Critical Illness Protection

Critical Illness insurance provides a substantial lump sum tax free benefit 30 days after the diagnosis of a critical illnesse such as heart attack, cancer, stroke, or many other conditions. 

Due to incredible advances in medical science people are living longer.

More and more people however, are being stricken by critical illnesses which they survive in increasing numbers.

You Might Be Surprised to Know….

1. 1 in 3 Canadians will develop cancer
2. 1 in 9 will develop Breast cancer
3.  1 in 9 will develop Prostate cancer

Critical Illness – Facts of Life…

1. 1 in 4 Canadians will develop heart disease
2. You are 2 – 4 times more likely to suffer a critical illness than to die before age 65

Tax and Estate Planning

We have over 20 years of experience in helping people protect their legacy. We work closely with tax lawyers, accountants and lending professionals to ensure that the plan we implement is carefully integrated with the recommendations of your entire advisory team.
Here are some of the tax-advantaged products and services we use for many of our clients:

• Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs)
• Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs)
• Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs)
• Segregated Funds
• Named Beneficiary Investments
• Tax Exempt Life Insurance Contracts
• Family Trusts
  
• Charitable Giving
  

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Business Owner/Entrepreneur

As a business owner or entrepreneur, your personal health  and well being can have a huge impact on your business and vice versa. Our experience has taught us that, in many cases, the value of the business is linked to its key person or persons, their decisions and their ability to remain active in the operations of the company.
We provide strategies and solutions that protect against unexpected loss of health or death and offer significant tax advantages to the individual and the corporation.
Some of the strategies and opportunities that could be of benefit to you and your company include:

• Retirement Compensation Arrangements (RCAs)
• Corporate Insured Annuity
• Individual Pension Plans (IPPs)
• Group Registered Retirement Savings Plans (GRSPs)
• Group Life & Health Benefits
• Buy-Sell Agreements and Funding (covering partner death, disability and retirement)
• Key Person Insurance
• Office Overhead Protection
• Health & Welfare Trusts (HWTs)
• Corporate Estate Transfer
• Corporate Insured Retirement

Retirement Compensation Arrangement (RCA)

The RCA is an innovative, flexible universal life plan that offers an exceptional balance of insurance protection and tax-deferred savings. This plan is designed for owner/managers of small businesses and key executives of large private and public companies.

Buy-Sell Agreements and Funding:

If your business loses an owner, the remaining owners must decide how the business will continue. You can close down the business, but you likely wouldn’t want to after all the time, energy and money you’ve put into it. You can continue the business with the new owner (for example, the spouse of the deceased owner), but do you want to be in business with this person? You can sell your shares, but who will buy them and at what price? Or finally, you can purchase the shares from the deceased owner’s estate.

What are your options?
A formal buy-sell agreement covers the terms of ownership and operation of the business. It usually deals with the death, disability and retirement of one of the owners, as well as disagreements about running the business that result in an owner wanting out. The agreement often includes a formula or process for valuing the business to simplify the buy-out of an owner. Generally, the agreement deals with:

• who will buy the shares
• what the terms of the sale will be
• when the sale will take place
• where the money to buy the shares will come from
• and what the purchase price will be.

The best solution
Proper funding must be in place to ensure the agreement is viable. Without funding, agreements can fall apart because the remaining owners, obligated under the terms of the agreement to purchase the departing owner’s shares, may not be in a financial position to do so.

Is your business prepared for the sudden departure of one of its owners?

There are a number of ways to fund a buy-sell agreement.
Consider your options:

• you can start saving today
• you can borrow the funds from a bank
• you can take the funds from current earnings
• you can sell assets, or
• you can purchase life insurance and disability insurance
to provide the funds needed.

Life insurance can be the most cost-effective solution to fund a buy-sell agreement when an owner dies. Other products like, “Disability Buy Out” are recommended in case of a disability. In both scenarios there is a guarantee that money is available when it is needed.

Corporate Insured Annuity

The Corporate Insured Annuity sales concept is a financial planning strategy that starts with the liquidation of the conservative, liquid investments, such as GICs, bonds and bank savings accounts, held by your Canadian corporation. The resulting funds are used to purchase a non-prescribed annuity contract and an exempt life insurance policy. As shareholder of the corporation, you are named as the life insured and the corporation is named as the beneficiary. The annuity generates a payment stream that covers the life insurance premiums and the tax on the annuity. The remaining amount is used to supplement your income. When you die, the life insurance proceeds pay for a gift to your heirs or favourite charity.
When you die, your company receives the tax-free death benefit from the life insurance policy. The excess of the death benefit over the adjusted cost basis of the policy is
credited to the corporation’s capital dividend account. Your corporation then uses the proceeds to pay a dividend to your estate. This dividend is a tax-free capital dividend, up to the amount available in your corporation’s capital dividend account; the remainder is paid as a taxable dividend. Your estate can then distribute the funds as directed in
your will.

The benefits of the Corporate Insured Annuity:

• Increased cash flow to you while you’re alive
• Insurance benefits that can be gifted at death
• Potential to reduce the capital gains tax on your closely
held corporation shares
• Potential to fully guarantee the insurance and annuity benefits

Corporate Estate Transfer

The Corporate Estate Transfer, using a universal life policy, allows you to move corporate investment dollars from a tax-exposed environment to a tax-deferred one, maximizing the amount that is available to your estate.

The Corporate Estate Transfer puts excess profits to work in an exempt life insurance policy. A universal life product provides immediate life insurance protection and an investment that accumulates within the policy on a tax deferred basis. When you die, the corporation receives the proceeds of the policy tax free, plus a credit to its capital dividend account (under current tax laws). Capital dividends may then be paid out to your estate tax-free.

Corporate Insured Retirement

Under the Corporate Insured Retirement Program, excess corporate funds are invested in an exempt life insurance policy where they grow tax-free to create significant cash value in the policy. At a point in the future, when the company needs cash (for example, to invest in a new business venture or fund the buy-out of a retiring shareholder), the cash value of the corporate-owned policy is used as collateral for a bank loan. The bank loan provides the company with the cash needed – tax free. And if the loan is used for investment purposes, the loan interest may even be tax deductible. The bank loan need not be repaid until the life insured dies. When the insured person dies, the tax-free death benefit is used to repay the loan and any remaining death benefit is available to the corporation to be used for other purposes.

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Investment Strategies:

Is your investment portfolio set up to incur the least amount of tax?
Is your portfolio tax efficient?
You may have an RRSP/retirement plan, but do you have A PLAN TO RETIRE - one that takes into account how much income you will need and how much you need to save to achieve your objectives. If you do, you are in the minority.
 We evaluate your individual risk tolerance and build a risk-adjusted investment portfolio that will maximize long-term growth in a tax-efficient manner. We will make necessary adjustments to your asset allocation if there are material changes in your financial situation or your investment objectives.

Some of the products available to you include:

• Mutual Funds
• Segregated Funds
• Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs)
• Term Deposits
• Private Money Management
• Hedge Funds and Alternative Investment Strategies
• Tax Exempt Life Insurance Accumulation Plans

Here is a list of some of the tax strategies we use to optimize your portfolio:

• Pension splitting
• Cash wedge
• Income trusts

Flow-thru shares

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