Waterloo is a distinctive market for insurance planning. Canada’s tech corridor, home to the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, Communitech, and hundreds of professional-services firms serving the insurance, financial, and technology sectors. Waterloo families and business owners are more likely than the Canadian average to research thoroughly, compare carriers, ask hard questions, and expect their broker to earn every recommendation.
Glenn Stewart Insurance is an independent Waterloo-region broker that shops across 20+ top Canadian carriers on your behalf. We’re licensed under Ontario LLQP (Life License Qualification Program), based in Kitchener with clients across Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and the surrounding region, and focused on the four coverage areas that matter most for Waterloo families and professionals: life, health, travel, and wealth planning.
Book a free 20-minute consultation, no obligation, and we’ll walk through your current coverage and any gaps.
Two paths for buying insurance in Canada:
Captive agents (e.g. the person at your bank branch) sell only their employer’s products. If Sun Life’s term life is the right fit, great. If it isn’t, they can’t help you compare.
Independent brokers work with 20+ carriers and shop them all for you. Same LLQP licensing, same regulatory oversight, no allegiance to one insurer. For Waterloo residents who value having the market compared honestly, this is usually the difference between “OK coverage” and “the right coverage.”
Glenn Stewart Insurance is the second kind.
Term life for families with mortgages and young kids (typically 10, 20, or 30 year terms), whole life or universal life for families building long-term wealth or estate coverage, mortgage protection insurance as an alternative to bank-sold coverage, and final expense insurance for straightforward end-of-life planning. As an independent broker, we compare all 20+ Canadian carriers so you see the real rates side by side. See our detailed term life page for a deeper explanation of what to expect.
If you left an employer plan, work for yourself, or contract through a Waterloo-region tech company without full benefits, private health, dental, and vision coverage is broker-brokerable. We also handle critical illness insurance (lump-sum payout for cancer, heart attack, stroke, and 20+ other covered conditions) and disability coverage. See our critical illness page.
Coverage for Waterloo residents heading south for winter (snowbird policies), families vacationing internationally (trip cancellation + medical), students spending semesters abroad, and visitors to Canada on super visas (parents visiting Waterloo need IRCC-compliant coverage). Our travel medical and trip cancellation pages walk through the specifics.
Coordinated retirement planning (RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs), children’s education savings (RESPs including catching up on Canada Education Savings Grant), estate planning (wills, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations across registered accounts), and business owner planning (individual pension plans, key-person coverage, buy-sell agreements). See our wealth planning and estate planning pages for the deep-dives. We coordinate with your lawyer and accountant, not around them.
Waterloo is not a monolithic market. We work with clients across:
The right coverage looks different for a young UW faculty family than for a Beechwood retiree, same broker, different plan.
Are you licensed to sell insurance in Waterloo?
Yes. Ontario LLQP licensing covers Life, Accident & Sickness (health), and travel insurance across the province, including Waterloo. Wealth planning products may require additional registrations we work with clients on for their specific needs.
Do you meet clients in Waterloo, or only in Kitchener?
Both. We meet Waterloo clients at their home, at their business, at cafes in Uptown Waterloo, or via Zoom. Whatever is easiest for you.
Are your services free?
Yes. Insurance broker compensation comes from the carrier, not from you. Comparing rates, running quotes, meeting to review coverage, and annual reviews are all at no cost to you.
What if I already have insurance through my Waterloo employer?
Employer group plans are a great foundation but rarely enough. Group life is often 1-2x salary (usually not enough for a family with a mortgage), group disability may cap at a level well below your actual income, and if you leave the job or the company changes carriers, you lose the coverage. We help you understand what’s genuinely covered, what’s underfunded, and what personal policies fill the gaps.
How much does insurance cost in Waterloo?
Depends heavily on age, health, coverage amount, and product type. Rough range for a healthy 35-year-old Waterloo resident: term life 20-year $500k = $25-35/mo, private health family plan = $150-350/mo, snowbird travel policy = $600-1,800/season, critical illness $100k = $50-90/mo. Quotes are always free; ask us for specifics for your situation.
Do you work with clients outside Waterloo?
Yes. We serve Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and the surrounding southern Ontario region. See our Kitchener page for the primary service area.
Every year without an annual insurance review is a year your coverage might quietly drift out of alignment with your actual life. Book a free 20-minute discovery call with Glenn Stewart Insurance and let’s see what’s genuinely working and what could be better.
Call (519) 896-9970 or use the contact form to schedule.
