How do I review a policy I already own?
This stage is written for somebody who already holds a participating contract and wants to know where it stands. The questions here are about documents rather than decisions: what the annual statement reports, what an in force illustration shows that the original one cannot, what an honest second opinion establishes before an alternative is named, and why ending a contract in order to buy another is a separately regulated act in Canada.
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How do I read my annual policy statement?
Four separate numbers rather than one: the amount payable at death, the guaranteed value today, the lower amount payable on ending it, and any advanced balance with interest. It reports a closed year and forecasts nothing.
- Contract fact
- Depends on the policy
- Contract dependent
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What does an in force illustration tell me?
It restarts the arithmetic from the contract's real values today at the scale now in effect. The pre purchase document began at zero on assumptions, which is why the two seldom agree.
- Contract fact
- Depends on the policy
- Contract dependent
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How do I request an in force illustration from the insurer?
A written request to the insurer's service department or the recorded representative, quoting the contract number and naming the scenarios you want run. Nothing obliges you to go through whoever sold it.
- Contract fact
- Professional judgment
- Canada wide
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My policy is not performing the way it was illustrated. What happened?
Usually one of four ordinary causes, often together: a lower declared scale, a deposit never made, an outstanding advance, or a switched dividend option. None of the four touches the guaranteed schedule underneath.
- Contract fact
- Depends on the policy
- Contract dependent
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Should I get a second opinion on a policy I already own?
Rarely harmful, and judged by its order. An honest one states what you own and what it does under its own terms before any alternative is named. One that arrives holding a proposal is not an opinion.
- Professional judgment
- Requires another professional
- Canada wide
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What should a second opinion establish before anyone suggests changing anything?
Six written findings: the guarantees, the projection at two scales, the outstanding balance and its cost, the cash and tax on ending it, the price of insuring again today, and how the reviewer is paid under each outcome.
- Professional judgment
- Requires another professional
- Canada wide
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What is a policy replacement, and why is replacement regulated in Canada?
Ending, reducing or converting an existing contract so a new one can take its place. Regulators treat it as its own act with disclosure obligations attached, and the obligations and the form differ by province.
- Tax or regulatory position
- Requires another professional
- Province dependent
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What are the warning signs that a second opinion is really a sales pitch?
Sequence rather than sincerity: the alternative named before the contract is read, an asymmetric comparison, a manufactured deadline, and the forms ending the old contract produced in the same meeting.
- Professional judgment
- Canada wide
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What documents should I gather before any review of my policy?
Seven documents, most of which the insurer holds: the contract as issued with riders, the original illustration, the latest statement, a current in force projection, any loan statement, signed change forms, and confirmation of owner and beneficiary.
- Contract fact
- Professional judgment
- Canada wide
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Who services my contract now, and how do I have somebody else appointed?
Whoever the insurer records, told to you on one call with the contract number. With nobody recorded the service department administers the file directly, and appointing somebody new is an owner signed form that changes nothing in the contract.
- Contract fact
- Depends on the policy
- Canada wide
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Can I change the ownership or the beneficiary on a contract I already own?
Usually both, on insurer forms, and they are different acts. A new designation is contractual and untaxed in itself; handing the contract to another person is a transfer of property generally treated as a disposition.
- Contract fact
- Tax or regulatory position
- Requires another professional
- Province dependent
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Can I stop paying and keep the contract?
Frequently yes, where the contract carries non forfeiture provisions and enough value. Reduced paid up buys a smaller fully paid amount; extended term keeps the present amount for a fixed period. Both are requested and normally permanent.
- Contract fact
- Depends on the policy
- Contract dependent
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How often should I review a policy I already own?
Annually against the statement, and sooner on a structural change such as a separation, a birth, a new corporation, a move between provinces or the end of a payment period. Most reviews end with nothing changed.
- Professional judgment
- Canada wide
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What is my contract's adjusted cost basis, and where do I find it?
The contract's tax cost, which decides how much of anything taken out is reportable income. It rises with payments and falls as the cost of coverage is charged against it, and only the insurer can state today's figure.
- Tax or regulatory position
- Requires another professional
- Canada wide
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I cannot find my policy documents. What now?
The contract is untouched, because the paper is evidence rather than the agreement. Ask the insurer for a certified copy as issued with every endorsement, and expect to prove you are the recorded owner first.
- Contract fact
- Depends on the policy
- Canada wide
What this stage decides
Nothing, and that is the point of it. Every other stage in this library helps somebody arrive at a decision. This one helps somebody describe a position they are already in, accurately, in writing, before anybody proposes changing it. A household that can state what its contract guarantees, what it is projected to do, what has been drawn against it and what ending it would cost is a household that can evaluate any proposal put in front of it, including one from this practice.
So the questions here are about documents rather than about choices. What the annual statement reports and what it does not. What an in force illustration shows that the document from before purchase never could. What to ask the insurer for, and how. Which findings belong on the table before an alternative is named at all. The order matters more than the vocabulary: read, describe, price, then discuss.
Why replacement is treated differently
Ending or reducing a contract you already hold so that another can take its place is not an ordinary purchase, and Canadian regulators do not treat it as one. The person recommending the change is normally paid on what replaces the contract. The owner gives up something already issued and already underwritten, at an age and in a state of health that cannot be recovered. Disclosure obligations attach to the act for that reason.
What those obligations are depends on where you live. Quebec is governed by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and its practice differs from the disclosure practice followed in the common law provinces. This library does not state a rule it cannot source for your province, and neither should anyone else. What it tells you instead is what to ask: which regime applies to your file, what the disclosure document is called, and to see a blank copy of it before rather than during the meeting.
What an honest review looks like from the outside
An honest review is slow, written and dull. It begins with the contract as issued rather than with a comparison, it produces figures obtained from the insurer rather than sketched by hand, and it runs any alternative on the same assumptions as the contract you already hold. It leaves you with paper you can show to an accountant a month later.
A review that is really a sale inverts that order, and the inversion is visible without knowing anything about insurance. The alternative is named before the contract has been read. The comparison runs one side cautiously and the other optimistically. A reason appears why the decision cannot wait. And the forms that end the existing contract arrive in the same meeting as the recommendation. Every answer at this stage is written so that the sequence, not the confidence of the person speaking, is what you judge.
The complete treatment of the product, the criticisms and the failure modes sits in the silo pages rather than here, and every answer at this stage links into them. The method behind each answer, including what the status labels mean, is set out on the IBC Answers hub.
Where this answer may not apply
- Nothing at this stage recommends keeping a contract or changing one. Both are decisions for a licensed professional who has read your own documents.
- A corporately owned contract is reviewed with the corporation's accountant as well, because the tax and shareholder questions sit there rather than in the contract.
- Replacement obligations are provincial. Quebec is governed by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and its practice is not the practice of the common law provinces.
- Every figure that matters at this stage belongs to your own contract, and only the insurer can state it as at today's date.
What to verify in your own contract
- The four figures on the most recent annual statement, and the date the statement closes.
- A current in force illustration, run at the present scale and again at a reduced one.
- The contract as issued, with every rider, endorsement and change form recorded since.
- Who is recorded as owner and as beneficiary today, and whether the designation is revocable.
- The name of the replacement disclosure document used in your province, requested blank and read before any meeting.
- How anyone reviewing the contract is paid, and by whom, under each outcome being discussed.
Continue to the full explanation
Prepare for an existing policy review.
Sources
- Policy contract, annual statement and in force documentation, insurer specific, verified 2026-08-30
- CCIR and CISRO, Guidance on Conduct of Insurance Business and Fair Treatment of Customers, verified 2026-08-30
- Autorité des marchés financiers, replacement of an insurance of persons contract, verified 2026-08-30
Accountability and disclosure
- Written by
- José Salloum
- Professional capacity
- Financial security advisor, Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial
- Reviewed by
- Insurance and contract education tier, reviewed under a licensed insurance professional's own authority
- Jurisdiction
- Province dependent
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30
- Version
- 1.0
- Compensation disclosure
- Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial, may receive insurer paid compensation if a policy is purchased. It takes the form of first year compensation followed by renewal compensation, and the amount varies by insurer, product, age, premium, contract design, riders and the arrangement with the managing general agency. No single figure would describe every contract honestly, and none is published here.
- Report a correction
- Info@ibcfinancial.com. Write without a policy number, medical information or account details.
Last reviewed 2026-08-30. By Jose Salloum, Financial Security Advisor.