Very few people say they love buying or the process of purchasing life insurance. Who wants to discuss the eventual demise of oneself? Certain situations rely upon life insurance to create an insurgency of cash into a business when weathering the loss of a business owner. There are, however, clever uses of life insurance by business owners that are predicated … Read More
Is it Time for Business Owners to Take Off Their Invincibility Cloak?
Something about the phrase, “Don’t worry about it,” automatically has the opposite impact on me. Whether it comes from one of my kids or someone trying to convince me of something I’m unconvinced about, that phrase always makes me suspicious. Here is a story where a business owner was told by his business partner, “don’t worry about it,” when asked … Read More
Why is Buy-Sell Insurance Critical to Your Business’ Success and Continuity?
I always ask business owners if they have buy-sell insurance or partnership insurance. Surprisingly, about 50% of them didn’t know what it was, let alone possess it. When I asked if they had a Partnership Agreement in place, most answered, of course. Some were more formalized than others, but most saw the importance behind having a partnership agreement. Then, I … Read More
The Death Side of the Life Insurance Business
Something happened to me for the first time this week; one of my clients passed away. Being in the life insurance business, you expect to get used to the fact that you set up life insurance on the premise that it will likely payout one day. The application and underwriting process is relatively transactional. When I received the message from … Read More
Split Dollar Critical Illness: Would You Play the Lottery if you were Guaranteed to Win?
I’ve had some interesting discussions over the years with Business Owners about insurance in general. I’ve often heard, ” it’s expensive”, “it rarely pays out”, “nothing is going to happen to me”, “I’ll self-insure instead” (I didn’t say they were all sound arguments). Whatever the argument, no one really wants to buy insurance unless they know they will get sick. … Read More
How Can You Have Your Child’s Private School Funded by your Business?
If you have a child with special needs, a learning disability or an illness that requires special schooling, you may be eligible to have your child’s private school funded by your business as a legitimate medical expense. Many private schools cost $25,000 or more per year. Obviously, parents who elect to send their healthy children to private school is … Read More
10 Reasons Why Group Life Insurance Won’t Adequately Protect Your Family
Ownership of individual life insurance at its lowest level in 30 years The Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA) 2013 study shines a light on a developing problem for Canadian households: Individual ownership of Life Insurance was at its lowest level in 30 years; 3 in 10 households did not have individual life insurance at all. larger dependence upon … Read More
Critical Illness: What Awaits You and Your Business if You Get Sick?
Why a Doctor Invented Critical Illness Insurance Dr Marius Barnard invented Critical Illness insurance. Marius assisted his brother Dr Christiaan Barnard in performing the first successful heart transplant in 1967 in South Africa. Through his years of dealing with cardiac patients, Marius observed that those patients that were better able to deal with the financial stress of their illness recovered … Read More
The Top 8 Things Business Owners Should Consider When Buying Life Insurance
Buy-Sell Agreements, Insured Retirement Plans, Business Contingency Planning or Succession Planning: Life Insurance Has a Role in your Business Whether you’re purchasing life insurance to satisfy a buy/sell agreement, creating an Insured Retirement Plan to get money out of your business in a tax favourable way, for business contingency planning or succession planning, life insurance can fulfil a very cost-effective … Read More
Partnership Agreements and Business Insurance: You Can’t Have One Without the Other
You’ve set up insurance to protect yourself, your family and your business in case something ever happens to yourself, a Partner or a key employee. Finally, you have peace of mind that you’re protected and that your family and the business will be looked after in the event if something should happen to my business partners or me. But am … Read More