Disability Income
The peace of mind that quality personal income protection provides is available for professionals, self-employed and business owners, business executives, and home-based workers. Without it, you run the real risk of losing your income generating capacity. That can translate into a personal financial meltdown and/or a major business disaster. Whether you need to secure your main source of income or to supplement the coverage you receive from your group benefits program or an association, we can help by providing you with a comprehensive and fully portable plan that you can rely on throughout your working years.
Many Canadians have inadequate protection against the significant financial loss that results from a disabling injury or sickness. Entrepreneurs are particularly at risk since they are not automatically covered by Unemployment Insurance or Workers' Compensation. In all cases, it is dangerous to rely on these and other government plans. Of nearly 2.3 million disabled Canadians of working age in 1990, only 10% received disability benefits from C/QPP, and only 6% from Workers' Compensation. An astonishing 70% reported no source of disability related income!
We have plans is specifically designed for small business and franchise owners. Since these entrepreneurs have historically shown a very high "return to work" motivation, these plans include a built-in pricing discount in recognition of this fact. A selection of optional benefits and riders gives us the flexibility to enhance the basic plan according to your needs.
We also have plans designed for white collar professionals, taking into account their special requirements. For medical professionals such as doctors and dentists, we have designed specialized programs and can also advise you on the benefits of a Professional Corporation (PC). If you are a young professional or a new or recent grad, we offer special discounts that can save you thousands of dollars over the course of your working career. Even though you may have less than a year in the workforce and will not have established an insurable earnings base yet, we have access to special programs to provide a solid base of coverage, with options on increasing it as your income grows.
Contact us today to protect your future and get your money back!
Insuring higher incomes
For higher earning executives, professionals and business owners, we often see something called “reverse discrimination”. What this means is that while the hourly or lower salaried employees may be fully covered for long term disability under the group benefits program, the higher earning executive may be significantly under-insured due to limitations such as overall plan maximums on the group plan. Also they may be additionally restricted as the definition of earnings is limited to salary only for most group long term disability plans. Many executives or business owners receive bonuses or other types of remuneration. In this case, it makes sense to supplement the group plan with individual disability income coverage. We can help you do in a cost-effective manner.
Most group LTD plans do not have partial disability benefits and as a result, an Executive is torn between giving up his/her corporate future for a marginal disability benefit that does not allow a part time return to work or maintenance of a presence at the company. Our ExecPlus program addresses these issues in a cost-effective manner.
Coverage for Farm Owners is a special program of benefits and underwriting that make it easier to offer income protection to our farm owner clients. Because of the favorable tax treatment of farmers, the earned income that is reported to Revenue Canada often times does not adequately reflect a farmer's true income level. In recognition of this, our program for Farm Owners offers the choice of two financial underwriting methods for more than $1,000 of monthly coverage:
- Earned Income
- Net Worth
Each of these classifications provides varying levels of coverage, features and benefits. As a result, it is very important to ensure that your coverage properly fits your occupation. In the final analysis, your Disability income coverage should be completely geared to your occupation and individual requirements.
What does this mean for you?
Typically, you would qualify for roughly the after-tax equivalent of your income, taking into account certain factors which are unique to each individual circumstance. However, when dealing with self-employed individuals, the key is to establishing their incomes for underwriting purposes.
The Disability income planning process
We place a great deal of importance on the planning process which enables us to custom-tailor the proposed new coverages to not only suit your own unique circumstances, but also to provide effective risk management. Once the planning process has been completed and we mutually agree on an overall design, our job is to shop the marketplace and utilize our expertise to find the BEST products to meet your requirements and criteria.
While cost is most certainly an important factor in the selection process, we also take into account contract wordings (which will determine whether or not your claim will qualify), plan features and options, and the reputation of the carrier.
Once the plan and carrier have been selected, we then begin the underwriting process. This is the method that the insurer uses to determine whether or not you qualify for the proposed new coverages. Some of the important factors that are considered are your income levels, occupation and your health. We work with you throughout this process to ensure that you receive the very best rates the carrier can offer you.
Our commitment doesn’t end there. After your new coverages are inforce, we continue to monitor them to assist you to exercise any optional benefits you have purchased such as the right to increase your coverage without having to be re-underwritten, and to ensure that your plans continue to deliver exceptional value to you. We continually monitor the marketplace to keep you advised of new products and ideas as they emerge and apply to you.
At claim time, you can rest assured that we will be there to assist
you in filing your claim and getting it paid expeditiously.