We work with hundreds of business owners and in the last five years, we’ve received many phone calls letting us know that someone’s become ill; it’s not unusual to hear that it’s the business owner whose suffered a heart attack, stroke or cancer. If you look at your own circle of family, friends and colleagues, you know someone whose been diagnosed with some type of illness and just think of how often you get asked to donate to a walk/run or other fundraising initiative. The reality is that more and more people are being diagnosed, but the good news is that survival rates have never been higher!
Most of our clients are aware of and have life insurance, but don’t have much in place to protect them against the consequences of a critical illness. Yet an illness can sometimes have more devastating effects. As much you’d like to think it will never happen to you, just consider the consequences if it did … what if you had a heart attack or stroke or were diagnosed with cancer and you couldn’t work for 3 to 6 months or longer, could your company manage without you? How would it affect the productivity and profitability of the business? How would your employees, suppliers and creditors react?
How can I protect myself?
We’re always looking for ways to help better protect our clients against unforeseen risk; we came across an innovative solution, geared towards business owners and executives, called the Executive Health Savings Plan. It’s a great way to obtain protection against critical illness using a co-ownership approach, meaning you and your company can co-own the plan and split the cost and the benefits. The EHSP would provide a tax-free benefit of up to $2 million to the company 30 days after diagnoses of illnesses; the funds can be used as income replacement or to replace the business owner (or key person) while they’re recovering or pay bills and keep accounts afloat.
Here’s the best part: if you remain in good health and never make a claim, you get 100% of the total premiums paid into the plan tax-free, even your company’s portion! If you die before using the coverage, the company gets 100% of the total premiums paid into the plan tax-free. Either way, it’s a great return on your investment. If you’d like to have more of a conversation on how to use corporate dollars to protect yourself and your business in the event of an illness, please contact us here.
Jeff Devlin | Certified Financial Planner, Director
E & OE