Protecting Your Family
Let’s face it, raising a family today can be financially challenging. The cost of living continues to increase, housing costs are rising along with education and extra-curricular activities for our children. It is tough to make ends meet and still have something left over at the end of each month.
Most families today require both parents to work to afford the lifestyle they enjoy. Losing one of those incomes through premature death, illness or a disability is a real risk that many families would have a difficult time facing emotionally and financially.
How do you protect your family?
- Life insurance is designed to protect your family by providing the resource to replace income, pay off debt, and fund future education costs in the event that one of the parents dies.
- Disability, or income replacement insurance, is designed to replace lost income if an individual is not able to work due to accident or sickness.
- Critical Illness insurance will pay a lump sum benefit in the event of a diagnosis of many major illnesses.
The Importance of Critical Illness Insurance in Retirement Planning
There are a number of obstacles that could potentially de-rail a comfortable retirement. These include marriage breakdown, a stock market crash, and being sued. Another huge obstacle would be the diagnosis of a life threatening critical illness affecting you or your spouse. While it might be difficult to insulate yourself against some of the threats to retirement security, Critical Illness insurance goes a long way to mitigate the financial disaster that could result from a change in health as we approach retirement.
Considering that the wealth of many Canadians is comprised of the equity in their homes and the balance of their retirement plans, having to access funds to combat a dreaded illness could put their retirement objectives in jeopardy. Imagine that you are just a few years into or approaching retirement and you or your spouse suffers a stroke. The prognosis is for a long recovery and the cost associated with recovery and care is projected to be substantial. Statistics show that 62,000 Canadians suffer a stroke each year* with over 80% surviving* many of whom would require ongoing care. Since 80% of all strokes happen to Canadians over 60 those unlucky enough could definitely see their retirement funding jeopardized. Read more 
Boomer + Sandwich Generation + Club Sandwich + Boomerang = Financial Instability
The Sandwich Generation was a term coined by Dorothy Miller in 1981 to describe adult children who were “sandwiched” between their aging parents and their own maturing children. There is even a term for those of us who are in our 50’s or 60’s with elderly parents, adult children and grandchildren – the Club Sandwich. More recently, the Boomerang Generation (the estimated 29% of adults ranging in ages 25 to 34, who live with their parents), are adding to the financial pressures as Boomers head into retirement. It is estimated that by 2026, 1 in 5 Canadians will be older than 65. This means fewer adults to both fund and provide for elder care. Today, it is likely that the average married couple will have more living parents than they do children.
What are the challenges? Read more
Shared Ownership Critical Illness
Shared Ownership refers to a concept where more than one party owns an interest in an insurance policy. The most common of these arrangements is where the corporation is the owner and beneficiary of the death benefit and the shareholder or employee owns the cash value of the policy.
Recently there has been growing interest in applying this strategy to a Critical Illness policy. Although the CI policy does not have cash value, there is usually an option to have a Return of premium (ROP) in the following situations:
- Upon death – If the insured dies without having submitted a claim for critical illness the premiums paid are refunded;
- Upon Termination – If the policy reaches its termination age without a claim being made, the premiums paid are refunded;
- Upon Surrender – If the policy is surrendered without a claim, premiums paid are refunded.
