For affluent Canadians, life insurance is less about replacing income and more about strategic wealth preservation. It serves as a cornerstone of estate planning, helping manage capital gains taxes, enable tax-efficient wealth transfers, and protect business continuity.
In 2025, the Canadian life insurance market reflects this shift toward permanent and participating solutions. According to LIMRA, new annualized premiums rose 13% year over year in the first quarter, with whole life policies representing 80% of all permanent insurance sales. Wealthy Canadians increasingly view whole life insurance not as basic protection but as a financial instrument for legacy planning and tax optimization.
The most significant tax exposure for high-net-worth families arises from capital gains on death. When a taxpayer dies, most assets are deemed disposed of at fair market value, and half the resulting gain becomes taxable. While the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) set at $1.25 million per individual in 2025 can shelter qualifying business or farm property, many estates still face large unrealized gains that exceed this limit. Life insurance provides liquidity to pay those taxes without forcing the sale of investments, property, or shares in a family business.
In this guide, we explain why whole life insurance has become a key tool for high-net-worth Canadians in 2025, how much coverage affluent individuals typically require, and how leading insurers structure participating whole life policies to address complex capital gains and estate planning challenges.
Why high-net-worth Canadians need life insurance
Even for wealthy Canadians, life insurance is not just about income replacement, it is a strategic tool for preserving wealth, managing taxes, and ensuring smooth intergenerational transfers. Without proper planning, estates can face substantial capital gains taxes, forcing the sale of investments, real estate, or business interests at inopportune times, reducing the wealth ultimately passed to heirs.
Whole life insurance provides guaranteed liquidity, tax efficiency, and predictable outcomes, making it indispensable in comprehensive wealth planning.
Key reasons high-net-worth Canadians rely on life insurance:
- Immediate estate liquidity and tax mitigation: Capital gains on death are triggered through deemed disposition of most assets. Even with the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) of $1.25 million per individual in 2025, many estates exceed this limit. Whole life insurance provides cash to pay these taxes, avoiding forced liquidation of core assets and preserving the family’s wealth.
- Business continuity and succession planning: Business owners use life insurance to fund buy-sell agreements, key person protection, and succession plans. The guaranteed death benefit ensures the family or co-owners can retain the business without scrambling for liquidity or selling under distress, protecting decades of value creation.
- Creditor and legal protection: Properly structured whole life policies bypass probate, delivering death benefits directly to named beneficiaries and shielding funds from creditors, lawsuits, or marital disputes. Policy cash value can also remain protected during your lifetime, offering a safe, tax-advantaged accumulation vehicle.
- Predictable, guaranteed outcomes: Unlike term or universal life, whole life insurance guarantees specific death benefits and cash values. This allows precise estate planning and removes reliance on market performance, interest rates, or economic volatility.
- Participating policy flexibility: Participating whole life policies provide dividends that can be used to:
- Purchase paid-up additions to grow death benefit and cash value
- Offset premiums, reducing out-of-pocket costs
- Accumulate at interest, enhancing long-term policy value
- Receive cash payments for supplemental income
For high-net-worth Canadians, a carefully designed whole life insurance strategy is more than protection—it is a tool to preserve family wealth, optimize tax outcomes, and ensure business and estate continuity.
Why whole life insurance is the preferred choice for high-net-worth Canadians
Understanding how whole life insurance differs from other options highlights why it is the go-to solution for estate planning, wealth preservation, and business succession.
Universal life insurance: Flexible but uncertain
- Adjustable premiums, variable death benefits, and investment-linked cash value
- Cash value growth depends on market performance; downturns can reduce policy value
- Coverage can lapse if premiums are insufficient or investments underperform, creating risk for long-term estate planning
- Requires active management, which can undermine certainty for multi-million-dollar estates or business succession plans
Term life insurance: Temporary protection, permanent risks
- Provides lower-cost coverage for short-term needs like mortgages or income replacement
- Policies expire, potentially leaving estates without liquidity when it matters most
- Renewal at older ages is expensive, and late conversions to permanent insurance are limited and costly
Whole life insurance: Certainty and permanence
- Guarantees a permanent death benefit and predictable cash value growth
- Fixed premiums keep coverage affordable over decades
- Provides reliable liquidity for capital gains taxes, inheritance equalization, and business succession, eliminating the timing and market risks that can undermine term or universal life policies
For high-net-worth Canadians, whole life insurance combines permanence, predictability, and strategic flexibility, making it uniquely suited to preserving wealth across generations.
How much whole life insurance coverage do wealthy Canadians need?
Determining the right amount of whole life insurance coverage requires analyzing your specific estate tax liabilities, business succession needs, wealth equalization goals, and legacy objectives. Unlike income replacement calculations for younger families, high-net-worth coverage focuses on estate liquidity and wealth transfer efficiency.
Estate tax and probate coverage
Start with calculating your estate’s tax liabilities at death. Capital gains taxes from deemed disposition of investment properties, business interests, and non-registered investments can easily reach 25-35% of appreciated value. Add probate fees that range from 0.4% to 1.5% of estate value depending on your province. For a $10 million estate with $4 million in appreciated assets, total taxes and fees could exceed $1.5 million.
Whole life insurance covering these costs preserves your estate’s core assets for beneficiaries. Without insurance, estates must liquidate holdings to pay taxes, often at unfavorable times or through forced sales that realize below-market value.
Business succession and buy-sell funding
Business owners need coverage reflecting their ownership value and succession plans. Buy-sell agreements typically require coverage equal to each owner’s business interest. If you own 50% of a $10 million business, you need $5 million in coverage so surviving partners can purchase your shares from your estate.
Family business succession often requires even larger coverage. If your business is worth $8 million but only one child is involved in operations, you need additional whole life coverage to provide equivalent inheritance value for other children. This might mean $12-15 million total coverage making it enough for estate taxes, business transition, and fair inheritance distribution.
Wealth equalization and legacy planning
High-net-worth families often have assets that can’t be easily divided. A family cottage, art collection, or investment real estate might go to specific children based on their interests and circumstances. Whole life insurance provides guaranteed funds to equalize these inheritances fairly.
Calculate the value of indivisible assets going to specific heirs, then secure whole life coverage to provide equivalent value to other beneficiaries. This preserves family harmony and honors your intentions for fair treatment without forcing asset sales.
Leading whole life insurance providers for high-net-worth Canadians
High-net-worth Canadians seeking sophisticated whole life insurance for estate planning and wealth preservation typically turn to Canada Life, Desjardins, Manulife, and Sun Life. These insurers are recognized for strong financial strength, decades of consistent dividend performance, flexible premium structures, and expertise in structuring complex estate strategies.
Insurer | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
Equitable | 6.05% | 6.25% | 6.40% | 6.40% |
Manulife | 6.10% | 6.35% | 6.35% | 6.35% |
iA Financial Group | 5.75% | 6.00% | 6.25% | 6.35% |
Desjardins Insurance | 5.75% | 6.20% | 6.30% | 6.30% |
RBC Insurance | 6.00% | 6.00% | 6.25% | 6.30% |
Sun Life | 6.00% | 6.00% | 6.25% | 6.25% |
Empire Life | 6.00% | 6.00% | 6.00% | 6.25% |
Foresters Financial | 5.50% | 5.50% | 5.50% | 6.25% |
Co-operators | 5.90% | 5.90% | 6.00% | 6.00% |
Assumption Life | 5.75% | 5.75% | 5.75% | 5.75% |
Canada Life | 5.25% | 5.50% | 5.50% | 5.75% |
Factors to consider when choosing whole life insurance for high-net-worth Canadians
For high-net-worth Canadians, whole life insurance is a strategic wealth planning tool, not just a protection product. Experts emphasize that selecting the right policy can preserve family wealth, optimize taxes, and ensure business continuity. To make an informed decision, the following factors are critical:
- Underwriting for multi-million-dollar coverage: Leading insurers such as Canada Life, Desjardins, Manulife, and Sun Life maintain specialized underwriting teams capable of evaluating complex financial situations, including business valuations and estate plans. This expertise ensures large policies, often exceeding $5 million, are approved efficiently and appropriately sized for the client’s long-term objectives
- Dividend performance and policy growth: While whole life insurance provides guaranteed cash value and death benefits, participating dividends can significantly enhance wealth accumulation over decades. Evaluating an insurer’s historical dividend scales, participation rates, and financial strength helps high-net-worth Canadians select policies likely to deliver consistent long-term growth
- Creditor and tax protection: Properly structured whole life policies offer protections that conventional assets cannot. Death benefits can bypass probate, shielding funds from creditors, professional liability claims, or marital disputes. Corporate-owned policies can leverage the Capital Dividend Account (CDA) to transfer wealth tax-free to shareholders or heirs, an essential consideration for business owners.
- Flexible policy structures: Life insurance options such as life-pay, limited-pay (5-, 10-, 20-pay), and additional riders for disability or critical illness allow wealthy clients to align premiums with cash flow and estate planning goals, while maintaining guaranteed coverage that will last for decades
- Integration with estate and business planning: Whole life insurance can seamlessly support wills, trusts, and succession strategies, providing liquidity to pay estate taxes, equalize inheritances, and fund business buyouts without requiring the sale of core assets. This ensures that family wealth and businesses are preserved across generations
Frequently asked questions
Why is whole life insurance better than universal life for high-net-worth Canadians?
Whole life insurance provides the certainty wealthy Canadians need for estate planning: guaranteed death benefit, fixed premiums, and predictable cash value growth. Universal life offers flexibility and market-linked growth but introduces uncertainty, with cash value depending on investment performance and potential premium increases to maintain coverage. For core estate liquidity and legacy planning, whole life remains the preferred choice, while universal life may supplement additional needs.
How much does whole life insurance cost for wealthy Canadians?
Life insurance premiums depend on age, health, coverage, and payment structure. For example:
- A 45-year-old male seeking $5M coverage: $35,000–45,000/year for life-pay, $60,000–80,000/year for 20-pay
- A 55-year-old with similar coverage: $60,000–75,000/year for life-pay, $100,000–130,000/year for 20-pay
While higher than term insurance, guaranteed lifetime coverage, cash value accumulation, and estate planning certainty justify the cost. Payment options can be customized (10-pay, 20-pay, life-pay, or single premium) to align with cash flow and wealth transfer timelines.
Can I use the whole life insurance cash value before death?
Yes, policy loans or partial withdrawals allow tax-advantaged access to cash value while maintaining death benefits. Loans aren’t taxable and provide liquidity for business opportunities, major purchases, or retirement income. Partial withdrawals reduce cash value and death benefit but can provide direct, tax-efficient funds. Many wealthy Canadians use these features to supplement retirement income without eroding estate liquidity.
Should I own whole life insurance personally or through my corporation?
The ideal ownership structure depends on your financial and estate planning objectives.
- Corporate ownership: Premiums are paid with pre-tax dollars, and death benefits flow to the Capital Dividend Account (CDA), enabling tax-free wealth transfer and funding for business succession
- Personal ownership: Best suited for estate equalization, direct family protection, or when corporate ownership adds unnecessary complexity
Many high-net-worth Canadians use both approaches, corporate-owned policies to secure business succession and maximize CDA benefits, alongside personal policies to preserve family wealth and ensure precise estate planning.
What happens to whole life insurance if I live to 100 or beyond?
Whole life insurance provides lifetime coverage as long as premiums are paid, unlike term insurance that expires. Most modern Canadian whole life policies have a maturity age of 100 or 121, at which point the cash value equals the death benefit and the policy is considered fully paid up. This guarantees estate liquidity and wealth transfer, ensuring that your beneficiaries receive the intended value regardless of how long you live.