Before we begin discussing using insurance companies for any of your investments, there’s a few things you need to know about investing with an insurance company.

The first thing is insurance companies have been investing money for Canadians for well over 100 years. Insurance companies began with pension plans and in 1957 actually invented RRSPs. 

The other important factor is, the Insurance Act is unique and different from investing with a Bank or Investment Firm. Only insurance companies offer Segregated funds, which provide guarantees that GICs, mutual funds, ETFs, stocks and bonds can’t provide.

Segregated funds (seg funds) are somewhat similar to mutual funds since they offer the potential for growth,  and they also provide some built-in guarantees.

Those guarantees provide some distinct advantages which are particularly attractive for millions of people- people that don’t’ want to lose any money, which often includes those of us with medical issues. 

The most important message is, your original investment can be fully guaranteed- regardless if the financial markets are at a low. Mutual funds and other types of investment simply do not have this type of guarantee!

• If your investment has gone up, you’d receive the current market value (your investment plus any gains). However if the investment has gone down you get back 100% of your initial investment at the maturity date. (The maturity date is either 10 or 15 years, depending on the company you choose).*
• Guaranteed death benefit. When you name your beneficiary, they will receive the current market value (your original investment plus any gains), or 100% of your original investment even if the markets have gone down.*
• Seg funds offer the potential for creditor protection.
• Resets- As your investment grows, you can reset your account value. This adds tremendous value, unlike other types of investments- especially those with stock market exposure!
• Seg funds are also private investments- meaning they bypass probate. All proceeds are private, regardless if they are registered investments or not. The same cannot be said for mutual funds, or investments with a bank or investment firm. In fact anything that is part of the probate process is public information.
• Seg funds are free from Provincial probate, which means any money you have invested in seg funds are free from that expense. In addition your estate avoids any legal or accounting fees as well. Depending on your estate, those 3 fees can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses.
• Fund managers often use firms such as Fidelity, JP Morgan, T. Rowe Price, Putnam, Beutel Goodman, BlackRock, RBC, Pimco, Mackenzie.
• Advanced specialists are available for larger cases when needed.

*We offer funds from 9 different companies, and each one has slight differences with their features. We’ll work with you to choose investments that meet your goals and risk tolerance.

I’ve been offering seg funds and mutual funds for over 30 years and strongly believe that the guarantees offered by seg funds are just too attractive to ignore.

You can view Canada Life’s segregated funds on their website.

Manulife also has a family of segregated funds, which you can view here. 

Send me an email at wayne@itsallhere.ca and we can arrange a time to chat about how you can protect yourself against market downturns and provide that peace of mind that you truly deserve!