Category: Insurance

Why would critical illness not pay out?

illness insurance optionsLet’s unravel the mystery behind Critical Illness Insurance in Canada today. It’s like having a financial safety cover for unexpected health challenges, but have you ever wondered why this superhero might not swoop in when you need it most? Let’s dive into why Critical Illness Insurance might not pay out.

Understanding Critical Illness Insurance

Alright, let’s understand the world of Critical Illness Insurance. Picture it as your financial shield – your personal hero ready to jump in when a serious health condition comes knocking. It’s like having Iron Man’s suit for your wallet, stepping up when regular insurance might not cover all the bases.

So, what’s the deal with Critical Illness Insurance coverage? It’s a bit like having a safety net for medical costs that may not be fully caught by your everyday insurance. Imagine it as your superhero sidekick, there to offer extra support during challenging times. Whether it’s a major illness or a health condition that throws you a curveball, Critical Illness Insurance steps up to the plate.

However, just like any superhero, it’s essential to know that Critical Illness Insurance has its limitations. It won’t save you from every villain, but it can certainly be a powerful ally when facing serious health challenges. The key is understanding its scope and making informed choices when selecting a Critical Illness Insurance policy.

When you sign up for a Critical Illness Insurance policy, it’s like crafting a personalized suit of armour. But here’s where we get to the minutest details: there are specific factors to consider. Are there waiting periods before the superhero springs into action? Are there conditions or situations excluded from its coverage? These are the details you need to know to ensure your superhero is ready to defend you when you need it most.

In the world of Critical Illness Insurance, transparency is your superpower. When applying for a policy, honesty is the key to unlocking its full potential. Disclose all relevant information about your health to your superhero insurer so they can tailor the coverage to your unique needs.

In conclusion, Critical Illness Insurance is your financial hero, ready to tackle serious health conditions. It’s your safety net, offering support where regular insurance might fall short. But remember, even superheroes have their limitations, so understanding your Critical Illness Insurance policy is crucial. Choose wisely, stay informed, and let your financial superhero be the ally you can count on in challenging times.

Why it Might Not Pay Out

Let’s dig a little deeper into the world of Critical Illness Insurance and explore the scenarios that might cause it not to pay out when you need it most. It’s like understanding the limitations of our favourite superheroes – they have their weaknesses, too.

  • Pre-Existing Conditions: Think of Critical Illness Insurance like buying a new pair of shoes. If your favourite pair already has a few scuffs before you get them, those pre-existing scuffs might not be covered. Similarly, if you have a health condition before signing up for a Critical Illness Insurance policy, it might not be eligible for coverage. It’s imperative to disclose any pre-existing conditions during the application to avoid surprises later on.
  • Waiting Periods: Every hero needs a bit of preparation before leaping into action. Critical Illness Insurance often comes with waiting periods, acting like a superhero gearing up before a big battle. During this waiting period, if you get diagnosed with an illness, the coverage might not kick in immediately. Understanding these waiting periods is essential so you can plan accordingly and be aware of when your coverage becomes fully effective.
  • Non-Disclosure of Information: Imagine Batman keeping his secret plans to himself – chaos might ensue. Similarly, when applying for Critical Illness Insurance, not disclosing accurate information about your health can lead to issues. If you forget to mention something important during the application process, it could impact the payout later on. Transparency is key – share all relevant health details to ensure a smoother claims process.
  • Exclusions in Policies: Superheroes often face enemies they can’t easily defeat. Critical Illness Insurance policies come with exclusions, acting like the weaknesses of our superhero. These exclusions specify certain conditions or situations not covered by the policy. It’s crucial to be aware of these exclusions while choosing a policy that aligns with your needs. Reading the fine print and understanding what’s excluded helps you make an informed decision.
  • Not Meeting Policy Criteria: Every hero follows a set of rules, and Critical Illness Insurance is no different. It has specific criteria that must be met for a payout to occur. If the diagnosed illness doesn’t match the criteria outlined in your policy, the payout might be affected. Understanding these criteria helps you ensure that your policy aligns with your health needs and potential risks.

So, Critical Illness Insurance is like having a superhero by your side, but it’s essential to know its limitations. When considering a Critical Illness Insurance policy, honesty during the application process, awareness of waiting periods, understanding policy exclusions, and ensuring your health aligns with the policy criteria are crucial steps. It’s not about finding a flawless superhero but understanding how to make the most of your Critical Illness Insurance coverage when you truly need it. Stay informed, stay vigilant, and let your insurance be your trusted ally in the unpredictable journey of life.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it – the ins and outs of why Critical Illness Insurance might not pay out in Canada. It’s not about being a tricky superhero; it’s about understanding the rules of the game. When considering a Critical Illness Insurance policy, it’s crucial to be transparent, understand the terms, and choose a policy that aligns with your health and lifestyle.

Remember, knowledge is your best sidekick in this superhero journey. Stay informed, choose wisely, and let your Critical Illness Insurance be the reliable hero it’s meant to be in times of need. Get in touch with an insurance broker for expert guidance right away.

The difference between CFD and futures trading in Singapore

trading possibilitiesBoth CFDs and futures trading are popular investment options among retail traders in Singapore. However, while they may appear to be quite similar in their description of the nature of trade being ‘off the exchange,’ there is one key difference between these two types of financial instruments that would influence your choice on which to use. When it comes to trading derivatives in Singapore, investors are spoilt for choice.

Futures and options, both modern investment instruments worldwide, are available here. However, if you’re new to the world of investing or trading financial securities like futures, you might be confused by the difference between these two derivatives types.

This article explains a contract for difference (CFD) and discusses its risks. It also looks at future contracts and how they differ from a CFD. The article then compares the two financial instruments before concluding with some concluding remarks on which instrument is better suited for an investor given his risk profile.

What is a contract for difference?

A contract difference is a type of derivative product based on the difference between an underlying asset price and its strike price at the point of expiry. For example, if you were to buy a CFD on Apple Inc. (AAPL) with a strike price of $100 per share and AAPL stocks subsequently traded above $110 at expiry, you would be paid the difference of $10 x 100 = $1000 by your broker even though you never actually took ownership of the stock.

If, however, AAPL shares traded below $90 by expiration, then there would be no payout to you as the contract has no value since the share traded is lower than its strike price.

As mentioned earlier, CFDs are derivatives, so there is always counterparty risk involved in trading them.

What is a futures contract?

The main difference between a CFD and a future contract is that the former does not have an expiry date while the latter has. It means there is no counterparty involved in trading futures contracts, unlike in a CFD where your broker is your counterparty.

As such, futures traders are only exposed to minimal risks. This transaction usually takes place on an exchange platform that acts as the intermediary for both parties, assuring performance and payment. It does result in much-reduced counterparty risk. One example of such exchanges would be Singapore Exchange (SGX).

What is the difference between a CFD and a future?

The main difference between a contract for difference and a future contract is that the former does not have an expiry date while the latter has. It means there is no counterparty involved in trading futures contracts, unlike in a CFD where your broker is your counterparty. As such, futures traders are only exposed to minimal risks. This transaction usually takes place on an exchange platform that acts as the intermediary for both parties, assuring performance and payment. It results in much-reduced counterparty risk. One example of such exchanges would be Singapore Exchange (SGX).

In Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you better understand the main differences between futures and CFD trading. If you are looking to trade either of these products, we recommend partnering with a reputable broker who can help guide your decisions as well as provide access to research tools that will make investing in either product more profitable for you.

Be sure not to invest without understanding all the risks associated with both these types of trades before committing any money or taking on debt from margin lending services offered by brokers. With proper education and guidance, there is no reason why anyone should be apprehensive about entering into one form of derivatives trading or another.

If you are interested in investing in CFDs or futures, check out Saxo Bank CFD.

Top 5 Mistakes You Must Avoid in Your 2021 Tax Planning

plan your taxAny person’s financial objective should include tax planning. Tax planning begins when an individual starts to work and lasts almost the rest of one’s life, even after retirement.

Paying taxes is an important part of contributing to the nation’s growth, but when the government offers you the opportunity to save money on taxes, you should take advantage of it.

We’ve noticed that people often fail to look at tax planning critically and begin making tax-saving investments in a very technical manner.

Tax planning is an important aspect of our financial planning process, and careful planning will go a long way toward achieving our financial objectives. In this blog post, we’ll go through Five common mistakes to avoid when it comes to tax planning.

1. Paying taxes when not needed

A Personal Savings Allowance of £1,000 is available to all basic rate taxpayers. This ensures that the initial £1,000 of the interest from an individual’s joint savings interest is tax-free. The PSA for higher rate band taxpayers is £500 (nil for additional rate taxpayers).

Unlike in the past, building societies as well as banks will no longer deduct tax at the source (unless or until R85is signed). If an in dividual exceeds their PSA, he/she will be required to pay taxes to HMRC directly.

2. Not performing as a group

Married couples/civil partners can save money on taxes by gifting some kind of investments to their spouse whosoever pays the minimum or lower tax rate – but it must be a true gift, not just a symbolic gesture.

If you’re married or in a civil partnership and you were born on or before April 6, 1935, you might be eligible for Married Couple’s Allowance, which will help you save money on your taxes.

If you were both born after April 6, 1935, you canbe eligible for theallowance but it depends totally on your earned income.

3. Refusing to demand the Blind Person’s Allowance

If you are born blind or highly sight-impaired, or if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland and your vision is too poor to do any job that requires eyesight, you can receive an additional £2,390 allowance.

After you’ve registered with the local authority as a blind person, call HMRC and inquire for Blind Person’s Allowance. It is not applied automatically.

4. Not paying attention to tax code

A tax code indicates your employer the amount of your tax-free pay; the rest is taxed. The tax authorities will notify you on a regular basis to clarify about the creation of code.

Check that you’ve been given the right kind of allowances, pensions or other type of incomes shown are accurate, and that everything you don’t understand has been clarified.

5. Not paying on time

As a taxpayer you need to complete tax-filing for the current year so, you must complete it by October 31st, or by January 31st if you complete it electronically. Each tax year, the tax should be payable by the 31st of January.

If an individual miss or exceeds the deadline, you’ll be hit with a £100 penalty right away, with higher fines coming in another three months.

Key advantages of tax planning

Tax planning techniques are often used to assist a company in achieving its financial and business objectives. Tax planning has advantages for both large and small companies, and it plays a significant role in:

• The smooth running of the financial planning process is facilitated by tax planning.

• Collection of taxes on time decreases legal wrangling.

• Tax planning allows taxable profits to be channelled into a variety of investment plans.

• Taking advantage of all available tax reliefs, grants and credits

• You will save money by managing your taxes.

• Corporate tax planning allows them to contribute to our country’s economic development.

• Helps to maintain economic stability

Winding up

Nowadays, taxes for companies, firms, and the self-employed individuals are a little more difficult because they can’t be deducted on a pay-as-you-earn basis like they are for employees. This is where a tax accountant’s services become extremely valuable.

A tax accountant who is professionally licenced and trained will assist you in organising your financial statements and calculating your tax bill so that you always pay the correct amount of tax.

Tax advisors will also assist you in developing and implementing a tax policy that will help you avoid paying excessive taxes in the future.

You shouldn’t underestimate the value of having a tax accountant on your side, whether you run a big organization or are a self-employed sole trader.

Sophia is a full-time financial writer at experlu. she is a passionate blogger and love to share her knowledge on various subject. Content created by Experlu– are loved, shared & can be found all over the internet on high authority platforms.

Should You Invest In Money Back Plans or Endowment Policies?

get your moneyChoosing a life insurance plan is always a difficult task as there are a plethora of insurance products available. Apart from various other life insurance products, two traditional life insurance plans in which many of us get confused is money back plan and endowment plan. People could not find out whether they should go for the best endowment policy or opt for a money back plan. Well to overcome this confusion we are here discussing the basic difference between these two plans:

Money Back Plan and Endowment Plan – An Overview

Both money back and endowment plans are there in the market for quite a long time, but people are not sure which to select as most of them could not find out the basic difference between the two.

Even though both the plans are life insurance cum savings plans, but there is a slight difference between both of these. This slight difference lies in their survival benefits. The survival benefit that endowment plan pays upon maturity of the policy includes the sum assured as well as a bonus. On the other hand, the money back policy pays out the survival benefit usually as a fixed percentage of the sum assured at regular time intervals during the tenure of the policy. However, in case of money back policy the remaining sum assured with bonuses are paid to the insured upon maturity of the policy. In case of demise of the policyholder, both money back and endowment plans pay the sum assured to the nominee of the policy.

In this way, both these plans are savings plans, but the money back plans are there to fulfill the short term goals of the policyholder as they payout at regular intervals.While endowment plans provide a huge sum assured upon maturity of the policy.

Let us look at the fundamental difference between these two through the following table:

Factor to Consider Money Back Plans Endowment Plans
Benefits The insured gets a % of sum assured at a specific time interval and the remaining sum assured is given with bonuses at the maturity of the policy if the insured survives the plan term. The specified sum assured as well as all the applicable bonuses are given at the time of policy’s maturity if the policyholder survives the policy term.
Death Benefit Both the plans pay the sum assured as well as applicable bonuses on the death of the policyholder if he/she dies during the policy term.

Basically, money back plan pays out regular income after a regular interval and most of the times it is 5 years. Generally, for a policy of 20 years, the survival benefit that a policyholder gets becomes 120% of the total sum assured.

Policy Year’s End Survival Benefit As % of Basic Sum Assured of the Plan
5 years 20%
10 years 20%
15 years 20%
20 years 60% + Vested Bonus
Total Benefit = 120%

Which policy is better?

If the aim a person behind purchasing a policy is to fulfill his/her short term goals and get some money after a regular interval, the money back plans are best for them. There are much money back plans available online and one can purchase the best money back policy according to his/her requirements.

However, if one’s aim of the investment is to accumulate large corpus and get it at the time of maturity of the policy, then selecting an endowment plan is recommended. In this way, it is entirely choice of a policyholder to decide which plan is best suited for him/her. There are many endowment plans also available and to select the best one must know his/her requirements first.

One should always remember that it is the personal expectation and requirements of an individual that should be kept in mind before selecting a plan as investment and life cover.

Summing It Up!

Before selecting any of the plans out of these two policies, it is suggested to check an individual’s objective of investment and his/her expectations from it. One way to do this is to compare different policies on the bases of its inclusions, benefits, and rider benefits provided in it. See an individual’s expectation with that plan. If both match then finalizing that plan can be taken into consideration. One can compare different policies of money back plans and endowment plan online with the help of a good insurance web aggregator. Last but not least, both these plans are good investment plans and it is just the requirement of an individual from the policy. So, do not hesitate, just understand the inclusions of your plan and enjoy the benefits.

Personal Financial Management – A knowledge base

manageable financesFinancial management has to be one of the most daunting and demanding tasks that can cause an individual stress. There is simply no margin for error, and a slight misappropriation could have far reaching effects in the immediate future or sometimes later in life. Now, more than ever before, personal finances are at a greater risk thanks to the availability of easy digital spending platforms. Purchases are made easier by swiping or just by a touch of a button, and bank accounts are accessible through a myriad of services. With a few clicks a person can have thousands of dollars of credit and being destroying their financial future.

The Essence of Personal Financial Management

Basically, personal financial management entails understanding your financial situation at current state, and making plans for the future with what you have. It could also be taken to simply mean watching your spending, and saving what you can. It is important to be careful as someone can easily overextend themselves with just a couple bad moves.

The Specifics of Managing your Finances

Income and Cash Flow management

The easiest way of making the most out of your income is by putting in place a mechanism to track and understand what you get versus what you spend, and finally being able to gain capital for covering other additional concerns, as well as setting the stage for a bright future. However, what challenges most individuals is the means of tracking those finances.

Tracking your finances

Financial experts will tell you that the best way to track your finances is by keeping records of every single financial activity. It’s that simple.

Your financial trajectory will be drawn by calculating your monthly, weekly, or daily income against the amount you spend over the same period. Remember, in addition to your daily expenses and other miscellaneous expenses, other amenities such as rent, insurance, subscriptions, etc, should be included in your record. That way you’ll be in a good position to see the real picture and take the necessary steps.

By having such a detailed record, you will be able to qualify expenses in order of necessity, and somehow cut down on the ones you deem unnecessary, or those that you can do without. Luckily, today there are apps dedicated for the purposes of recording personal emoluments instead of keeping an Excel sheet (which is not a bad idea at all). When you can look at all of your expenditures at once, it makes it much easier to figure out where you are going wrong.

Financial Security and Growth Management

Insurance and investment have been listed by experts as areas of great importance. However, these are areas associated with persons who qualify, or can afford some expendable capital even after balancing their other expenses.

Insurance, for instance is listed as a basic requirement for modern living. You will need to identify a good insurance that promises to secure the well being of your family when hard times come, and no one knows when they do.

Investment on the other hand is dictated by a number of issues, like how and when to venture. It boils down to thinking strategically and taking risks, through what is projected to provide financial stability in future.

The best way to go about it is through starting off with a professional to manage your investments. It is an expensive venture, but the importance of lowering the risk outweighs the deal.

Putting up Liquid Savings

Part of the money meant for savings and growth should be accessible should an emergency arise. This could mean either maintaining a savings account with an emergency clause, or investing in a long term venture but with the ability to secure quick transactions during emergency. Ideally, it’s good enough to have enough money to live on for six months or more if a major issue arises.

Summary

The idea here is to practice individual financial discipline and to understand the different strategies of financial management, and how and when to execute them. A complete financial plan is what constitutes a stable financial future, but discipline is paramount. It takes dedication and sacrifice to attain the above, even when low or high risks are involved.