HomeKnowledge HubCanadian Insurance Companies Changing How They Treat Occasional Recreational Marijuana Smokers
Canadian Insurance Companies Changing How They Treat Occasional Recreational Marijuana Smokers
Sun Life Insurance and BMO Insurance just announced new underwriting rules on how they treat occasional and recreational marijuana smokers.
In the past, marijuana (cannabis) smokers were treated similar to tobacco smokers and had to pay the higher smoker rates for life insurance.
Now both Sun Life and BMO Insurance have announced that they won’t be charging occasional, recreational marijuana smokers the higher smoker rates.
There are some caveats – heavy smokers won’t benefit from these lowered rates. People with mental / nervous history, poly drug use, alcohol abuse, occupational hazards and other medical and lifestyle concerns will also have to go through a full underwriting and may not benefit from these lowered rates.
BMO defines “occasional marijuana use” as 2 marijuana cigarettes for recreational use per week (excludes medical marijuana use.) Each company will have their own rules and definitions for "occasional" smoker so be sure to check with your advisor for clarification if you are unsure. There are also some considerations on different types of cannabis / marijuana ingestion such as oils, vaping, edibles etc.
Not all of the details are out yet and information is still being released. Here are 2 articles that give some additional detail into Canadian insurance companies changing how they treat occasional recreational marijuana smokers.
At Safe Pacific Financial, we specialize in helping Canadian business owners, incorporated professionals, and investors structure life insurance for maximum wealth protection, tax savings, and business growth.
If you would like to discuss whole life insurance or investments, we’re happy to chat and see if we can be a good fit to work with you. Fill out our contact form and we will get back to you within 24 hours on business days.
Episode 5 of the Infinite Banking Concept Series - Leaving a Legacy
Welcome to the fifth and final blog in our comprehensive series about the Infinite Banking Concept in Canada. Throughout these four previous blogs we’ve talked about...
Episode 3 of the Infinite Banking Concept Series - How Policy Loans work and what is the Adjusted Cost Basis?
Let’s look at a Whole Life Insurance Policy Illustration that's correctly set up for the Infinite Banking Concept. In this illustration with a Canadian life...
The Wealth Multiplier Podcast - Wealth and Legacy: A Deep Dive with Vince Cardella
In this episode of The Wealth Multiplier Podcast, host Laurent Munier of Safe Pacific Financial sits down with Vince Cardella, Principal of Strategic Wealth Planning...
RRSPs for Canadian Business Owners, should you invest?
You have two main options: keep the funds inside the corporation or withdraw and invest personally. Today we’re going to go through these 2 scenarios...