Were You and Your Loved Ones Caught Up in The Earthquake In Canada Last Week?

Did you feel the earthquake that struck south eastern Ontario and some of Quebec on June 23, 2010 at 1:41 pm EST?

Luckily, the magnitude was only 5.0 according to the US Geological Survey, and no extreme damage was reported. Just 61 km north of Ottawa is where the epicentre of the earthquake happened.

As reports came in, many people spoke of a gradual rumbling which escalated in intensity, a bit like building work going off below or around you. The vibrations could be felt as high up as the 9th floor of office and apartment blocks according to eye witnesses. The rumbling sensation may have been mild, but Lorne certainly felt the earthquake.

Even though natural disasters happen very rarely in Canada, they do occur and it brings home to us all how vulnerable we all are. It definitely makes me wonder what I can do to protect myself and my family should another disaster hit us.

Along with normal emergency preparedness, part of your preparation should include life insurance.

What many people do not understand is that along with disasters such as floods or hurricanes, earthquakes are one of the most expensive natural disasters. Earthquakes account for 30% of all damage by natural disasters from 1950-2001. While the human cost of earthquakes is only 9% compared to the 42% occurring due to famine, famine only accounts for 4% of the damage which is tiny in comparison to earthquakes.

People losing their lives fell in the 90's from 86,328 per year in the 80's to 75,252; but those touched by natural disaster climbed from147 million in the 80s to 211 million people a year in the 90's.

With a big increase in monetary impact from natural disasters since the 1960's we also see an increase of occurrences, which isn't good news.

With more disasters occurring then it stands to reason that more and more people are going to have their lives affected by them, as a result it is only natural to look at ways of minimizing the impact on your family.

The five influential Canadian insurance organizations we surveyed do provide death benefits for you and your family if such disasters take place, but you need to check the policy carefully if you choose not to use them and go elsewhere. If you are urged not to travel somewhere, such as a war zone and you do, be aware that this is one exception that insurance companies put in place on their schemes.

Delivered by Lorne Marr, the founder of LSM Insurance and mortgage life insurance expert

Not every shake is the same!

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Breast Cancer Financial Burden and Critical Illness Insurance

Financial worries when you or a loved one is suffering from breast cancer is a burden you don't want to cope with.
As communicated by the Vancouver Sun, The Canadian Breast Cancer Network has announced a survey that "firmly places breast cancer as an economic as well as health issue. " Of the 400 females polled, 80% say they have "experienced some kind of financial problems from the disease. It wasn't just loss of income while they were unable to work, but many other payments that led to financial problems. So while these women were trying to deal with such a terrible disease, they were hit with a "double whammy".
The statistics unveiled that nearly half the respondents said they had to use savings and a quarter went into debt, some went onto disability or had to leave their jobs and 16% actually lost their jobs. One of the individuals who took part in the survey had been a nurse for 35 years could no longer cope with her job physically, as a result had to leave. Once she resigned from the hospital, she also lost her group insurance benefits and had to resort to saved income to cope with the cost
There are other options out their to using savings and getting into debt when you have this disease, but most individuals do not realise that there are other ways. Usually within 30 days of being diagnosed, a person with critical illness insurance could have a lump sum payment paid out to them. Whilst not just for breast cancer, this type of policy is there for this type of problem, too help with those additional debts you may incur.

LSM Insurance works with over 13 different insurance companies many of them provide critical illness quote to cover over 25 critical Illnesses.

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Understanding Mortgage Insurance In Canada

Mortgage Life Insurance is one of those Insurances that not many individuals completely get to grips with. When you apply for a mortgage, your attention is fixed on having it approved, so when a lender tags on the Insurance you accept that it is necessary. If you look through this type of policy from your lending company, you will find it is no more than Term Life insurance. In other words, the value of the life insurance drops as the insureds mortgages drops, but in most cases, the rates go up based on five-year spans.

Instead of this sort of insurance, have a look at individual life insurance which is certainly more premium friendly.

You are able to combine life insurance and debt protection with this type of scheme or you can tailor it to suit your debt needs. The most efficient answer from a purely financial angle is to join the two requirements. In addition, by taking out individual life insurance for a mortgage, you can choose whether to make it a Term policy or a Permanent scheme Term insurance plans are fixed for a stated term, such as a 10, 20, or 30-year term. If you want a scheme to run for your lifetime as well as know how much is being paid out each month, then the Permanent scheme is the best one for you. If you are looking to have a lump sum of money, then a Permanent scheme is possibly the best one for you, as you can build up a cash sum which will pay out at a pre-set point.
Below are some more perks you could expect to have if you took out individual life insurance:

• You are not stuck with the scheme, if you move or change banks the scheme can be tailored to accommodate this.
• You choose who is the assignee, not the bank.
• The individual policy pays out double in the case where both spouses die.
• You are not limited to one or the other, you can have both Permanent insurance and Term insurance under one policy.
• Just because you have paid your mortgage up, doesn't mean that you have to cancel your scheme.

Delivered by Lorne Marr, life insurance quote broker from Markham, ON

picture by rev Dan Catt