LIFE INSURANCE
Employee benefits plans are designed to provide a predetermined amount of life insurance (i.e. $25,000) or a multiple of your insurable income (i.e. two times annual earnings). Many people have a need for coverage that is more substantial than what their benefits plan provides. A young family may require $500,000 or more of temporary or “term” life insurance while a 55-year-old may be considering his or her estate plan and have a need to secure cost effective permanent life insurance. To understand your unique life insurance need, it is best to meet with an insurance advisor. This professional will walk you through a series of questions in an effort to understand how much insurance and the type of life insurance that is right for you.

CRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCE
While some employee benefits plans offer critical illness insurance, many plans still do not. Critical illness insurance is designed to pay out a lump sum benefit when the insured is diagnosed with a covered critical illness and survives a survival period. In this day of advancements in medical technology, and easier access to Automated External Defibrillator’s (AED), those who experience a health crisis are more likely than ever to survive the occurrence. Too often there are costs associated with survival that are not anticipated. A husband or wife takes unpaid time off work to care for their sick spouse or child, expenses as a result of travelling for medical treatment, a heart attack victim feels it was the stress of his or her job that led to the heart attack and now wants the financial ability to retire early. Critical illness insurance can provide the funds to help handle these and other costs. If you wonder if you should consider critical illness insurance ask yourself the following, “in the next 10 years am I more likely to suffer from a heart attack, life threatening cancer, or stroke or am I more likely to die?” Make sure to keep the life insurance, but recognize the need for critical illness insurance also exists.