Critical Illness insurance provide the insured with a tax free lump sum payment if he diagnosed with life threatened covered condition and survive 30 day waiting period.

Why it is important?

If we look at the health history of average Canadian individual then we realize that a critical illness like Cancer, Heart attack or Stroke can strike at any time. Like

• 45% of Canadian women and 49 % of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes.(Canadian Cancer Society, 2017)
• It is estimated that there are 70,000 heart attacks every year in Canada. This means that one heart attack happen every 7 minutes.(Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2014)
• About 740,000 Canadians live with the stroke
• Canadian households spent large part of their income on the health care ; from 2006 to 2017 non reimbursed health care services and products increased by 36% (Statistics Canada)

What does it cover

1. Covered Conditions : It can covers up-to 30 critical illnesses depend on the chosen plan and the company,
2. Optional Riders
   • Return of premium on Death : Under this benefit, company will return all the paid premium to the beneficiary if insured die due to any reason when the policy is in force.
   • Return of premium on Expiry :Under this benefit company will return all the premium paid during the lifetime of the policy.
   • Return of premium on Surrender :Under this benefit company will return the % of the premium paid { as mentioned in the policy } upon surrender of the policy.

Travel medical insurance covers emergency medical costs for insured and his insured family while he is outside of Canada or province. Without insurance the medical care can cost thousands of dollars for even the minor incidents. It is better to be prepared for any unexpected emergency which can happen anytime and anywhere.

It addresses the medical insurance needs of international students coming to Canada to study or Canadian students travel to study abroad.

CIC has mentioned the requirements in regards to the medical insurance for Super Visa category. Applicants are required to submit proof of medical insurance policy with following features :

• Minimum coverage should be $100,000.
• Policy should be valid for at least 1 year from the date of landing to Canada.
• Must be issued from a Canadian Insurance Company.
• It should cover health care,repatriation and hospitalization.
• Guaranteed 100 % Return of Premium, if visa denied.

Mortgage insurance is an insurance which an individual buy when he took mortgage from the bank and he does not have sufficient insurance in place to cover his mortgage. The purpose of this insurance is to provide help in paying off the mortgage balance if an individual die or suffer from any serious illness or disability.

There are two ways to buy mortgage insurance and it is very important to understand the difference when making a choice.

Bank Mortgage Insurance

• It is easier to get because no questions being asked. All medical history and underwriting done at the time of claim which many times result in claim being denied.
• Bank is the beneficiary and not the family at time of claim.
• Generally do not have many plans (e.g.whole life insurance) to choose from when buying insurance.
• Bank pay only the mortgage balance in death claim and not the amount one purchase at first place.
• It has to be renewed every time one renew the mortgage which is generally 5 years.

Insurance Company Mortgage Insurance

• In simple words, it is same like term insurance with the option of adding critical illness and disability insurance.
• Like any other insurance, underwriting and medical questions are asked at time of application submitted.
• Your family mentioned at time of application is the beneficiary for your insurance.
• Insurance company will pay the insurance amount purchased at the time of application and not the balanced mortgage amount.
• There are many insurance plans available to choose from.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is an insurance to cover the immediate and temporary needs for a set period of time. It is inexpensive and can be easily afford by an individual. There is also the conversion & renewable options available in these policies to change into whole life plans. There are different period of insurances available to meet the needs of an individual. Which are as follows :

• 10 Year Term
• 20 Year Term
• 25 Year Term
• 30 Year Term
• 35 Year Term
• 40 Year term

Universal Life Insurance

It is an insurance protection which provide tax sheltered investment and savings component with it. The best part of this insurance is that it is flexible enough to change your payment period as per your financial ability and comes with the option to keep increasing your death benefit continuously.

Whole Life Insurance

With this insurance one can get financial protection with guaranteed premium payment period and guaranteed surrender values. However, unlike universal life insurance, one can get access to the savings in the policy only through loan or surrender of the policy.

It provide a person with monthly payment to replace his income when he can not work due to any injury or sickness. The purpose of this insurance is to keep maintaining an individual ability to pay off his bills and look after the basic financial necessities of life.

Who should consider it?

• Self employed and small business owners should always put it on priority list as they don’t have sufficient govt benefits to protect them if they got involved in any accident at the workplace.
• Employees working for a company without any medical benefits at the workplace.
• Workers in a physical demanding or hazardous jobs without adequate coverage.

Important things to consider when buying insurance

• Waiting period : It range from 0 to 120 days
• Benefit period : It range from 2 years to Age 70
• Benefit Amount : It is based on the annual earned income of the individual.
• Exclusions : It is very important to understand what is not covered under the insurance plan. A professional advisor can help you to understand this in detail.

• You can get up to $750,000 life coverage.
• All kind of insurance plans are available.
• Easy to apply and issued quickly in comparison to other policies.
• Guaranteed Issue Critical Illness plans also available
• Ideal for people with medical issues or if you don’t like to go for medical exam.

RESP is the ideal financial vehicle to save for the post secondary education of the children. The savings accumulated through RESP can be used to pay for the tuition fee and other financial barriers including residence, school supplies, food etc.

Benefits of RESP

• When you open RESP account, you become eligible to receive Canada Education Savings Grant of upto $ 7,200 [ 20% to 40% of contribution ] during lifetime of the plan.
• When open a RESP account you can be eligible for the Canada Learning Bond [CLB] based on your income threshold. With CLB you can receive upto $2,000 during the RESP.
• On top of all these benefits you can also receive upto 15 % extra bonus on the contribution offered by a particular company.
• You can also protect your contributions through the insurance feature offered by most of the institutions.
• The funds invested in RESP grow in a tax-sheltered manner until you withdraw the money to cover educational expenses.

Even if the child does not pursue post secondary education there are many options being offered which make sure the healthy returns of the money deposited in the plan.

• You don’t have to pay tax on the money saved in RRSP account until you withdraw it.
• Your spouse / common law partner can also contribute to your RRSP and reduce your combined tax burden.
• You can use your money in RRSP towards Home Buyer Plan which allows you to pay back the money within 15 year period and without paying tax at time of withdrawal. 
• It is a big relief for higher income salaried employees in form of tax credit as it reduce the taxable income and generate tax benefit.
• You also have the choice to convert your RRSP amount to get regular payments when you retire.

• All the interest, capital gain or dividends earned in a TFSA are tax-free for life.
• There is no contribution deadline which means you can contribute to TFSA at any time. Unused contribution room is carried forward to next year.
• It is an ideal money saving vehicle for self employed peopple as there is no income eligibility criteria.
• It is very flexible as you can withdraw money any time for any reason without paying any penalty or tax to govt.
• A couple can contribute to 2 TFSAs even if one of them has no income.

• Being a part of insurance contract, these funds offer guarantees on the deposits made applicable at maturity of investments or deaths. That feature took out almost all the risk of losing deposit.
• These contracts offer creditor protection which protect your savings from creditors with some conditions may apply.
• You can protect the amounts generated by your investment in excess of the deposits.
• Estate value can be protected at death without probate fees.
• It offers you the ability to name a beneficiary who will receive your savings when you die.