For Individuals
I am a licensed and professionally trained insurance representative providing independent insurance analysis and services for all your personal and business needs.
Products for Individuals
- Travel Health Insurance
- Supplementary Health
- Disability Income Plans
- Life Insurance
- Mortgage Protection Plans
- Individual Health, Dental, and Prescription Plans
- Substandard/Rated Programs
I will compare several different policy options, selected from among Canada’s best insurers, side by side. I will custom tailor a solution that’s best for you taking into account your needs, objectives, timelines and budget.
Life insurance is a type of coverage that pays benefits upon a person’s death to designated beneficiaries. In some cases there may be a maturity date where the insured, if still living, can receive the proceeds. A small premium gives you immediate coverage and provides for a large death benefit payable upon the death of the insured to provide capital to provide an income for dependents.
Tax deferred interest accounts are allowed with some types of life insurance to offer insurance in tandem with an investment component, which can allow increased funds to pass tax free to heirs. This advanced estate planning tool is used by tax specialists who maximize the estate value while using life insurance. The investment after achieving growth can enhance retirement income.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones.
Insurance continues to cover the life of the insured for life. Some plans can pay out cash at a certain age of maturity (usually age 100). These plans can offer tax-advantaged or premium prepayment incentives.
Permanent Life Insurance plans include:
- Whole Life, offering a level premium and a cash value table in the policy guaranteed by the insurer;
- Limited Premium Payment, where the policy can be paid up fully in a specific period of time (such as over 10 or 20 years; or paid up at age 65).
- Endowment Life where the cash value grows to a level equal to the insurance coverage, and
- Universal Life which is a hybrid mixture of life insurance and (potentially) tax sheltered or tax deferred investment.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones.
Term life insurance can be the least expensive up front with an increasing cost over the long term. Thus term insurance is used primarily when families are young with lower net worths.
Term insurance is less expensive but most term policies are only temporary:
- Temporary periods are set in periods such as 5, 10, or 20 years; or a lifetime level term to age 100.
- Other periods can run to age 65, 75.
- The premium remains constant for these terms.
- The lower cost of insurance for a certain level of death benefit is the essence of this plan, generally with less emphasis on a cash value, though some Term to age 100 plans have cash-out options, and some can be quickly paid up, while some also offer tax-deferral options.
- You can buy more term coverage for less premium. However, premium does increase upon each term period renewal (for example a five-year term rises in cost in the sixth and eleventh year and so on).
- Term insurance usually can generally be converted to Permanent Life Insurance coverage without medical underwriting, but check with your advisor about renewal and conversion options when you plan to buy a policy.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones
Disability Insurance provides a monthly income in the event you are incapacitated, and incapable of working due to an injury or illness. Often called “Income Replacement Insurance”, this coverage is important for self-employed individuals. It is also for those without disability insurance via their employer group benefits plan.
Your ability to earn income may be compromised through injury or illness if you become disabled. Your ability to pay bills or save for retirement could decline. Disability insurance plans are designed to help you meet necessary income requirements enabling you to concentrate on recovering from your disability and returning to an active income-generating life.
Generally, disability benefits are received if you can’t perform the duties of your own occupation, a similar job in your field, or any job at all. How soon and for how long you can collect benefits is determined by your policy contract.
Income protection can provide income for disabled professionals such as lawyers or doctors, small business owners like store owners, restuarant owners and staff, plumbers or carpenters, leading business executives, as well as full-, part-time or home-based workers.
Disability insurance benefits are payable on a monthly basis during a disability for the benefit period of the contract, which can vary. When you recover from a disability, the policy continues, usually payable again for a subsequent or recurring disability.
Most people are aware of the importance of life insurance, but rarely think about having a disability despite the statistics indicating they are quite common. Death is inevitable, while disability is probable at any given age.
Contact me today, let’s not protect you and your loved ones.
Critical Illness Insurance is a plan that typically will make a lump sum cash payment if a policyholder is diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses listed in the insurance policy.
These policies can cover serious illnesses that can cause loss of independence, such as the main health threats of cancer, heart attack, and stroke. Many more illnesses are covered. We can provide a list of the coverages as we go over the insurance planning with you and help you to select the right type of coverage for your needs.
The policy may also pay out regular income to a policyholder undergoing a surgical procedure, such as having a heart bypass operation.
The policy may require the policyholder to survive a minimum number of days from when the illness was first diagnosed (usually 30 days).
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones.
If a person is hard to insure, there are life insurance plans specifically designed for no medical underwriting for a lower face value. The premium may be slightly higher than a brokered insurance plan designed for healthy people. You will only have to answer a range of specific questions in the policy application.
Non-medical life insurance work best for people who:
- Have previously been turned down by insurers
- Are hard to insure
- Have been long-term smokers
- Are overweight
- Refuse or prefer not to take a medical exam
Before you purchase this type of plan, we can advise you of your options based on your health history, or if there are past failed applications. By shopping the market, we will find the most suitable plan for your situation. You may be able to be underwritten by certain insurers who accept more risk.
We will assess both regular and/or non-medical life insurance plans and may advise submitting both types of applications. Both traditional and non medical insurance plan benefits are paid 100% tax-free in Canada when paid to beneficiaries.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones..
Our governments do not provide us with the level of healthcare you may need. As they cut back their levels of health care coverage, you may be left to pay for expenses.
We offer plans such as:
- Prescription drugs
- Dental visits
- Eye exams
- Paramedical services
- Transportation by ambulance
Private Health and Dental Insurance plans are designed to cover individuals not protected or inadequately covered by a group health plan. These plans can benefit you by reducing your fees per visit to your dentist or health care provider.
Plans available offer:
- Single, couple or family coverage
- Potential tax-deductibility if you are self-employed
- Renewable coverage through to age 65
- Protection of the entire family, covering health, dental and prescription drug benefits
It makes sense to consider coverage for unexpected medical expenses that may supplement your current health care plan. These plans generally cover chiropractors, osteopaths, naturopaths, podiatrists, registered massage therapists, acupuncturists, physiotherapists, psychologists, homecare nursing and necessary medical devices and equipment.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones.
Mortgage insurance is creditor insurance where financial institutions offer to pay off the remainder of a mortgage if the mortgagor dies during the term of the mortgage. Another strategy to achieve this uses personally owned life insurance, which gives you more flexibility insuring your mortgage liability.
Compare the mortgage insurance your bank or financial institution uses for your mortgage creditor life insurance with buying your own personally owned term insurance.
Mortgage Life Insurance from the financial institution
- Premiums can be much higher
- The death benefit replaces only the remaining balance of your mortgage balance
- Premiums do not reduce when your mortgage debt is reduced
- The death benefit only pays off your remaining mortgage debt
- The contract stipulates that the financial institution is the only life insurance beneficiary
- You cannot alter the irrevocable beneficiary of the contract
- The entire amount of life insurance is lost upon mortgage repayment, or when in default
- The mortgage life insurance is not transferable to another financial institution or private lender
- When you move your mortgage to another firm, you generally lose the coverage issued from an existing institution. If you have health concerns you may not be able to buy more coverage
- Because so few health questions are required, underwriting is often done at time of claim, resulting in denied claims.
Creditor insurance may cover two parties who jointly mortgage their property. However, it pays only on the first death, even if the two were to die. When one spouse dies, creditor insurance no longer covers any survivors. In contrast, by owning your own insurance policy, two spouses or partners may each own separate life insurance death benefits. In the case where both parties die, double the benefit would be paid, thus adding increased value to the estate. If one survives, the coverage on that life continues.
Your own Term Insurance
- You can set up multiple beneficiaries, including a fund to pay off some or all of your mortgage debt.
- Beneficiaries can choose to not pay off the mortgage if they prefer to pay off higher interest debt
- You can add or revoke beneficiaries.
- Your life insurance face benefit amount does not shrink with a reducing mortgage debt, and can actually increase with some plans. Your coverage level is controlled by you.
- Most term plans are convertible to permanent plans, without a medical exam, even if your health declines.
- You needn’t qualify for new mortgage life insurance if you move your mortgage to a new financial institution. You just continue using your existing term plan, which covers you regardless where your mortgage is.
- Once your mortgage is repaid or reduced, you will have life insurance to cover other liabilities or for other estate planning purposes.
- Personally owned life insurance can normally be converted to permanent insurance for the same or a lesser amount.
- In most cases, you can reduce your coverage over time to ensure the proceeds pay your final expenses, removing financial burden from your loved ones.
- Term insurance allows you to buy coverage applicable to your entire capital needs, in the event of death.
- A custom life insurance plan often offers other optional benefits, such as riders that can include: life insurance coverage for children, an investment feature with tax advantages, disability coverage, critical illness coverage, or a bundled mixture of term and permanent life insurance.
- Many plans offer level premiums for longer periods, and some life insurance plans can be prepaid.
- You have more control over the cost of premiums, which can go up over time if you don’t own and control the life insurance contract.
- Your insurer underwrites your policy when you apply for it. Other mortgage life insurance from a financial institution offers you little control and may choose to underwrite your health history at claim time.
Summary: Your own term insurance has many more benefits than mortgage creditor insurance.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones.
Planning for Your Long-Term Care Needs
As the population continues to age, the need for long-term care is becoming increasingly critical. Statistics Canada reports that the ratio of seniors over 85 has doubled since the 1920s and is projected to increase fivefold by the 2050s. This means that in just 40 years, half the Canadian population will be over the age of 85.
Long-term care is an often-overlooked aspect of retirement planning, yet it can have a massive financial impact. As we age, many of us will lose the ability to perform basic daily activities like bathing, dressing, and even remembering simple tasks. Without assistance, this can make independent living near-impossible.
While government healthcare programs provide some coverage, the reality is that facilities are often understaffed and subject to strict regimes that limit the quality of care. Private long-term care facilities, on the other hand, can cost upwards of $250,000 for 5 years of 24/7 nursing care – an expense that most retirees have not adequately planned for.
This is where Home Care Insurance (HCI) comes into play. HCI is a specially designed insurance contract that provides coverage for chronic illness, disability, or accident-related care needs as we age. Much like life and disability insurance protect younger families’ incomes, LTCI safeguards your retirement savings and protects your loved ones from the financial strain of providing long-term care. Even better, it provides for care at home, where particularly after the COVID 19 pandemic, surveys show that most consumers would prefer to stay instead of in a facility.
From a tax planning perspective, HCI premiums may also be eligible for deductions, further enhancing the value proposition. And when structured properly, HCI can be integrated into your overall estate plan to ensure a smooth transfer of wealth to your beneficiaries.
The time to act is now, as the retiring baby boomer generation will increasingly depend on long-term care solutions. By proactively addressing this critical aspect of retirement planning, you can provide for your own needs while also protecting your family’s financial well-being. Contact me today to discuss how LTCI and other insurance-based strategies can be customized to meet your unique goals.
There are many ways to reduce your estate liabilities. You work hard to earn a living, save for retirement, and own property. It is important to know what your estate liabilities are in relation to: capital gains, mortgage debt, car loans, unpaid taxes, and business-related liabilities.
Reduce the impact of income taxes.
Here are some methods to reduce taxes due upon your death:
- Use the spousal (and disabled child) rollover provisions of RRSPs or RRIFs.
- Leave assets that have accrued capital gains to your spouse to defer tax.
- Leave assets without capital gains to other (non-spouse) family members.
- While you are alive, gradually sell assets having capital gains, to avoid dealing with the gains all at once in your estate.
- Purchase life insurance to cover capital gains taxation in the estate.
- Taxes may be payable on gains in relation to:
- income-producing real estate, a second residence, or cottage.
- any other assets left to surviving family members, such as shares of a business.
- Consider charitable donations to lessen taxes in the estate.
Reduce probate fees. Probate fees will be based on the value of assets administered through your will. Here are some ways to reduce probate fees:
- Establish a spousal trust during your lifetime to hold assets or property for the sole use of your spouse.
- Own assets jointly with your spouse.
- Distribute assets or cash while alive.
- Name a beneficiary (not the estate) on life insurance policies.
- Include an alternate beneficiary on your life insurance policies in case your initial beneficiary predeceases you, or dies simultaneously (that way, probate fees will be avoided on the proceeds).
Contact me today, to design an estate plan specific to your needs.
Investment planning establishes guidelines as to how you will invest your money, prioritize, fund, manage and continue to evaluate your investments while you seek to meet your goals and objectives.
Investors may use an active and/or a passive management style for a portfolio depending on long-, medium-, or short-term goals, and their individual (or unique) determined investment style.
We can help you design the right plan.
Contact me today, let’s protect you and your loved ones.
Volatility and risk are different concepts, but both have a role in determining your investment success.
Volatility is simply how much the market will increase or decrease, whereas risk is the amount of loss or gain you are willing to accept. The volatility of your investments is often a result of the level of risk you are willing to accept. During periods of market volatility, it is important to stay focused on your asset allocation goals according to your predetermined risk profile.
Volatility is simply short-term instability that can affect all investments, including good equity funds, because of fear generated in the markets.
Contact me today, let’s build a portfolio that will protect you and your loved ones.
You will spend many years working. One day you will need to retire with a good income generated from your accumulated investments. Retirement planning is never finished. You will need to manage your investments carefully to maximize their return through life’s various stages as you move closer to, and during, retirement.
Through good markets and volatile markets, we help individuals, families, and business owners with their investment goals, providing the right solutions. We realize one program doesn’t fit all investor needs, so we will take into consideration your changing goals—for example, if you have other short-term needs, we will help you tailor an investment plan to suit your specific goals.
We can help you to re-evaluate your investment strategy and advise you as we develop a balanced plan that is best suited to your overall investment needs. Retirement planning must ensure the best use of capital with minimization of tax during the investment growth stages, as well as during the period when you will depend on your investments to create wealth as it transfers to income.
Contact me today, let’s tailor a plan for you and your loved ones.
An annuity is a simple retirement option you can use to create income. In exchange for a sum of money, you receive income payments made up of interest and principal that are determined by your age (and in certain cases, your spouse’s age), current interest rates, the length of time the payments are guaranteed for and the amount of money used to purchase the annuity.
Annuities can offer the highest guaranteed income amount possible from an investment at the time of planning. They are an exceptional choice for an investor who wants to help cover essential expenses in retirement, prefers a guaranteed income stream, is concerned about outliving his or her savings, wants to reduce tax on investment income or subsidize early retirement income. It is also useful where an investor wants to fund a child’s ongoing educational costs.
Contact me to discuss Annuity options available that may suit your overall investment planning.
An Individual Pension Plans (IPP) is a vehicle for retirement and estate planning for the right person (business owners over 40 or incorporated professionals earning around $100,000 or more). It is a defined benefit pension plan which provides greater tax deferred contributions than those available through a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).
Contact me to discuss the potential for a IPP for your needs.