Articles

Work-Life Balance: Tipping the Mortality Scale

Last time in this space, we discussed how physical or emotional stress affects the human heart. This time, we will focus on why maintaining a favorable balance between a commitment to our jobs and the need to prioritize our lives outside of the workplace is both a life-affirming and possible life-saving necessity.

Let’s start by looking back to the early 1990’s, when researchers in Japan started to study and report on a phenomenon where it appeared ostensibly healthy, middle-aged, mostly men, started to die suddenly. The term coined for the cause of death in this group was “karoshi”, meaning death from overwork. The common thread running through these cases was a history of chronically long work weeks, logging in at 60 hours and often more. The cause of death was disturbing in its’ repetition, most often heart disease, stroke or suicide (1).

More recently, and perhaps due to the pandemic and a growing body of knowledge increasingly difficult to ignore, there is renewed interest in the burden and toll of an unhealthy work life. Continue reading “Work-Life Balance: Tipping the Mortality Scale” →

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Work-Life Balance: Tipping the Mortality Scale

Social Media Platforms – What You Need to Know

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You’re a successful Advisor but want to promote and continue to grow your business online – smart move, count us in! However, there are just so many social media platforms, how do you know which one is right for you and your business?

There are indeed more than a few and they’re all slightly different, but all are excellent modern marketing tools and with a little research, you can decide which one (or two or three!) are a good fit for you and your brand.

Recently, LIMRA published a study asking Generation Y (also called millennials) who they engage for financial advice. They found that 90% of those surveyed said that they would NOT seek financial advice from their parents’ Advisors because they “are not relevant” (1). Ouch. But what does it mean to be “relevant”? Well, if you want to reach the next generation of wealth, you need to meet them where they are – and that place is on social media. Continue reading “Social Media Platforms – What You Need to Know” →

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Social Media Platforms – What You Need to Know

Savings Growth Calculator

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The ability of our “Savings Growth” calculator to compare two savings strategies can be useful during your client discussions on what to do with excess cash. Your clients can also use it to see the impact of increasing their savings, even by just a little. Walk through this multi-purpose tool or share it with your clients to stimulate your next discussion on finances. Continue reading “Savings Growth Calculator” →

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Savings Growth Calculator

Preserving Your Client’s Memories with the help of STEP

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Our life’s memories deserve consideration just as much as our financial legacies do.  Have you taken the opportunity to talk to your clients about how to protect their social media accounts and their digital assets?

Most social media platforms have terms and conditions making these accounts private for security purposes and making it difficult, if not all out impossible, for family members to retrieve these accounts after their loved ones have passed on. The good news is that social media providers have put tools in place so that your clients can decide in advance how they would like their loved ones to access these accounts when they are gone.

STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) has made the process even easier for your client to safeguard and share their memories with future generations by providing useful guides to help update their account settings and how to open conversations with their family and friends about the importance of preserving these digital memories. Be sure to share these guides with your clients: Continue reading “Preserving Your Client’s Memories with the help of STEP” →

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Resources to help preserve your memories!

INFOclip: Mortgage Protection

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Does your client own their own home? Do they have mortgage protection in place and can they continue to make loan payments in the case of a significant decrease in their income?

For many Canadians, purchasing a home is an important life milestone that can evoke both great joy and financial responsibility. Unfortunately, unexpected life events such as the disability, illness and even death of an income earner can make paying a mortgage that much more difficult, especially if they don’t have the proper protection in place to safeguard their family’s income.

Share this video with your client to show them how purchasing personal insurance, via a trusted advisor (that’s you!), can offer them and their families peace of mind with the protection and flexibility they need during difficult times to keep them on track with their mortgage payments. Continue reading “INFOclip: Mortgage Protection” →

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INFOclip: Mortgage Protection

Building Connections Through Direct Response Marketing… More Than Just Social Media

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Today, it’s no longer about those old, templated letters or phone dialing campaigns that… let’s be honest… were highly time consuming and largely ineffective in getting the attention of your clients. Social media has changed the way we promote and do business – all with better results at a fraction of the cost. So, why should you join the social media party and how can you make an impact through direct response marketing? Continue reading “Building Connections Through Direct Response Marketing… More Than Just Social Media” →

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Building Connections Through Direct Response Marketing… More than just Social Media

Will the Money Last?

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Help your clients calculate and compare scenarios for how long their savings will last when they start using it as income. Share the “Will the Money Last” calculator with them today.

And, for a more comprehensive review of your clients optimized retirement income cash flows and withdrawal strategy comparisons use the Cascades tool available to PPI Advisors through the Stratosphere suite of tools. Continue reading “Will the Money Last?” →

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Will the Money Last?

Corporate Owned Life Insurance and Beneficiary Designations

Many of your business-owner clients have corporate owned life insurance – an excellent and tax efficient way for your client to achieve their estate and succession planning goals. However, to avoid unintended tax consequences, it is critical that the beneficiary designations of the corporate owned policies be reviewed. Where the corporation is the owner and payor of the life insurance, the corporation (or a subsidiary of the corporation) needs to be the beneficiary of the life insurance – not the shareholder’s estate or members of the shareholder’s family! Why? Well, when corporate funds are used to provide personal benefits to shareholders and their family members, a taxable shareholder benefit will result, and the corporation does not get a deduction for the benefit. This results in double tax for your client! Continue reading “Corporate Owned Life Insurance and Beneficiary Designations” →

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Corporate Owned Life Insurance - Watch Those Beneficiary Designations!

Referrals: A Critical Part of Your Growth Strategy

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There is a quote made famous by American author William S. Burroughs that says, “When you stop growing, you start dying.” While the idea behind this might apply to many aspects of life, it’s perhaps especially relevant when framed within the context of the insurance industry.

Each advisor is unique. Varying skill sets, approaches in process and attitudes allow each of you to build a practice that fits you. However, there are certain practices that are utilized by almost all top successful advisors, one of the most important of these being the implementation of an effective referral process.

Most advisors would agree that finding new clients is one of the more challenging aspects of this business. Simply finding someone who is prepared to have a discussion can prove difficult. Coupled with DNC (Do Not Call) constraints, privacy restrictions and even just the social stigma surrounding the insurance industry, it is sometimes a wonder how an advisor can grow their business at all. What is so striking is that many advisors work so hard to secure a new client, but then fail to utilize that relationship to allow for new clients to follow with much less effort.

When it comes to referrals, most advisors have concerns. In fact, many feel that asking for referrals makes their client feel uneasy. It can also make an advisor feel like a bit of a salesperson and that utilizing this approach might damage the new relationship with their client. An advisor doesn’t want to do anything that may impact the trusted relationship you are building. All understandable and valid concerns. The idea of pulling out a pen and paper and asking your new client for a few names of people that you can approach for a new sale can indeed feel aggressive. We want to treat the client with dignity and respect, and this type of old school approach is not always ideal – so, what’s an advisor to do? Continue reading “Referrals: A Critical Part of Your Growth Strategy” →

INFOclip: The Value of Advice

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You know this industry inside and out – you’re a pro! In fact, nobody else is as suited to provide sound, up-to-date and in-depth financial planning advice to your clients as you are. However, many prospects continue to seek answers to their financial queries online or even worse, simply forgo financial matters altogether because it is just too daunting to even contemplate.

We’re here to help with this short video outlining the many benefits of working with a professional advisor such as yourself. Be sure to share it with your prospects today to highlight how your advice is not only valuable but can help them achieve their financial goals for today and the future. Continue reading “INFOclip: The Value of Advice” →

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INFOclip: The Value of Advice