Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Busy week, so I am taking a break and publishing one of my favorite posts, about Risks and dealing with Risks.

Cancer, Now That I Have Your Attention

Yup, I am really talking about that, as Cancer’s ability to kill Canadians is rising, and Canadians are taking care of Cardiovascular issues more. Six out of every 10 deaths in Canada are caused by these two issues. Cancer is becoming more of a killer, is the bottom line for now.

So what the heck does this morbid topic have to do with Financial Planning issues? Maybe I’m just feeling morbid? No, but, if you look at this data, maybe you need to ask yourself the following important financial questions:

• Do I have enough life insurance so that my family can survive my death? Same question for your spouse too?
• Can my family survive financially a prolonged illness (as Cancer is capable of being)? Do I have any disability insurance?
• Do I have a will?
• Do I have enough health insurance to deal with a catastrophic illness?

If you are young and single, no it doesn’t matter that much, but if you are young and just married and planning on having kids, NOW, is the time to do this kind of stuff in place. No I am not selling insurance (and I am not advocating whole life insurance at all), but I am saying, go find out about what you need to deal with these concerning numbers about Cancer.

Hope for the best, and plan for the worst! (a wise saying).

So this weekend was a very good for many reasons for me.

I got to watch my daughter’s basketball team play very well and pick up a silver medal at a tournament (so that is always good). I also learned the importance of planning for emergencies and contingencies.

I was on the other side of the 100 car pile up(s) on Highway 400 near Toronto on Sunday. We could not get south to go home (due to roads being closed) we could not go East due to weather thus we were stuck. I had not brought any extra clothes and I had run out of cash, but things ended up fine, and we came home Monday morning in fine weather and with very little traffic.

This got me thinking about how well am I ready for financial emergencies in my life?

• If I got laid off tomorrow (hope not, touch wood), do I have a big enough emergency fund to tide myself over until I can get employed again?
  • Not enough is my suspicion, but I am also hoping for a severance package, which is a dangerous game to play, because what happens if my company simply evaporates and has no money left to pay severance? This has happened to friends in the high tech industry.
• If I am in an accident or have a medical episode that incapacitates me, is my family taken care of financially?
  • I have disability insurance (short and long term) so I think I am in not too bad shape there, but I think it might put my family in a tight bind if I had a permanently incapacitating medical episode (e.g. stroke).
• What if my wife suddenly was incapacitated what would happen then?
  • I would then have to get help at home for my wife and for my young son. That may not be a huge hardship given I do have benefits at work, however, how much is covered, and getting help with my son is a direct cost I would have to pay for.
• If my wife or I pass on what happens?
  • We both have a fair amount of life insurance, however, if we both passed on, what would happen to my children? They will have money, but who will take care of them? My will is not up to date, and I think in dire need of re-visitation.
• If one of my children was incapacitated due to accident or illness, can my finances take care of this?
  • I think so, but then again, let’s hope I don’t have to find out.

How is your emergency plans both financially and for your family? Do not wait until you are stranded in Barrie before you think about this issue, think and act on it now.

So last week I mentioned that Stats Canada was talking about the “Big C”, in Cancer Now that I have Your Attention but now a relative new comer at Riscario Insider has made a very good post about Critical Illness: The Basics outlining what Canadians are doing about catastrophic illnesses, a good read.

A topic more near and dear to my heart (and wallet) is Stats Canada’s statement about Telecommunications Statistics. Operating profit in the Wireless side of the telecom world is up 67% in Canada (year over year) from last year at this time, which is a good thing to see.

Growth in this industry is a good thing, since it shows there is market space still to be exploited (good for BCE, NT, Telus, and other Wireless associated companies). The other side of the coin, in the wired world (home phones and such) is not as good, with their profits dropping by 27%. An interesting statistic is:

There were 55.1 mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2006, almost identical to the 55.3 traditional wireline access lines per 100 inhabitants.

So the penetration of the wireless phone in Canada is the same as for regular phones? That’s pretty important, of course in Europe there are even higher penetration numbers. How much more network build out do the Canadian Wireless operators need to set up?