Life Insurance for Children

Grow With Them Plan Benefits

Seriously Affordable

Because a policy’s cost goes up with age, there will never be a cheaper time to buy than now¹. Plus, get up to 25% off your first-year payments with Serenia Life.

See for yourself

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Serious Growth Potential

Your child’s policy comes with a cash value² that can grow significantly over time. They can use it later to help pay for a first car, wedding, a down payment on their home.

View growth potential

Lifetime Protection - Not Payments

With a 20-pay whole life policy, payments stop after 20 years, but your child will be covered for life. This becomes all the more important once they have a family of their own.

$100 Baby Bonus

When you insure a baby (0-12 months), they become eligible for Serenia Life’s Bundles of Joy Benefit³ – a $100 baby bonus for our littlest members.

$1,000 Post-Secondary Scholarship

Once your child reaches an age where they plan to pursue post-secondary education, they can apply for a $1,000 scholarship through Serenia Life.

Bereaved Child Benefit

In the tragic scenario that your child were to lose both parents, Serenia Life would provide them with $500 in monthly support until their 19th year.

The cheapest time to buy child life insurance is now

Susan is looking for a permanent insurance solution for her 6-month-old son, Lamar.

Overview

Susan has a maximum budget of $100/month
She is looking for a policy that will grow as her son does
She wants a policy with no payments required when her son is an adult
She wants to ensure that her son's insurance continues even if she passes away

Solution: 20-Pay Whole Life Policy for $50,000

Paid-up Additions Dividend Option⁴
Owner Waiver Premium Death and Disability benefit⁵

Total Monthly Premiums: $61.38

(This premium includes the Owner Waiver Death and Disability Benefit for a female, age 35)

For illustration purposes only, as of December 2024. Age 0 based on male regular rates, paid up additions dividend option, and on $50,000 initial insurance coverage and current dividend scale. Future performance will be different than illustrated due to the variability of the dividend. All numbers in Canadian dollars. Current monthly premium, age 0 is $57.15 payable for 20 years. The policy is "paid up" at age 20. Susan is 35 years old, so the monthly premium of $4.23 is added to the monthly total of $61.38.

An Extra Layer of Protection for Parents

Life insurance is there to protect your family if the worst should happen. But what if life takes an unexpected turn while you’re still here?

With Serenia Life Critical Illness Insurance, you can take the time you need if your child is diagnosed with a covered condition. Receive a one-time payout that can be used to cover lost income due to time off work, treatment costs, or travel expenses.

Protection = Peace of Mind

Get coverage for 26 adult illnesses and an additional 7 child illnesses
Focus on your child's recovery – not your finances – with a one-time, tax-free payment
No need to dip into your savings, touch your retirement fund, or worry about refinancing your mortgage
Plus, you can get your money back if your child doesn't use their coverage during the policy term**

What’s the difference between 20-pay whole life and whole life?

Both options come with guaranteed payments, coverage, and cash value – the only difference is how long you’re committed to making payments. With 20-pay whole life, there’s an end in sight. You only pay for 20 years, but the child is covered for their entire life. With regular whole life, the monthly or annual cost will be a little cheaper, but payments last until the child reaches age 100. In this scenario, parents or grandparents typically transfer ownership – and payments – to the child once they’ve reached adulthood.

Why should I buy child life insurance?

When you buy child life insurance, you’re setting them up financially for the future. Just like you would invest in an RESP to help fund a child’s post-secondary education, the Grow With Them Plan comes with a cash value that has the potential to grow quite significantly over time. The best part? When they’re all grown up, your child or grandchild can access this money when they need it – to fund a wedding, to help with a down payment on a home or even to help them out when they retire one day.

How does child life insurance work?

Purchase a participating whole life policy for your child or grandchild. You can choose 20-pay or whole life – it’s up to you!
Name a contingent owner (i.e., someone who assumes ownership of the policy if you, the policyowner, dies). In this case, the other parent or a guardian of the child probably makes the most sense.
Make the monthly or annual payments until you are ready to pass along ownership to your child or grandchild. The child would then take over the payments – unless you purchased a 20-pay whole life policy and payments have already stopped.
At a date of your choosing (and when they are legal age), transfer the policy to the child. At this point, ownership is now in their name.
The beneficiaries on the policy would be updated to the people and/or charitable organization of your child or grandchild’s choosing.
Your child grandchild can now access the cash value through a policy loan or withdrawal⁸.

Is Serenia Life a good company to work with?

When selecting a life insurance provider, it’s always a good idea to do some comparison shopping. Remember: while it needs to fit into your budget, it’s never just about the cost of a policy – consider the organization’s claims approval rating, financial strength, and online reviews.

At Serenia Life, we’re proud to have a claims approval rating that consistently exceeds 99.9%, and we regularly review our suite of products to ensure they’re competitively priced. Not to mention, just one insurance or investment product comes with more than $3,500 in benefits that help support our members, their community, and the causes they care about. Whether you visit our website, set up a meeting with one of our advisors, or call Member Services for help, you’ll be met with human kindness every step of the way.

¹Cash values are accessible via a withdrawal, policy loan or surrender. These may be subject to taxation and a tax slip may be issued. Accessing the cash value of the policy will reduce the available cash surrender value and death benefit.

² As long as your child has not been diagnosed with a health condition.

³ To be eligible, your baby must be insured with Serenia Life Financial for at least 6 months.

⁴ Dividends are not guaranteed and are paid based on the overall experience of Serenia Life Financial, considering all the risk factors. Dividends may be subject to taxation. Dividends will vary based on the actual investment returns in the participating account as well as mortality, expenses, taxes, lapses, withdrawals, and other experience of the participating block of policies. They have the potential to increase the value of your policy above the guaranteed amount, depending on the dividend option selected.

Additional Deposit Option allows clients to pay an additional premium to purchase paid-up life insurance on the policy. This optional payment is in addition to the required insurance premium. With Additional Deposit Option, clients can enjoy the potential of accelerated tax-preferred growth within their policy. We will not accept an additional premium if it will cause the policy to lose its tax-exempt status

⁵ This optional benefit is available if you're purchasing life insurance for your child. This benefit ensures your child's life insurance coverage remains in the event event of your death, or if you become totally disabled, for a period of at least 6 consecutive months.

⁶ All life insurance policies purchased will receive 25% off their first-year premium, up to $500. Clients paying monthly will have premiums waived for the first 3 months or up to $500, whichever comes first. Clients paying quarterly will have their first premium payment waived or reduced by $500, whichever comes first. Clients paying annually will have their first payment reduced by 25% or $500, whichever comes first. Once a written case is issued and qualifies for a first-year premium reduction, it will not be eligible to qualify again. ADO premium is not covered by the campaign. Clients will be billed for this portion right from date of issue. If a Temporary Insurance Agreement is chosen, it will not be impacted by this campaign and will remain intact.

⁷ KPMG Intelligence “Member Satisfaction Research 2022.” Conducted September 2022 on behalf of Serenia Life Financial.

⁸ Accessing the policy’s cash value will reduce the available cash surrender value and death benefit.

⁹Serenia Life Financial’s member benefits and program are not contractual. They are subject to change and maximum funding limits.

¹⁰For more details, please contact us through Member Services at 1-800-563-6237 or at 300-470 Weber Street North, Waterloo, ON N2L 6J2. You may view our Privacy Policy online at serenialife.ca/privacy-policy/.

* Illustration only, as of January 2025. Age 0 based on female regular rates, and on $25,000 20-pay permanent life insurance coverage. Monthly premium $31.28 payable for 20 years. Age 0 based on male regular rates, and on $25,000 20-pay permanent life insurance coverage. Monthly premium $31.95 payable for 20 years. All numbers in Canadian dollars.

* Illustration only, as of January 2025. Age 10 based on female regular rates, and on $25,000 20-pay permanent life insurance coverage. Monthly premium $39.15 payable for 20 years. Age 10 based on male regular rates, and on $25,000 20-pay permanent life insurance coverage. Monthly premium $39.15 payable for 20 years. All numbers in Canadian dollars.

* Illustration only, as of January 2025. Age 15 based on female regular rates, and on $25,000 20-pay permanent life insurance coverage. Monthly premium $41.63 payable for 20 years. Age 15 based on male regular rates, and on $25,000 20-pay permanent life insurance coverage. Monthly premium $43.65 payable for 20 years. All numbers in Canadian dollars.

**Get the money you paid for your coverage back in the event of policy surrender (ROPS), expiry (ROPE), or death (ROPD); Return of Premiums (ROP) are optional benefits available for an extra cost at the time a policy is issued. Not all ROPs are available for all coverage lengths; speak to a Serenia Life advisor for more information.