
Once you have your quote, you can begin the application process online. If you have any questions, you can contact customer service Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.
Insurance stocks are popular with dividend yield and dividend growth investors. If you want to invest in Canadian insurers, two of the most popular stocks to buy are Sun Life Financial (its trading symbol is SLF on the TSX and NYSE) and Manulife (its trading symbol is MFC on the TSX and NYSE).
There are several ratios to look at when investing in any company, including price to book, price to earnings, and price to sales.
While some insurers report core earnings, net income is the measure that most investors use to gauge how a company is performing.
When investing in the stock market and insurance companies in general, be aware that many financial companies are sensitive to changes in interest rates. In a low-rate environment such as now, earnings are typically lower.
Just remember that online investing advice should be taken with a grain of salt. Deciding on which of these insurance companies to buy for your portfolio should be based on your own research.
Looking to purchase Sun Life or Manulife stocks? Get started today by reading our Best Trading Platforms in Canada article.
In terms of life insurance, Sun Life does have a few more options than Manulife. However, that could just make it even more confusing for those who don’t know much about insurance.
Getting quotes for different types of insurance at the same time gives Sun Life a bit of an edge, though the application process is fairly easy for both.
The company you should choose for your life insurance will depend on which one meets your wants and needs.
Bundling insurance products together from a company will often save you some money. The most typical bundling options are with home and auto insurance.
When it comes to life insurance, there are some options to bundle it with other types of insurance.
For instance, Manulife offers Synergy which combines term life, disability, and critical illness coverage. The life insurance policy can range between $100,000 and $500,000 plus any optional add-ons.
There’s also Manulife Family Term life insurance which provides $100,000–$20 million in coverage, bereavement counseling, and a cash advance if diagnosed with a terminal illness. There are options to add life insurance for your children and financial support for accidental death or serious injuries.
SunLife offers a bundled “family insurance” that allows you to bundle term life insurance with critical illness insurance. There are also options to get both products for your children.
SunLife’s best insurance product in terms of convenience is the SunLife Go Simplified Term Insurance. There are only three health questions to answer, no medical questionnaire to go through, and you can get coverage of up to $100,000 fairly quickly.
Manulife also has its very convenient Manulife CoverMe Easy Issue term life insurance which provides coverage of up to $75,000. You only need to answer two medical questions and whether or not you’re a smoker. It’s that easy.
This isn’t as simple as a question to answer because it will depend on your insurance requirements. Both companies offer life and health insurance, a variety of investment products, and annuities. They also have advisors to provide financial guidance.
Something Manulife has that SunLife doesn’t is mortgages and banking products. Manulife offers an all-in-one mortgage and banking product called Manulife One as well as a more traditional mortgage called Manulife Bank Select which includes a chequing account.
Manulife can also provide savings and chequing accounts as well as credit cards — products that SunLife doesn’t offer.
As an investment, SunLife shares have easily outperformed Manulife shares since both companies went public in 2000 and 1999 respectively.
In the end, what matters is whether the company has the products that you’re looking for and is in line with your requirements.
