Critical Illness Insurance ( What's the deal?)

Much has been discussed about Critical Illness insurance ( CI) lately and I thought it would be helpful to clear up some points.

I'm guessing you have now heard about this product and how could you really not with the hundreds of ad's on the radio about CI providers. Is it just me or is buying something as important as CI over the web a cause for concern??????

I've recently bought a golf club from eBay and was a little disappointed when it was delivered as i didn't feel like I got the product in the shape it was described on eBay. What are you going to do? my mistake and I will have to deal with the consequences. If this type of issue happened to one of my clients through a product I helped him/her decide on I would feel sick to my stomach.


CI is designed for 1 main purpose, to provide funds that will pay for any incurring costs of a Critical Illness.


Here are some typical expenses related to critical illnesses:

Out-of-system surgery ($25,000 and up)
Drugs (One cancer drug costs $30,000 and is not covered by provincial plans.)
Out-of-system tests (Example: A single PET scan costs $2,500-$5,000. PET scans are the best way to determine tumour size for cancer diagnosis and after each stage of treatment.)
Travel to testing and treatment centres
Parking at hospitals (now as much as $3 or $4 per half hour)
Meals at or near hospitals
Accommodation near out-of-town hospitals
Travel for visiting loved ones
Child care
Ramps, fixtures and equipment to make your home more accessible
Enabling your spouse to take time off work
Replacing your own lost or reduced income

Would you buy this product over the web???

Please look to a professional insurance advisor who can walk you through all the product options on the market without any incentive to sell a tailored product from their company. CI is one of the most popular forums of insurance and because of it we have seen numerous company's established to fill this need, ironically named by the catchiest website title (COUGH....righchoiceinsurance COUGH....illnessprotection etc......)

Look to a Insurance advisor who will sit down with you and discuss all the pros's and con's of these types of products. Often consumers have buyers remorse and there is no need for that when buying something this important; it's not the products fault, it's the advisor who recommended the product.

See you tomorrow!

Tucker Wright- Toronto Life Insurance

Swine Flu... Is this the one????

As the swine flu (H1N1) continues to linger I thought it would be a perfect time to provide our readers links for educating themselves on what a pandemic is and more importantly how to plan for one.

In my short time before entering the world of Insurance and Financial planning, I was involved with a few businesses that were linked to crisis management. Avian Flu (H5N1) was the crisis that was being planned for the most while I was in the industry, so i naturally obtained a significant amount of information and knowledge regarding deadly influenzas.

The most alarming piece of information is that influenza strains like (H5N1 or H1N1) attack the healthiest people of earth. Typical influenza or the "flu" which we all experience every winter is an attack to the immune system, leaving children and elderly people with the highest risk as they typically have weaker immune systems. Pandemic style influenza's attack the strong, ages 20-45. Spinning out of control the pandemic flu's move your body into overdrive where essentially your internal organs are unable to sustain that pace and a death is unavoidable.

Whether it's the Avian Flu, Swine Flu or something we haven't heard of yet, it's not a far fetched idea to think that we could be exposed to this traumatic event in our life time. Below are a list of Links that can help you establish a plan.

http://www.fightflu.ca ( Canadian Government site)

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu (Center of Disease Control)

http://www.who.int/en (World Health Organization)

http://www.fitseal.com ( Toronto based mask company)

Please feel free to email any question's about these types of influenza strain and I will be sure to get the appropriate information back to you.

Retirement Issues continued........

I'm not going to let this go because I am passionate about helping the crowd who is preparing for retirement.

It only takes a quick glance at any grocery store, home depot or any box chain in reality to see more and more older employees. I'm willing to bet that these employees aren't working there because they enjoy being active, they are forced to work there as they simply don't and won't have enough money to live a comfortable retirement and even the financial means to survive in their last stage of life.

Canadian retirement assets are down 22% in sponsored pension plans, and even worse in most people individual RRSP's. How could any of us survive when all the money we had been saving was slashed by 25%,30% etc... It's very tough to find solutions in trying to re coup those assets as they don't have a long enough time horizon to meet conventional investment techniques( maybe not the best solution for any time horizon).

All of this leads into my recent passion of reaching out to anyone int their mid 40's to late 50's as they can significantly ensure they will have enough money to survive and have a retirement that is focused on relaxing not continuing to work. It is important to communicate and transfer information to this group, it could be a parent, spouse, neighbour or family friend they deserve to have the proper information when making decisions about their future.

I will continue this discussion with specific solutions and even specific product recommendations. Sitting back and hoping for the best results didn't work for an entire generation, so it's time to look forward and PLAN PROPERLY!

This afternoon I'll be writing letters to clients who's advisors have left the industry- thank you! See you tomorrow,

Tucker Wright- Toronto Life Insurance

Monday Info blitz........

Last week was a fun one on the job! A few policies delivered, a few policies approved and meet with a couple new prospects who were extremely nice. Insurance seems to be a much more tolerable conversation with the 30 somethings out there.

My first few years in the industry felt at time's depressing because of the negative perception of what Life Insurance provides in value. Today, the streets are singing a different tune and it might not be recognized on Shazam.

Guarantees have proved to be the backbone to anyone who hasn't suffered significant losses in the last year, as their pool of money has had continued growth when the markets grind themselves around the bottom. Specific Life insurance contracts have built in guaranteed portions to the cash surrender value ( fancy term for savings account) that will continue to chug along growing year after year. What this strategy lacks in style or sex appeal it makes up for in it's remarkable ability to stay on course over a LIFETIME. It may not be as topic of discussion when sipping $10 vodka drinks on Saturday nights with your buds but it's something that can always be your back bone to any Financial plan, Estate plan or simply a great way to build tax advantaged savings for the everyday expenses you will face down the road.

I don't know about you but when I invested some money into the market a few ago and my "investment advisor" made a action plan as well illustration as to what should happen to my money, I felt fairly secure that this would take place or at worse a little bit below his assumptions. Today that plan looks like a napkin with coffee stains on it rolled up in my garbage because that is as useful as it will ever be. When I show clients an Illustration i take pride in explaining how this illustration is making their assumptions as well worst case scenario so right from the get go both advisor and client are on the same page as to what this policy will look like in 5, 10,20 50 years etc....

So next time you feel secure with your savings and cash flow, think about ways you can start to control your investments in the future instead of that watch or car you can't even afford. Information is the key to making good decisions, so look to get more information before you spend your next dollar.

Tucker Wright- Toronto Life Insurance

Money Psychology - 80 / 20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule and How it Applies to You
Written by FrugalTrader on Apr 13, 2009 filed under Money Psychology

As I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, I came across a principle that can have a profound impact on productivity if applied properly. The principle is called the 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle). There is a pattern in the world that occurs over and over again where 80% (the majority) of the results come from 20% (or less) of the causes.

Here are some examples from the book Living the 80/20 Way:

80% of your enjoyment in life is from 20% of the time

80% of your relationship fulfillment is from 20% of your friends.

Far less than 20% of the Earth’s surface produces 80% of its mineral wealth.

More than 80% of the food comes from less than 20% of the land.

More than 80% of the worlds wealth is held by less than 20% of the population.

This can apply to personal finance and investing in many ways:

If this principle holds true, it means that 80% of your investment returns come from about 20% (or less) of your portfolio.

80% of your business income, comes from approximately 20% of the revenue sources.

80% of your productivity at work comes from about 20% of your time (so true).

80% of the company productivity comes from 20% of the employees.

80% of your savings come from 20% of your frugal strategies.

80% of your family income is derived from 20% of the income sources.

If you apply this to your own life, you’ll realize that a relatively small amount of effort brings the majority of the results. If you focus on the tasks (20%) that bring the most success (80%), then you’ll increase your overall productivity and reduce time wasted.

In other words: Less is More

The focus now is to exploit this rule and work on the 20% that brings the most results. With that said, I’m off to write more articles.

Do you use the 80/20 productivity rule?The 80/20 Rule and How it Applies to You

Tucker Wright- Toronto Life Insurance

Million Dollar Journey

www.milliondollarjourney.com/

It might seem weird that one of my first blogs is to introduce another blogger? I have been reading the milliondollarjourney for 6 months now and find "Frugal Traders" information to be extremely insightful.

"Frugal Trader" is this bloggers handle- I've decided to go with my government name but that's me. FT simply gives the facts.

I am going to use FT's information as I see fit on this blog due to the high quality.

Talk to you parents about their Retirement- TODAY!

I'm not talking about what months their planning on being down south or where they should play golf, talk to them about the most important Risk they face- Will they have enough money to live they way they need to.

Longevity protection is a term used more and more daily in my industry. By 2016 25% of the population will account for individuals over 60 ( Boomers). As the number of "retirees" increases government programs will experiance a negative impact; because of this individuals will have to assume an even greater role in planning for their retirement.

How do I protect myself from outliving my retirement assets??? This is the question you need to ask your parents, friends,colleagues anyone who is in their 40's & 50's...

Recently I sat my dad down and we discussed some products that would help address that question, today he has shifted some RRSP assets that he accumulated over his career to Sun Wise Elite Plus.

Many would know this product as Income Plus ( Manulife's product) but we went with a version offed through Sun Life & CI Investments.

After my extensive research into these products I have become passionate about this option for retirement planning. I am going to break these products down tomorrow for a more in depth look at the logistics of this strategy. Please be aware that there is a shift in the market place and products have obviously adjusted to fill the NEED.