Most companies have Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance (AD&D) on their group benefit plans but should they? This type of insurance provides benefits for injury resulting in loss or permanent and total loss of use of body parts. It also pays out a benefit in the event of death caused by an accident on or off the job. It’s a … Read More
Which of the 4 Benefits Plan Funding Models is Right For Your Company?
Today, the stakes are high when setting up an employee benefit plan for your company. Trying to find common ground on risk adversity, cost certainty, employee security, plan sustainability, and affordability all begin with your plan funding model. Arguably, your plan funding model can represent one of your most important decisions when setting up your plan. Arbitrarily deciding one or … Read More
Is It Time To Discover Where Your Finish Line Starts?
The two things the last few years has taught me is perspective and resiliency. I’ve had an interesting business career thus far. Some elements blessed and other elements, well, not so much. To say I’m wiser for it would be an understatement. I’ve been lucky and unlucky. I’ve been fortunate to have some great successes and some pretty spectacular failures. … Read More
How To Make Your Employee Benefit Plan Go Further
To understand cost containment for your employee benefit plan, you need to understand the cost breakdown of a typical plan. The average cost of employee benefits is about $3,000 per employee per year. Approximately 15% of that is made up of administration fees, and the rest (85%) comes from benefit claims costs. Most insurance companies say they will save you … Read More
Why a Business Owner Benefits Plan Needs to be Different
So you’re a business owner. You’ve worked hard to grow your business. You’ve got a loyal staff and want to make sure your employees have a great benefits plan. Does that mean that you should be on the same plan as your employees? It would help if you looked at business owner benefit plans. The nice part of benefits in Canada, … Read More
Why is the EP3 Drug Pool Pushing Companies Back To Insured Benefit Plans?
Many companies have been introduced to ASO plans over the last few years by brokers and carriers. ASO plans can greatly reduce administrative costs, and if a company sets up its benefits plan design can minimize a client’s exposure to unnecessary cost and abuse. But are insurance companies deliberately trying to push clients back to insured benefit plans with the EP3 Drug … Read More
Can We Talk About Benefit Advisor Fee Transparency for a Minute?
I get it that doing the right thing doesn’t always yield you the largest compensation, but it will yield you dividends for years down the road. In the benefits industry, the income of brokers comes largely from annuity business. Keeping your customer happy doesn’t always mean making your windfall today. That’s why it’s important to understand about doing the right … Read More
10 Questions to Determine if Your Employee Benefits Plan is Exposed
Is there ever a perfect solution? Probably not in a realistic world where employers want to keep costs contained, and employees want unlimited benefits. There are ways of managing your company’s exposure, yet ensuring quality benefits are available for employees that require them. You will want to ensure that you don’t have an exposed benefit plan. The following is a … Read More
Is Your Benefits Advisor Performing these 11 Key Roles for You?
I experienced something in the last few days that embarrassed me as a Benefits Advisor. As much as there are many credible professionals within the benefits business, there are more than our fair share of brokers/advisors that are greedy, lazy and bring no value to their clients. Like in any industry, there will always be a few bad eggs. So … Read More
Is Your Company Benefits Plan In The Wrong Benefit Funding Model?
When you’re looking at your employee benefit plan, it’s important in understanding the benefit funding model available to you. First of all, you need to understand what a funding model is as it relates to your employee benefit plan. For our purposes, we will focus on the options most readily available. Many benefits brokers don’t offer options on funding models. … Read More