Planning

Living Benefit Planning

Long Term Care

There a number of things in this world that we would simply rather not think about. Being stricken by a major illness resulting in extended confinement to a medical facility would certainly rank right up there. However, when you examine the statistics and the potential expense of such confinement, it is prudent to give this some serious thought and consider a way of protecting yourself against the potentially disastrous impact on your retirement savings.

First, consider the numbers:

1. 225,000 Canadians are turning age 65 each year, increasing the strain on already severely strapped government health-care resources.
2. 43% of people age 65 will spend some time in a nursing home before they die, according to The New England Journal of Medicine.
3. You can wait up to 24 months for a bed in a government-subsidized long-term care facility in the Toronto area.
4. Government-subsidized facilities cost $800 to $1,800 a month (after the subsidy), if you qualify to enter one. Most provinces require you to undergo a means test to see if they would subsidize you at all.
5. Private nursing homes cost $1,000 to $5,000 a month, or more.
6. 24-hour in-home nursing can cost $122,000 a year while in-home visits by a registered nurse cost on average $35 an hour.

And these are all after-tax dollars. When you think of the potentially crippling impact long-term care expenses of up to $140,000 a year might have on your retirement savings, investigating coverage to protect yourself might just suddenly become a priority.

Critical Illness

One out of every three Canadians will contract a life-altering illness during his or her lifetime. With today's advances in medical science, the chances of survival are greater than ever. Few of us are prepared for the financial burdens that can threaten both our lifestyle and our security. Convalescence, private nursing costs, reduction or permanent loss of income, a change of profession, child care, medical equipment or home refitting, mortgage and other debt payments, even relocation of your home to a new locale or climate; are all things that can weigh very heavily on your pocket book and wipe out your savings and investments in very short order. Many people who survive critical illnesses face serious financial constraints as they attempt to recover. Being ill is bad enough. Being ill and financially strapped is even worse. It certainly doesn't help you get better any quicker.

Now there is a solution that takes away the financial strain of surviving a critical illness. Critical Illness insurance is a new type of insurance that lets you protect yourself against the high cost of rebuilding your lifestyle following critical illness. It provides a lump sum benefit in as little as 30 days after the diagnosis of one of the following critical illnesses: Alzheimers , Blindness, Coma, Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery, Deafness, Heart Attack, Kidney Failure, Loss of Limbs, Life Threatening Cancer, Loss of Speech, Major Organ Transplant, Motor Neuron Disease (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Multiple Sclerosis, Paralysis, Parkinsons, Severe burns, Stroke or Occupatinal HIV. The financial planning process is designed to address these issues and provide manageable solutions to them as well.