Navigating Love, Money, and Financial Preparedness with Expert Jamie Madigan

Embark on a journey of financial wisdom as certified financial planner Jamie Madigan returns to our podcast with a treasure trove of insights on maneuvering through the world of finances. Together, we peel back the layers of complexity within financial services, providing you with the keys to unlock a seamless experience, whether you're investing, mortgaging, or just starting on your entrepreneurial dream. And let's be honest — who doesn't want to avoid the snags of entangled personal and business finances? Jamie's expertise will guide you to clearer skies.

The paths of love and money often intertwine, sometimes leading to a tangle that needs careful unraveling. Jamie and I discuss strategies for ensuring your relationship thrives financially, whether that means communicating about the merits of joint accounts or exploring the joy of financial independence within a partnership. We've got personal stories and proven strategies up our sleeves, ready to help you and your beloved find that sweet spot between saving for the future and savoring the present.

Health emergencies and life's curveballs don't come with a warning, but they needn't knock your finances off course. We get down to brass tacks with Jamie about the importance of emergency funds and dissect the maze of insurance options that can guard your financial well-being against life's surprises. For those facing the daunting task of securing life insurance with pre-existing conditions, hope, and practical advice is waiting for you in our conversation. So gear up for a heart-to-heart on financial foresight and resilience that will leave you feeling more confident to talk about money and its impact throughout life's experiences.

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:07

Welcome to the Communication 24-7 podcast, where we communicate about how we communicate. I'm your host, jennifer Furlong, so I have my good friend, jamie Madigan back. If you did not have the opportunity to listen to our previous conversation, I'm going to invite you to hit the pause button on this one and backtrack just a little bit and go listen to our conversation we had not too long ago. I guarantee you you will not want to miss that. It was a very powerful and very meaningful conversation, so please make sure you go back and listen to that one.

Speaker 2: 0:56

But for today, I asked Jamie to come back because we had not even had the opportunity to talk about financial planning yet, and that's where his expertise lies. So we're going to talk about, you know, talking about how do we communicate about finances and what are some of the things that we need to look for. What are some of the things that we can bring up with our family. You know, what are some things that we just may not necessarily even know about, because, let's face it, we don't know what we don't know, which is why it's important we talk to the experts. Jamie, thank you so much for being back on the show and, yeah, welcome back. How you been.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Thanks for having me back. I'm glad to be back. I really enjoyed our last conversation and, as you stated, jen, if our listeners haven't heard that, definitely go back and listen to that, and I'm excited for today's chat as well.

Speaker 2: 1:51

Yeah, absolutely so. Let's get our listeners acclimated to what we're focusing on today, give them just a real quick rundown of what is your experience in this field of financial planning.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Sure, so I'm a certified financial planner and what that means? Because it means different things to everybody. It's very confusing, especially up here in Canada, with all different kinds of titles floating around. But essentially, a certified financial planner means that I have earned my designation. It took me two years to do while also running my business. And you take a bunch of online courses, do a case study, write two exams well, I guess three in total One part way through, that's three hours and then two three hour exams in one day for the final. That was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 2:56

And then, as part of the ongoing education to keep the designation, we've got to do what's called continuing education credits, so doing courses and training to ensure that we're staying up to date with everything that changes when it comes to regulations. And then I've set myself up as an independent broker. So what that means is I've got access to just about every financial services product from every financial services company in Canada and I deal with investments, insurance, health benefits, group benefits, private health insurance, mortgages. So people always surprise that I deal with all of that Because, again, a lot of the times they just think that a certified financial planner deals with either investments and or insurance, and in some cases that's all people choose to do. But for my business partners and I, it was really important that we be able to help our clients out with just about everything when it comes to their finances and have access to every product or service out there, so that we can truly recommend what's best for our clients.

Speaker 2: 4:13

Awesome. So I don't even know if you'll know the answer to this question, but because you are located in Canada, are the regulations different from in the United States? Like, have you worked with clients from the US? Just so the listeners will know, in case they do have questions, how you might be able to help them with whatever aspect of financial planning that they're looking at.

Speaker 1: 4:39

Yeah, so at a high level, jen, I'd say everything we discussed today will apply to everybody in North America and probably even other countries around the world. But yes, when it comes to regulations, names of accounts or whatnot, they do differ by country. So it's important for anybody for American listeners to deal with somebody in the US, and in some cases maybe even in their state, and then for our Canadian listeners it's important to understand who you're dealing with, what they're licensed to advise you on. And then we are provincially licensed up here in Canada.

Speaker 2: 5:22

Okay, that's actually very good to know.

Speaker 2: 5:24

Thank you for pointing that out, because sometimes we may not even necessarily think about that part of it when you begin your journey down this road. Those are probably some of the questions that you may not even necessarily know should be a question to begin with, one of the questions that I personally think of when I think of financial planning and this is one reason why I'm super happy that we're having this conversation today, because I know I'm not the only one who wonders all these questions that I have. You have financial planning for your personal finances, right, and then, if you're a business owner, you're going to have to have financial planning for the business side of things. How important is it to keep those separated? Because if you're a business owner and entrepreneur, like we are, those finances can get a little convoluted sometimes. So for anybody else who's listening to this and they're either thinking about starting a business or maybe they're early on in their business, what should we be doing about that so we can make sure that we're not messing things up too bad?

Speaker 1: 6:37

Yeah, no, that's a great question, one I get a lot because I deal with a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners. So I'm glad you bought it up right off in the back because it's important to start with. And, yes, things can really get commingled, especially in the entrepreneur world, because our personal funds, our business funds, can often be hard to distinguish. This is where I'd say it's important to have a really good accountant from day one. So, before you even actually officially start your business, talk to your accountant to say this is what I'm thinking about doing. How should I properly structure that? In some cases you may want to even engage a lawyer, definitely if you're incorporating, but again, the accountant will be able to help outline that. And that's where you want your professional power to come together, because your accountant should be talking to your financial planner, who should be talking to your lawyer or whatever professionals you have engaged, depending on your type of business, with your permission, obviously and ensure that everything is set up from day one, or set up properly.

Speaker 1: 8:00

And, most importantly, where I'm going with this is that for all of your business income and business Expenses, you'll likely want to have separate accounts for that. So a business banking account, a business credit cards if you're accepting online Transactions, a business account for that, either PayPal, stripe or Whatever system you're using, and then for all your personal stuff, keeping that separate. And the reason I suggest that is because I know, in Canada, if we were to be audited, if we've got all of that commingles, well, guess what? The CRA, canada revenue agency, is now going to go through everything. So take a look at all of your personal and business stuff to try to figure out what's business, whereas if you keep everything separate, you can only hand over your business Items if that's what's being audited, and then they're not digging through all of your personal life too. So it makes your life easier, as well as theirs.

Speaker 2: 9:09

I Haven't even thought about that aspect of it, so that's really good to know. I guess the CRA is is your version of our IRS.

Speaker 2: 9:19

Yes exactly everyone's favorite government agency, I'm sure, regardless of where we are. So thank you for that advice now, with you being a financial planner, and you had listed a whole host of Areas that you're able to help your clients with. What are just some of the broader things that you think right off the bat? Individuals just need to be aware of if they are just starting this journey of Thinking about financial planning. Just what's your advice for them? What are maybe some questions they may need to ask? You know, if they find a local financial planner, how can we help them get started on this journey as effectively as possible?

Speaker 1: 10:08

Great question. So One thing I'd recommend is that whoever you're dealing with whether it be an independent advisor, planner, broker, somebody at a bank or another financial professional Ask a lot of questions about do they have a designation, like myself, certified financial planner? What licenses do they have? What are they License to advise you on? How are they compensated? And the reason you want to ask these questions is to get an idea of are they limited in terms of the advice that they can offer and or the products that they can offer? You'll want to understand compensation to try to determine Do they really have your best interest at heart or are they perhaps maybe trying to push some products on you to get better, better compensation, even though you don't really need them? So those are the questions to be asking the professionals that you're dealing with. And then the question you should be asking yourself is Really getting a better understanding of your cash flow, and what I mean by that is we all tend to understand how much money we make, especially Corporate people with a corporate job.

Speaker 1: 11:27

If I ask them how much they make, they know what their annual salary is, at least before tax. Where most people don't have a good Understanding of is the other side of that, their expenses. So where and how are they spending their money? And it's always the first exercise I take any new client or prospect through, because there's it's usually an eye-opening exercise and there's usually a few aha moments where people realize or Come to understand how much money they're spending, where they're spending it, and they didn't even realize it. And a lot of that just has to do with today's world and especially the retail world, and how easy they've made it for us to To spend money. And I use the example of Starbucks all the time. They have a great mobile app Tap, tap, tap. All your funds are low. Auto reload, sure, until you see that on a credit card statement or in your Checking account, your bank account.

Speaker 2: 12:33

Oh, Multiple times a week.

Speaker 1: 12:38

Load or auto reload a little more than I thought last. Right, that makes sense in terms of what questions to be asking the people you're talking to and then what questions to ask yourself.

Speaker 2: 12:52

It's so incredibly important. I will say, you know, I was always really bad about that. You know, just an understanding of my own Budget. You know what's coming in, what's going out, and I'm sure most people, like you said, are like this. They, just until they they actually sit down and look at it, you know, open up an Excel spreadsheet and start recording all of that stuff. And, and I've noticed that my bank you know I do my online banking they actually are able to provide that information For me. You know what, every month, I'll go in and I'll just kind of look at okay, how many were home expenses? You know how much was were my home expenses? How much did I spend in gas? You know whatever, and that's really a useful tool. It is eye-opening and I found that I was using the Amazon link, the Amazon app, a little too much so, and I had way too many subscriptions, so you name it Netflix, hulu, spotify, I mean the whole thing. So that really helped me realize where I needed to actually tighten up.

Speaker 1: 14:09

So incredibly helpful and do you their Jen. That's why I take everybody through that exercise. For starters, because those are all the aha moments that people come across or they realize they're spending like maybe they've got the jet gym membership, which is pay as you don't go Because we're not using it, or a yoga membership, or really old days and magazine.

Speaker 1: 14:34

Right, that's right If people still have that, if they haven't gone digital. But yeah, oftentimes we'll forget about things and stuff will just renew, and especially in today's digital environment, we might forget about some of the things we pay for if we're no longer using them.

Speaker 2: 14:53

But we forgot to cancel them you know, and and that makes me think of the differences and how challenging it is when You're someone who's single Like, it's really easy. For me being, you know, freshly divorced I'm quickly finding out it's much easier for me to balance the checkbook and keep a Handle on the finances versus when I was married. So do you speak with a lot of couples and Try to give them some guidance on how they can get on the same page Regarding their budget and what kind of advice do you give them? Because I know this is one of the most Argued topics in any relationship. It's gonna be the finances and how much money is being spent. You know what's some advice that you have for couples who are, you know, going down this journey. Show your support by becoming a calm, 24-7 insider. Monthly subscriptions begin for as little as $3 a month. Join today and get a shout out on an upcoming episode and Receive a special gift from me. To join my insider club, click on the link in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 16:14

That's a great point, jen, and unfortunately, the financial discussion Can either make a relationship or, in severe cases, break it, and the break it is usually because people aren't having the discussion and or just aren't being honest. Hmm, yes, with all of my couples, regardless of if they're dating or living together or married it doesn't matter if they are a couple then I'm having that discussion with them and Just encouraging that they be open and honest with each other about their relationship with money, because we're all different and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's important for people to understand. If One of them is a great saver, has a great credit score, no debt, and the other one has not a penny to their name, a really low credit score, just tons and tons of debt, because they're spending like they're a millionaire but not making that much, then that's gonna be a problem in the relationship.

Speaker 1: 17:27

Quite often, married couples I see where, in some instances, they pool their money together, have joint accounts. In other Instances they have their separate accounts because it's my money, I'm working for it, so it's mine. Again, there's no right or wrong answer, but it's just understand how are you gonna pay the bills, who's paying for what? And yeah, you can still have some fun money, and I always encourage that, that you want to be saving to have some fun too, especially while we're alive and can enjoy it. It's important to really understand our behavior with money, what we think of it, how we handle it, and the more open and honest couples are a bet that, the better. It should help at least that part of the relationship?

Speaker 2: 18:17

Oh yeah, absolutely, and that is something that you have to be able to have conversations about, open and honest conversations, and so if one person in the relationship is really hesitant to share that information, that's a big red flag right there. So that's a big conversation that needs to be had. You had mentioned relationship with money. Since you have become so knowledgeable as a financial planner, and I'm sure this has had a huge impact on how you view money and your relationship with money, what are some of the lessons that you have learned over the time that you have been actively engaged as a financial planner? Because you've had to go through all of this training and these certifications, and so I'm sure that you probably have seen your relationship change with the money that you have. Is that right?

Speaker 1: 19:27

Oh, yeah, for sure, and maybe not so much changed, but I've learned more, better understand why I started doing some of the things I did at a young age and I can't think my parents enough for getting me started, so I do have to lead with that where I had paper roots when I was younger in the neighborhood. So they made us put away some money, save it right from our very first job. As soon as we started earning a little income. They would make us save some of that and then obviously we could spend some of that as well.

Speaker 1: 20:04

But since becoming even more involved in the industry and learning, let's say some of the most important things for me are in like this is something everybody in the industry talks about, but pay yourself first, and what I mean by that is every Friday I've got money automatically coming out of my accounts into my RSP retirement savings plan, which is similar to 401k in the US, as well as a TFSA or tax free savings account. And the reason I do that is because it's gone out of my bank account. I don't see it. If I don't see it, I'm not going to spend it, because I don't buy anything Well one if it's not on sale or I can't find a really good deal. And secondly, I don't buy it if I don't have the money for it.

Speaker 2: 21:02

So it's say, those are yeah, those.

Speaker 1: 21:05

I guess my three key lessons learned is pay myself first. So get that money into the savings accounts so that it's growing, it's building. The reason I do it weekly is so that I'm hitting the market 52 different points over the course of the year, so I'm catching different highs and lows. That money's in there growing on the good days, not so well on the bad days, but it's in there. It's compounding, it's working harder. For me, that will do a lot better than just one lump sum contribution over the course of the year. And then by not buying stuff if I don't have money for it, I'm not taking on any unnecessary or bad debt. And then, obviously, the deals. That's just something I've become and something that my mom and friends all joke about is that I always seem to either have a credit card that gets me a good deal or find a promo code online or a Rakuten with cashback, and they're like team. I don't know how you do it, but you know all the deals. How do I get this for a better price?

Speaker 2: 22:23

Oh, yeah, I love a good coupon code. That's one of my favorite things. Yeah, sign up for all the birthday stuff, get your discounts and all of those things I highly recommend. And for us in the United States see, I'm a veteran there are all kinds of awesome veterans discounts out there, so I always ask wherever I go, do you offer a veteran's discount? And you'd be surprised at how many places actually have that, and so I think that's a piece of advice I would share with our listeners as well. If you are a veteran, ask the question, don't be embarrassed by it. Save your money. If it's like 10%, hey, that's 10% that can go towards something else. You did not have to spend that money on that one item. I think that's a fantastic thing to be able to do. You had mentioned your parents were really good about teaching you to save your money. How early do you think parents should begin having these types of conversations with their kids about saving and spending and all of these things?

Speaker 1: 23:33

Yeah, that's a great question and one that I always get from parents and, honestly, the sooner you start the better. So I'd say probably seven or eight. When, like I look at my nieces and nephews, now they're 10, eight and then soon to be six, and obviously the 10 year old gets money. Now he understands what he can do with that. My niece, who is eight, she's saving all her money. She knows how much money she has and she knows what she needs to buy her next toy or treat or whatever she's got. So it's great to see her understanding the value of money and how much she's saved up and what more she needs. And then my little nephew, who's five. He's still a little too young, so I'd say probably seven or eight, or as soon as you notice your child's understanding the concept of money and you can start having those discussions with them.

Speaker 1: 24:44

We had to do chores around the house to earn an allowance. The more chores that we did, the more money we could earn. So I think that's a great way to help teach children the value of money and that you have to work to earn it. In most cases it's not just going to fall into your lap and you're eventually probably going to have to get an education and a job and work for it.

Speaker 2: 25:17

That's right. Most of us do not have that golden parachute that we're going to be able to rely on. You know when times get tough. So having those lessons learned at a young age, yeah, that's a powerful gift that any parent can give their child. I think one of the challenges in that is that so many parents out there were not. They didn't have that advantage when they were growing up.

Speaker 2: 25:44

And so what are some of the more common, I guess, mistakes that you see people make over and over again? That just seems to be, you know, like they're just bad habits maybe, or just things that you don't know, because they're things that you've learned from your parents and it's just generationally. It's handed down over and over again. You know, I just I know how I grew up with my parents. Money was not a conversation that we ever had. Balancing a checkbook, saving money, like none of that was ever a conversation. So I can tell you it's been a very difficult journey. You know, as a young adult and even to today, you know, just having conversations like this, I always learned, you know, something new. So, from your experience, what do you think are some of the most common, I guess mistakes people make in general with their money?

Speaker 1: 26:45

The biggest one is just spending money you don't have Thinking, oh, I'll buy that, I'll put that on credit or my line of credit, I'll be able to pay that down in a month or a couple of months. And guess what? If you do that for one thing, you're probably going to do it for another thing or a few things. And then all of a sudden those bills start piling up. And then guess what? Something happens that we didn't plan. The car breaks down, something happens to the condor or the house. All of a sudden. Now we have another unplanned expense that. So how are we going to pay for that? That is obviously the biggest mistake that I see people make is buying things, and unfortunately it's usually larger purchases where they don't have the money and really they likely could hold off a bit longer, take a few months to save up for it, likely get a better deal because they waited a few months and now they can get a better price on it and not take on any debt to buy it in the end.

Speaker 2: 27:59

Yeah, I think instant gratification is our enemy and we have. That is one really bad habit. I think that we have learned, especially today, to be able to just like hold off on that decision. Do you absolutely have to have that right now? Probably not. Maybe take a couple of days to think this over. You know is this is money that you're going to spend and you know is it necessary for you to spend this money or use your credit card like you were saying. I mean, if you're, if you're willing to do it for one thing, you're probably going to do it for a few things. And next thing, you know your debt is going from three digits to four digits to five digits and you know, on up, and that's not a good feeling to have at all.

Speaker 1: 28:48

Not at all. But again, I blame the retailers and technology that. I'm sure you notice that. Well, in some cases, even if you just talk about something with friends, then go on your phone or laptop, all of a sudden guess what? All these ads start to appear. I know, if I go on Amazon or a website and look for something guess was going to fill my feed for the next week or two and some websites will even email me. Oh, jamie, we noticed you were checking this out. Did you forget to check out? Or, oh, this is a hot item. They've only got limited stock left. So they know you're interested, or they see that you at least checked it out. So now they're trying to pressure you because if I didn't buy it, oh well, maybe if we tell them we're low on stock, you'll think it's a hot item. And that's just the little question that he needs to come back at it through his cart and check out.

Speaker 2: 29:48

Yeah, then they have their little claws in you. That's actually probably a really good part of the conversation to have with the kids as well, because they're on social media. I know not too long ago I read our Surgeon General here in the United States had issued an advisory I think it was back in May in that teenagers age from 13 to 19, like 95% of them, are on social media, and the vast majority of those who are on social media said that they're pretty much on social media constantly. And so the barrage of advertisements and what are their peers talking about, the purchasing that's going on. How are they spending their money? That's a lot of pressure as well, and I didn't even think about that until you just mentioned that. Now, with our experiences on social media, and that's probably a conversation that a lot of parents don't think to have with their kids when they're thinking about the financial conversation, if they're having any conversations at all.

Speaker 1: 30:55

Yeah, no, exactly, and I'm not on TikTok, but I know that a lot of influencers are and that age group is very impressionable. So, depending on what they see, they might want to buy it or think that they need to have it, and if one of their favorite celebrities is endorsing it or wearing it, it's like oh mommy, like I must have this, or on the flip side of that, your other point I know on Instagram as I'm scrolling through there every third or fourth Like a real or a? Yeah, or a story, or yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:38

Yeah, those things.

Speaker 1: 31:40

It's sponsored.

Speaker 2: 31:42

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1: 31:45

Stop showing me so much sponsored material. Show me actual material from my friends. That's why I'm on here and I've just noticed this because I'm like who is this? I don't have the and I scroll back down a little and I'll notice at the header sponsored. So just keep scrolling Because same and like. You click on it, then there's links to go and buy and again they've made it really easy for us to fall into a trap and buy stuff without even realizing him with Amazon. They've even got the buy now button, so you don't even have to add it to your shopping cart.

Speaker 2: 32:25

That's right, really easy. You're so right about the whole sponsoring stuff on social media. I noticed recently on Facebook just within, I'm wanting to say, within the past month, I have noticed my feed has changed dramatically. I don't know what's going on with the algorithms. I don't have any idea what's going on behind the scenes, but I do notice that as I'm scrolling I'm doing the whole just scroll, scroll, scroll I'm seeing more sponsored stuff and then more things that from I don't know if they're pages or like, I don't even follow these pages, but I'm seeing more of that stuff than the stuff for my friends anymore. So, yeah, they're just kind of like slowly feeding it to us, and so what an important point to make as far as the conversations you're having with your kids and, I guess, your significant other whoever you're sharing that budget with making sure that they're on top of things as well.

Speaker 2: 33:30

One thing that you and I have spoken about in the past that is closely related to financial planning is health and being prepared, because you never know and earlier you just said you never know something could happen. Something could happen with your house. You could lose your job, anything could happen. But also something else that could happen is you could get really, really sick at some point and God forbid, if you get so sick you can't work anymore. Whatever happens, you really want to put yourself in a position that everything is not going to fall apart at that point. You don't want to lose your home or go so far into debt that you begin just spiraling out of control. So what are some advice do you have for people who they may not be sick now, but hey, you and I both know it just happens and you've been doing it for it.

Speaker 2: 34:36

It's a prize. So what are some things that you think the average person really needs to think about when it comes to those kinds of things? Imagine your favorite online dating app, but instead of using it for finding dates, you are booking podcasting interviews. Podmatch uses similar technology to match the ideal podcast host with the ideal podcast guest for interviews. I know it works because that's how I get so many awesome guests for my show. I used to spend hours scouring my social media channels hoping to be able to find just one reliable guest for my show. Now I simply log into Podmatch and let the program do all the work. It really is just that easy, and if you are a podcaster looking for compatible guests or you are a guest looking to be on a reputable podcast, sign up for Podmatch today by clicking on the link in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 35:39

Yeah, no, this is a great topic and, funny enough, it's pretty much what our last chat covered. So again, check it out, if you haven't already.

Speaker 2: 35:51

That's right.

Speaker 1: 35:52

But yeah, it's a question that I always ask everybody. I do a lot of posting about it on social media as well, and I'll ask people what is your biggest asset? And if they own real estate, own condo. It's always that If they don't own real estate, then it might be a car. If they have a car or whatever, their biggest oh, my laptop, but I might, no, no, no, and 95% of people get it wrong or give me one of those answers.

Speaker 1: 36:28

But our biggest asset is our health and our ability to work in our new paycheck or an income, and as soon as that becomes impacted well, guess what? Our biggest asset could potentially turn into our biggest liability. That's right. So, yeah, there's really two ways we can address that, jen. One is understanding what your different insurance options are, and they should be slightly similar again in both countries. Maybe slightly different names, but here in Canada, the main types of insurance we have are life insurance, which pays out to your beneficiaries when you pass away, but then there's two forms of insurance that pay you a benefit while you're alive. The first is critical illness, which pays you a lump sum of money, tax-free, should you be diagnosed with a critical illness, the top three being heart attacks, stroke, cancer and those aren't life sentences anymore. As you and I both know, we were both diagnosed with cancer. Look at us.

Speaker 1: 37:45

We're here talking away, that's right.

Speaker 1: 37:48

I was diagnosed with cancer at 44. Fortunately I had a critical illness policy, so I had my doctors complete the forms, submitted it to the insurance company. I had a check in the mail within eight business days. It's the fastest claim I've ever settled. I didn't get any preferential treatment because I was the sort of financial planner on the policy. Let's just have quick.

Speaker 1: 38:15

Some policies can settle. And then the third option is disability and that pays you a monthly benefit if you become injured and can't work. So you can either cover off or protect your income and your biggest asset by taking out insurance and or by building up an emergency funds. And I recommend typically at least three to six months of expenses at a minimum. Some clients take it further. They want to go six, nine, 12 months. Again, no right or wrong answer. It's what is your personal feeling? Yeah, If you lost your job or lost your ability to earn an income, how long would you want to know your expenses are covered for? You don't have to worry about anything to allow you to either seek treatment, get better or just find new employment.

Speaker 2: 39:18

Yeah, that makes such a huge difference. I had the critical illness insurance as well. I will tell you, it just is a load off. It's like one less thing that you have to worry about. You have so many other things going on in your life that you have to focus on. That's just one less thing that you truly you don't want to have to stress out over those things.

Speaker 2: 39:42

One thing I did want to highlight, because earlier you had mentioned that you pay yourself first For anybody who. I hear it all the time. Well, I'm just paycheck to paycheck and I really don't have the ability to save anything, and it truly does help when you have that little bit of money taken out of your paycheck automatically before you even get it. You're not going to see it, and so I can't stress enough that's.

Speaker 2: 40:13

One thing that I did this year is I set up actual several savings accounts, and they're just different pockets One's for vacation, one is for the rainy day fund. I don't see that money at all now before I get paid, and so I'm not missing it and I'm not able to spend it on Amazon or Starbucks or anywhere else that I typically spend money. So all of this is just kind of it comes together full circle, and I just think it's so important to the listeners to hear your message of what you're saying. You have to save your money. You have no idea how much you're going to appreciate. You're going to thank yourself for doing that get the critical health insurance and have all of those savings accounts at the same time. If I can get the 12 month savings in there, oh heck, yeah, I'm going to feel really good.

Speaker 1: 41:16

I'm glad you shared your example, Jim, because that is exactly what you should be doing. So in the old days, maybe what our grandparents would have done is have their different cookie jars or mason jars or what's not and put money in those. Now that we're in the digital world, yeah, we can create different accounts for each goal. So you can have your retirement account, your vacation account, your emergency fund, rainy day fund, whatever else and then any other goals are big your house fund, your vehicle fund, your whatever kids education, kids wedding so you can have multiple accounts that you're contributing to, multiple goals that you're working towards, as opposed to just putting everything into one big bucket and then constantly dipping in. Well, then, you just kind of defeated the purpose of putting the money in there.

Speaker 2: 42:14

That's right, yeah, and now that I've gotten used to having that money taken out automatically out of my paycheck and I don't even see it, I am amazed at how quickly that money adds up, because you just don't even think about it until sometimes. I'll be like, well, how much is in there? And then I'll go look and I'm like, okay, I'll be able to have a pretty nice vacation coming up soon. Oh, yay, yay, for me it feels good. It really is a nice feeling to know that you have that little pot of money there that you can access when you need to access for it. But I guess we should also mention that don't access it unless it's for what it was intended for, right.

Speaker 1: 42:59

Exactly. Ideally, that's what we want. That's why you need that emergency or rainy day bucket. So for all the unplanned stuff. But again, the unplanned stuff should be an appliance breaking down, a car breaking down, not oops, I had another late night on Amazon last night and look what arrived at the door today. That can be controlled.

Speaker 2: 43:23

Yeah, yeah. What advice do you have for individuals who might have a difficult time finding insurance? I'll give you a personal example.

Speaker 2: 43:38

Being a cancer survivor, one of my biggest concerns was life insurance for my two children. Now I mean, they're adults, but I don't want to leave them with nothing and I want whatever the estate, whatever settles, I want them to be able to have something. But one of the things that I was told when I was shopping around for life insurance is that I can get life insurance. I mean, most of us will pass away from an accident, I was told. So that's the type of life insurance I could get. But because I am recently out of treatment, they told me I had to wait two years before I could get life insurance to cover me in case, like if I had a heart attack or if I died from natural causes. So what kind of advice and I know I'm not the only one who has come across roadblocks and getting different types of insurance so what kind of advice could you give our listeners who are encountering the same things?

Speaker 1: 44:43

Yeah, and that's another great question I want to get off and, jen, I am the perfect example. About 46 right now. I'm an unsurable because I'm still fighting my cancer fight, and it's usually people that are a lot older who come to me with this question or concern, but again, it could happen at any age, regardless of whether or not you plan for it.

Speaker 1: 45:10

And I know here in Canada and I've got to believe in that US as well that there are certain insurance companies who provide coverage with no medical underwriting. What I mean by that is that you don't have to go through the usual blood tests, urine tests, vitals and or the insurance company connecting with your doctor to get lots of details. You'll still have to complete an application. You want to be weary of the companies, though, and what I mean by that is the ones who say no application, no underwriting, guaranteed acceptance. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.

Speaker 2: 46:00

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 46:01

I've recently found one company here in Canada and I just got contracted with them last week. They do provide this type of insurance both life insurance and critical illness with no medical underwriting needed. However, they still do underwriting at time of application. So what I mean by that is, I think their applications about 26 questions, if I recall correctly. So they're still gonna go through how you answer those questions, evaluate the risk and Now granted, since you're not providing any medical information, the premiums are obviously going to be higher, right?

Speaker 1: 46:45

However, you can still get coverage. So both for life as well as critical illness I think life is currently up into about a million, critical illness to 150. Critical illness should be moving to 250 shortly, by the end of the year and life to 2 million, right? So, again, those are good coverage amounts and that's what I wasn't seeing with a lot of this type of product being advertised. Yeah, they're too good to be true, or you were looking to maybe get 25 or 50,000. Now, in some instances that's good for the funeral expenses, final expenses, better than having nothing, but in other Instances people need and want a lot more. So it was nice to find this company that does do some underwriting and can actually ensure Good amounts of coverage.

Speaker 2: 47:42

Yeah, yeah, so good it. So keep shopping around, keep looking. They do exist. Just be mindful, and yeah look yeah look at the small print.

Speaker 1: 47:54

What you'll want to look for is no medical underwriting required, mm-hmm. But then ask that is medical or, sorry, is Underwriting done at time of application?

Speaker 1: 48:06

Okay so I realize that sounds confusing, but underwriting at time of application means that the insurance company is taking a look and Validating how much risk are they taking on, determining how much premium you should pay and Then, by having that done at time of application, should anything go wrong, either you pass away, in the case of life insurance, or you're diagnosed with a critical illness. In the case of critical Illness, then those policies will pay out. Mm-hmm. That underwriting at time of application doesn't happen, then it happens when a claim is made, and I don't like that because Too much uncertainty right.

Speaker 1: 48:51

They can look back oh, we didn't realize that you had cancer or that you were still dealing with treatment. There's too many variables where they could say, oh, we didn't know or we would have asked For more information, you've got a higher chance of your claim being denied and then just all your premiums come back to you.

Speaker 2: 49:15

Wow, that's so important. That's some good stuff that that's really important to know. Jamie, we have already been talking for like 50 minutes now. I mean Almost an hour. That's always happened such a fantastic conversation.

Speaker 2: 49:33

Just so much good information that I know you know people need to hear and they need to be able to access. You know this stuff. I want to go ahead and wrap up the conversation, since we are, you know, coming up on an hour. But is is there anything Remaining that you wanted to make sure we were able to touch on? But before we wrap up this episode, yeah, two other was three key things.

Speaker 1: 49:59

Jen Mm-hmm, why make sure you have a will and that it's a date, yeah, depending on who you named as your executor.

Speaker 1: 50:08

Ensure that they know where to find that will. Second would be to, in addition to the will, ensure that Beneficiaries on your insurance policies and investments are updated. Don't have it set to a state. Have actual people named so that the money goes to them, not your estate, and then become subject to probate fees. And the third piece of advice is when things do change in your life, either for better or for worse, reach out to your financial planner Is that's gonna have an impact on your plan. They need to know. Don't wait till your next meeting, especially if it's significant. Reach out to them. Let them know of the change so that they can go in, tweak your plan. And now you know what you need to do to stay on track to achieve your goals.

Speaker 2: 51:01

Hmm, valuable, very valuable, to know all of that stuff. Thank you so much for taking this time, come back and visiting again and having any time round two of our conversation. You know you and I could could talk for another five hours, I'm sure, about about anything and everything under the Sun. I'm just so appreciative that you agreed to come back for round two and talk about this really important topic. If there's anybody who wants to follow up with you, how do they get in touch with you?

Speaker 1: 51:33

anybody who's either listening to us. You can check the show notes for the spelling of my name and the company name. If you're watching video, you can see it on the screen, but you can Google Jamie Madigan, j A M, ie, m A, di G A N. Connect with me on LinkedIn there. Or you can Google the company name, beacon point B, e, a, c O N P O I N T, or visit beacon point dot ca To see my face, the business partners and you can book time on my calendar through the website.

Speaker 2: 52:11

Wonderful. All right, everyone check Jamie out. Go to the website stock full of Really good, valuable advice. All right, one last time. Thanks again, jamie, and I know I will see you again real soon.

Speaker 1: 52:28

Thanks Jen.

Speaker 2: 52:30

All right, everyone, I hope you found this episode to be valuable. I know I did, so. I'm gonna go back and start, you know, just looking at everything tonight, so I can make sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing as far as my finances go, and I know you're gonna do the same. All right, I hope everyone has a great, wonderful rest of your day and We'll see you next time. All right, bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media or leave a rating and a review.