Critical Illness: Should Your Children Be Insured?

In a world of unprecedented events, the topic of insurance has become more and more diverse. Covid-19 has taken the world by storm and we have been forced to not only change our way of living, but also our way of thinking. We’re concerned about our public exposure. We’re worried about our children going back to school. And we’re anxious about the future.

Child Critical Illness coverage isn’t something new, but it is an area that more parents and family members are considering. In the 70’s and 80’s, it was common for some grandparents to purchase life insurance for their grandchildren as a gift. It was inexpensive and it paid dividends over the long term. Fast forward to the 21st century, the frequency of purchasing Critical Illness insurance for children has increased. Earlier this year, this hit home at our firm when one of our staff members experienced a serious health issue with their child. Although they gained immediate support from family, friends, and of course healthcare workers, the illness still disrupted their life emotionally, physically, and financially. A pay out from a critical illness policy helped alleviate some of the stress during this time while they focused their care and efforts on their child.

Critical Illness (CI) insurance pays out a lump sum tax free to a beneficiary upon diagnosis of a serious illness. We’ve been using Child CI for many years and have noticed an increase in demand over the last year. This increase may be due to the state of our world, or that insurance is becoming top of mind in our economy. Some of the many advantages of this product for children are as follows:

  • Purchasers pay into the policy for 20 years with two options at the end:
    • 1) Keep the policy and never pay a premium again
    • 2) Cancel the policy and receive 100% of your premiums as a refund
  • A fracture option that pays a sum if a child breaks a bone
  • Option that returns all premiums on death
  • Life insurance built directly into the policy

If you’d like to explore this for your family, or share this with others who might benefit from learning about this product (e.g. Grandparents that may wish to gift this), please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help.

Connect Wealth is an independent financial planning firm that offers holistic advice to clients based on their current goals and future aspirations. We use well-established workflows and cutting edge technology to maximize planning efficiencies while simplifying the process for clients. Learn how you can maximize your financial opportunities at www.connectwealth.ca

taxes
In life and finances, the government is our biggest business partner, usually in the form of taxes.

If you are a business owner:
1.  You are a tax collector (payroll taxes, GST, PST).
2.  The government is your business partner (corporate taxes).

As a family, taxes are often your largest expense:
1.  Income tax (as high as 45.7% of every dollar you earn).
2.  Sales taxes (GST, PST).
3.  Property taxes, and so on.

Fortunately, the government has provided different vehicles to help us plan when we pay our taxes (RRSP, TFSA, pensions, IPPs). These can all be great vehicles to help us defer, smooth out and/or lower our tax bills.

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critical illness insurance

A recent study found over 8 million working Canadians are at risk of going into debt, delaying retirement or downsizing their home in order to cope with a critical illness.  When a critical illness occurs, the primary financial impacts are loss of income and inability to meet living expenses.

Critical illness insurance was created (by a doctor, not an insurance company) to help address these issues.  It provides a lump-sum payment upon diagnosis of any one of up to 25 serious illnesses, including heart attack, stroke and cancer. Read more

segregated-funds

In a world of constant investment changes, it’s hard to keep up with all distinctions between the various fund options. Mutual funds tend to be fairly straightforward, but when it comes to segregated funds, they do offer some distinct differences that some people may not be aware of when differentiating the two. What is a segregated fund you ask? In simple terms, it’s a mutual fund wrapped around an insurance contract with a tidy bow on top. But what does that actually mean to me as an investor?

Segregated Funds offer three fairly distinctive advantages and disadvantages: Read more