There's never been a better time to be a consumer of financial services. Fierce competition and a growing selection of products have made the financial marketplace increasingly consumer accountable and consumer friendly. To borrow a phrase from real estate professionals - "It's a buyers market out there right now!".

Let's look at a few examples. Trends in the insurance business over the past few years have made term life insurance much more consumer friendly. Intense competition between insurance companies plus the fact that people are living longer and healthier have driven term prices down by approximately 40% in the past 3 years alone! People who have existing term products are often pleasantly surprised at how much they can save if they shop and compare.

Along with intense competition and people living longer, another factor has made term insurance a better buy than ever. Consumers increasingly have access to (and demand!) an insurance representative that represents not just one, but many different insurance companies. Recently I had a prospective client (male, non-smoker, 45 yrs. old), request a quote for a $1,000,000, 20-Year guaranteed term policy. The best rate was from a top-rated company that specializes in term insurance and they quoted a premium of $178.65 per month. The highest rate company wanted $605.70 per month for the same product! This translates into a difference of over $5,000 per year for the next 20 years - that's $100,000 ! In this particular case choice equaled significant savings. Consumers are moving up the learning curve and demanding better choice and better selection from their insurance advisors - and increasingly this translates into a lower cost of ownership.

Disability insurance is another example of choice being good for the consumer. There are 4 insurance companies that sell top-of-the-line "Non-Cancelable" Disability Insurance. (This is the product that most consumers should consider because it is the only product that guarantees the insurance company can't unilaterally change their premium, their wording, or their benefits. All other Disability Insurance contracts don't have these built-in guarantees.)

Because the underwriting of a "Non-Can" disability insurance policy is much stricter than life insurance, insurance companies are much more selective about who they will insure. When a client has a medical difficulty in their past, quite often an insurance company will make an offer with what is know as an "exclusion". For example, recently I worked with a client with a history of cancer 7 years ago. Even though he has been free of any complications for the past 7 years, the first disability insurance company we approached offered a contract with an exclusion for all cancers and with a 30% increase in premiums. The exclusion meant that if this individual became disabled because of cancer, the insurance company would not pay. After discussing the implications, my client decided to make offers to other top-rated insurance companies in the hope of a better bid. As it turned out, one of these companies did come back with a better offer - a contract free of exclusions and premium surcharges. Pleased with his persistence, my client accepted this policy. Because of choice, and the service of a broker who was able shop the disability marketplace, today my client is in a much stronger position to ensure his continued financial prosperity.

Change has become a constant in the financial marketplace, and many of the recent changes in financial services have been very positive for the consumer. More competition, and the consumer's ability to "shop-the marketplace" through independent brokers and advisors have driven prices down on many insurance products. As both a seller and a consumer of financial products, it has become apparent that the trend to a more consumer friendly marketplace has made a real difference to Canadians. Even better, I believe, is that these remarkable trends are likely to continue. Two thumbs up for change!