Desjardins Insurance is definitely a key player in the Canadian annuity market and should be considered as one of your top options if you are looking to purchase an annuity.
In simple terms, an annuity is an insurance product where you exchange a lump sum amount of money with an insurance company and in return they provide a guaranteed stream of income payments— typically paid monthly and for your entire life. You can customize annuities in many different ways with guarantee periods, make them joint with a spouse and even indexed so the payments increase each year to keep pace with inflation. Annuities can play a great piece of the puzzle in your retirement income plan.
What is Responsible Investing / Investments?
Desjardins has gone a step further to separate themselves in the Canadian annuity market. They have been offering “Resonsible Investments” (RI), also referred to as “sustainable investments” or “socially responsible investments” for over 30 years. They have the widest range of responsible investment products in Canada and are the first insurance company in Canada to provide responsible annuities. This means that Desjardins incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when it comes to how they choose to invest the money of their clients.
This all started in 1990 when Desjardins started an environmental fund called Desjardins Environment Fund. For an insurance provider to be offering environmentally friendly investment choices for clients in the early 90s was unheard of. Many investment providers still do not offer environmentally friendly investment options for their clients in 2022. This decision was in line with Desjardins core mission and values which included contributing to the economic and social well-being of communities and the individuals that live within them.
How Does It Work?
When an annuity is purchased, the insurance company will use a portion of the money that you have given to them to fund your annuity payments. They also invest this money to serve many other purposes including paying other clients annuity payments, claims and more.
The money that is invested for future purposes, Desjardins Insurance will pool this money (all of the annuity premiums that they collect from clients, such as yourself) and they invest the money using a responible investment approach. As described above, this takes in consideration environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when they are deciding how to invest the premiums that they are receiving from their clients. They do so while looking for the most attractive returns possible.
Click here to read a detailed overview of the program offered by Desjardins Insurance.
Conclusion
Long story short, if you are an environmentally friendly investor and want to deal with an insurance company in Canada who is true to your values, you definitely want to purchase your insurance products from a company like Desjardins Insurance. Not only do they offer very competitive annuity products, but they also have some of the most competitive life insurance and investment products available in Canada.