There are numerous articles helping with life insurance tips but mostly one can find just several pieces of advice there. Would it not be great to have all those saving tricks and tips at one place? We created such a list for life insurance! This list is the most comprehensive overview of all opportunities to save on Life Insurance in Canada and it was created after numerous discussions with many insurance brokers If you find this list useful, bookmark it and share with others! So, let’s start!1. Age: Apply for the policy when you are young and your premiums will be lower.2. Round-up your age wisely: If you decide to buy a life insurance policy, make sure that your age rounds down and not up, i.e. if you are going to be 30 years old on December 31, buy the policy in the first 6 months of the year where your age is still rounded down to 29 and not 30.3. Good health: If you are in a good health and have a good build (ratio of weight and height) when you apply for a life insurance policy, insurers will reward that with lower premiums.4. Non-smokers: Stop smoking well in advance (at least a year) before applying for a policy – otherwise your premiums will double.5. Good driving record: Ensure you have a good driving record before applying – a bad driving record is punished by life insurance provider (as by auto insurers) – your premiums will go up by extra 25-50%.6. Gender: Female policyholders pay on average 25% less than male policyholders. Changing your gender will not really help – insurers consider the gender you were born with.7. No depression: Mental health matters – those with a history of depressions pay between 50% and 200% more.8. Family history: Having a healthy family without any serious diseases lowers your life insurance premiums as you are less likely to face a critical illness. Known serious issues in your family’s medical history can increase the premiums by 50% to 250%.9. Your medical history: Having a healthy medical history in the past (not equal to the good current health state in the moment of application) has impact on your health insurance. If you’ve had serious issues, some potential disease cases can be excluded from your coverage.10. No excessive drinking: If you do not have any drinking issues, you can benefit from lower insurance rates – otherwise your premiums can increase by up to 50%. An intensive drinker would be considered somebody who drinks 3-4 beers a day.11. Term instead of other insurance types: Choose Term insurance products instead of e.g. Universal Life. The first one is a pure insurance product whereas the latter one represents a combination of life insurance and investment product and often costs more.12. Getting in shape: If you already have a life insurance policy and got in shape compared to your state when you signed up for a policy (e.g. spending hours in a gym), you can request a re-view of your life insurance premiums.13. Driving offenses coming off your record: If your driving record improved while you have a life insurance policy, you can review your premiums with your insurer and get them reduced (typical time for smaller offenses to come off your driving record is 3 years)14. Stop smoking: If you have a policy which you got when you were a smoker, stopping smoking and demonstrating to your insurer that you have not returned to it for at least 1 year will reduce your insurance premiums. Smokers typically pay double amount of premiums!15. Stop drinking: Similar story with drinking – demonstrate that you had 1 year of no drinking and it will be reflected in your adjusted premiums for an existing life insurance policy.16. Group Life insurance: Group Life Insurance can be an alternative to your Personal Life insurance if your employer offers sufficient coverage – at least you are protected as long as you work for the company.17. Employee / Union members: Some companies offer discounts to union members (e.g. IBM Canada or Research in Motion)18. Drop unnecessary additional coverages: Check additional riders offered with a life policy to decide if you need them e.g. Accident death benefit (higher payouts in case of death through an accident), term conversion rider (in case you want convert your Universal policy into Term)19. Avoid guaranteed issue life policy: People with good health do not need a guaranteed issue life insurance policy (these are policies that do not require a medical exam but they cost more) – do a health check / exam and enjoy lower life insurance premiums.20. Professional Membership: Are you a member of a professional organization (e.g. Certified Management Accountants of Canada or The Air Canada Pilots Association)? Then some insurance companies offer you a discount.21. One policy for your spouse and you: You can get one policy for both your spouse and you – it will be often cheaper than two single life insurance policies (also called a multi-life policy)22. Adjust coverage amount: Make sure that you are not taking more insurance coverage (but also not less) than needed: perhaps $1,000,000 is enough – ask yourself and your insurance advisor if you really need $2,000,000?23. Less-risky jobs: Not being involved into dangerous jobs like a member of the police bomb squad will help to avoid additional insurance premiums.24.Shop around: Search, Compare, and switch insurance companies. There are many insurance providers and their price offerings for the same policies can be very different, therefore use multiple online tools and talk to several brokers since each will cover a limited number of insurance companies.25. Alumni: Graduates from certain Canadian universities ( e.g University of Toronto, McGill University) might be eligible for a discount at certain Insurance providers.26. Annual vs. monthly payments: In comparison to monthly payments, annual payments save insurers administrative costs (e.g. sending bills) and therefore they reward you lower premiums.27. Welcome discount: Some insurers offer a so called welcome discount!
Art History and the Expansion of Human Consciousness
How can art history be explained in terms of human consciousness? What is the link between the cave paintings of primitive man and the conceptual work of artists today? What does a skull adorned with jewels (For the Love of God by Damien Hirst) or a head made out of the artist´s blood (Self by Marc Quinn) have in common with a rough outline of a bison drawn on a cave wall? It comes down to a definition of art which involves the opening up of the human mind. We could say that art is simply about employing a range of media to produce an accurate representation of the world around us, and that is good enough in most cases, but that is only half the story.Art is inseparable from its social context. It is inspired by its political, religious and intellectual environment and can change it too. Good art will always encourage change. When the first caveman painted a bison on his cave wall it would have caused a sensation because no one had seen such a thing before. Crowds would have gathered to admire it and talk about it, no less so than when Michelangelo unveiled his first David or completed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It is the originality of the work, the skill gone into producing it as well as the catalytic effect it creates in our minds which makes it art. Our first caveman artist, by taking something that his tribe were used to seeing alive and running around and placing it on the wall as a recognizable reproduction, had made something completely new in human terms. In doing so, he expanded the artistic consciousness of his fellow natives, a leap from known reality to imagined reality, a leap that separated his age from the ones that had gone before, and in this way opened up an infinite number of new possibilities for the future.Similarly, every new step forward in art history is exciting and challenging because it expands the cultural awareness of its audience. This can lead to change in political or religious views. When renaissance artists began with traditional religious symbols and then introduced realism into that sacred world they paved the way for a new type of art, art which did not simply illustrate bible stories and adorn churches, but which could portray the lives of ordinary people and comment on social values. This suggested that there was something else worth preserving other than religion. Realism in art urged people to look at themselves as individuals. Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci were such skilled masters of their art that their portraits were as much insights into the personality of the sitter as a representation of their features.As techniques for producing photographic levels of realism were improved the way to the great neo classical works of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was paved, which were not only technically brilliant pieces of art, but capable of passing as social commentaries on the political and cultural landscape of their time, influencing opinion and ideas. A skilled artist could paint a compelling portrait of a political leader and at the same time fill the work with telling symbols which either praised or criticized that person´s views. The French artist David is a brilliant example of political commentary in art.With the invention of photography, artists were encouraged to search for new ways of portraying their world, such as the Impressionists who interpreted light and colour in their work. Monet, Renoir and others, broke away from the realism of the past and produced works which attempted to portray feelings and emotions through an understanding of nature.The twentieth century saw a break with the past and the change the artistic geniuses of this age brought about did not (and still doesn’t´t!) sit easily with some people. The argument as to what constitutes real art goes on. Not everyone is open to a conscience expanding experience and even now modern art is seen by some as a con. It can be years before some artists are appreciated. Picasso, Dali, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and many others in the twentieth century experimented with new perspectives, notably Abstract, Surrealist, Cubist and Pop art, reflecting trends in new technology, science, psychology and manners, but these artists can stretch the comprehension of the ordinary viewer.Today´s artists in the twenty-first century have an even bigger challenge. Everything has already been done (hasn´t it?) so finding new ways of expanding our awareness through art is becoming harder. The Turner Prize specializes in sourcing original artistic concepts and often scandalizes by doing so. In the search for conscious expanding works, sometimes errors of judgment occur. But there is no limit to human creativity and no end to the story of art. Art will continue to evolve and real breaks with the past will continue to stun audiences into new ways of thinking about the present.