Canadian Life and Health Insurance

Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP)

Published on 2011-12-08 20:53:00

The Federal Government recently passed Bill C-25 also referred to as the Pooled Registered Pension Plan Act. while still in its infancy, and with many details still to be drawn up, this plan provides yet another method for Canadians to save for their retirement. Standard Life has put out a good summary of what we know thus far. I have linked it below. I have also summarized what I feel are the most important parts.Rob's SummaryAll employers will be required to offer the plan

Long time no post, here is some marketing jargon I put together recently

Published on 2011-12-08 20:31:00

A more affordable Health and Dental plan where you control the rates!You may have heard of the recent bankruptcy of Nortel which left thousands of employees without benefits or pensions. This is because Nortel used a “Defined Benefit” plan. A Defined Benefit plan means essentially “you get this benefit, no matter the cost”. That’s how bankruptcy happens.While the world of Pensions have long since made the switch away from Defined Benefit, and towards Defined Contribution plans. Th

Lower EHC trend factor used for pricing

Published on 2011-08-29 12:26:00

Sun Life has announced today that they are joining the party started by Great West Life recently of lowering their health care trend factors. Recently GWL dropped their health care trends from 15.5% per year to about 12% per year. Sun Life has just done the same and dropped their trends a similar amount. I fully expect the other carriers to follow suit quickly. A refresher on what is a trend factor can be found here Sun Life Press ReleaseSun Life is pleased to announce that we are lowering our E

Worst Acting Ever

Published on 2011-06-28 13:36:00

bring on the hate mailPlease forgive the wooden acting, there is obviously a good reason why these folks are in the insurance biz and not Hollywood.Sun Life has started putting up some little videos on Group Benefits. There are two up so far, the first is mostly just an introduction to the video series, don't bother watching it. The second video actually has some substance to it.Link to Video 2's Page - Plan sustainability – Series 2Sun Life is surveying their plan members and seeing how they

Dollar Cost Averaging

Published on 2011-06-14 14:07:00

I highly recommend when talking to clients about investments, that they Dollar Cost Average. This is a simple strategy that can help increase your return, and lower your risk. Most people frantically try and dump a big pot of money into their RRSP right before the deadline. They buy all of their investments for the year on one day at one price. If the price is high, they buy high, if the price is low, they buy low. We all know we want to buy low and sell high.I prefer to drip money in on a regul

Insurance and LGBT

Published on 2011-05-13 14:42:00

    I have a few clients who are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered hereafter referred to as LGBT. Each time I work with an LGBT client, I find there is a lot of incorrect assumptions or misinformation about if they can get insurance.The simple answer is YES of course you can get life, disability, critical illness insurance.Canadian insurance companies make no distinction between any sexual orientation, and neither do I. I have clients and close friends who are LBGT and

Money back guarentee

Published on 2011-04-26 14:41:00

Equitable Life, a company I have a good relationship with and have enjoyed working with in the past has a new offering I wanted to touch on briefly. They are calling it Rate Shield, and it is essentially a mini “Refund” plan. Normally Refund is reserved for 100+ member groups, and only one of two carriers still offer it. Equitable will do a Refund plan on your first renewal of a small group starting at 10 members. It works like this.If you claim less than your Target Loss Ratio (TLR), you ge

How to spot a crappy advisor

Published on 2011-04-12 17:07:00

Every so often I am asked to review someones current personal insurance. This is a service I gladly provide for free. In some cases people are well taken care of, in others they got royally screwed by their last agent. Such was the case this week. Lets look at the situation.Young couple mid twenties, just married, just bought a house. Mortgage of $500,000 which is co-signed by a parent. No kids yet, but perhaps down the road. No other savings, or assets, on a tight budget as they are "mortgage p

Bonds for dummies

Published on 2011-03-11 14:27:00

Stocks are easy to understand, you own part of a company --> company makes money --> you make money. easy-peasy. Bonds on the other hand confuse the heck out of just about everyone, even (especially) those that sell them. I have read countless dry, boring pages on how bonds work, prices, yields, jargon, and almost all totally uncomprehencible.So how do bonds work? Well I think I have a understandable, if not exactly technically perfect, method of explaining bonds, here goes..."My word is m

Sound off in the comments

Published on 2011-03-10 15:42:00

Google Analytics is telling me I am getting about 500 unique visitors per month, wow!Most are being driven here through Google Searches, and most are in Canada, using Internet Explorer during office hours. Who is out there? Human Resources people? other insurance advisors? employees? business owners?Are you finding what you are looking for? Is there something I haven't touched on that you would like to see more information on? Are you in British Columbia and you want to try me out as your benefi