Specialized Benefits

Attention all chiropractors!

Some disturbing news is coming for your disability insurance! I was informed that due to claims experience, any new applications for disability insurance after April 10, 2009 will not include certain definitions that were included previously and that some of my suppliers will be reducing their occupational rating of chiropractors’, therefore, increasing the price!

The definition I am referring to is the “own occupation” definition. This is the strongest definition that you can get in a disability insurance contract. It means that you will be paid disability insurance benefits when you can not perform the duties of your own occupation. Meaning that if you are a chiropractor and you become disabled – you might be able to teach chiropractic health, or you could be in an occupation totally unrelated – but you will still get paid because you cannot perform chiropractic treatment! Typically this definition is available for your “white collar” community – doctors, dentists, lawyers, engineers, etc…

With the insurer’s removing this own occupation definition – this means that you might not be able to perform chiropractic treatment – but if you can perform another job – related or not – the insurance company is no longer on the hook to pay you benefits.

Also with the reduction of the occupational rating – this means that applications submitted after April 10 will be higher priced than previous applications because the insurer’s consider you a higher risk.

If you are a chiropractor with or without disability insurance (maybe you need a top-up to your current coverage), or know of a chiropractor – I encourage you to have them contact their insurance agent or myself to lock in the best coverage at the best rate available before it is too late.

Take Care!

Rhett

So the last 2 months have been a blur for me – typically the first 2 weeks of Jan. are a little slower as people are getting back to work, the bills are coming in, etc… The last thing on people’s mind was insurance. It was great because I could catch up around the office on stuff that had been building up over the previous year.

Not this year.

For the last 4+ years I have been running my tail off because the economy was so good – people had more money so they could afford the premiums of insurance policies, or they wanted a health plan for their company because their competition didn’t and they wanted a leg up on their competitors, so on and so forth.

This year, with all the “doom and gloom” out there – people are starting to realize that they are not superman (woman) anymore. The thoughts of “what if my income stops or is reduced because of an injury or illness?” creeps into their heads. Their mortality is challenged by the results of the marketplace.

This has caused a flurry of phone calls from new and exisiting clients inquiring about disability insurance.

If you are like me – self employed – it is up to you to keep going. But accidents happen, people get sick. It is now more important than ever to protect the most valuable thing you own – your ability to put your shoes on and go out the door to work and pay for your lifestyle!

The average disability insurance premiums are priced at about 3-5% of your gross income – if you are purchasing your maximum allowed. Age, sex, smoker status, waiting period, benefit period and occupation all play a role in determining your rate – so some information needs to be gathered to accurately quote. Some policies have return of premium options – so if you don’t make a claim – you get some to all of your money back!

The benefits of these policies are amazing, I have been through claims with clients and it is amazing as to how much of a change even a small monthly benefit can make. For most it can be the diffence between keeping your home and having a “fire sale” to get rid of it.

But if you consider “self-insuring” – you would have to save for up to 25 months just to get one month of benefit – what if something happened and you couldn’t work for 6 months, even 6 years!

I welcome your inquiries on disability insurance, or any comments you may have.

Cheers!

Rhett

So it is good old RRSP season again and the topic on everyone’s mind I’m sure is “Do I really want to put my money in the stock market this year?”

This is a valid question, recent closing numbers have had the Dow Jones Ind. Avg. at levels not seen since 2002! For the TSX – 2004 or earlier. The question becomes then – do I have that kind of time to wait for 1 – my current investments to get back to 2008 levels, and 2 – my new investments to provide some decent returns?

Nevermind the fact that your mutual funds, segregated funds and such all have management fees of 2-3% of your investment (MERs). So for the last year – these companies have been charging you to lose your money! Seems a little silly to me.

If you are like me and you want to diversify your portfolio – land banking and land syndication are investment vehicals that over time have proven reliable, safe, and profitable. One of our providers has been in business over 30 years – so they have seen a number of market fluctuations – yet their returns have averaged over 15% compounded annually! Also they have never lost one penny of an investor’s money – try getting that guarantee from your mutual fund advisor.

Like most Canadians that have seen one of the bigger real estate booms in our history – the question is “Where will it happen next?”.

Get in touch with me and I will be happy to show you other options that are out there for your hard earned dollars to keep working hard for you.

I welcome any comments from those who have been involved in real estate/land development projects – good, bad, indifferent.

Cheers!

Rhett