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Single Person Business Seeking Benefits

Blog | Small Business

It sounds like it could be a weird Craigs list ad, but now thankfully working by yourself doesn’t mean your all alone!

Insurers are realizing that the single person business is a large part of the Canadian business landscape and are offering benefits for those businesses.  Now  your not going to get a robust benefits plan with all the “bells and whistles” but you are going to get a good basic plan that will offer some of the basic coverage that a person needs.

“Employee benefits for all!”

The Chambers Plan has recently offered a plan that secures their place as the go to carrier for small business.  No industry exclusions and no family content exclusions also help them in that effort, but now that they offer a guaranteed coverage option from a plan starting with just one(1) employee.

Want a quote?

  1. Complete the employee data information (only once)

We’ll get a quote done up for your and send via email!

Features you’ll be really interested in.

  1. Travel Insurance – Yes there will be some limits, but enough for the average vacation
  2. Drug coverage – Yes with a lower yearly cap than most plans, but great for the averagely healthy person
  3. Dental Coverage – Basic coverage for checkups and cleanings

Digital and Electronic Signatures

Blog | Business Technology | Small Business

Here is a great article about digital and electronic signatures that has inspired our short article here today!

http://blog.pandadoc.com/electronic-digital-signatures-difference?utm_campaign=Pro%20-%20Active%20Social&utm_content=43005523&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Insurance Companies are slowly adapting to the electronic and digital signature model.  We have found that it is very convenient for many of our clients. In some cases much of our business can be completed this way and only when an insurer requires original signatures does it slow things down.

We recently went shopping the market for a Digital/Electronic Signature solution. PandaDoc came out on top, but there are many great players in the industry out there! Our second place option Proposify offered a very easy to use platform, unlimited users but limited documents.

Maybe your business could benefit from a digital signature platform?

Health Insurance Retirement Plan

Health Retirement

Do you have a plan for your health retirement? Many financial advisors focus on your retirement planning, which defiantly needs to be looked after, but with the higher inflation rates and increase in expensive drugs on the market place your retirement has another factor few are talking about

What are your options? That depends on where you are at, where you work/have worked the type of plan you are currently enrolled in and a whole host of other pieces of information.

If you’re not making a retirement health plan now, you may be shocked to find your options later down the road are limited.

A short meeting and talking to one of your Health Insurance Advisors can offer you great insight to the unknown.

Your Retirement savings was never meant to be used to save your life, so lets explore what options are available!

This post was inspired by this article in the globe and mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/retirement/retire-health/hidden-health-care-costs-can-be-a-shock-for-retirees/article27324248/

Long Term Disability

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Disability insurance is a benefit that is generally one of the most important parts of a benefits package. While some companies opt to fund a short term disability or don’t even offer one at all.

Disability Insurance generally begins on the 121st day of an employee being sick and/or injured and not able to work.

Employees making a claim of disability are encouraged to contact NGI for us to help in documenting and completing of application in the most effective manner.

Here is the usual time line of a disability claim.
1.Employee Injured or Receives note from Doctor they are no longer medically fit to work.
2. If injured in work place or illness is workplace related a claim through the workers compensation board is required!
3. Application for Employment Insurance (EI) sick benefits should be applied for.
4. Between 30 – 60 days from date of disability application for LTD Should begun (as these applications require doctors reports it is recommended that this is started no later than 60 days from date of disability, however we usually find around the 45 day mark to be the best.
5. If approved payment will may not be received on the 121st day but payment is received for the 121st day.
6. Ongoing regular communications from the insurance company will be received by the employee and NGI is not always aware of the content it is the responsibility of the employee to stay on top of additional requirements as requested by the insurance company.  Employees are always encouraged to contact NGI for assistance if needed.

Need to Know – Family Life Changes

Blog

Change happens all the time, some is great, some is hard, some is stressful and some is freeing! (We leave that to our clients to deiced which is which)

The change for one person may be hard and another freeing!, for example when your child moves out of the house to one person that might be a hard event, and another may feel like a weight is lifted off their back.

Your plan (Health Insurance and Retirement Plan) may need to be reviewed with these changes.

Here are a couple of notes to keep in mind when you come to a life changing event.

1. Legal Issues – If you are engaged in a life change that has any legal processes connected to it (Adoption, divorce, entrance of family to Canada) That any changes have been advised by your lawyer.  It is not always easy to reverse a change once they have been completed.

2. Addition of family member – There are several ways a new family member may be added to your plan.  Marriage or Civil Union, Common-Law Union, Adoption, Birth, blending of families.  Each situation is unique and handled differently and once again if any changes has a legal component make sure change is under advisement of your lawyer.

3. Removal of Family member – Death, Divorce, Dependent reaching age 25 or 21 and no longer enrolled in Post Secondary education and  Dependent no longer eligible for other reasons. Once again some of these situations may have a legal component and only make changes under the advise of your lawyer. It’s not always easy or possible to reverse changes once they have been completed by the carrier.

All these situation may be emotional ones to deal with and are never easy but we do need to ensure that they are handled correctly and some are time sensitive so please remember if you have a life changing event it doesn’t hurt to give us a call, email or DM via Twitter/Facebook.

Understanding Digital Change

Small Business

It’s kind of amazing how these days we can purchase, view, download, upload, subscribe, order, schedule and so many more things from the comfort of just about anywhere.  For example being on the road I was able to “LEARN” from Bharat Anand  Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration Harvard Business School.  Having the ability to sit under lectureship of an educator of his caliber is amazing.  How was this possible you ask?, where did I go? I went to YouTube.  Thanks to our friends at Salesforce.com hosting a great event and recording it to be shown for free!  This is a “digital change” from even 10 years ago YouTube had just begun and now is the powerhouse of video activity (Not just cat videos)

With technology some new businesses exist, some are gone, and some are changing.  This great video by Mr. Anand offers hope to clients in businesses that are subject to a changing environment because of technology.  Worth the 27 minutes of your time to watch. How often can you get this type of education for free!

 

5 Steps to a Healthier Workplace

Blog

Did you know the average employee spends almost 60% of their life working? It’s true! We spend as much (or more) of our adult lives working as we do sleeping, which is why it’s important we make sure our workplace can help us be healthy and happy.

Here are a few tips to help you stay healthy at work:

  1. Brown-bag it: Bring a lunch from home and avoid the vending machine or café in the building. Your waistline (and your wallet) will thank you.
  2. Start a walking group: When you commit to walking with your colleagues, you’re more likely to get up from your desk and move. Walking buddies keep you accountable! You can download lots of free apps to help track your steps if you don’t have a pedometer, and aim to get 10,000 steps daily.
  3. Hold standing meetings: Sitting is the new smoking, or so they say. Standing meetings tend to move faster (YAY!) and, if you’re able, standing is much better for you than simply sitting. Bonus points if you take a walk around the block to discuss that important project.
  4. Take a trip to the water cooler: Get your office news and hydrate – plus a few steps! Staying well-hydrated is a great way to avoid mindless desk snacking, as we often mistake thirst for hunger cues.
  5. Think ergonomic: Make sure your computer screen is at eye level, be mindful of your posture and make sure you move regularly.

From our friends at innoviCares