Life Insurance in Canada

I know non of us wants to
admit, that we all are endangered of being disabled. No matter if you are
manual worker working on dangerous constructions, or clerk sitting in an air
conditioned office. Just a minor injury or inconspicuous
illness can ruin your career. While dealing disability insurance in Ontario I have met many similar cases.
Bread-winner turned to be disabled and whole family life was ruined, because
not only they lost his/her income, they also had to take care of disabled member.
Yes, most of you have a life insurance, but this product is not designed for
help in disability.
What you need is disability insurance. This kind of insurance will
provide you regular monthly payments for the period you choose - there are five
years policies, ten years, but also policies lasting till you are 65.
You can choose the sum to adjust it for your income - disability insurance policies are very flexible and can be adjusted exactly to fit your needs! It can
cooperate with your life insurance to create your basic financial safety net.
And if you don’t have any dependents and your mortgage is almost payed - I
believe disability insurance should be number one for you, even before life
insurance!

Yes, it’s true! Of
course, we are not hedging oil prices or digging own oil wells. We in life insurance brokers Toronto
decided to cope with gas consumption. LSM offered employees a
condensed work week to reduce commuting costs as gas prices soar. Four day
workweek means  20% less consumption  and 20% more time for
family.

This step  attracted attention of
some nation TV and radio stations, like CBC (watch news (watch this video on Life Insurance Canada ).
So if you are thinking what to do, when your wallet is on diet after every gas
station visit, try to ask your employer. Four day workweek may sound like
revolution (and maybe it really is), but your performance in work can even
rise. Satisfied and good mooded employee should be the goal of every employer.
Streets would be a bit emptier and Mother Earth would thank you too!
I hope not only other Toronto life insurance
brokers will follow our step soon…

I am not going to present advantages of this insurance for clients. For now, I am going to write, why insurance brokers should consider dealing group benefits Canada
This business has some advantages (and some disadvantages as well) that may be interesting for potential brokers.

Do beginners have some chances to establish a good career on the field of group insurance? Yes - there is only about 5% of advisors dealing group benefits and consider, there is ca. 200 000 new jobs created by small companies (<100 employees) every year in Canada!

Group insurance is creating more constant income - feature you may like. And if you have family, read more - most of the business meetings are during daytime. No meeting with clients during evenings and weekends.

Group insurance enables you to "play" more with the contract. You can customize much more the terms and conditions.

Still not satisfied? Prefering individual deals? Imagine, every group deal contains potential of dozens of individual deals - for example, many of your client’s empolyees may like your term life quote Canada

At the beginning I wrote something about disadvantages. There are actually two of them - sale takes longer time, so your initial income may not fit your image. And the second one - administration is more demanding.

So it’s up to you - but I believe you would have a good future as a broker in group benefits business… 

 

I suppose all of you know that life insurance companies apply different policies for nonsmokers and smokers. but what about cigar smoking?

Generally, cigar smoker is consider as a standard smoker and thus applies for higher policy. On the other hand, most of the insurance companies offer some limits. Usually it’s one cigar monthly, rarely one cigar weekly. Often you need to prove not inhalating - you need negative tests for cotinine*

You should really think about it - use our term life quote Canada to get results. Just one example. You can have $500000 term life (20 years) policy for 43 years old male nonsmoker from $85 monthly. but as a smoker, you would pay more than $200!! thats about $1500 annually and more than $30000 at the end of policy. So smoking is not only about tobacco price…
For more information about smoking visit Life Insurance Canada section Life insurance tips.

*Cotinine is a metabolite of nicotine. It is used as a
marker of tobacco smoke inhalation. he half-life of cotinine, the major
metabolite of nicotine, is twenty
hours. This means that the cotinine in the applicant’s body at the time
of last smoking will decrease to half the original level in twenty
hours, to a quarter in another twenty hours, and so on. Depending on
the starting level, it may take up to four days for cotinine levels to
be undetectable.

Which one to choose?

If you are expecting simple answer, you will be dissatisfied - there
is no right answer to this question! It only depends on your
objectives and wishes.
What is your age?
What is your financial situation?
Do you
have dependents?
Are you considering renewing your policy later?

If you answers
to these questions, you should explore answer to the question.

Generally - term life
insurance is cheaper.
Some examples: $500000 policy, non-smoker, regular health
5 years period fo 30 years old male begins at  $340 annually.
45 years old female gets
15 years policy for $650 annually
(for more options try our term life instant quote Canada

It seems very cheap, doesn’t it? So why should yuo consider permanent insurance too?!
Because
as soon as you want to renew your policy later (let’s say at the age of
60) your premiums will jump incredibly high (the same 5 years policy
for 60y old costs about $1900 annually)! Generally, term life is
perfect in situations, when you don’t have much money, but still want
to be covered - for young couples for example.

On the other
hand, with whole life/universal life insurance you start paying higher
fees ($500000 policy for 35y old male non-smoker it’s from $2845
annually), but payments are constant for whole life. And what’s
important, whole life is also an investment tool, so you actually are
not "paying", you are just "forced to save"…

More about Canada life insurance

Please, do not hesitate to ask anything you would like to know!

Client referrals have always formed the backbone of any successful
financial planners strategy. A good method for referral generating can
save you large amounts of money that would otherwise spent for
advertising. There are proven strategies, sometimes specific, sometimes
borrowed from other professions which will guarantee better results,
and I’ll share some of them in this guide.

Remember to help - A large part of success is due
to being sincere and honest. Focus on helping your clients, give them
meaningful information, assist in creating bonds between them and
getting them extra exposure.

Keep the referrer in the loop - You should look at
your client relationships as lifetime partnerships. Keep in touch, know
what are they doing at the present moment and keep them informed with
your own undertakings as well. Make sure you always have a reason for
contacting them, such as an advice or a recently acquired contact that
they can benefit from. This way you’ll keep yourself in the picture and
pave the way for getting a constant stream of referrals from many
sources.

Ask the referrer to contact your prospect first -
You’re much more likely to succeed if your prospect knows that you’ll
be calling. This is not easy to achieve, as it involves active
participation on the client’s side. A good way to break the ice in
these situations is to ask for sending an e-mail or text message
instead - electronic correspondence isn’t hardwired in people’s psyche
as much as phone calls, and seems like much less effort in comparison -
which it is.

Always carry a pen - You’ll notice many
opportunities for new contacts through your daily business and personal
life. Always have a pen and paper ready, and you’ll gain valuable
leads. This practise alone is one of the biggest time savers and can
lead to surprisingly rich outcomes.

Give meaningful, non-monetary gifts to be remembered
- combine your promotion efforts with a referral generating strategy -
give out personalized gifts such as pens, mugs, mouse pads etc. to your
clients which will keep your name in front of them daily. Go one step
further and personalise these - keep track of birthdays, anniversaries
and notable events in your clients life. A warm and sincere
congratulation engraved on these small gift can do wonders to the
relationship, and it’s a smart way get yourself remembered.

Tell success stories - Your clients need to know
that their help is going to be meaningful and will lead to a win-win
situation for everyone involved. Voice your latest efforts and how they
helped others. A subtle way of getting these messages through is via a
newsletter or a recent client related success story on your website.

Remind the benefits - How does your client benefit
from doing business with you? Make sure your clients will be able to
answer this question to themselves in a matter of thought. Remind them
about all the positives of your relationship, such as bringing up the
topic of recent happenings with someone who you introduced them to or
other related success.

Set up alliances with other professionals - Strive
to become a one stop shop for your clients and have contact information
ready for introducting other professionals. You’ll see that many of
your clients will be looking for lawyers, mortgage specialists, real
estate agents or other business owners whose work is largely based on
referrals. Set up these alliances early and you’ll gain a huge stream
of new contacts on a regular, day-to-day basis - you’d be a fool to
pass such an opportunity.

Hold Client Appreciation Events - It’s a good way
to introduce your clients to each other and create new business
opportunities for them. Your best shot is to make the event pleasant,
fun and constructive in character. If you can, bring a top-name speaker
who will be addressing a memorable and useful topic. At the gathering,
be the life of the party and give all your attention to your guests.

If you want more, take a look at my Toronto life insurance blog

At senior age, it’s very likely that we’ll run into a situation when
we’ll need daily assistance in our living. According to the
Underwriters LTC council in Canada, the likelyhood of needed long term
care reaches 50 percent after the age of 75. This article deals
precisely with this issue and teaches the basic definitions associated
with long term care policies.

Definition - long term care insurance will pay the
insured individual a tax-free benefit every week, if their medical
condition requires to be given assistance with two out of the six
activities of normal daily life. Bathing, eating, dressing, toileting,
maintaining continence and transferring are all among these activities,
but the specifics are different for each policy. It can help you to
prevent depleting your savings or forcing your family into dept due to
unplanned medical expenses associated with the changes in lifestyle.

The basic need for long term care - Every seventh
Canadian is a senior citizen today and belong to the faster growing
group in population. With the shrinking tax base that results from the
rapid aging of working force and increasing medical costs, there’s a
certain need to gather additional finances which will cover these
expenses. In reality, long term care protects the assets and health of
two generations - both active income earners (who would need to find
extra financial and emotional resources to care for their retired
relatives) and senior citizens, who are dependent on their savings.

Temporary long term care vs. Ongoing long term care
- it’s important to note the differences between the two to understand
your coverage. Temporary care occurs for weeks or months, and is
generally used to describe rehabilitation periods from a hospital stay,
recovering from surgery, illnesses or injuries or terminal medical
conditions. Ongoing long term care means the need of assistance in case
of chronic medical conditions or chronic severe pain, permanent
disabilities or dementia.

Skilled care vs. Custodial care - another
difference which is important to touch upon. Skilled care refers to
services which can be provided only by licenced medical personnel.
Custodial care refers to those services and supplies which can be given
by any individuals without a specific skill set, provided that through
documentation and a treatment plan is approved by medical supervisors.
Some long term policies only cover skilled care.

Setting - long term care can be provided at home,
in the home of a family member or friend of the recipient, adult day
services location, in an assisted living facility or board-and-care
home, hospice facilities or nursing home. This is an important point -
many policies have limitations and pay off only when facility care
assistance is required and do not cover home care.

Elimination periods - another important aspect of
long term care policies which refers to the amount of time which must
pass before you begin to receive your weekly benefit. The benefit
period determines how long you’ll receive the coverage for.

Premiums - premiums are determined by three factors
- the elimination period, benefit period and the amount of daily
benefits. Pay extra attention to premium caps, as most LTC policies in
Canada offer guaranteed premiums only for the first 5 years after the
policy takes effect.

Riders - long term care plans have several riders
which are worth looking at. The most important ones are the "cost of
living adjustment" and "return a premium" riders. The former allows the
benefit to be raised according inflation, whereas the return of premium
benefit returns the premiums to your beneficiary in the event you pass
away.

As the last words in this article, I would like to stress the
importance of working with an independent insurance professional, to
ensure a larger pool of available options and unbiased advice compared
to captive agents.

Find out more information about long term care on Life Insurance Canada