Your Financial Future (Personal Risk Management)
The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. Having a future gives us hope, allows us to set goals and gives us the chance to grow and change, or take a risk. When you think about it – your future possibilities are nearly endless, but you will need a financial plan to make them a reality.
Wise financial planning includes variables that are sometimes hard to contemplate. Things like: ‘what happens if I die?’ or ‘what happens to my family if I have an accident and can no longer work?’ The statistics prove that you are more likely to become disabled and unable to work, rather than die prematurely, so it is something to consider when planning for your financial future.
There are four main areas of planning that you need to consider when you look to secure your financial future:
LIFE INSURANCE PLANNING
Even though death is as certain as life, life insurance planning is sometimes overlooked. Life insurance planning is not about you; it’s about looking after those you leave behind.
Dying can create any number of financial hardships: taxes, burial fees, debts, mortgages, loans – to name but a few. These burdens will fall on those closest to you, family and loved ones who are already dealing with the stress of meeting the financial commitments that were made with the assumption your income would continue. It can quickly become overwhelming and extremely difficult to cope. Not only will you be missed as a person, the lifestyle that your family once enjoyed may now be impossible to maintain and they can face a crisis.
The proper amount of life insurance can ease these financial hardships on your loved ones when you are gone. Most people dream of their family being settled and carrying on after we die, but the reality is that without life insurance planning massive personal lifestyle changes will happen. Your family will grieve for a loss of lifestyle and friends as well as the loss of a loved one.
The correct amount of life insurance can mean that you leave a secure future for those who survive you.
INCOME PROTECTION
If you are like most people, your ability to get up each day, go to work, and earn an income is one of your most valuable assets. In fact, a person 40 years of age earning $50,000 per year, averaging 3% per year growth in salary, would earn $1,474,130 by the time they reached 60. Can you imagine what life would be like if suddenly you could not earn a living any longer due to a disability? For most of us, it would be a dramatic change in our lifestyles. Our financial responsibilities are not put on hold because we are in a major accident and cannot work. The bills will continue to come. Protecting our ability to continue to earn an income is extremely important.
Income protection buys you peace of mind that if such a thing should happen, you will not be left in a financial crisis that would control the situation. Imagine suddenly becoming disabled and as a result needing to sell your home or car, or that your children have to postpone their schooling due to lack of income. This situation can be avoided with a little planning for your financial future.
CRITICAL ILLNESS
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer from serious illnesses each year, and with strokes and heart attacks on the rise they can leave you alive but impaired. Thanks to the advances of modern medicine and technology, many more people will survive their ordeal but with a long road ahead of them. Recovery can be expensive and can take an unknown amount of time.
Critical illness insurance helps survivors meet the financial needs associated with recovering from a life-altering illness. There are options for payment; you can even take a lump sum cash payment that can be used any way you choose. You may wish to seek a successful treatment abroad, preserve retirement income, or renovate your home to make it more accessible.
Any way you choose to spend it, critical illness coverage can help ease the burden of a critical illness.
LONG TERM CARE
As we live longer with good medical care and healthy living, the need for long-term care is increasing. Long-term care gives us all the assistance we need to continue to be as independent as possible, for as long as possible, but it comes at a cost. To ensure you have enough of an income to adequately cover the long term care you will need, you must include long-term care insurance in your financial future.
With appropriate long-term care insurance, you will get good quality care when you need, for as long as you need it, and the financial burden will not fall on your family to provide it. It will make your later years more comfortable and allow you to enjoy the time with little worry.
Our financial planning services are designed to give you a quality of life that you can enjoy should the untoward happen to you. If it happens, there is no time to plan and you are faced with a serious situation that may put you in crisis. Your Erven Planning advisor can help you plan ahead.
At Erven Planning, we have the knowledge, expertise, and products to help make your financial journey a success – ask us!