Scantlebury Wealth Management

When I first got my life insurance license, I was surprised by the number of people who didn’t have disability insurance. Yet today, I understand why it happens. Most of us are happy to receive a paycheque, and most of us are even happier when our employer offers us a group insurance policy. The reason is simple: in most people’s mind, a group benefit insurance policy is the gold standard in the employee-employer relationship.  Yet, there is something that most people don’t fully appreciate: disability insurance coverage does not come standard in that arrangement. It came as a surprise when I started evaluating  group benefit packages. However, over the years, it has become one of the things that I look for. The reason for this discrepancy, this incongruity, is simple: group insurance packages are not all the same. Or put differently, there is no standard group benefit package. Rather, each package is a creation of a broker, an employer (or plan sponsor) and the group insuranc...

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...

  Whether it’s a weekend getaway or a five-week trip, travel is something to look forward to. However, it can also be costly. Sometimes, travellers even wonder if travel insurance is worth the cost. After all, why spend money on coverage that may go unused?  Sometimes, we forget that accidents and illness can affect anyone at any time. Whether you are young and healthy or an experienced traveller, we all make mistakes. Sometimes, we might twist an ankle because we misjudge a sidewalk; other times, a taxi or Uber we are travelling in will get into an accident. Life happens, and that is why we have travel insurance. Canadian residents are covered for certain medical expenses within their own province by their provincial government’s medical plan. However, it's a different story once you leave your home province or your home country. What you may not know is that most hospitals around the world charge foreigners for unexpected medical and dental treatments, and if you need hospit...

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...

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...

As Canadians, we rarely think about the cost of health care. Most of us rarely have to pay for the services of a doctor or a nurse. While, we are all too aware of the political debates over the provision and use of health care resources and know of the arguments that happen between doctors, nurses, hospital officials and various federal and provincial politicians, we don’t get a bill for it. All we know is a simple fact: we are asked to pay taxes for our imperfect health care system. If you are lucky enough to have a Group Insurance Plan, through your employer, I could probably ask the same question. Generally speaking most employees ask a few questions as they need it or when the premium increases. Other than that your employer deals with the yearly renewals and most of the administration of the plan. All of this means that most Canadians rarely understand the cost of Canadian Health Care. While, it is true that we pay our taxes and some have supplemental coverage rarely is there an a...