Insurance Planning

There is a common perception that the sole purpose for life insurance is providing for dependents should the policyholder pass away prematurely. Though important, that particular use is only one part of the story.

Your home, health, life, assets, and business require protection. With insurance planning as part of your integrated wealth management strategy, you can manage risk at every stage of your personal and professional life to help strengthen and safeguard your family’s financial security.

Life insurance can be used in a myriad ways, both personally and corporately.

Meeting you personal needs:

  • Maximize your estate: When you have specific assets that you intend to pass on to the next generation, you benefit from the two key tax advantages of tax-exempt life insurance. Savings are sheltered from tax, and the entire value of the policy – including the insurance and investment components – is received by beneficiaries tax-free.
     
  • Supplement your retirement income: The savings you accumulate in a tax-exempt life insurance policy can be used to supplement retirement income, either through withdrawals or a loan program.
     
  • Preserve your estate: The assets your children will inherit also come with a significant tax bill. Capital gains tax is payable on such assets as non-registered investments and the family cottage, and almost half of the value of your RRSP or Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) will be paid in income taxes. Tax-exempt life insurance can provide beneficiaries with an insurance benefit that offsets these taxes, leaving the estate intact.
     
  • Leave a legacy to a charity: You can leave a larger charitable gift with tax-exempt life insurance than through other means, thanks to tax-sheltered growth and a tax-free payout to the charity. In addition, you receive tax advantages – either by reducing your tax annually, or providing tax relief to your estate.

 

Meeting your business needs:

  • Insure and retain your key people: Since tax-exempt life insurance includes both an insurance and savings component, a variety of opportunities arise for a policy to be shared. For example, a policy may be shared by the company and a key person. The company pays for insurance coverage on the life of the key person, providing funds for the business to carry on if that person passes away prematurely. And the key person contributes to the savings component, building tax-sheltered savings that can be used for retirement or estate planning
     
  • Shelter a portion of corporate profits from taxation: Normally, excess corporate funds stay trapped within the company, attracting high taxation no matter how you manage the funds. But with tax-exempt life insurance, there’s a way to tax-shelter your surplus as a corporate investment, and ultimately have the funds go to your heirs, tax-free.
     
  • Enhance the funding of a buy-sell agreement: When you choose tax-exempt life insurance to fund a buy-sell agreement, the built-in savings component opens up additional opportunities. For example, co-owners can turn the tax-sheltered savings into supplementary retirement income.
     
  • Assist your family if you are the sole owner: If your business interest will go to the family, tax-exempt life insurance can serve a variety of needs. The insurance amount can help your family cover the tax liability on your estate. If the family plans on selling the business, the insurance amount can be used to keep the company operating until the sale. Or proceeds can fund the requirements involved in terminating the business.

 

 Insurance products and services are provided through Assante Estate and Insurance Services Inc.