Scantlebury Wealth Management

Imagine, for a second, that you are in your fifties. You bought a policy years ago, at the same time that you completed your financial plan. The Life Insurance policy was purchased, either as a solution to the dream of a perfect life, or in anticipation of a relationship that was supposed to turn into a marriage. Or on the flip side, you have a policy left over from a divorce. In the same vein, you can picture yourself in your 60s or 70s. You are watching your children thrive; they are achieving financial independence. It is at that point that you ask yourself a simple question: why do I have this life insurance policy? If you find yourself holding a policy you no longer need, your instinct might be to surrender it for its cash value. However, before you cancel the policy, before you even make a phone call, I would ask you to consider a far more impactful alternative: donate it. A Gift of Life Insurance has three benefits. The first is obvious: it is an affordable, high-impact way to s...

It is not uncommon to learn by doing. When working with clients on their estate planning needs, I have often asked a simple question: “if you were to die today, would you want to donate some of your estate to any particular charity?”. Oftentimes, that question does not trigger a response. That is not surprising. However, one time, it did. The client’s answer was simple: “I had not given it much thought”. Yet, the conversation did not stop there. My question - if you were to die today, would you want to donate some of your estate to any particular charity - led to a different response: an exchange. After some talking, we made a plan, and that plan led to action. Eventually, we figured out the desired outcome, and she changed her will. Within six months, she had passed; and, a charity received a big cheque.  We often don’t think about what would happen once we pass. However, for just a second, imagine that you could give a gift of several thousand dollars to a charity - like an endow...

Imagine starting a new job, full of hope for the future, only to have your world turned upside down two weeks later. That is exactly what happened to Kayla in 2023. After finding a lump on her neck and experiencing difficulty swallowing, she was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma - a rare and aggressive form of thyroid cancer. The problem for Kayla was a simple one: she had recently taken time off to care for her two small children; and, she hadn't built up enough hours in her new job, in her new role. The result? She was completely ineligible for EI sickness benefits. Which brings me to a key point: the financial strain of a critical illness doesn’t just come from the loss of a paycheck. Sometimes, the hidden cost is just receiving the treatment. In Kayla’s case, this meant travelling 3 hours from a rural home to an urban centre. In Kayla’s case, this meant leaving young children behind for 6 weeks during treatment, isolating children from their ill parent at a time when...

  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...