That's interesting... I was always under the assumption that you just buy a life insurance policy and that's it. You don't get to see the fine print on contracts.. (That's not exactly true, as you get a copy of the contract.

I guess what I'm saying is that when you sit with the life insurance agent, you can ask all the questions you want, however it seems really difficult to fully understand what you're buying.

I tried to call the life insurance company (AIG Life Insurance) and they said I would have to go through the agent to get any information on my life insurance policy.

I think that's pretty scary. I bought my policy 7 years ago and don't really remember who I bought it from.

Since I purchased my policy, I've gained weight and have had a bit of a problem with high cholesterol... I'm really curious to know what the life insurance company is going to think about these when I go to renew my policy in a few years.

Any ideas?

I am starting to beef up my life insurance for Canadians website and the life insurance area on this website.

I was talking an agent whose client had trouble with one of the life insurance carriers and was telling me about it.

I believe it was Manulife Insurance Canada that he had the problem with, but don't quote me.

The client purchased a policy that he wanted his son to be able to cash out on the son's 21st birthday. He bought the policy when the child was 1 year old. The client paid faithfully for 20 years.

20 Years later, the client realized that the son couldn't cash out the life insurance policy in the son's name. The client and the owner of the policy had to cash out the policy. The client was furious and the life insurance company wouldn't / couldn't budget on their contract / policies.

The agent said that it was a case that the client didn't fully understand the mechanics of the policy when he purchased it 20 years ago.

The advice he gave was that the client should have explained exactly what he wanted to the sales agent, and made sure that he understand the policy. Then he should have read the fine print to understand actually what he was getting and what he would have to do at the time he was going to cash out the policy.

This agent had a great idea. Ask the sales agent who sells you the policy to explain the procedure to cash out the policy , even if it's 20 years down the road. This way you won't be surprised.

I can imagine that this client was trying to give a wonderful gift but didn't really take the time to learn what he was purchasing. He carried around false beliefs and poor understanding for 20 years, and thus was disappointed when he went to cash out his policy.

Like with every financial product... READ THE FINE PRINT!!