Scantlebury Wealth Management

  You have probably heard about a Canadian who wished that the federal or their provincial government did more to help those who are in crisis. What if you were given the ability to plan for these moments?  Critical illness insurance is designed to provide financial support if you are diagnosed with a severe medical condition. One of the appealing aspects of this insurance is that it offers a lump sum benefit, which pays out even if you fully recover or do not experience a loss of income or diminished capacity to work. This payout can be particularly useful for covering out-of-pocket medical expenses, replacing lost income, or simply providing peace of mind during a challenging time. In Canada, critical illness insurance policies typically cover a defined list of conditions. When you meet the policy's criteria for any of the following critical illnesses, you may be eligible for the lump sum benefit. This includes Aortic surgery, Aplastic anemia, Bacterial meningitis, Benign br...

Step 1: Press “Pause” and Rebuild Take a moment to breathe. You will feel many emotions including shock or anger. They will wear off; but it will take time - a few days, or a few months. It is important to let these emotions wash over you and let them dissipate so that you can make smart decisions about your next few moves. You can try to do simple things like eat well, exercise and have good sleep habits. Taking these steps, taking the time, will ensure that you don’t burn any bridges with your previous employers, supervisors or other stakeholders.  You can also talk to your family and friends. They can be great sounding boards if you need to vent a little or if you need some guidance. Moral support can count as much as financial support. Step 2: Stay positive and make getting another job your new job Firstly, please remember to take care of yourself. The shock of being laid off is real. While, it is important to take comfort from the knowledge that other people, most people, have...

What is your most valuable asset? You might say it is your car, an antique piece of furniture or a piece of jewellery. I would say that you are mistaken. Let’s start with jewellery. The most expensive piece of jewellery for most people would most likely be an engagement or a wedding ring. While some engagement rings can cost as much as $30,000; one comparison website ( RateSupermarket.ca ) pegged the average cost of one at about $4,000.  Now, a car is more expensive than an engagement ring. If we use DesRosiers Automotive Consultants or autoTrader as our source, both have indicated that the average passenger vehicle in 2019 was just over $40,000: $40, 941 and 40,900, respectively. However, we can do better than that. As an example, think of a person’s house. Given that the average house price in Calgary is between $448,000 and $457,000, one could argue that that is the most expensive or valuable asset. For, it is more costly and beneficial than anything previously mentioned. How...

So almost a decade ago, I was handed a file. I was asked to work with a person who had recently moved from Quebec to Calgary. She had some assets with the firm I was working for and she was really in a horrible state.  Having moved from Quebec to Calgary - to leave an abusive relationship - she had very few assets. At that point, she was just a single mother trying to make ends meet and she had very few ends. One of the assets she had was a RRIF. I found this curious because the lady was only a few years older than me. At the time, I was in my late thirties and she was in her early to mid 40s.  For those who don’t know, a RRIF is a Registered Retirement Income Fund. It is not normally the financial structure that anyone under the age of 60 uses, let alone someone who is still employed. Given my confusion, I asked her a question: Why did she have a RRIF? Her answer was simple: she needed the money to make ends meet. Another advisor, at my same firm, had recommended the action a...

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...

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...