Articles for January 2011
Managing retirement risk to protect your savings
Posted by Admin on January 01, 2011
Even if your retirement is far off, reducing your risk exposure to a comfortable level is just as important while saving for retirement as it is when planning your retirement income.
Know the risks, plan to manage them
Whether they are close to, in, or saving for retirement, many individuals have concerns about their retirement income; questions like:
- Will I have enough saved to generate the income I need to retire?
- Will my savings last as long as I live?
- What can I do to ensure my savings aren’t eroded by poor market performance?
They’re good questions.
Canadians are living healthier and longer
The risk of outliving your savings is real:
- Canadian life expectancy hit 80.4 years of age in 2008, an increase from 77.8 years in 1991.1
- One in every two people aged 65 today will live to see age 90.
Successful retirement planning considers you might live beyond your life expectancy.
1 Source: “Life expectancy in Canada hits 80.4 years: Statistics Canada”, CBC news, Monday Jan. 14, 2008
It costs more to live
The impact of inflation becomes greater in retirement because expenses can keep increasing while your income may not.
At just a one-per-cent inflation rate, the purchasing power of one dollar in 25 years will be reduced to just 78 cents.
Market volatility hits those in early retirement the hardest
Market declines early in retirement when you’re withdrawing an income can erode your savings at an accelerated rate.
You need individualized solutions
Addressing these concerns requires product solutions and strategies that provide you with:
- Growth potential to keep up with inflation
- Guarantees to help maximize your retirement income and ensure it lasts
- Ways to manage market uncertainty
- Access to a wide choice of investment funds for all levels of risk
Consider the protection and versatility of segregated fund policies
Segregated fund policies are flexible solutions that can be structured in a number of ways to meet your specific life circumstances. They provide a number of fund choices, and options that give you the ability to generate income for life when you start drawing on your savings. They also can provide risk protection against volatile markets and growth potential from exposure to equity markets.
Combine all these elements with the benefits segregated fund policies can provide
- like potential creditor protection and various options for maturity and death benefit guarantees, and they can become a powerful part of your retirement income solution.
Critical illness insurance for children
Posted by Admin on January 01, 2011
Although no one wants to consider anything critical happening to their children, planning today for the unexpected may help reduce considerable financial hardship tomorrow.
Imagine your child became critically ill. It could be, for example, a life-threatening cancer, Type 1 Diabetes, loss of speech, deafness or perhaps bacterial meningitis.
- Where would you want to be?
- Would you want to take time off work to be with your child?
- Would you value access to a second medical opinion on your child’s diagnosis and treatment plan?
- Would a lump sum of money help you focus on your child’s recovery instead of financial concerns?
- Would you like to establish your child’s critical illness insurability for their adulthood?
- And if your child thankfully remains healthy, would you like your premiums returned?
If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to consider child critical illness insurance (Child CI). Child CI is designed to provide families with the financial
resources to help support recovery and care of a child in the event of a critical condition and help ensure the child’s future insurability.
Money at a time when it’s needed most!
Child CI pays a lump-sum benefit if your child is diagnosed with one of the critical conditions defined in the policy and the survival period (usually 30 days) is satisfied.
Added support at a time when it’s needed most!
- Most offer medical referral services that can provide a second medical opinion on the diagnosis, recommend treatment options, identify leading doctors and co-ordinate treatment in medical facilities outside Canada.
- Some also include critical illness counselling and support services to help you and your child cope with the many issues that may be experienced (e.g., child or elder care resource referrals, stress management, financial consultation).
Protect your child’s insurability
Some insurers offer a conversion option upon policy expiration — usually around age 25 — without underwriting, to an adult critical illness insurance policy.
No claims – consider return of premium benefit
Look for a policy that offers a Return of Premium Rider if you are interested in recouping 100 per cent of the eligible premium paid if a claim has not been made.
This benefit can be used any way you like. You may choose to share money with your child to help:
- Recover the costs associated with your child’s education
- Provide for a down payment on a vehicle or home
- Fund a trip to explore another part of the world
For more information about how Child CI may fit your needs, ask me.