Services
Only what I'm licensed and appointed to advise on, in Ontario: life, accident and sickness, segregated funds and group benefits. Anything needing a licence I don't hold isn't listed, and I'll say so rather than pass it off as something I can arrange.
Cover that pays when something interrupts the plan: death, serious illness, or being unable to work.
Term, whole life and universal life. A lump sum to the people who depend on your income, or to an estate.
Worth knowing: Term and permanent answer different questions. Term covers a period, usually the years a mortgage and children exist; permanent lasts for life and costs more for the same amount of cover.
Term, permanent and the amount →A lump sum on diagnosis of a covered condition, paid whether or not you can still work.
Worth knowing: It pays on diagnosis and survival of a waiting period, and only for the conditions the contract lists. What is and isn't covered is the whole product, not a footnote.
What triggers a payment →Monthly income if illness or injury stops you working.
Worth knowing: The definition of disability is what matters: whether it means unable to do your own occupation, or any occupation you're suited to. They are very different promises.
Own occupation vs any occupation →Help with the cost of care at home or in a facility when daily tasks become difficult.
Worth knowing: Benefits usually start once a set number of daily activities can't be done unaided. The trigger, not the monthly amount, is the part to read first.
How a claim is triggered →Emergency medical cover abroad, between provinces, for visitors to Canada, and for students.
Worth knowing: Provincial health coverage pays very little outside your province and nothing towards getting you home.
What each type covers →Market investments held inside an insurance contract, with the features and the costs that come with that.
Pooled investments inside an insurance contract, with guarantees on deposits at maturity or on death.
Worth knowing: The guarantee applies at maturity or death, not whenever markets fall, and the fee is charged every year regardless. That trade-off is the decision.
What the extra cost buys →TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and RESPs can hold segregated fund contracts rather than ordinary funds.
Worth knowing: The account type and what's inside it are separate choices. The tax rules come from the account; the guarantees and fees come from the contract.
Stocks, funds or seg funds →How naming a beneficiary on a policy or contract affects what happens to the money.
Worth knowing: With a named beneficiary the money generally passes directly rather than through the estate, which usually avoids probate. Quebec has its own rules.
Probate and what passes outside it →Where the income comes from a company rather than a salary, or where a business covers its people.
Workplace plans covering employees for health, dental, life and disability.
Worth knowing: Group life is usually a multiple of salary and usually ends with the job, which is why it's counted separately from personal cover rather than instead of it.
What a plan is built from →Cover arranged around a company: key person, and funding an agreement between owners.
Worth knowing: A business rarely divides neatly between the next generation. What happens to the company is usually the conversation underneath the insurance one.
Key person and buy-sell →Where an insurance contract may be protected from creditors, and where it isn't.
Worth knowing: It isn't automatic and it isn't absolute. It depends on who is named as beneficiary, and it can fail if the purchase was made to put assets beyond a creditor's reach.
Where it applies, and where it fails →In person across the Greater Toronto Area, and by video call anywhere in Ontario. Insurance and segregated funds can only be arranged for Ontario residents; the education on this site is free for anyone.
