insurance posts

Life insurance, like money, is a bit like Fight Club. It's there, people are involved in it, but no one seems to talk about it until you get punched in the face a few dozen times.

Extended metaphor aside, Canadians don't seem to like to talk about life insurance, even with their partners, according to a new poll by TD Insurance.

Life insurance is an oxymoron. What you're getting (or what your survivors are getting) are death benefits. Still, let's accept the expression for what it is.

Say that you're the breadwinner in the family, and you bought life insurance long ago, long before you thought of getting married (and long before any would-be spouse would be looking at you as marriage material).

But now that you ARE married, should your spouse get a life insurance of her or his own?

The number of financial complaints made to Canada's Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) reached a record high in 2010, despite the fact that the worst of the global financial crisis had passed.

Last year, 1,024 complaints were made to the OBSI, which is an independent financial dispute resolution service for consumers and small businesses.

Complaints rose 3.4% in 2010, building on the enormous 48% jump in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis. The new figure marks the first time in the organization's 15 year history that complaints have risen above 1,000.

When I pitched this idea to my editor, she came back with the idea of 'what to say to insurance folks when your home is flooded.'

I didn't have the heart to say that when I stepped into my condo and saw three strange men vacuuming water off my floor, I swore loudly and a lot.

Flooded homes are always something you hear about and never expect to happen to you. In fact, just a few months ago I wrote about a friend and her place which got flooded and it turned out she did not have home insurance. I fortunately do have home insurance.

After wailing to my brother on the phone:

Him (sleepily. It was after midnight), "Hello?"

Me, "My condo is flooded!"

Him, "I'll be right there."

I quickly packed an overnight bag and grabbed my briefcase. It was time to call my insurance company.

In an attempt to curtail rising household debt, the Federal government has announced a second major tightening of mortgage lending rules -- a change that could affect up to 20,000 new mortgages and cause house prices to fall in the short-term.

According to media reports, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday that three main changes would be made to the mortgage rules: mortgages with amortization periods greater than 30 years will no longer qualify for government-backed mortgage insurance, down from 35 years; the refinance limit on a mortgage will be reduced to 85 per cent of the home's value, down from 90 per cent; and Ottawa will no longer insure home equity lines of credit (HELOC).

New Year Purge

There's no time like after Christmas to ponder purging things we just haven't used in the last year, says our friend over at Canadian Dream: Free at 45. In truth, most people in North American could survive quite nicely with about half of what they own, he says. Read what he says about how to divest yourself of the things you don't need in life.

Investing in Yourself
The Dividend Guy goes all philosophical in this post about how one of the best dividends can come from investing in yourself. Not a new concept, but just in time for the new year, as he provides a compelling argument for using some of the tips on his list to get great financial returns for investing in yourself.

Do You Have Home-Based Business Insurance?
When you are running a home-based business, it is easy to assume that your homeowner's policy covers whatever happens. This, however, is not always the case, says the folks over at Financial Highway. You might be surprised to find that your home business and related activities are not included in your homeowners policy.

Canadian employers plan to keep on hiring in the first few months of 2011, according to a quarterly survey by employment agency Manpower.

The general message for job seekers is a good one: managers say they plan to hire more staff over the next few months. However, some industries are faring better than others and it looks like some jobs will be lost. Overall, more jobs should be created than lost and the unemployment rate will likely edge down slightly in the first quarter of the year.
Put simply, things are getting better, but slowly.

Manpower asked 1,900 Canadian employers from 10 industries about their hiring intentions for the first few months of 2011. This is what they found:

Cars lose between 25 and 40 percent of their value the minute you drive them off the lot. That's pretty pricey for the bragging rights of owning a new car, so I always buy cars used, try to buy them privately so I don't have to pay GST, and drive them until it's no longer economically viable to fix them.

I budget $3,000-$5,000 for the purchase, $400-$1,000 a year for maintenance and repairs, and expect to get at least 10 years out of a car before it becomes unreliable or gives up the ghost.

Liability Insurance Only

Because I buy old cars, I buy only liability insurance - no fire or theft. And since I don't leave anything of value in my car I've always considered locking the car a fool's game, since I'd have to absorb the cost of replacing a window if a thief broke it to see what might be in the glove box.

I came across an interesting survey this week that found that money is by far the most important issue in the divorce process. There's nothing too surprising about money being an important issue for divorcing couples -- it has long been said that arguments about money are key factors leading to the break-up of a marriage in the first place. But what surprised me about this survey was how low a priority was given to children.

The survey of 2,100 Canadians on the website Divorcechoices.com found that 94% of respondents believed money was the most important factor to them in the divorce process. Only 3% said kids were the most important factor, followed by the emotional aspect and legal issues, both on 1%.

Now I know that not all divorcing coupled have kids to worry about, but even taking that into account, 3% seems rather low. Or perhaps the divorcing couples have already come to an agreement about custody and the kids' emotional welfare and only have money left to argue about. Who knows? What is clear, is that money is a huge concern for divorcing couples -- and I'm not just talking about settlements -- I'm talking about the cost of getting a divorce as well.

If you're a driver in Ontario and haven't received a notice to this effect already, you will soon (Check your mail, there may be a notice in there already): there are some pretty significant changes coming to the automobile insurance industry.

Because car insurance is mandatory, it's pretty heavily regulated by provincial governments -- insurers can't arbitrarily raise rates across the board without asking permission and making their case, for example. On top of this, the Superintendent of Financial Services needs to review parts of the Insurance Act every five years to ensure regulation isn't hurting either consumers or companies -- if companies go bankrupt, it means less choice for consumers.

That review process wrapped up last year -- new legislation was passed and starting next month, changes will come into effect that will definitely have an impact on your rates and coverage.