The transition from being child-free to becoming a new parent is one of the best times to evaluate how you want your baby to be raised in the future. While preparing for a baby, expectant parents should think about all possible outcomes relating to their future beyond which colour to paint the nursery.

When you’re married without children, you know that everything you have will automatically be given to your spouse should you pass away. Preparing for a baby should include initializing a plan in the event of an untimely death of one or both parents so that your child is fully supported.

Before you get into the process of writing a will, you should know what it is. A will is a legal document that outlines your final wishes and provides an action plan that details how you want them to be carried out. If you have named beneficiaries in your will, you need to ensure that they match the beneficiaries you have named on other plans like your life insurance. It is also very important that your will supports what you have established in your financial plan.

You likely haven’t written your will yet, as nearly half of all respondents to a 2016 BMO survey haven’t made a will (Advisor’s Edge). It’s easy to find reasons to put this task off – maybe you’ve never been around someone who’s died, you have no incentive to get it done, or you’d rather not think about your own mortality. But when you choose to bring a little person into your family, there’s a new element added to your life. And some parents, unfortunately, forget to write a will which leaves a mess that, for not much money, could be resolved.

Will planning is part of the financial services process. In most cases, our financial advisors will prompt clients about their will in the initial conversations around their future. The reason they do this is that your plans could be compromised based on discrepancies between your insurance and investment forms and your will. Simply put, your best intentions could be wrong or unfulfilled without having a plan in place.

How to write a will for expectant parents:

1. DETERMINING YOUR BIG PICTURE

Recent changes in the law surrounding the use of Cannabis products in Canada have a lot of employers asking how to handle this in the workplace. This recent article from Global News does a great job offering some suggestions on preparing your organization for handling the legalization of Marijuana and recreational use.

As you can see, now, more than ever, it is important for organizations to ensure they have a good drug policy in place that properly includes provisions for cannabis impairment in the workplace. It’s a good reminder that employers cannot tell their employees what they can and can’t do off duty, but expectations around impairment that could affect an employee’s ability to do their job safely, do need to be clearly outlined.

The legalization of marijuana is still a relatively new issue, but you do need to protect the health and safety of all of your employees with set company policies. As the lawyer from the Global article points out, companies do have to take into consideration the use of medicinal marijuana, so it’s not as simple as having a zero-tolerance policy.

If you have questions about your organization's drug or impairment policy or if you need help creating one, contact the team at Aurora Workplace Solutions.

Aurora Workplace Solutions design & create custom group benefits plans that meet custom organization goals. Read more about their Group Benefits Plans or contact them today to get started!

A survey from Aon that shows while Canadian employers are highly concerned about the rising costs of group benefits (due to drug expenses), they still prioritize the productivity and engagement of their employees and recognize the importance that group benefits play in creating healthy employees and a healthy work environment.

Canadian group benefit sponsors were surveyed by Aon to identify their Top 10 benefits and workplace priorities. 

The results were:

Top 10 Workforce Priorities

1. Employee productivity/engagement
2. Employee wellness
3. Attracting, retaining employees; developing skills for changing business environment
4. Workplace mental health
5. Employee financial wellness
6. Family support obligations, the effect on productivity and well-being
7. Chronic illness effect on productivity
8. Multi-generational workforce
9. Delayed retirement – productivity and performance challenges
10. Delayed retirement – employees working past normal retirement age.

Top 10 Group Benefits Priorities

1. Escalating drug costs generally
2. Escalating specialty drug costs in particular
3. Escalating extended health costs generally
4. Chronic illness effect on plan costs
5. Need to personalize employee benefits experience
6. Rising payroll costs (e.g. minimum wage, CPP contributions)
7. Compliance/governance obligations
8. Cost-shifting – public to private
9. The administrative hassle of employee benefits
10. National Pharmacare discussions

“The key takeaway from our survey is that plan sponsors are keenly aware of the need to manage rising benefits costs, but they also put a high priority on ensuring their employees are engaged and healthy,” commented Canadian health & benefits chief actuary Greg Durant. Durant prefaced that although the top priorities sound contradictory, there are ways for employers to achieve a balance – they will just have to “think outside the box” in order to meet both their workforce objectives while creating value for their people. One suggested method to achieve this balance is to create wellness programs that could potentially reduce overall extended health costs.

Aurora Workplace Solutions design & create custom group benefits plans that meet custom organization goals. Read more about their Group Benefits Plans or contact them today to get started!

No one wants to be told they have a terminal or critical illness. If you suffer from a heart attack, stroke, or cancer you could lead a normal life again. However, you need to plan for the financial cost of surviving a life-altering illness. In this article, we discuss key points about critical illness insurance and ask two Wiegers Financial & Benefits staff members with firsthand experience to explain the impact it has had on their lives.

Pat Kyle’s husband was diagnosed with a critical illness a few years ago after suffering a stroke at the age of 52.

Pat says: “You never think it’s going to happen to you. Everyone lives in a bubble. Even the healthiest people may have an illness at some point. In the moment, you’re so removed from your day-to-day and fixated on your situation that you don’t even think about it. In my case, I came back to work and it wasn’t even on my mind to apply. I was so concerned about my husband’s health. It wasn’t my top priority to fill in the application to submit the claim, but I knew it was there.
As the first employee at Wiegers to go through the critical illness insurance process, it was emotional and gratifying to know that I have that piece of the program to support me. It was very helpful to be able to put a claim in and ease the financial burden. It took away stress. Just the fact that we had it made all the difference in the world. That lump sum payment is a beautiful thing.
I’m now an advocate of both critical illness and life insurance. To me, they’re more important than purchasing an RRSP. My husband had a stroke, then a heart attack, and it builds. These things all work together. Strokes can happen at any time. It doesn’t matter what age. There are so many fundraisers or steak nights for people who are sick. You may know someone who has pulled money out of RRSPs to help their child have a chance to survive. Critical illness insurance protects the wealth that you’ve created and that others around you have created, too. It supports the family, not just the person affected by the illness.”

Kim Chicoine’s husband was involved in a serious accident at a young age that left a lot of uncertainty about whether he would survive.

Kim says: “Sitting in the hospital beside my husband, I didn’t have to worry about the finances if things went the other way. Knowing that there wasn’t going to be a change in our finances because we had that critical illness piece in our puzzle was so huge. There was the potential that if his condition didn’t improve, we could have a critical illness payout. We ended up not getting the payout because he got better. It’s great when it pays out, but it’s also great when it doesn’t. The money stress is not there. You know your finances aren’t going to change and you’re covered.”

What is critical illness insurance?

Critical illness insurance is meant to relieve the financial burden of recovery, so you can focus on the task at hand. It can be purchased for children as young as 60 days up to those at or nearing retirement.

It’s one of the newest products on the personal insurance market, having been available in Canada for approximately 20 years and internationally for nearly 40 years.

Critical illness insurance is a “wealth-protecting product”, says Pat Kyle. It keeps your finances at status quo – maintaining your debt, bills, mortgage, etc. – while you focus on getting better.

Why did the need for critical illness insurance arise?

A South African cardiac surgeon, Dr. Marius Barnard, pioneered critical illness insurance after he noticed his surviving patients were struggling financially. While it was excellent that his patients were living after experiencing a life-threatening illness like heart disease, Dr. Barnard observed they experienced a significant drop in their standard of living. The patients who had overcome surgery had emerged to a world where their quality of life suffered due to the costs associated with recovery.

Which conditions are classified as a critical illness?

Each insurance carrier’s definition of critical illness differs slightly. In general, there are 26 covered conditions with the top three being stroke, heart attack, and cancer.

What’s the benefit of using critical illness insurance?

The payout is designed to help support yourself and your family during extremely difficult personal health challenges. You can get policies starting as low as 25 thousand dollars in a tax-free cheque that you don’t need to declare on your tax return.

The value of critical illness insurance is totally dependent on your personal situation, for instance:

• a stay-at-home parent could provide for their family with their partner’s critical illness payout;
• a self-employed individual would need critical illness insurance to cover them in the absence of workplace benefits such as long- and short-term disability;
• or a recent grad would be able to maintain their student debt payments, etc. while going through treatments.

It’s important that you consider both life insurance and critical illness in tandem. Each situation will vary in priority as to when they’re paid out. There is no one-solution-fits-all insurance product.

When is the best time to buy critical illness insurance?

The ideal time to buy critical illness insurance is when you’re healthy. If you’re not in good health, it’s a more difficult application process.

Kim Chicoine’s husband is still young, but his health has changed. If the Chicoine’s didn’t have critical illness insurance prior to the accident, they would likely be declined. Because they had it, they will continue to have it in the future.

Family history also comes into play during the underwriting process of critical illness. Your parents’ diagnoses can affect your application, so it’s best to apply while they’re healthy.

What happens to your life insurance after using critical illness insurance?

Nothing happens to your personal life insurance after you use critical illness insurance. It depends on your personal life insurance that you’ve been medically underwritten for with an insurance carrier. If you’ve continued to pay the premiums, your life insurance is still enforced. It is difficult to get life insurance after making a critical insurance claim, so it’s better to have both products beforehand. You’ll want your advisor to package life insurance with critical insurance when you’re healthy.

How long, on average, does it take to get paid after a diagnosis?

There is a clause that says you need to pass a survival period of 30 days. After that, payment can take anywhere from a few weeks to a month. After the survival period, your doctor will need to give evidence to support the need. The decision to payout is dependent on the attending physician’s statement and all other sources.

How can the funds be used once they’ve been distributed?

If you pass the 30-day survival period, there are no restrictions on how you use the money once it’s been paid out. You decide how to use it. For example, you could use it to cover experimental medical treatment to see specialists that may not be covered by the Canadian health care system.

What will purchasing a premium do?

You can upgrade a base policy with a simple lump sum payout by adding riders. When you add additional riders it adds additional costs, but it can help in certain situations to have the return of premiums.

Here are a few riders to consider:

1. Return of premium on death rider: the lump sum won’t get paid out, but your beneficiary will be paid out what you have paid into the policy.
2. Disability waiver premium: if you become disabled, the insurance company waives the premiums.
3. Rider name? If you have a policy for 15 years, you can give back the policy and get back everything you put into it. Once the policy is finished you get all your premiums back.
4. Second event rider: pays out if the second condition is different than the first.

Prioritize your future self

Pat Kyle says: “Critical illness insurance manages the risk of what could happen in your early years, so you don’t have to take money out of savings. My financial priorities are 1. life insurance, 2. critical illness insurance, 3. slush fund, 4. RRSP. Yes, saving is important. But if something comes up your savings aren’t going to last. In my opinion, it’s not about 'should I get critical illness insurance?' it’s 'why shouldn’t I have critical illness insurance?' Protect your future self.”

Kim Chicoine says: “Peace of mind is important. In Pat’s situation, it paid out, in mine it didn’t. But I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the hospital without it. I wouldn’t have been able to focus on my husband; I would have been stressed out about our finances.”

Your ability to earn an income is worth more than your house and vehicle combined. Everyone gets coverage for their material possessions and it’s important to insure yourself, too. The best time to start the process is when you’re healthy and you don’t think you’ll ever need it. Speak to a financial advisor at Wiegers Financial & Benefits about finding an affordable critical illness policy.

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Immune functioning problems
• Unhealthy habits including smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol

• Almost 24% more likely to exercise one or more hours each week
• Almost 25% are more likely to say they are “very healthy”

1. Work with a financial advisor (a HUMAN advisor – not a robot) who can help get you from where you are to where you want to be. Don’t underestimate this step. If you decide against working with an expert, it’s akin to providing yourself life-altering legal or medical advice that could also wreak havoc on the lives of the people you love most. By contrast, if you work with a financial advisor, he or she will genuinely care to help you achieve your goals, and will have the experience and expertise to help you do it.
2. Manage your debt. For most Canadians, debt causes stress – and the higher the debt, the greater the chance of depression and high blood pressure. Again, a qualified financial advisor can help you develop a plan for getting your debt – and the resulting stress – under control.
3. Save for your future. If you’re among the 60% of Canadians who worry they won’t have enough money saved for their golden years, don’t despair. You-know-who can also help you develop a plan for saving that will help ensure a retirement you can look forward to.

Taylor Szeto, B.Comm.

Insurance Representative, Wiegers Financial and Insurance Planning Services Ltd.

Account Representative, Manulife Securities Investment Services Inc.