Although millions of Canadian residents have health and life insurance policies, many others lack protection because they aren’t sure what types they need, if any. Understanding each category’s advantages can help you select the best combination for you and your family.

Life Insurance

The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) reports that Canadians pay nearly $13.5 billion annually for life insurance. When contemplating this option, decide why you need such coverage. If your goal is income replacement, a lump sum can support your surviving mate and dependent kids after you pass. But if your offspring are adults, life insurance could offset any taxes they must pay upon receiving your estate..

Your family situation can help you select the right coverage, advises insurance expert Sally Praskey. When buying a home as a single person, your lender may require you to have a life policy disbursement that would settle your mortgage if you died. But Praskey cautions that some single-income couples protect just the spouse whose earnings pay the bills, forgetting to cover the other one at home with the kids. If that partner dies, the survivor will need extra funds to afford child care and other services.

Base your life insurance amount or face value on your reason for buying it. To replenish your earnings, consider multiplying your annual income by 10. But estimate the fees to cover your survivors’ taxes for transferring capital property.

An Alliance Financial advisor can guide you through your Toronto life insurance options. Term life involves a preset time such as 10 or 20 years. Those policies don’t accrue cash values or pay dividends, so they provide the lowest premiums for high coverage levels. Because term life is temporary, base your duration on your circumstances. If your income supports small children and a sizable mortgage, consider a 20-year term. But a shorter period may be appropriate for a household with teenagers and a small remaining mortgage.

Permanent policies stay in effect until you pass away. Whole life guarantees premium plus face and surrender value amounts. Universal life combines life insurance with tax-sheltered investments that can set you up nicely for retirement. Although Term 100 provides coverage for life, premium payments end when you reach age 100.

Supplemental Health Plans

According to CLHIA, around 21 million Canadians have supplemental health insurance plans for help with services their provincial health plans don’t cover. Your employer may offer various options that encompass health consultations to medical procedures for common expenses like prescription drugs, eyeglasses, dental care, and unforeseen emergencies.

Disability

Like over 10 million Canadians, you can get a disability policy to provide regular tax-free payments if a serious illness, injury, or disability makes you unable to work. Choosing a plan that covers a sizable percentage of your earnings should enable you to pay your mortgage, utilities, groceries, insurance premiums, and other regular bills. Consult Alliance Financial Group for options with 30- to 120-day waiting periods and durations of two years, five years, or until you reach age 65.

Critical Illness

Any serious illness can put a great financial burden on you and your family. Praskey recommends critical illness insurance for all parents with dependent children, including those without incomes. Because non-working parents can’t qualify for disability, critical illness coverage can be a financial safety measure if they experience a serious illness. Talk to an Alliance Financial advisor so you can receive a $10,000-$2 million tax-free disbursement upon your diagnosis with any illness that your policy covers.

Long-Term Care Insurance

Shorter hospitalizations, more outpatient treatments, and extended life expectancies for aging baby boomers are increasing many individuals’ future long-term care (LTC) needs. CLHIA advises that 74 percent of Canadians haven’t established plans to cover their LTC expenses, leaving a $600 billion shortfall. A study showed that the average Canadian at age 60 or up has over $69,000 in unsecured debts, making impending long-term care a financial hardship.

The Canada Health Act doesn’t insure facility-based LTC publicly the way it does physician and hospital services. Provinces and territories govern LTC facility funding, so offered services and cost coverages vary by region. A long-term care policy will pay a tax-free monthly sum after a 30- to 180-day waiting period. Acquiring LTC protection through Alliance Financial can make at-home or in-facility rehabilitation and/or nursing care more affordable.

With baby boomers between 51 and 69 now, retirement is looming for many. That will raise seniors to about 23.6 percent of the population by 2030, contrasted with 15.3 percent in 2013. Waiting that long to devise a comprehensive financial plan is unwise. Yet many people put off getting life insurance to avoid reflecting on their own mortality. You may be uncomfortable contemplating and discussing your death and how your family will fare afterward. But addressing this important coverage in a timely manner is key.

Explore Personal Considerations

Start with this question: What would happen to your heirs if you had died yesterday? Because you are alive today, that approach is not as threatening as the prospect of dying tomorrow. If your death had a financial impact on relatives, life insurance could have protected them.

Determining why you need coverage is vital. If you have young children and a sizable mortgage, your prime goal might be their security and safety. But if you’re beyond that stage, life insurance can fund your will’s bequests. Your priorities may be to leave money to cherished beneficiaries, cover your income taxes at death, and/or donate funds to worthy charities.

Involve Your Family

Life insurance is an emotional product that requires truly personal conversations, so it may be a tough topic to broach with your loved ones. Potential serious medical conditions, declining health, incapacitating accidents, and death are not enjoyable themes.

A survey concluded that parents prefer discussing nearly anything else ― even alcohol, drugs, and religion ― with their children over life insurance. Despite the challenges, exploring this matter together can be essential for your family’s future.

Try these tips to initiate awkward talks with key relatives:

Spouse: Schedule regular money dates to review your existing financial situations, spending practices, and monetary goals. Productive chats will help you understand one another better. Besides typical topics like debts and savings, collaborate to plan for long-term vehicles including investments. Envisioning life insurance as a financial tool will take the focus off morbid possibilities. Insuring yourself goes beyond protecting your present assets. Emphasize wanting your dependents to have adequate financial resources beyond your lifetime.

Kids: Determining your family’s long-range goals together will strengthen your bond. Discuss estate planning and life insurance with grown children to avoid later confusion and disappointments. Besides having questions about your choices, they may need time to comprehend realistic funeral costs and modify their inheritance expectations. Open exchanges may encourage healthy young adults to get affordable term policies for themselves, locking in low rates around just $6 a month. For younger kids, explaining appropriate portions of your strategies whenever they’re mature enough to understand will set an example for financial responsibility.

Parents: If you do not know what steps your parents have taken, encourage candid communication regarding their financial goals and final arrangement preferences. Understanding their plans will prevent misperceptions among siblings and grandchildren, encouraging family unity before they pass.

Compare Insurance Types

Realizing that life insurance has evolved into an investment vehicle instead of just being a tax-free death benefit allows you to approach it as a financial decision rather than an emotional one. Various plans may satisfy your needs. Term life covers you for an established period like 10 or 20 years usually. Your policy may be renewable until you hit a particular age level. Various permanent life policies will continue throughout your lifetime.

Most people choose term life because it seems more affordable, but permanent coverage provides additional advantages. Although ongoing types may cost more up front, some incorporate valuable savings that grow over time. Your built-up funds may pay for your policy eventually.

To determine how much insurance you need, consider your debt payoff and income replacement amounts to help your heirs. Key criteria include whether you provide the sole high income for a large family. Your survivors could be destitute without their breadwinner. So determine how much of your income they’ll need to live on without you. Then fill out Alliance Financial’s free online form for instantaneous life insurance quotes in Canada. You’ll get the most affordable rate from one of the country’s top life insurers.

Secure the Future Together

Even though talking about insuring your life might be challenging, preparing for the inevitable together will help all involved parties understand your desire to secure their future. This important element in your overall financial plan is the most selfless purchase you can make to ensure your beneficiaries’ legacy.

When businesses and workers weigh individual components in their employee benefit packages, many do not realize the importance of disability insurance. Countless people consider their largest assets to be their homes when their future income-generating abilities may predominate. Unexpected serious illnesses or injuries might leave personnel unable to bring in wages.

For staffers making $100,000 per year with 30 more working years until retirement, that could amount to a colossal $3 million in lost earnings. Not insuring that much potential income could be a very expensive mistake. When job compensation funds employees’ lifestyles, any losses ― from temporary to permanent ― could be devastating financially. Since disabilities may last months to years, having guaranteed monetary resources during any non-work periods can be extremely valuable.

Alarming Statistics

Recent indicators demonstrate the overwhelming need for disability insurance. The average 30-year-old’s chances of sustaining a disability rank four times greater than dying prematurely before turning 65. One of every six Canadians will have a condition that prohibits working for three or more months before reaching 50. Typical leave lengths over 90 days fall between two and three years. Statistics Canada reports that disabilities limited the daily activities of roughly 3.8 million residents, or 13.7 percent of those 15 and up, in 2012. Nearly half of all disabled Canadians described their conditions as severe to very severe.

Some 72 percent of surveyed Canadians attributed disabilities to physical accidents when they account for under 10 percent in actuality. One-quarter believed that disabilities occur when people aren’t careful. Yet illnesses like cancer, cardiovascular conditions, musculoskeletal diseases like arthritis, and mental illnesses are six times more liable to cause disabilities than accidental injuries.

In 2014, over 50 percent of Canadians felt that pay delays of just one week would cause financial hardships. More than three-fourths believed that disabilities interrupting their careers for three months would cause serious financial detriments like amassing significant debts and reducing their retirement savings. But only about one-quarter of Canadian wage earners addressed how their potential disabilities could affect their families financially. Among employees who have missed work for previous disabilities, that 27-percent amount rose slightly to just 33 percent.

How Coverage Works

Large companies tend to include long-term disability coverage in their employee benefit packages. But options vary greatly between firms. It’s mandatory sometimes while workers at smaller operations may not have access to group coverage. Offering disability means that business owners, executives, and staffers who suffer from diseases or accidents that prevent them from working will receive welcome monetary benefits. Monthly payments last until they can recover enough to return to the workforce, turn 65, or pass away.

Two insurance types are available. One’s “own-occupation” coverage is considerably better since it defines “total disability” as one’s inability to perform his regular job. The second option, “any-occupation” coverage, outlines that condition as one’s ability to execute any job’s duties. So disabled staffers who could handle less-demanding jobs might not receive benefits. Some plans use own-occupation criteria for the benefit period’s initial two years. Then they switch over to follow any-occupation standards. Offering various coverage amounts will allow employees to choose the most suitable options for their unique family and financial situations. Usually, plans pay insureds some percentage of their monthly earnings when they’re unable to continue working. Personnel with dependents may select plans that cover 60 or more percent of their pay. Policies that replace 50 percent of salaries may be sufficient for singles without kids and mortgages. Plans with benefit caps might cover 60 percent of gross pay without exceeding $3000 per month.

Talk to an Alliance Financial advisor about adding disability to your group employee benefits in Canada. Then your human resources team can advise staffers on how to determine their needs. Most people can compare all other income sources besides their current earnings to the total of all basic expenses. Include mortgage or rent payments, utilities, credit card and loan installments, car payments, insurance premiums, food, clothing, transportation, and any other regular costs. Ideally, monthly benefits should make up the difference.

Corporate Advantages

With disability insurance a key employee perk, your benefit package becomes even more competitive. Promoting this advantage will help your company recruit and retain talented team members. Many people who have endured temporary disabilities credit the relief that financial protection ensures for helping them focus on recuperating and resuming productive lives.

Since many personal situations can change over your lifetime, let’s continue exploring additional events that may affect your life insurance needs. Make a list of all applicable variables from this two-part series before scheduling your appointment with an Alliance Financial advisor. Together, you’ll be able to update your life insurance in Toronto to meet your current lifestyle.

Handling Debts

Getting control of your debts starts with living within your means instead of borrowing to purchase what you can’t afford. If various creditors are charging high interest rates, consider consolidating some or all of your debts into an account with a lower rate. But if you weren’t around, how would your family pay off that sizable obligation? Make sure that your life-insurance payout will cover your outstanding debts. Likewise, paying off large debts gives you the option of lowering your coverage.

Becoming Single Again

If your spouse dies or you go through a divorce, reviewing your complete financial picture is essential. Determine how being single changes your life insurance requirements. You got coverage to secure your immediate family’s future. If you’re childless when you lose your partner or your kids are financially independent adults, your insurance requirements will decline. But when your mate’s death means that you’re the sole provider for young dependents alone, increasing your coverage is wise. If a guardian takes over their care, sufficient life insurance will enable continuing the lifestyle you provided.

Revising your policy’s beneficiaries is another pressing matter. If your mate was your primary recipient, update that designation immediately. Otherwise, a probate court judge could rule how to apportion your policy’s payout between your surviving family members. You can name your adult offspring as your policy’s beneficiaries. But consider appointing trustees as recipients for each minor younger than 18 so they can distribute money to your kids per your wishes. Your will might specify that children receive lump-sum distributions upon reaching certain ages.

When divorce involves youngsters, your situation may be more complicated. Your ex might be the person who’ll provide and care for your minor kids upon your death. Trusts can ensure that the other surviving parent uses your benefits to pay for your dependents’ needs. If you lack experience handling such complex financial decisions solo, consult an accountant and an attorney in addition to your insurance broker.

Helping Aging Parents

Like many adults today, your life may involve supporting your aging parents in multiple ways including financially. From running errands and dispensing prescriptions to handling housework and paying bills, your efforts are invaluable. But how would your parents manage if your death preceded theirs? Would they be able to afford suitable residences and continued assistance? Or would other family members or friends need to help them? If your parents would struggle financially without your ongoing support, life insurance benefits could help you fund their care even after you’re gone.

Preparing for Retirement

To the average person, retirement planning involves making regular contributions to your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). But everything might not follow your anticipated schedule. An unexpected disability or premature death could jeopardize your financial goals and thus your dependents’ futures. After counting on your forthcoming retirement benefits to help subsidize their elderly needs, your spouse and other family members might face unforeseen financial hardships.

Without life insurance, your retirement plan is vulnerable. Suppose that you pass away before receiving retirement benefits. Your heirs would lose your salary plus future earnings and retirement contributions. Most individuals who die too young haven’t had enough time for their investment programs to amass sizable funds. But insuring your life can contribute to your retirement objectives in several ways. Your post-work-life support plan doesn’t have to die with you. Appropriate coverage can help your family pay for everyday expenses now and subsidize your spouse’s future retirement.

If your situation changes so that no one needs your death benefit, permanent life offers the flexibility of surrendering your policy. You can use its accumulated cash value to increase your retirement income. If you’re without debts and close heirs, having enough insurance to cover your final expenses like funeral costs, taxes, and possible probate fees may be sufficient. But if your assets dwindle during a lengthy retirement, life insurance allows you to leave money for your surviving kids and grandchildren.

Need help evaluating your evolving life insurance factors? Numerous changing personal circumstances can alter your financial objectives, making your existing coverage no longer suitable. Reexamining your options whenever major life events transpire or at least every couple of years is wise. Review the key considerations in this two-part series to see which ones apply to you. After determining your latest needs, contact an Alliance Financial Group advisor about life insurance in Ontario to make any necessary adjustments.

Getting Married

Coupling up involves sharing more than your lives. Your union encompasses both member’s financial obligations, and your new mate may rely on your earnings partially or totally. Either person could outlive the other. So both potential survivors need access to enough money to cover the other’s final expenses and debts like car loans and credit card balances. Start by designating each other as beneficiaries of any existing corporate and/or individual life insurance plans. Either spouse without coverage should consider getting it. If one or both of you have kids, also prioritize leaving enough to fund their futures.

If one mate doesn’t earn an income, an individual policy could cover the costs of any household services that person provides. The non-working partner’s premature death might mean that the remaining spouse must pay for replacement services, which could prove quite costly for the widowed mate. If a tragedy strikes when both of you have adequate coverage, either survivor will be able to meet your mutual financial goals.

Buying or Upgrading a House

Moving into a new home of your own is a rewarding accomplishment. But a sizable mortgage that may span 30 years could be a daunting responsibility. Extensive home renovations like adding new rooms or expanding your kitchen can add value along with extra bills. If loans also include expensive new furniture and/or appliances, your bills can mount. Planning ahead can ease that burden. For married couples, either partner’s death would leave the other alone to cover the monthly house payment plus homeowner’s insurance, property taxes, loans for renovations and new furnishings, utilities, maintenance, and unforeseen repairs. But insuring both of your lives can help all survivors remain in their cherished family home. Once you pay off such a large debts as your mortgage, you can consider reducing your coverage.

Starting or Expanding your Family

Having one baby or adopting a child is expensive. Raising multiple youngsters is a tremendous personal and financial responsibility. Supporting your kids may be challenging for two working parents. But what if one or both of you disappeared suddenly? Would enough income be available to cover everything from daycare through college and all the other intervening expenses like food and clothing?

Increasing your life insurance amount with each new family addition can be a fundamental part of your overall estate plan. Benefits would help the surviving parent or appointed guardian handle child-rearing obligations financially. Enabling that person to maintain your kids’ standard of living will help them feel physically secure.

Saving for Your Children’s Educations

Skyrocketing college costs mean you should start saving for your kids’ advanced educations early. Buying permanent life insurance policies for your offspring enables built-in investing vehicles to save for college. Your children will be able to use their growing tax-exempt cash values to pay for their educations when they’re grown.

Managing New Earnings or Employee Benefits

A big raise, promotion, or better job provides exciting opportunities. But spending habits tend to rise along with income growth. If your family lost you and your earnings, you’d want them to continue their upgraded lifestyle. Find out if your employer’s increased compensation includes a higher life insurance amount. If you need more to replace your salary, you might want to acquire individual coverage or boost your existing amount.

When your new employer’s life insurance protection is less than your previous company’s benefits, an individual policy can make up the difference. For an income drop, decreasing your coverage also will reduce your premiums. Term life offers very reasonable rates typically for healthy people. Exchanging multiple policies with one more affordable plan is possible by reaching a milestone coverage amount. Thanks to that discount, you may pay less for a $500,000 policy than a $450,000 one. But make sure that your new plan is effective before cancelling your existing ones.

Hiring skilled employees is the first step toward establishing a strong staff. But according to a workforce poll, 82 percent of 2,857 Canadian employees reported that their employers weren’t doing anything to hold onto them. Unfortunately, employee discontentment can lead to low morale, apathy, personal stress, serious health consequences, greater absenteeism, and higher turnover, lowering productivity while inflating replacement expenses. So developing retention strategies that increase workplace fulfillment are necessary to keep top talent.

Most Desired Incentives

Surveyed staffers rated their top four work satisfaction criteria as:

1. Job security
2. Benefits, particularly health insurance with retirement plans rising in importance along with employee ages
3. Monetary compensation
4. Chances to use their skills and demonstrate their abilities

A survey found that 77 percent of Canadians wouldn’t accept jobs that don’t offer health benefits. Research shows that group insurance decreases absenteeism while improving worker morale and health. Consult an Alliance Financial advisor about group benefits in Canada today. Our broad range of popular plans will enable your organization to provide competitively priced yet exceptional benefits that your team will appreciate.

Other Influential Tactics

If your company skimps on perks, you may lose key players to rival firms that attract staffers with better enticements. So also consider the following additional options that can help extend personnel stays.

Wellness programs: Some 88 percent of polled Canadian workers valued corporate wellness initiatives that involve gym memberships, fitness and nutritional coaching, health and wellness fairs, and stretch breaks. But just 20 percent of their employers offered such services. Staffers view annual events like holiday parties and summer picnics as nice gestures but wasted money. Yet they see wellness initiatives as management demonstrating a long-term commitment to its team.

Financial rewards: Recognize job quality and improvement with significant annual raises. Paltry increases dash employee enthusiasm, so reward top performers more whenever possible. Offer bonuses to staffers for meeting performance goals. Bonuses or stock options might be suitable for those completing set service periods at five-year intervals for example.

Staff development: Tuition subsidies or reimbursements may encourage personnel to continue their educations. Or offer training to master new job skills.

Manager coaching: Instigate employee tutoring so managers can upgrade poor performers and prepare accomplished members to take on better positions.

Internal promotions: Workers who can’t envision future advancement at your company may stop being as diligent on the job out of frustration. So publicize clear paths to promotion opportunities.

Open employee/management communication: Mutual respect is key to establishing a policy that invites workers to address concerns with managers without fearing personal repercussions. Encourage personnel to express ideas and ask questions during regular staff meetings. Employers that recognize team players’ wishes and needs and then facilitate achievements foster loyalty, growth, and enhanced productivity.

Clear expectations: Some employees with wide-ranging responsibilities may not understand their primary duties. Unless they know what management expects specifically, they can’t meet company standards. Morale can dip when staffers feel lost.

Work/life balance options: Initiating flextime and telecommuting opportunities shows workers that you’re willing to make special accommodations to suit unique personal situations.

Small perks: Supply free bagels or fruits every Friday. Arrange for in-office dry-cleaning pickup and delivery services. Even if such perks seem trivial to management, any efforts that simplify employees’ schedules may boost company loyalty.

Incentives and contests: Anything that helps motivate and reward workers can increase personal focusing abilities while improving job satisfaction.

Corporate mission: Share your firm’s purpose internally to help individuals feel a connection with your business goals. This tactic will strengthen their mental and emotional ties with your organization.

Retention interviews: To discover why staffers leave, you may conduct exit interviews. But have you considered asking long-tenured personnel why they remain? The information you gather can bolster your retention methods. Try questions like:

• What convinced you to join our company?
• Why do you stay?
• Which factors what might sway you to leave?
• Do you have any nonnegotiable concerns?
• What job or management improvements or changes would be beneficial?

Human Resource Initiatives

Business leaders should depend on their human resource (HR) professionals to oversee and streamline their workforce structure and benefit processes. Those specialists must stay current on employment laws and trends to carry out proper HR practices and procedures. While ensuring that your company treats all team members fairly, those experts also can manage various perks and customized programs that higher ups may not realize upgrade employee retention.

Dependent children and young adults aren’t typical life insurance policyholders. But parents and millennials should consider the many financial advantages of acquiring valuable coverage at young ages. For fast, free Toronto insurance quotes, just fill out Alliance Financial’s brief online form. If our displayed categories don’t fit your situation, contact us by phone. Our experienced insurance brokers work with parents and young adults to select affordable solutions.

Securing Your Children’s Futures

Young deaths are unnatural, unbelievable, and unthinkable. So contemplating your children passing before you, especially early in life, is practically impossible. Although insurance death benefits would help defray funeral costs, your primary purpose should be long-term financial planning to provide lifelong advantages for subsequent generations.

Consider three strategic reasons why insuring your kids early is good parenting:

1. The money that builds up in your children’s policies can fund their advanced education later. Universal life is a good variable option with an investment component that builds a tax-exempt cash value.
2. Give your children long-term financial stability to fund forthcoming expensive life events. Start contributing to a large whole-life policy when your kids are little. Cashing out as adults decades later can enable them to buy homes or establish secure financial futures for their own families.
3. If they become ill as kids or adults, they won’t have to worry about being uninsurable. Thanks to you, they’ll have lifelong security already. Otherwise, they would be unable to leave life insurance death benefits to their dependents.

Paying Off Debts After Death

What happens to debts after people die? Consider this discouraging true-life example. A car wreck killed a young man going home after a job interview. His father, who brought in about $27,500 annually as a gardener, became responsible for his son’s six-figure student-loan balance. Millennials, our most educated generation ever, have racked up enormous debts. Many don’t understand their financial aid interest structures or comprehend their long-term repayment obligations fully. Due to our unstable economy and evolving work views, many take contract or freelance positions. Such jobs don’t offer benefits that ease families’ monetary burdens when fatalities occur. While the minister of Employment and Social Development will terminate any official student loan balance upon death, private lenders may not be as forgiving. And that problem extends beyond educational debts. If parents cosign any contracts or loan papers including credit cards, vehicles, and home mortgages, their adult children’s deaths could turn those unpaid balances over to them.

Depending on survivors’ incomes, any extra bills can be straining. Luckily, life insurance provides a safety net when debts transfer to parents after young adults pass away. This relatively low-priced solution ensures debt repayment, relieving survivors of that potentially excessive financial obligation.

Examining the Young Adult Insurance Gap

Many millennials haven’t even considered insuring themselves. A recent life insurance study found that many young adults pay for basic necessities first, leaving nothing for life insurance. Nearly 30 percent rated saving for vacations higher than obtaining or increasing their insurance coverage. That generation postpones typical milestones like marrying and having children that tend to initiate thoughts about establishing security measures.

Today, fewer young people take full-time jobs with companies offering traditional benefits including life insurance. Even if your employer provides that benefit, you may not understand your coverage and its limitations correctly. Your policy’s payout might equal one or two years of your salary, but that may not cover your outstanding debts. Since millennials don’t view life insurance as essential, not being able to maintain consistent coverage isn’t a major issue for frequent job hoppers.

Uninformed young people also tend to overestimate expected life insurance costs considerably with guesses almost quadrupling actual monthly prices. The multi-step application and approval process may seem so complex and drawn out that they skip the whole ordeal. Fortunately, Alliance Financial Group’s online quote system simplifies the overall process so accessing affordable rates is fast, easy, and convenient.

Planning Ahead

Parents who put off insuring their children leave that responsibility to a generation that hasn’t made financial security a priority. So the lesson here may be for parents to be proactive by starting insurance premiums early and continuing payments to protect themselves, their children, and future grandchildren. Your early action can help your kids fund various exorbitant upcoming expenditures that could be very difficult to afford otherwise.

Today’s average employee is no longer the typical married man, supporting his unpaid housewife and 2.5 kids. Yet corporate benefit plans have not kept pace with evolving workforce changes over the last 50 years. If yours does not reflect young singles, multiple-income families, and extended families, consider a 21st-century reboot now.

Benefits can cost employers almost 15 percent of their payroll with insurance and pension at 5 percent each plus 3 percent for other perks. For annual $50,000 salaries, your company’s expenses can reach $7,500 per employee or $750,000 for 100 workers. Yet most HR professionals report that staffers view their benefit plans as being just okay to wishing that they offered more to satisfaction. Experts’ tips can help you get better internal endorsements for your sizable investment.

Exploring Diversity Concerns

The typical modern workforce combines males and females of various ages from Baby Boomers to Generations X and Y. Personnel range from single and childless to supporting blended and extended families. Unfortunately, one benefit package cannot suit such diversity. A 60-year-old worker does not have orthodontic concerns. Likewise, a 20 something is not focusing on retirement. However, a 40-year-old employee may need both.

So how can your benefit plan match such varied people in different life stages without overshooting your budget? Consider these individual example cases:

Agnes: 60; single; envisions enjoying quilting and yoga during retirement

Aaron: 49; married; wife freelances from home; kids off at college; empty nester until his retired widowed mom moved into the guest room

Tanya: 38; in her second marriage; husband is an independent contractor; blended family includes three teenagers and twin 7-year-olds

Taylor: 27; single; reformed job and bar hopper

Let’s say that those four are your only employees, and one orthodontic plan is their only perk. Does your restricted benefit package please everyone? Hardly. Don’t expect Agnes to rave about your great coverage for kids’ braces to her mature quilting friends. Aaron paid off his kids’ orthodontic bills years ago. Tanya has too many current demands to think about her twins possibly needing braces someday. Taylor, whose dentist uncle provides free care, is focusing only on becoming more fit and responsible. These examples illustrate that even just four people have varying dental coverage needs, which broader plans could accommodate.

Embracing Flexible Thinking

According to a 2014 Canadian health care survey, 75 percent of Generation Y workers wish their benefit plans were more flexible. Consumer trends signal a rising need for insurance to encompass prevention and wellness, requiring proactive solutions. Staffers expect their employers to partner in their long-term health-enhancing efforts. The same survey’s 2013 edition found that 69 percent of employees believe their companies should help them avoid diseases, illnesses, and injuries instead of just covering resulting necessary treatments.

To make benefits diverse yet affordable, think holistically. Review your current offerings. For most companies, insurance comes first. Usually, converting to a flexible approach means adding a few health, dental, life, and retirement choices. But contrasting individual preferences may justify additional group plans that your province doesn’t include. Consider medical, prescription, dental, vision, and disability that allow worker and dependent personalization. An Alliance Financial Group advisor can update your employee benefits in Canada to include such extras.

If your workforce is 200 or more, supplemental modular plans offer various prepackaged options. For larger companies, cafeteria plans let a minimum of 1,000 staffers weigh more choices. Wellness perks from yoga classes and fitness sessions to blood-pressure checks and weight-loss contests reduce stress and enhance health. Flexible benefits that allow personnel to choose whatever works best for them and their families show that you recognize and appreciate diversity.

After our above example employees received updated benefits, Agnes appreciates her vision insurance and yoga classes. Seeing his mother struggle financially convinced Aaron to increase his retirement plan contributions. Tanya chose a generous life insurance plan to protect her many young dependents. And Taylor is enjoying his wellness program’s fitness sessions. When your benefits encourage individual flexibility, everyone is happier and healthier.

Upgrading Brand Value

If expanded group insurance, retirement plans, and other desirable perks aren’t key parts of your comprehensive benefit package, you’re wasting the chance to boost your internal brand’s perceived value. Approaching benefits as investments, not costs, helps you maximize your total compensation plan’s appeal. In today’s multi-generational business world, personal customization will satisfy your current team while your enhanced employer brand will attract talented recruits.

These guidelines will help you select the right life insurance for your family. Start by figuring out how long your dependent relatives will require financial support. Next, review term and three permanent life insurance policy types for varying coverage times, premium basics, key features, general advantages, and possible payout uses. When you determine which is appropriate for your family’s circumstances, call Alliance Financial Group. A broker will explain our life insurance in Toronto options that match your needs.

Determining Policy Length

Replacing your income will help your heirs continue their present lifestyle following your death. To estimate how long that could be necessary, consider these basic questions:

• Will your surviving partner be responsible for child care expenses?
• Can he or she draw on other assets?
• When will your kids become adults and leave home?

Establishing how many years you’ll need life insurance will help you select the appropriate term. Approximate when your dependent children won’t need your financial assistance anymore. Maybe you want to replenish your lost income for your spouse until your anticipated retirement age. You may opt to extend your policy longer for complex estate-planning reasons or if you started your family late. Because some permanent policies include savings components, also consider your monetary needs preceding death.

Exploring Term Insurance

The lowest costing and most common insurance type, term life provides coverage for a limited period only.

• Guaranteed coverage for a pre-defined term (five, 10, or 20 years usually)
• Coverage stops at specified maximum ages, often 75-85
• Your premium will hold steady throughout your term’s duration
• Lowest rate of all life insurance types
• Policies don’t accumulate cash value normally
• Renewals of your elected term are available with rate hikes every time
• Ideal during employed years to replace key breadwinner’s income after death
• Doesn’t guarantee lifelong coverage, so it might not fulfill your estate planning needs

Comparing Permanent Life Policies

Term 100 ensures lifetime coverage with waived premiums after age 100.

• Insurance lasts your lifetime
• Premium stays consistent until you reach 100 years old. Some policies allocate payments over 20 years. If you survive after age 100, your coverage continues without premiums.
• Lowest costing permanent insurance form
• No savings or cash value typically
• Replaces your earnings if you die while working
• Builds up your estate’s value or funds its tax liability

Whole life’s face and cash values go beyond covering your final expenses to funding long-term responsibilities like your survivors’ ongoing monetary needs.

• Comes with a lifetime guarantee
• Fixed premium sum doesn’t change during your lifetime
• Guaranteed death benefit amount
• Cash value has a guaranteed minimum
• Allows borrowing against the cash value and cashing out if you cancel your policy
• Certain policies let you take dividend withdrawals or leave them to accumulate interest
• Use savings for loan collateral to subsidize your retirement
• Enlarges your estate’s value or funds its tax liability

Universal life features security, adjustable premiums, and variable investment options give your survivors comprehensive protection.

• Insurance remains permanent for life
• Bonus investment account with cash value enhances your insurance
• Flexible premiums within you policy’s limitations can accommodate your long-term saving and insurance needs. Your premiums might climb higher if your investments decline.
• Features insurance protection plus tax-sheltered savings
• Investment selection
• Your investment account’s cash value and death benefit may fluctuate higher or lower, depending on your investment types and their returns
• Use savings to fund continuous premiums, for retirement loan collateral, or to boost your policy’s death benefit. Should you die before paying off any loans, the cash value and death benefit will be that much lower.
• Boosts your estate’s value or subsidizes its tax liability

Understanding Rate Structures

You’re eligible for preferred or select rates, the best ones, if personal and family health histories are good. But being extremely overweight, a smoker, having medical condition(s), or working in a risky field can bump your rate up 50 percent. So getting your policy as soon as you have dependents ― at a young and healthy age hopefully ― can be a money-saving strategy.

Naming Beneficiaries

Familiarizing yourself with inheritance tax laws before assigning your death benefits will help your survivors financially. If you leave your life insurance benefits including any savings element to your personal estate or a trust, settling your estate could require your recipients to pay taxes. But individual heirs receive tax-free cash after your passing, so name your beneficiaries carefully.

If you have dependents or sizable debts outweighing your assets, you can buy adequate life insurance to cover those expenses after you’re gone. To discover the amount of life insurance you need, consider a combination of factors. Include concerns like your debt total, income replacement amount, and future financial obligations. Then start Alliance Financial’s free life insurance quote online to get the best rates from three of Canada’s top life insurers.

Influential Factors

Before choosing your life insurance policy’s face value or lump sum it will pay your beneficiaries when you die, you should establish a dollar amount that will allow your dependents to live comfortably without you. To achieve that goal, consider basing your policy’s payout value on these typical variables:

Debt total: Decide how much you need to pay off all your debts including mortgages, car loans, credit cards, other loans, etc. in full. If your mortgage is $200,000 and your car loan is $4000, your policy needs to be a minimum of $204,000 to settle those debts.

Income replacement amount: When your family has relied on your earned income to sustain its lifestyle, it becomes a major factor of your policy’s size. As the sole provider making $40,000 annually, for example, you’ll need a payout that’s high enough to replenish your income. Bump it up a little to account for inflation. Assume that your lump sum has an 8-percent return. A $500,000 policy would provide an even income replacement. Adding your annual earnings back into your policy is a good way to keep up with inflation. That brings you to $540,000. Add that amount to your debt total, and you’re at $744,000.

Future financial obligations: Estimate costs of your children’s college expenses or spouse’s move closer to family after you’re gone. When you add $80,000 to your $744,000 balance, you’ll need a policy with an $824,000 face value.

Your final expenses: You also may want to add final expenses including funeral costs and any estate taxes into your policy so your survivors will be able to pay for everything associated with your death. Assuming that $10,000 will be sufficient, raise your policy amount up to $834,000.

Adjustments: If your total is too high to afford, try these recalculating tips. Without your personal expenses like food, car, medical bills, clothing, and entertainment, your survivors might not need a replacement of your entire income. Figure what percentage of your earnings covers your individual outlays and deduct that amount from your total.

For 20 percent, subtract $166,800 to get a new face value of $667,200. Life insurance through your employer also may reduce your needs. If it’s worth $20,000, you can lower your final policy value to $647,200.

Insuring others: Cover family members only if their deaths would mean financial losses for you. While losing children would be devastating emotionally, they don’t represent monetary losses because raising kids costs money. But the passing of spouse who brings in an income would create emotional and monetary shortages. For that case, repeat the above income replacement formula.

Figure your spouse’s annual earnings at 8-percent plus inflation to determine his or her policy’s amount. Do the same for business partners if you share financial responsibilities such as mortgages on co-owned properties.

Policy Types

Alliance Financial’s online insurance offerings meet various needs:

To get fixed-length coverage, choose level term life.  This low-cost policy carries a fixed interval. Base your term on a specific timeframe or your age.

For lifelong security, select whole life. While covering your entire lifespan, this plan also accumulates cash value. Options include electing to end your policy at age 65 and choosing how long you want to pay premiums.

When financial planning is your main goal, consider universal life. You can combine the security that whole life offers with the ability to invest extra funds. Benefits include being able to vary your premium amounts while controlling your investment choices.

To set your own duration, pick Term 100. Just keep paying monthly premiums to get coverage for life. Choose between fixed-premium and variable payments. Your policy also can build up cash value.

Other Options

If the above categories don’t meet your requirements, you may need help beyond an instant Internet quote. Call 1-866-330-TERM (8376) to reach Alliance Financial. An insurance broker will offer you more options from Toronto life insurance companies that fit your unique circumstances.