Clever Tips for When Your Family gets a +1

Write a will.

I know what you are thinking, "ugh what a boring way to start a blog piece about tips regarding your newborn"! I also know it's a lot more fun to shop around for your baby's new cradle and his little shoes then swinging by the notary's (or other legal professional depending on your province of residence) office to hypothesize about 101 unfortunate scenarios, each being more morbid and depressing than the last. Forced to admit, if something really did happen, you wouldn't you rather have your final wishes carried out then have some bureaucrat decide what is best for your child. Thus, the importance of writing out a will! 😅

There are a few ways to proceed. You can always scribble down your last wishes with some lipstick on a napkin at your favourite restaurant… But between you and me, it is far from ideal!

The aforementioned method is known as a holograph will. The major problem with this will (apart from possibly losing it) is that upon your death it must be probated (made official). As you might have guessed, your loved ones will have to carry out this task which can be rather long. Oh, you didn't have 2 witnesses sign it (will in presence of witnesses)? Ughh! Even more delays… 😩

A will, written in due form, allows you to appoint guardianship to a person of your choice, as well as choosing the person who will act as an administrator (or fiduciary) concerning the management of their inheritance. It's a thousand little details like those mentioned above that can have a huge impact on the lives of your children.

Go ahead and book that appointment with your legal professional. They truly are the experts and will be able to guide you through all the twists and turns involved in writing a will. In roughly an hour, you (and your young ones) well and truly will be protected in case of premature death.

Don't forget! It not because you write a will that you will keel over dead in the following minutes 😉

Writing a will may be a drab affair, it is however of the utmost importance! ⭐️

Subscribe to a life insurance policy, for you, and for your kids.

If you are anything like me, insurance is a task that has been on your "to-do" list for months. And most likely, you haven't gotten around to it yet with the possible exception of your car insurance which is mandatory. 😂

When you think about it, isn't it ironic that we hop to it when it comes to insuring goods that can easily be replaced but procrastinate to insure the one thing that can't?

I've insured my car, my furniture and I even recently paid 300 $ to insure my MacBook pro! (An insurance, by the way, whose terms are still murky to me). As if my laptop was going to help my boyfriend pay the mortgage, the groceries, the school expenses, the clothes and all the extracurricular activities if something were to happen to me.

Hey Honey! Sell the house, go live in a tiny apartment with the kids! Who needs a comfortable lifestyle when you have a shiny MacBook pro to make you feel better 😎.

In case you didn't get my sarcasm 👆, scratching life insurance off your to-do list is just as important as writing out your will when thinking about your children's future.

You might think that you don't have time to shop around, and even if you did you don't understand any of the terms or hundreds of products available to you. And to top it all off you have to invite a total stranger to your house – TWICE – to present you various options and have you sign the contract.

Never fear! 😇 I have just the solution. 🙊

Welcome to 2019, where pretty much everything can be done online! (Fun fact, I recently bought my groceries online 😱)

From parent to parent, I can safely say, shopping online saves a ton of time in a day!

If we can buy a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, why not also purchase life insurance while we are at it! I'm not pulling your leg! Life insurance. Online. With ALL the advice and QUALITY products.

In case you didn't know, you are currently on the largest online advice and life insurance broker site in Canada! emma.ca 👉 100 % online!

Much like the legal professionals mentioned earlier that help you navigate the creation of your will, our advisers help you determine your needs in terms of life insurance.

After carefully answering all of your questions, we make an informed recommendation, 100 % built around your family's needs and budget! No coerced sales made under pressure (are team is not commissioned based so you can be sure we have your best interest at heart); all online, by chat, in the comfort of your home. You can, therefore, keep an eye on your little munchkins, throw a load in the laundry and subscribe to a life insurance policy all at the same time!

What more could you want? 🙃

Subscribe to disability and critical illness insurance.

Most likely this is also on your to-do list along with your will and life insurance in the section labelled I'll do it tomorrow. Or even worse they aren't even on the list! A little less known than life insurance, they are equally as important. Now I won't go on giving you the usual spiel that the man with the foot in your door gives you to scare the living lights out of you or to make you bawl your eyes out to convince you that you need his help to protect yourself from unexpected events.

Simply put, how many posts do you see while scrolling on your Facebook news feed on people launching goFundme pages to cover huge medical expenses following an unexpected diagnostic?

"But Cindy, that won't happen to me, I'm healthy, what are the odds? That only happens to others or in movies" – Honest to god, I've heard it all 👀

Statistically, the odds of being diagnosed with cancer are about 50 % whereas the odds of a house fire (even a small one) are of 0.29 %. Despite that, I'm ready to bet that most people will choose to insure their house instead of their life.

This is where you tell me, that all of this is ridiculous and that my statistics must be wrong. My answer to that? Go google Statistics Cancer Canada. Read a few articles, it's pretty enlightening! (Might be a little scary, but hey it's better to be informed than blissfully unaware).

Oh, and just so things are crystal clear, it's not because I compared critical illness insurance to house insurance that you need 2 million in coverage 😂 A few thousand dollars in paid out benefits from a critical illness policy can give you a much-needed boost to you end of the month during a trying time.

So far, you've done really well and are hopefully almost a pro at insurance trivia.

Here's one last curveball for you.

Which material good is most important in a budget? Your boat? Your car? Your house? The answer !?

Your income.

Ask yourselves these questions (and answer honestly 😉 ) :

👉 If tomorrow morning you woke up and could not work or generate an income what would be consequences?

👉 Could your spouse take over 100 % of the payments for your household?

👉 What would happen to your savings?

👉 If your spouse died suddenly, do you have enough money put aside to deal with all the financial consequences your family would have to deal with?

Suffering from a disability is unfortunate, but it happens. When it does happen, the impact on your budget and family is absolutely brutal. It is therefore important to protect ourselves by subscribing to disability insurance. Foremost it will replace a part of the revenue you lost and will also help you maintain you and your family's lifestyle for the duration of your incapacity.

Pretty useful to reach end's meet at the end of each month wouldn't you say?

All in all, disability and critical illness insurances help reduce and eliminate à lot of unnecessary stress as well as take a load off your shoulders when confronted with a difficult and unpredictable situation.

We’re done! All you need now is to put your rear in gear 😉 Ready-set-GO! ➡️ Calculate my insurance needs

PRO TIP 🤓 : I am well aware that it makes for a lot of insurance shopping. I also understand that our budgets are limited (you can only spend a dollar once!) and no one wants to spend their entire paycheque on something as dull as insurance coverage. My advice? It's easy: talk with one of our experts. Better to have a little coverage than none at all!

👉 Discover my life insurance needs

The icing on the cake? A lot of insurance is actually more affordable then people believe! You can protect your family for as little as 9$ a month. That's cheaper than your Netflix subscription 😉 With Emma, we design solutions that are tailored to your needs and to your budget! 😌