Last Updated on July 22, 2025 by Jacques Wong, B.Sc.
This segregated funds course will provide an in-depth look into segregated funds – also called Individual Variable Insurance Contracts (IVIC). However, despite having insurance in the name, they are different from normal insurance products that you might learn about in our other insurance licensing exam prep courses.
What Are Segregated Funds And How Are They Different From Mutual Funds?
Mutual funds let investors pool their money to be managed by a qualified investment firm. This allows investors to easily diversify their investments and protect against market volatility.
Segregated funds are similar in that way but they also include insurance guarantees that can protect your original investment. Maturity and death benefit guarantees can be used to protect between 75-100% of your initial investment. Even if the market drops, you’ll get most of your original investment back at policy maturity. You can also use “resets” to lock in your market gains that you will receive as part of the principal at maturity or death.
Because of the benefits of this being both an investment and insurance product, it can be very useful in estate planning (beneficiaries can receive the money without going through the estate) and for creditor and liability protection.
All this comes at a cost however, segregated funds generally have higher fees than mutual funds due to the more complex structure. Segregated funds are also usually more conservative in their investment approach meaning more modest returns but lower risk.
Many life insurance companies in Canada offer segregated fund products including Canada Life, Sun Life, RBC, and more. Although the specifics and names of products vary, they all aim to achieve the same goal.
Segregated funds are useful for tax, estate and asset protection planning but come with high fees. They allow investors to grow their money with insurance-like downside protection. This makes seg funds useful for those approaching retirement as well.
Segregated Funds Courses
In our LLQP Segregated Funds course, we’ll cover topics like:
- Introduction to Mutual Funds
- Taxation of Mutual Funds
- Introduction to Segregated Funds & Death Benefits
- Reset Dates
- Deposit & Maturity
- Taxation of Segregated Funds
- Structure of Segregated Funds
- Types of Clients Seg Funds are suitable for
If you’re simply looking for LLQP CE credits, we have a Segregated Funds CE Course available as well accredited for 2 CE hours in most provinces.
Contact us via email or live chat to learn more.