When you see the title of this article, you may think we are fighting against ourselves, as a company specializing in the online marketing of life and health insurance. Our website has thousands of visitors every day, a lot of of them approaching us with questions about possibilities of purchasing an insurance policy directly online. After pondering on this problem for a long time, we came to a conclusion that purchasing life insurance online would mean a disservice to our clients.
We have gathered the following few arguments why it's not such a great idea to buy a life insurance policy online:

1. When you buy a life insurance directly on the Internet, it is just a single product and not a part of an overall financial plan. When reviewing life insurance, careful planning should be put into consideration why the insurance is needed, how much is needed and what's the best type of life insurance for a specific need. Without speaking to an insurance broker in person or over the phone, this is very difficult or even impossible.

2. The websites where you can directly buy a life insurance policy offer only a limited product selection. Most websites selling life insurance are limited to a few companies and in some cases, only one carrier with a few of their policies. 

3. When you buy your insurance online, there is a risk that you might not fully understand all its characteristics. Some of the features that may not be fully explained when the policy is bought online are for example that some ten-year term policies are not renewable or convertible, or the premium may be higher than normal renewable.

4. Certain products are just too complicated to be sold online, and life insurance is one of these. In case of Universal Life and Whole Life insurance, there are too many characteristics that cannot be explained when purchased directly online. For example BMO's Universal Life policy offers more than 400 investment possibilities. The plan is too detailed to be sold online. 

5. Any further communication would probably be with a call centre and not a broker.

Do not get us wrong, we are not suggesting that the Internet is not a valuable resource when buying a life insurance. Some Internet pages can offer a lot of useful information concerning life insurance. Our Instant Quote Calculator or Needs Analysis Calculator are just a few examples of great tools when looking for a life insurance policy. But finding information is really different to purchasing.