Owen is married and has two children. He has been working at the same company for over five years and relies heavily on his employee group plan for his life insurance needs. A new single co-worker got the same benefits after only 90-days and Owen wonders if his group insurance can let him down.
Most Canadians take the correct steps to protect their property against loss in case anything they own is lost or stolen.
Concerns about recouping losses if a home is robbed, or a favorite vintage guitar is destroyed during a basement flood, are questions with very routine answers. But when it comes to considering the value of a human life, many people don’t take the necessary steps to protect their loved ones against the financial loss when a primary income-earner dies.
Sally has been working for the same company for over twenty years. About a year ago, she was given a new group benefits booklet because her employer had switched insurance companies. Like most people, she put it aside and intended to read it when she "had the time." Sally was just diagnosed with terminal cancer and made the time to read her group booklet. She was upset to learn that the life insurance coverage with the new insurer was only one times annual earnings. The previous coverage had been two and a half times annual earnings.
Starting in January 2017, the allowable cash value build up under tax rules in life insurance policies will change. The federal government introduced changes in December 2014 that are designed to modernize life insurance exempt testing rules as they have discovered that people are living longer and that their insurance policies will pay out later.
As a result of this new legislation, the affected demographics are middle-class consumers, business owners and wealthier Canadians looking to pre-fund their estate tax bills using cheaper life insurance dollars at death.
