The shift
More people need coverage. Fewer are being asked.
Four things are true at once in the US and Canada, and the advisors who reach people first get the conversations.
The coverage gap is huge on both sides of the border
Only about half of US adults own life insurance, and more than 100 million acknowledge they have a coverage gap. In Canada, 31% of adults, around 8.4 million people, say they need life insurance or need more of it.
Source: LIMRA, January 2026; LIMRA and Life Happens Canadian Insurance Barometer, via Money.ca
People think it costs far more than it does
In LIMRA's 2026 Insurance Barometer, 40% of Americans overestimated the cost of a basic 20-year term policy, and about 48% said their estimate was a gut feeling or a wild guess. The advisor whose ads make it simple is the one who gets the call.
Source: InsuranceNewsNet, April 2026
Fewer advisors are reaching them
In Canada, individual life policies sold per 1,000 people fell from 21.7 in 2010 to 15.3 in 2024, while the population grew. Sun Life expects a large majority of advisors to leave the industry through retirement and succession over the next ten years.
Source: Insurance Portal and LIMRA; The Globe and Mail, June 2026
In Canada, a mortgage renewal wave
Over the next 12 months the last pandemic-era five-year fixed mortgages renew, about 12% of all outstanding mortgages, with payments expected to rise around 15% on average. Every renewal is a household rechecking what happens if the income stops.
Source: Bank of Canada 2026 Financial Stability Report, via Insurance Business