Is Manulife Life Insurance the best for you? Review 2024

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Alexandre Desoutter updated on 22 January 2024

Wherever you go in the world, you will likely come across Manulife life insurance company. They are a worldwide financial services group founded in Canada in 1887 when they insured 915 Canadians in their first year of business.

Since then, Manulife Canada has grown to be the leading life insurer in Canada and one of the most prominent life insurers in the world. However, is it the right policy for you? Does it suit your unique needs?

In this review, we take you through what Manulife life insurance covers, the various plans it offers, pros, cons, and more. You can also get instant quotes from Manulife and compare quotes from other providers using our free comparator so you can pick a policy that truly meets your individual requirements.

Manulife life insurance: 5 key takeaways

  • Extensive life insurance product range to suit all needs
  • Manulife Canada Life Insurance Company has an ‘A+’ AM Best rating
  • Ability to get covered without a medical exam
  • Vitality Plus add-on allows policyholders to get discounts on premiums and rewards
  • Easy-to-use calculator online to get you accurate premium estimates

Our review on Manulife life insurance: Most diverse life insurance provider

Manulife, earlier known as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, is one of the best life insurance providers in Canada. Founded in 1887, Manulife Canada has grown into one of the largest financial services groups in the world and offers life insurance to millions of people worldwide.

Their continuous innovation in the insurance space has them offering cutting-edge benefits for policyholders through their Vitality Plus program, in addition to multiple product ranges that suit all needs. They have a strong online presence with easy access to product information, an online membership portal for policyholders, as well as a Manulife life insurance calculator, and an online Manulife quoting tool.

In contrast to many other providers, transparency appears to be key to Manulife. Manulife is financially strong with a superior ‘A+’ AM Best rating. The company's policies are quite diverse including Manulife life insurance for seniors.

Manulife is an excellent choice for those seeking diverse life insurance options, affordable premiums for all ages, and no-medical life insurance solutions. Their extensive product range, including term and whole life insurance, suits various needs, and their online tools provide convenience.

Pros

  • Affordable life insurance premiums for all ages
  • Manulife no-medical life insurance options
  • Extensive term life insurance products, including innovative CoverMe product range
  • Whole life insurance, including a no-medical policy option
  • Manulife universal life insurance is versatile; multiple investment options
  • Effective Manulife life insurance calculator
  • Easy online access for CoverMe life insurance quote
  • Extensive Manulife contact gateways

Cons

  • No app for individual life insurance policyholders
  • Understanding Manulife whole life and universal life insurance products can be difficult
  • Negative online reviews surrounding poor customer service

If you think Manulife life insurance suits your needs, you can now get a quote tailor-made for you in seconds.

How much does Manulife life insurance cost?

Manulife life insurance costs vary depending on whether you are purchasing temporary or permanent life insurance, your age, health, residence and smoking status. Furthermore, Manulife has multiple different life insurance products that will also influence the cost of the policy based on the coverage.

For a quick glance at the price of Manulife life insurance, you can view the table below. The premiums are for Manulife’s CoverMe term life insurance product, based on a 10-year term and $500,000 death benefit for a healthy non-smoker living in Ontario, Canada.

AgeFemaleMale
25
$16.81$24.26
30
$18.09$24.30
35
$19.51$24.71
40
$25.29$30.35
45
$33.17$46.39
50
$48.91$72.31
55
$85.57$124.83
60
$151.79$215.44
Manulife CoverMe term life insurance quotes

These are indicative prices only. A range of factors affect life insurance pricing. To get personalized quotes, click the button below. You can use this free comparator to get both Manulife quotes and also from other providers in seconds, so you can compare and choose the best plan for you.

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What does Manulife life insurance cover?

Manulife Canada life insurance covers a wide variety of different needs through its extensive range of life insurance products. From term life and whole life to universal life insurance, the company has a solution that you can use to cover family protection, business continuation, or any special needs specific to your situation.

Life insurance can cover your family's needs by paying for

  • Mortgage or Rent
  • Tuition fees
  • Final expenses such as funeral costs
  • Income for your surviving family

Life insurance can also cover any business needs that may arise such as

  • Buy and sell agreements
  • Family business continuance
  • Collateral Insurance

Special needs vary depending on the family and the cover needed can range from

  • Disability or critical illness
  • Estate planning and retirement income
  • Gifting to charity

What types of life insurance does Manulife offer?

Manulife offers an incredible range of life insurance solutions under both their temporary life insurance and permanent life insurance product ranges. Temporary life insurance, also known as term life insurance, is valid for a certain length of time, while permanent life insurance, such as whole life insurance and universal life insurance, is active for an individual's entire life.

Manulife’s temporary life insurance products include:

  • Family Term
  • CoverMe® Term
  • CoverMe® Easy Issue

Manulife’s permanent life insurance products include:

Manulife Whole Life Insurance

  • Manulife Par
  • Performax Gold®
  • CoverMe® Guaranteed Issue

Manulife Universal Life Insurance

  • Manulife UL
  • InnoVision®
Life insurance typeProduct
Term life insurance
  • Family Term
  • CoverMe® Term
  • CoverMe® Easy Issue
Whole life insurance
  • Manulife Par
  • Performax Gold®
  • CoverMe® Guaranteed Issue
Universal life insurance
  • Manulife UL
  • InnoVision®
Manulife insurance policies

What does Manulife term life insurance cover?

Family Term

Manulife’s Family Term life insurance is an affordable and flexible term policy that offers financial protection for you and your family. It has an incredibly high range of coverage available, with level premiums for a range of years, and comes with a few extra added benefits. The policy does require the individual to complete full medical underwriting when signing up.

The Family Term Core plan comes with:

  • Death benefit coverage between $250,000 to $25,000,000
  • Guaranteed premiums for 10 or 20 years, To Age 65 or for life
  • Survivors’ bereavement counseling covered up to $1,000
  • Cash advance if diagnosed with a terminal illness

CoverMe® Term life insurance

CoverMe® is the brand name for a range of insurance products offered by Manulife. It can be found and bought via Manulife’s main website or through their website dedicated to the CoverMe® product range.

CoverMe® Term key features:

  • 10-year renewal term up to the age of 85
  • Guaranteed premiums for each 10-year term
  • No new medical exam or underwriting on renewals
  • Death benefit coverage between $100,000 to $1,000,000 (between ages 18-70)
  • Cash advance up to $100,000 or 50% of your coverage, whichever is lowest, if diagnosed with a terminal illness.

CoverMe® Easy Issue no medical life insurance

The CoverMe® Easy Issue is one of Manulife’s two life insurance policies that doesn’t require a medical exam. It is a simple term life insurance policy for Canadian residents aged 18-70 and looking for limited protection. The possible death benefit is capped at $75,000 and the term length is 10 years.

CoverMe® Easy Issue features:

  • 10-year term length, renewable up to age 85
  • Guaranteed rates for every 10-year term
  • Up to $75,000 death benefit
  • No medical exam is required
  • Fast applications with only two medical questions
  • Cash advance up to 50% of coverage if diagnosed with a terminal illness with less than 12 months to live

What does Manulife whole life insurance cover?

The Manulife whole life insurance products are part of the permanent life insurance range and consist of the following three solutions.

Manulife PAR

Manulife PAR Whole Life Insurance is Manulife’s participating insurance policy that offers coverage to the policyholder for their entire lives. Policyholders can choose to pay the guaranteed premiums over the course of 10 or 20 years and once paid up, the death benefit will be guaranteed with no further premiums being payable.

Being a whole life insurance product, Manulife PAR also comes with some attractive financial features which include:

  • Immediate growth of policy cash values
  • Death benefit coverage starting from $100,000
  • Receive annual dividends (not guaranteed)
  • Use annual dividends to buy more coverage through the Paid-Up Insurance (PUI) option
  • Access to policy cash value
  • Manulife PAR policy can be used as collateral for a loan

Performax Gold® whole life insurance

Manulife Performax Gold® whole life insurance is a non-participating life insurance product offered by Manulife Canada and is one of the leading life insurance policies in the Canadian marketplace. It is an excellent policy for those looking for guaranteed coverage with flexible payment terms and the ability to earn a little bit of money from your premiums through performance credit.

Why you should choose Performax® Gold:

  • Flexible payment options from 15 to 100 years
  • Death benefit available from $25,000
  • Guaranteed permanent lifetime coverage subject to premium payment
  • Guaranteed cash value
  • Performance credit to always be guaranteed greater than $0
  • Accumulation account within the policy is tax-sheltered
  • Use your policy as collateral against loans

CoverMe® Guaranteed Issue life insurance

Manulife’s CoverMe® Guaranteed Issue life insurance policy is their second product that does not require a medical exam. It is specifically designed for Canadian residents who have found it hard to get life insurance coverage elsewhere. It is guaranteed once the company receives the first premium.

CoverMe® Guaranteed Issue is specifically for Canadian residents between 40-75 who are looking for a small amount of coverage. It is a whole-life policy because once you are insured, you are covered for your entire life without having to pay any additional premiums after you turn 95. CoverMe® Guaranteed Issue features consist of:

Guaranteed acceptance between ages 40-75

  • No medical exam is required or medical questions asked
  • Discount for non-smokers
  • Coverage between $5,000-$25,000
  • 4x coverage payout in case of accidental death prior to 85th birthday
  • Coverage for life with no further premiums payable after 95

What does Manulife universal life insurance cover?

In addition to whole life insurance, the company offers two universal life insurance policies: Manulife UL and InnoVision®.

Manulife UL

Manulife UL is a universal life insurance policy that combines whole life cover with an investment element. A much more complex product, but a good solution for those looking to combine life insurance with tax-advantaged investment growth and ongoing flexibility.

Manulife UL allows you to:

  • Get permanent life insurance
  • Include tax-advantaged investment growth
  • Withdraw from account value (withdrawals will likely be taxed)
  • Manage your investment account or defer it to a financial advisor
  • Use the policy and account value as collateral against loans
  • Opt for a range of investment accounts based on your risk appetite

InnoVision®

InnoVision® is a Manulife universal life insurance product that is sold as a flexible product for people whose needs may change often. It offers life insurance coverage with the ability to invest money through a multitude of accounts in order to achieve long-term financial growth.

Key aspects to the InnoVision® product include

  • Death benefit coverage from $100,000
  • Over 50 investment accounts
  • Guaranteed insurance premiums subject to conditions
  • Guaranteed minimum interest investment accounts
  • Tax-advantaged investment growth

How to get Manulife life insurance quotes?

We've made it easy for you to compare Manulife insurance quotes with quotes from more than 20 of Canada’s leading life insurers at one time. All you need to do is use our comparator below and type in some quick information on what you're looking for and voila, you get over 20 quotes in just a few moments.

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Alternatively, you can reach out directly to Manulife for life insurance quotes. As a Canadian resident between 18-70, go to Manulife’s dedicated website for the CoverMe® range of products.

Enter your province/territory of residence, and personal information, and answer a few questions regarding your financial situation and it will provide you with an accurate quote including your manulife life insurance monthly payment.

How do you log in to Manulife life insurance?

A Manulife life insurance login does exist for all individual life insurance policyholders as well as those insured with the company through a group policy. You can access all the information regarding your individual insurance policy and submit a claim through the membership portal. All you need to get started is to set up your Manulife ID via the membership portal by providing your personal information.

manulife online access
Manulife life insurance login

Manulife Life Insurance Canada app

The company also has a mobile app for life insurance holders; however, this app is only available to individuals insured through group policies. Within the app, group benefits plan members can access their benefits and retirement plans as well as submit and monitor manulife life insurance claims.

manulife insurance app.
Manulife claims in your pocket

How do I contact Manulife Canada life insurance?

Due to the size of the company, it has several different ways in which you can contact their customer support including telephone, email, mail, and an online chat function. Since each product has its dedicated contact details, we’ve compiled Manulife life insurance contact details for you in the tables below.

Manulife Contact Method through AdvisorManulife Canada Contact Details
Manulife life insurance phone number
English 1-888-626-8543 French 1-888-626-8843(Between 8 am to8 pm EST, Monday to Friday)
Fax
1-877-763-8834
Email
[email protected]
Address
Manulife FinancialIndividual Insurance500 King Street NorthP.O. Box 1669Waterloo, ON N2J 4Z6Canada
Manulife contact information
Manulife Contact Method through CoverMe®Manulife Canada Contact Details
Manulife life insurance phone number
1-800-268-3763 (Between 8 am-8 pm EST, Monday to Friday)
Email
[email protected]
Address
CoverMePO Box 670 STN WaterlooWaterloo, ONN2J 4B8Canada
CoverMe contact information

How are the customer reviews?

There are multiple websites dedicated to the performance reviews of Manulife; however, as the company is a global financial services group, many of the online reviews are regarding services other than life insurance itself. It is worth noting that while there are relatively few reviews of Manulife life insurance, many reviews center on poor customer support provided by the Manulife team.

Manulife Canada has a review rating of 1.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with a total of 65 reviews, which is a lower rating than what might be expected from such an insurance provider. With that said online Manulife life insurance reviews do not appear to paint a full picture of the company's customer support. The reviews for the insurance products however have been largely positive.

With millions of customers worldwide only a very few have left reviews of Manulife on trusted review websites. If in doubt, compare multiple life insurance providers in one go using HelloSafe’s life insurance comparison tool right here and get free personalized quotes in seconds.

Compare the best life insurance companies

Get 20+ quotes in seconds

How do I access a Manulife life insurance calculator?

To aid you in identifying just how much life insurance you need, HelloSafe has developed a life insurance calculator that takes all of your financial factors into account and tells you exactly how much life insurance coverage you need to best protect your family.

There is also a Manulife life insurance calculator on the dedicated website for Manulife’s CoverMe® products. This calculator helps you determine the amount of coverage your family may need to support themselves should the worst happen to you.

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Alexandre Desoutter
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Alexandre Desoutter has been working as editor-in-chief and head of press relations at HelloSafe since June 2020. A graduate of Sciences Po Grenoble, he worked as a journalist for several years in French media, and continues to collaborate as a as a contributor to several publications.

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