Scantlebury Wealth Management

It is probably a question that has not occurred to anyone recently.  I often ask people that simple question: can I review your disability insurance? If you haven’t guessed, the answer is usually a polite refusal. People often tell me that they have enough insurance, that their group insurance is fine and it works or that they have no need of disability insurance. In that same breath, I can also say that I have lost count of the number of people who have run into trouble later. That later account usually doesn’t come from the same people to whom I have asked the question. It usually comes to my attention from a friend, a colleague or someone we have in common.  The story comes to my ears as a health event; one that was “unanticipated, unpredictable and unexpected”. It is seen as an incident that could not have been foretold. It could be a white collar professional who started experiencing the pains that come with fibromyalgia or polymyalgia, or a blue collar professional who e...

The Government of Ontario recently announced that they are making significant changes to the  availability of high-cost cancer medications.  Under its “Funding Accelerated for Specific  Treatments” (FAST) program, selected cancer drugs will get more public funding a year faster than is  already the case. A three-year pilot initiative, the FAST program aims to fast-track seven to ten high-priority cancer treatments each year. Currently, the following drugs are being funded through this program: Tagrisso ([osimertinib] for lung cancer), Scemblix (for a leukemia variant), Nubeqa (for prostate cancer), Calquence ([acalabrutinib tablets] for lymphoma), Opdivo with Yervoy (for colorectal cancer and for liver cancer).  To this we say, hurray.  However, in our view, this change highlights a few of the problems that cancer patients have to overcome when they receive a cancer diagnosis in Canada. The first problem is access. In Canada, provinces have a hard task: bri...

In life's rapid pace, the notion of the unexpected is a frequent anxiety for many Canadians. The concern isn't just about a potential health crisis; it's about the very real possibility of financial devastation that often follows. This is why Critical Illness Insurance is no longer a luxury—it is an essential layer of protection for your financial future. While Canada's public healthcare system provides exceptional support, it does not cover all the hidden, life-altering expenses that accompany a serious diagnosis. Your daily income, mortgage payments, specialized recovery costs, and home modifications all remain your responsibility. A Critical Illness Insurance Policy solves this challenge by delivering a single, tax-free lump sum cash payment directly to you upon diagnosis of a covered illness. As a result, unlike disability insurance, which replaces lost income, or traditional health insurance, which covers medical bills, this policy delivers a single, tax-free lump ...

A cancer diagnosis is a life-altering event that extends beyond the physical and emotional struggles. The financial implications can be equally daunting, encompassing the costs of treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. For many patients, maintaining employment during treatment is challenging, and it often results in a significant decrease in household income. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as "financial toxicity," is prevalent even in countries with universal healthcare coverage, like Canada, where patients still face substantial out-of-pocket expenses. Sometimes, the costs are small. They could include parking fees and accommodation expenses for themselves and their caregivers. This could be especially true when dealing with lengthy treatments like radiation therapy or stem cell transplants. Or, the costs could be larger. They can include travel expenses for those who live in rural or remote areas.  Since these costs are generally not covered by publ...

In Canada, it is often assumed that healthcare coverage extends uniformly across our 10 provinces and three territories. However, a recent incident underscores the crucial need for travel medical insurance even when traveling within the country's borders. As reported by Pat Foran of CTV News, Doug McGinley experienced an alarming situation during a cross country trip this year. Despite typically purchasing travel medical insurance for international trips, Doug - a resident of Oakville, Ontario - didn’t acquire coverage for this trip. After all, he was just travelling within Canada. What could go wrong? However, while driving through Saskatchewan, his journey took an unexpected turn: he began experiencing chest pains. After crossing into Alberta, he was admitted to a hospital in Medicine Hat, where medical professionals determined that he had suffered a mild heart attack. The situation escalated, requiring air ambulance transport to Calgary for emergency treatment. During this harro...

If you speak to most Trustees-in-Bankruptcy in Canada, you will find that it is pretty hard to go bankrupt from medical expenses alone. Freida Richer, a Vice President and Principal at Grant Thornton Limited, noted this in an interview with Global News; and, if you think about it, that makes sense.   We, in Canada, are very proud of our social safety net. We believe in the idea that government programmes should cover basic physician and hospital expenses; while other social programmes should provide financial assistance to Canadians who are unable to work because of disability or illness. Accordingly, Canadians don’t receive bills from our hospitals for procedures like a hip transplant or cancer operations.  As a society, our employers and ourselves often go the extra step by creating Extended Health Benefits through Group Benefit Programmes or by purchasing private products individually. According to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), some 24 mil...

I was recently asked a question that bothered me: Why should a married couple who have no children acquire a life insurance policy? The question shook me because I have more than a decade in the financial industry, and more than thirty years of personal experience; so a number of sad stories came to mind. One particular story was stronger than the rest though.  The couple were acquaintances of mine and they had just gotten married. They were in their twenties and in reasonably good shape. The husband was on a business trip and died due to natural causes.  Now I am the first to admit that this is an unusual circumstance. When the gentlemen passed, more than a decade ago, most of us would say that he could be expected to see his 80th birthday. Today, a similar Canadian who is male and twenty years of age could be expected to live to his 82nd year. So why would he need a policy? Well because all of us are different and we are not just averages. Whether, we think we are going to l...

So you are graduating from school and you want to save for your future. You go to a financial planner and you say I have $75 dollars a month to put away, can you make a recommendation? I have come across this situation more than you can imagine and my answer has changed over the years.  Today, more often than not though, I would probably give the same answer. If you have a job with a group plan which has disability coverage, I would suggest that someone spends $25/mth on insurance and put $50 into a savings “fund”. That $25 a month should get you a small life insurance policy as well as either a small critical illness or catastrophic drug policy. The $50 should be put away in a GIC or accumulation annuity until you have $2,000 dollars. Once you accumulate $2,000, you can put money into a non-registered money market mutual fund or money market segregated fund until you accumulate $10,000. From there, in association with your GIC or non-registered funds, you can graduate...

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...