Life Insurance and Living Benefits

A fact of life is that people do get sick.   While disability insurance is a financial product used to replace an income for a working spouse, a non-employed or stay at home mom or dad does not qualify for disability income protection. This is when a Critical Illness policy can add value.  Aside from medical expenses, child care expenses or medical related travel costs, the working spouse often suffers an income loss when their spouse suffers an illness. Critical Illness coverage can provide a tax-free lump sum payment to help the family financially, and premiums are more affordable than one might think. For example, a non-smoking 30 year-old stay at home mom or dad can purchase a $100,000 policy covering over 25 illnesses for about $30 per month. In comparison, Halifax Metro Transit charges $78 per month for a bus pass, and cable TV and internet cost over $150 per month for a basic plan. A Critical Illness policy offers peace of mind, so you can recover with fa...

If your site and its posts are not easily scannable, you run the risk of losing your reader to another blog. 1. Jot it Down Similarly to Glen I tend to jot down a lot of ideas in my ‘Dream Notes’. I use a Moleskine notebook and Text Files on my desktop (it’s a little chaotic). In my notes I have hundreds of post ideas, half-finished thoughts, ideas for series of posts, possible case studies etc. A lot of it wouldn’t make sense to anyone else but it’s where many good ideas emerge from. 2. Review it Periodically I get my musings and dream notes out to see what might emerge from them. Sometimes I directly take an idea and develop it from the notes I’ve taken (many of my list posts come almost directly from my dream notes which I’ve written down as a list of headings.) 3. Mashup What I especially like about this chaotic little collection of ideas are the points of intersection between ideas. Often an idea by itself is weak; but when I combine it with something else I’ve ...

Good bloggers keep this in mind as they write and will employ a variety of techniques to make their posts visually appealing to read. Some of these techniques include: Lists – Anecdotal evidence here at ProBlogger suggests that posts with bullet point lists in them get linked to ALOT more than similar length posts written in an essay style. Formatting – Use bold, CAPITALS, italics, underlining and teletext to emphasize points. Don’t go overboard as you run the risk of frustrating your reader. Also consider changing font size, color and style to draw your readers eyes to your main points. Headings and Sub Headings – Large, Bold words that act as visual cues of what is happening in the content are effective ways of drawing readers further into articles. Pictures – Research shows that readers eyes are drawn down the page by pictures. Place them cleverly by your key points (especially when they closely relate to the content) and will you have more of a chance of gettin...

W hen we were kids, it was O.K. to be sick. You got to stay home, you were fed ice cream and Popsicle's and the best thing was, you didn't have to go to school. Now the meaning of being sick has changed, now that we are grown-ups we don’t want to be sick. Being ill for the most part scares many people, especially when it comes to long term illnesses. Long term can be defined as the inability to do your job for 90 days or more. According to disability insurance carriers in Canada; if an individual is sick or hurt enough to be out for 90 days, statistics show that you will remain off work for 2-3 year depending on your age at the start of the disability. Protecting one’s self in the event of a disability is a basic financial strategy, yet financial planners often hear the expression “I’m insurance poor”, “I can’t afford the premiums”, or “It’s too expensive”. This is not a new adage either. Found in my desk drawer I keep a booklet first printed in 1920. The client object...

Y ou bought your home from an agent you trust, you qualified for the Mortgage because of good credit, you shopped for a great mortgage rate to save money, and when it came to the mortgage insurance, you simply signed on the dotted line without asking “Is this a good deal?”. Most people want to get life insurance when they buy a home, but are often too excited about the new house that they forget to ask any questions about the insurance. How many times have I heard, “I didn’t want to blow the deal, so I just signed”, or “the banker just told me to sign the document, so I did”. It’s not too late to look around, and yes , you can cancel the bank insurance if you want . Mortgage insurance at the bank is often very expensive for what you get. Here are 7 things about Bank Insurance you should know: 1. Money: Bank insurance is often very expensive when compared to a private policy. 2. Coverage: Bank insurance is tied to the mortgage, so if you pay off or reduce your mor...

There are no secrets to success, besides hard work. Nevertheless, one thing I have found to be fruitful and comes close to being a “secret to success” is this… “Do something every day that has the potential to earn $1,000.” Our lives and work keep us so busy that we sometimes don’t do the things we know make us successful. We talk on the phone too much, we spend too much time on the internet, we respond to emails as if a response is needed in 30 seconds or our computer will explode and we often spend too much time at the water cooler. In addition, we let the business run us, rather than us running the business.   So, if we were to change one thing that would make a long term impact towards our success; what would it be? At the end of the day, we need to take an inventory of what we have actually accomplished. Did we do all the right things? Did our “to do” list actually get smaller? Did all the important things get done? Did you do something that had the potential to ...

Every industry has its own jargon and acronyms which confuse the average person. The Life Insurance business is no less guilty when it comes to special terms and phrases. The intent of this blog is to provide some answers to some of the most commonly misunderstood insurance terms. Every policy, and every company has its own contractual definitions and you should check with your carrier for accurate meanings. The following definitions are being defined for general understanding: Death Benefit : The sum of money that will be paid at the death of a life insured. Beneficiary :  The person(s), company, or estate that the death benefit will be paid to; following the death of the life insured. Waiver of Premium : This is where the premiums for the insurance policy are paid by the insurance company if the life insured or the policy owner is disabled or dies. Guaranteed Insurance Benefit : This benefit is a contractual provision which allows the life insured to ...