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| Fall In The City - Toronto |
This is the first of the fall tune up series. Fall is officially hear, and in a few days we will usher in October, the beginning of the last quarter of 2018. General before the winter sets in we take our cars in for servicing, making sure the vehicle is in good shape for the winter ahead. Now is a great time to do a financial tune up, and for folks with the income and or assets to take advantage of tax planning strategies, if you start now, you will have time to implement changes before the end of the calendar year.
I am starting off with life insurance though, because this area gets neglected often. I have seen print articles where research shows that most Canadians are UNDER INSURED! Let's face it, it's morbid and not a topic most people discuss at the water cooler (are those still around?) or in the lunch room. This past Tuesday I delivered life insurance claim cheques to a widow. They were clients of my office before I joined, I got them as clients after their agent left the business. Both spouses worked in the financial industry in mid level management/lower level executive positions on the business lending side, my age group, solid family and successful in every measure for a modern middle class family. You know what the spouse/beneficiary said to me when I when to her home to help her with the claim forms? "I wish Peter (not his real name) had more life insurance. I am okay but the boys are just starting out, look at home prices, they have huge mortgages." I felt it for her. Really, really felt for her. You see I had been trying for three years to make an appointment to see them but because they were with great jobs in a great industry and felt secure with having no mortgage and good pensions and some personal retirement savings they were alright and always had other priorities or too busy.
Bevism: The only insurance that will pay when you die is one that is in force. Get covered now, and make changes when you've figured out a long term strategy, or when you can afford the plan you prefer - Beverley Allen
By sitting down with an advisor and updating your Financial Needs Analysis, your concerns, "wants and needs" are discussed brought up, discussed and prioritized. Your Financial Plan is updated to include your new goals and priorities and then you can implement programs to address those priorities. Life insurance plays a different role at every state of life. When you are starting out, young family, building a career, Term Life, particularly Renewable Term, is a great way to get your desired coverage on the cheap. You should have a long term strategy, however. If these clients had not converted their Term Life policies to permanent insurance in their forties, there would be no insurance benefits to collect because "Peter" had taken "a package" from work and had retired early, so there was no group benefits.
In a nutshell, for your fall money tune up:
1) Get a Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) done.
2) Review the report, prioritize your wants and needs.
3) Apply for new coverages, or upgrade/set up new plans according to those priorities.
4) Review/update beneficiary designations on existing plans.
5) The Will - don't have one? Get it done! Have a will - if there has been changes in your family or life situation, review, and update if necessary.
6) Have Term Life coverage? Look at converting some or all of your coverage to permanent insurance. Do not wait until you can no longer afford the renewal premiums or get a final conversion option letter from your insurance company, your choices will be quite limited at that time.
Happy fall season,
BEVERLEY ALLEN, FLMI
Beverley
Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor
Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.
Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network
Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch
5070 Dixie Road
Mississauga, On L4W 1C9
#MoneyTalk #MoneyTalkwithBevAllen #TheValueOfSoundAdvice #MoneyMoxie #MoneyMindset #RetirementReadiness #FinancialNeedsAnalysis #FinancialPlan #FinancialSecurity
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