Insurance can easily be overcomplicated into something its not. At its base, Insurance is a form of risk management - the reason people pay for insurance is to reduce the risk of future events. For example, a person may buy car insurance in order to reduce the risk of having to pay high car repair fees if they get into an accident.

The most common forms of insurance - home insurance, car insurance, and travel insurance, are designed to protect against financial risk. In other words, you don't purchase travel insurance to reduce the risk of getting injured on vacation - instead, you purchase travel insurance to reduce the risk of having to pay lots of medical fees if you get injured while on vacation.

In Canada, not anyone can offer insurance. You must be licensed by the Canadian government (also known as being given a "charter") in order to offer insurance to Canadian citizens. Insurance in Canada is usually bought via an insurance broker.