The words “I was just laid off” are not usually followed by “and I am so happy” – but in the email I received from my client Penny, that’s exactly what she wrote.
Penny initially came to me because she was concerned about her emergency fund. She is a single mom, so her income is all she and her daughter have to rely on. She wanted to be sure she would have enough to support them if something unexpected happened.
So, we combed through her cash flow and made some strategic decisions to boost her emergency fund savings over the next few months. Based on our analysis, we would easily be able to get her nine months of emergency savings in that time frame. That felt comfortable to her.
Especially since Penny is a single mom, I recommended that she invest in critical illness and other insurance. Penny was skeptical. She felt those funds could be better allocated elsewhere, like her Disney fund or her daughter’s RESP.
But she trusted me.
I showed her the trajectory: she would still be able to reach her Disney goal and continue to contribute to her daughter’s RESP. By adding the insurance I recommended, achieving those goals would indeed take a little longer. But the trade-off was peace of mind. Those other goals were not vague wishes or uncertain points in the future: with her plan laid out, we could see when she would hit those milestones. We put her plan in motion.
Then, about nine months ago, Penny was laid off. The tech giant she worked for announced mass layoffs, and she was caught in the fire. It was completely unexpected; she had only glowing performance reviews and had just landed a major client account. But she and thousands of other colleagues were unceremoniously given the boot.
However—while her colleagues scrambled to take whatever job they could find, Penny was able to take a breath.
After all, she saved nine months of emergency funds for this exact purpose.
In her email to me, Penny said she was so happy to have the security of knowing she could take her time to find a job that was right for her—not just whatever job would pay the bills.
It took four months, but she landed a job at an innovative marketing firm only twenty minutes from her home. It was perfect.
A few months later, life handed her another lemon. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a healthy 38-year-old woman, this was a devastating blow. The one silver lining?
Her critical illness insurance.
The same insurance she questioned would now allow her to afford time off work, exorbitant hospital parking fees, medical fees not covered by OHIP, a cleaner for the house, and meal delivery and childcare for her daughter. She would even get extra income replacement.
With a successful claim, she will receive over $56,000 tax-free.
She felt secure, like a weight was lifted, so all she had to do was focus on fighting the cancer. (And so far, she has!)
That’s the advantage of having the right insurance and understanding your financial plan: security and confidence. So if something unexpected happens, you already know how to respond and what resources are available. You don’t always have control over what life throws your way, but you can control how you respond.
If you want that same level of protection and peace of mind, book a call.