Scantlebury Wealth Management

Getting married is a large life commitment and there are so many things to think about. Many people think about the invitations and the flowers. The Groom thinks about his tuxedo, while the Bride thinks about her dress. There is food and venues and honeymoons that come to mind and need to be planned. Before getting married, however, I have learned that finances should be put alongside the cake and confetti. For, just as marriage is a time to celebrate the coming of two people, it is just as important to remember that two different ledgers are being merged. So, financial goals are important. Just think about it. If your spouse and you buy a house and they pass away, one question is left: is there enough money to allow for continued ownership of the house? Building a strong financial foundation can answer that question; and, often times that means reviewing the life insurance portfolio. Or, in a few cases, creating one. After over a decade in the industry, I have three reasons for this o...

So whenever I am asked, “does a single person need insurance”, two children come to mine. Both Children were under the age of ten and both were declared to be uninsurable. For our purposes, I will focus on one child because he had a genetic kidney disease. I will call him “Bob”. In Bob’s case, his parent’s had thought about buying him a life insurance policy early on. His parent’s knew about the disease because members of their family had it. However, they ran into an issue of affordability. So they took a chance. However, when Bob developed at a slower pace than his peers, his parents did the right thing and took him to the doctor. Tests were booked and performed and the test confirmed that Bob had inherited the condition. As a result, he became uninsurable. That short anecdote is important because it illustrates a simple problem: one’s true health can be worse than expected. While, a doctor usually asks if a person has any symptoms, life insurance companies often look a bit deepe...

One question I am asked by clients on a regular basis is: “Since I have group benefits through my employer, why would I need to supplement it with life insurance?” This question is especially popular amongst those who are younger and one can understand why. If one doesn’t own a home or have children, one might not see the value in a life insurance policy. In fact, it is often seen as an unnecessary expense. However, I disagree and these are some of the reasons that I share with my clients. Firstly, you might need a life insurance policy in the future. You might get married. You might adopt a baby or – because of death or circumstance – you might take a friend’s child under your roof. I know this because, as a financial professional, I have seen all of those circumstances. I can honestly say that no one can see what the future has in store for them and being prepared is the best way to deal with it. Too often, financial professionals see the consequences of someone who has not prepared...

We have been told for over a decade that we will have to deal with a spike in the number of people over the age 65. Since the early 1990s, the Government of Canada has been making small changes in order to deal with that demographic reality. As a Financial Professional, though, it is just as important to look for other examples of what effect this will have on my clients. Consequently, I have been very interested in the dispute between New Brunswick Nursing Homes and their staff. For some context, New Brunswick has one of the oldest populations in the country. Approximately 16 per cent of them are over the age of 65. Or put differently, given that there are 755,000 New Brunswickers, about 122,000 of them are of the age that Long Term Care matters. To put this into context the national average is 14%. As a Financial Professional working in a province with a younger average age, this dispute shows me what might happen a decade or two from now and what I should recommend to my clients. Th...

At the beginning of a new year, many of us make resolutions. We resolve that we will lose weight, exercise more, read more, clean or declutter our homes. The idea of making a resolution is simple: we want to make sure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of our previous year. Thus, these resolutions are a symbol of what we want to be or become. So, if resolutions are symbols, their power is in their belief and use. Many people start with a resolution to be better at managing their money. Some people will start to catch up on their taxes or put their receipts away. Others will start to look at their investments or call their financial advisor/ planner in January. However, by about now, March, many of them have given up. They may not have made the large RRSP deposit they wanted to make, or have not recovered from Christmas - as they had hoped. Accordingly, they have given up. Well, I am here to say that there is hope. We can start today to improve our finances. Today can be January or March...