Scantlebury Wealth Management

We often don’t think about mortgage life insurance as a priority—until it becomes the most critical factor in a person's financial life. This is especially true when a tragedy interrupts a real estate transaction. Many Canadians may not realize that certain credit products are technically callable. While a standard residential mortgage usually cannot be called as long as payments are made, HELOCs and commercial mortgages fall into a different category. These are often "demand" products. While, if a borrower passes away while utilizing a loan, mortgage, HELOC or commercial mortgage, the lender is under no obligation to honor the commitment to a deceased borrower. This leaves the surviving partner or estate in a devastating position: grieving a loss while facing a collapsed deal and potential legal liabilities for failing to close. Many buyers assume they can simply tick the insurance box at the bank during their final signing appointment. However, relying on the bank at th...

Whenever I am asked, "Does a single person really need life insurance?" my mind immediately goes to two children. Both were under the age of ten, and both were eventually declared uninsurable. I’ll focus on one child—let's call him "Bob"—who was born with a genetic kidney disease. Bob’s parents had considered buying him a life insurance policy early on. They were aware of the disease because it ran in the family, but they were concerned about affordability and decided to take a chance. When Bob began developing at a slower pace than his peers, his parents took him to a doctor. Tests confirmed their fears: Bob had inherited the condition. In that moment, he became uninsurable. This story illustrates a critical, and often overlooked reality: your true health can be worse than you expect. While a doctor looks for current symptoms, insurance companies look deeper into your long-term risk. That deeper look can have devastating consequences for your future ability to ...

  In the evolving landscape of philanthropy, integrating life insurance strategies into planned giving programs is a vital tool for enhancing the financial stability of charitable organizations. By adopting a planned giving strategy that employs life insurance policies, a charity will create sustainable funding mechanisms that contribute to existing efforts and help to safeguard its future. Accordingly, this approach allows an organization to expand its capabilities, support ongoing programs, and develop new initiatives that align with its mission. Utilizing life insurance as a component of planned giving offers profound advantages. For example, Life insurance can significantly enhance a donor's capacity to contribute to charitable causes. By leveraging life insurance, donors can transform relatively modest premiums into substantial future benefits for their chosen charities. Accordingly, you are using “pennies to contribute dollars” to a charity. This approach allows individuals t...

Quite recently, I was asked a simple question: I have my Travel Insurance Policy on my credit card,  why should I buy a separate policy? My gut reaction was simple: never depend on your credit card insurance and never buy it from a bank. With twenty years of employment history between various  financial and financial education firms, my reaction is you should try to go to the correct professional  to get your financial service.  As a guy who is licensed to sell Life and Accident Sickness Insurance, I thought I knew what was  best. After all, I have sold these policies for a few years and I had a sense of them. So, of course, my  gut said “every individual should buy their own Travel Insurance and buy it from an independent Insurance Advisor; and never walk into a retail bank branch to do the same. Yet, my mind said  something else: “are you sure?”. Accordingly, I did research and I was surprised.  I was surprised by the range and variability of th...