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A future insurability rider that will allow you to increase your benefits by quite large sums without additional health questions. If you anticipate significant increases in your future income, make sure you have this feature.

CRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCE

So, you’ve been out shopping like a mad fiend, trying to lay your hands on disability insurance coverage. It’s expensive. It’s tough to get. You give up. You’re never going to qualify! Or, worse, because you’re currently not employed (maybe you’re a mom or dad at home, or maybe you’re between careers), you can’t even apply.

While you may not be able to qualify for that disability plan I’ve convinced you that you need, I have another suggestion that might be at least a partial solution: critical illness (CI) insurance. With this insurance, you buy a policy to cover specific types of diseases and if you’re subsequently diagnosed, you’ll receive the payout of the amount of coverage you bought.

CI originated in South Africa in the early 1980s, the brainchild of a cardiologist who watched as the financial stress exacerbated his patients’ health problems.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, one in four Canadians will contract a critical illness by the age of 65. But with the tremendous strides in medical technology, you’re far less likely to die. You might even make a full recovery. Thirty percent of cancer victims are completely cured, while 75% of stroke victims and 95% of heart attack victims survive the initial occurrence. The problem most people face is that lengthy and expensive treatments often mean people don’t have the money to get them through the crunch until they can get back on their feet and start earning a living again. And that is where CI insurance steps in to fill the gap.

Critical illness insurance pays a lump sum on either diagnosis of the conditions you’ve bought coverage on or their progress to an agreed state. While a heart attack is a heart attack and requires no further definition, multiple sclerosis might not actually impair your lifestyle for many years.

There are no strings attached to the payout—you’re diagnosed and 31 days later you’ve got a cheque—so you can use the money in any way you see fit. Unsure our overburdened medical system will make space for you? Put your CI money to use seeking private treatment. Or use the money to provide an income while you convalesce. Clear up debts. Keep your small business running. Make physical changes to your home or vehicle. Ready yourself for the rest of your life. It’s your money, so it’s your call how it’s used.

The ailments covered aren’t the same on every plan. While cancer, heart disease, and stroke are pretty standard, there is considerable variance on conditions such as multiple sclerosis, paralysis, kidney disease, loss of speech or hearing, and so on. Look for a plan that covers the highest number of variables. And watch the definitions used for critical illness conditions, which also tend to vary from plan to plan. Don’t let the medical terminology baffle you into buying something you don’t understand. Be clear on when you’ll be covered and for what.

Buying CI insurance is a lot like buying life insurance, except, of course, you don’t have to die to collect—which makes it seem more like “life” insurance than life insurance. First, you select the amount you wished to be covered for. That can range from about $25,000 to the millions. Next, you provide medical evidence of good health. (Be warned: a strong emphasis is placed on your family’s health history, and a tendency toward a heredity disease such as cancer could result in its omission from your coverage.) That, along with your age, your gender, and whether you smoke, gives you an annual premium amount.

That premium ain’t no small potatoes neither. CI insurance can be expensive. As an offset, policies offer a full refund of premiums to your estate if you die without making a claim. And some policies have a special rider you can purchase that will kick your premiums back to you if you haven’t made a claim within a specified time period.

If you haven’t been able to lay your hands on disability insurance, CI insurance can help ease your mind by providing a lump-sum payout when you most need it. And with medical science making life-saving advances in treating major illnesses, this might be the time to insure your wallet as well as your body.

INCOME INSURANCE VERSUS STUFF INSURANCE

While I’ve spent some time covering the types of insurance designed to replace your income, I’m not going to be covering insurance that protects your stuff: car insurance, home insurance, pet insurance. While all these types of insurance are important, there is very little controversy or confusion surrounding them. You need only find a good broker or insurance company and the rest will fall into place.

YOU’RE GONNA DIE!

Pardon my bluntness, but it’s an indisputable fact: you’re going to die. And, perhaps if I am blunt, all the people who have yet to face their ultimate demise, even conceptually, will pay attention.

Since we’re all going to die—you’re not still arguing this point, are you?—it makes sense that we all take the steps necessary to prepare for it. That means making a will and deciding what will be done with our remains. It also means making sure that if we are incapacitated, we leave someone able to speak on our behalf, both financially and medically. All in all, it means creating an estate plan.

Many people see estate planning as a rich-folks activity. With all that money to divide and all those squabbling heirs to quiet, a plan is in order. Yes, rich people do pay a lot of attention to how their affairs will be handled when they can’t do the bossing around anymore. And if you want to take a page from their book, you might want to look at what could happen if you don’t