Updated January 2024
Gaeten and Mirielle are a middle aged couple who met through friends. They have been together for almost 5 years. Gaeten is divorced with one adult child. Mirielle, a widow, has two children of her own. The couple do want to take care of each should either one predecease the other. They both wish to have at least some of their own investments pass on to their respective children.
Updated January 2024
My last article shared the story of a divorced gentleman, Gaeten, who named his common law partner Mirielle, joint beneficiary of his Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) along with his daughter, Marie. I covered off the problem Mirielle would have trying to maintain the tax sheltered status of her share of Gaeten’s account which would pass to her on Gaeten’s death. What if Gaeten named her as a successor holder (subrogated policyholder in Quebec)?1
Updated January 2024
A disturbing number of aging Canadians today aren’t saving or aren’t saving enough for retirement.1 They are seeking financial freedom. That’s not freedom from money. It’s the kind of freedom they feel when they can do what they want to do and when they want to do it. Yet we all know that how we manage, invest and spend our money can have a huge impact on our life and our lifestyle.
Understanding the differences and similarities
Markets move in different directions at different times, generally called cycles. Different market cycles tend to favour one investment style over another. Understanding how growth and value investment styles differ and where they can work together will help demonstrate how they can both play an integral role in your equity portfolio construction.
Insurance companies in Canada paid out 75 per cent more in mental health claims in 2021 compared to 2019 (CLHIA), but disability claims with a mental health component have been on the rise for many years. In this blog, Michelle Cortes, our product manager for long-term disability, interviews Ian Bridgman, Executive Director of The Claim Lab, and Steve Higgins, who oversees the management of disability claims at Empire Life, to discuss how The Claim Lab is helping us manage mental health claims through enhanced predictive analytics. Empire Life was the first insurance company in Canada to work with The Claim Lab.
In a recent advisor webinar with guest speakers Stephen Frank, CLHIA President and CEO, and senior members of the Empire Life claims investigative team, Richelle Feddema and Raman Sharma, our hosts Marc-André Blondeau, regional vice-president of group distribution in Quebec and Eastern Canada, and Michelle Wegner, director of sales enablement at Empire Life, discussed industry efforts to tackle group benefits fraud. In this post, we share some of Marc-André and Michelle's post-webinar conversation with Stephen. Next week, we'll share their conversation with Richelle and Raman.
How pharmacogenomics can prevent drug spend waste
More and more Canadians are taking prescription drugs as chronic disease and mental health problems become more widespread. But prescribing can be a challenge because each person’s unique metabolic profile—informed by their unique genetics—determines which drugs will work and which will not. Empire Life has been working with Pillcheck for three years to help plan members find the right pharmaceutical treatments sooner rather than later, so they can enjoy their lives and return to work without needless delay. For employers, the savings can add up: depending on the diagnosis, drug therapy guided by Pillcheck can save between $350 and $5000 per patient.
In my last article, I wrote about the benefits of a buy and hold strategy where an investor stayed in the market through the ups and downs of a particular investment.
A common piece of advice for investors is that long term success doesn’t hinge on timing the market. It’s time in the market that may make the bigger difference.
Key takeaways:
We are choosing to adopt a more cautious posture and see increasingly attractive relative value in fixed income. As such, we have reduced our equity targets in the various Emblem funds and increased our fixed income targets.
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