Life Insurance and Living Benefits

While there are many different types of life insurance in Canada, the correct type of insurance will be determined by your personal needs and financial position in life. This blog concentrates only on the cost of 10 and 20 year term insurance, and the difference can be huge. Term insurance is a policy which provides a death benefit for a predetermined amount of coverage. The death benefit is guaranteed in a standard policy and the premium is locked in for the period of the term, 10 years or 20 years, depending on the policy. For a 10 year term plan, your premiums will remain the same for 10 years. After that, a policy can renew (no medical required) and your premium increases to a new premium which is listed in the policy. This way there are no surprises. If you do not want to continue with the policy, simply stop paying premiums and the policy will lapse. Continue paying the premium and you may keep the policy until the policy expires at age 75, for example. The likel...

I have been in the insurance business for over 30 years and a question that continues to arise is, “What is the best type of insurance to own?” Is it term insurance or whole life insurance? Experience tells me that the best insurance to own is the type of insurance that is in force when you die! I have never had a family approach me after a loved one or business partner’s death to ask the question, “What kind of insurance did they own?” Rather the question is, “Were the premiums paid up to date?”, or “How much is the death benefit?” Yes, there are several different types of polices and yes each type of policy can be vastly different than one another. Is a policy permanent? Will it cover a short term problem? Are premiums guaranteed? Is there a cash value? And, are there tax consequences? These are all fundamental differences. Never overlook the most basic premise. If you died tonight, will the death benefit in your policy do what you want it to do? A $100,000 d...

S o what does a financial planner know about real estate? Nothing, except that I wanted to sell my house for top dollar. I’m a financial planner, not a real estate agent. That being said I wanted top dollar for my home, so I had a vested interest. Here is what we did, and it worked. We sold our house recently and between the real estate agent and my wife, we actually sold the house on the very first viewing the day after it was listed, for 100% of the asking price in Bedford NS. Now I’m not a real estate agent, but I understand sales  and I know things just don’t sell that fast, so how did we do it? The first thing we did was to listen to our real estate agent about the pricing. Of course we thought the house was worth more than what the market analysis showed- everyone does. However, we wanted to be fair to ourselves, the agent and a potential buyer.  We built the house 10 years ago and had designed it for our family with all the things we wanted in a home. ...

My home phone number for the past 25 years has been the same. It was associated with the telephone which was plugged into the wall, known as my land line; not to be confused with the phone I use on my friends boat which was not a land line, it was a house boat. Maxwell Smart from the 1960 television series used to have a shoe phone, literally, a phone in his shoe, and even when I started in business I had a car phone bolted onto the dash of my car. Yesterday I received a call on my iphone and my computer and my iwatch both started to buzz! I didn’t know what to answer - my camera, my computer, or my watch. Regardless I missed the call, no wonder I get confused sometimes. It’s also hard to find a payphone, who has a quarter to use one even if you found one? So when I cancelled my house phone, I transferred the old number to my office account. I didn’t call the phone company to do this, I talked to the lady who hosts my internet. So my old house phone is no longer a phone, ...

A few nights ago my neighbour came across the street to inform me that another vehicle had hit my parked truck at a speed of about 50 km per hour. I’m not really sure if injuries occurred, as the driver quickly backed up, turned the headlights lights off to conceal the licence plate, and sped off into the night. Although my Ford F150 truck is sturdy, some parts of truck were jolted ahead more than a foot, while other parts remained in place. My neighbour heard the collision and noted the hit and run driver was in a minivan. The police offered several comments, however the chances of catching this person was slim to none. I couldn’t help but think about the personal violation and the personal cost to me based on someone else’s actions. While the “hit” may not have been intentional, the “run” was definitely on purpose.   The next morning I searched the neighbourhood for a damaged van, but the effort was fruitless. I was almost dizzy from circling all the streets and cour...

"Santa Claus buys life insurance" said Soleus Winters with Upper North Life Insurance Co.  Upper North is best known for their frozen asset distribution facility based in Iceland.    Winters said he enjoyed the conversation with Santa Claus over a snack served with buttermilk and shortbread cookies.  “It was a memorable meeting to say the least” said Winters. Every question was answered correctly, and each was checked twice. Santa had met with Winters and the North Pole attorney, Pot Hole to discuss an estate freeze. Things were dancing like sugar plums with Santa, Winters and Hole said; and then it was time for the medical questions. With the wink of an eye, Winters asked “Do you smoke?” Santa answered slowly as his marshmallow like hand tenderly embraced the corncob pipe which he had received from his good friend Frosty the snowman. “Just a little” he said “and I don’t inhale either. I just do it because I like the smoke rings which circle my hat”. “A...

Depending on what days you might work around Christmas, we only have 30 workdays left in 2015. While the Christmas rush is not necessarily upon us, the final 30 days of your work year certainly are. Whatever your 2015 New Year’s resolutions were, and no matter what your 2015 business and personal objectives were, you only have 30 days to make it all count. So, here is a question for you: What can you do in the next 30 work days that will help you complete 2015 in the best way you can? Are you going to close every last piece of business you can? Or, are you going to open as much as you can to get a jump on 2016? Regardless of your direction, the final 30 days are important. It’s the last leg of the year. Do you call your top 30 clients and ask them if you can help them in any way? Do you make a list of projects that need to be completed before the ball drops on 2015? Do you look back over 2015 and call all the clients you sold, and wish them a happy holiday? The specific ac...