Many of the families that come to us for advice are really worried about the future. Understandably, they may be anxious about Coronavirus and the obvious risks it poses to them and their loved ones, but they may also be worried about many other issues. Issues like, the Keystone Pipeline, The Great Reset, Climate Change, and/or the recent upheaval related to the US election often come up in our conversations. Their worries are big and beyond their control. They feel anxious and powerless.

Encouragingly, many of the families we work with comment that we make them feel better, providing them with a sense of peace of mind and empowerment. Not because we have solved all the world’s issues for them, far from it. They feel better because we arm them with what they can do to protect themselves, from a wealth preservation and legacy planning perspective. We give them the ability to control a portion of their destiny, no matter what the future brings.

We spend a lot of time educating our families about the options available to them that will help to protect their estates from risks, such as family related issues, market volatility and/or undue taxation. Once our families understand their options, we find many of them choose to move a portion of their estate out of Bank Law and into alternative investment tools, like Investments via Trust. These tools are governed by a different and less risky set of rules: the rules of Trust law via Life Insurance law.  

Life insurance statutory law in Canada has undergone many revisions over the last 150 years. In the process of its evolution, several of its features (i.e., the creation of the statutory trust for preferred beneficiaries) were borrowed from the Trust Laws of England and Wales. Today, these tools are afforded numerous special benefits due to them being governed by Insurance Law and its Trust law origins. 

Some of the more attractive benefits include, but are not limited to: 

• the ability to lock in gains, while protecting against market losses; 
• creditor and liability protections;
• bypassing the probate process;
• reduced rates of taxation and 
• death benefit guarantees.

Many of our families choose to put a certain percentage of their estate into protective investment tools governed by trust law – usually whatever they need to fund a comfortable retirement. And then, if they want to ‘play’ with the rest of their estate, by having it jump around in the ups and downs of the markets, they do so knowing that they are not jeopardizing their quality of life during their golden years.  

MacMillan Estate Planning offers a holistic approach to estate planning with all the people, processes, and technology that you need to plan your estate – either in person or virtually. Our team of lawyers, accountants, financial planners, and counsellors offer a refreshing alternative to the banks, law firms and accountancy firms. 

Want to know more? Please register for one of our upcoming seminars. You can also take advantage of our complimentary virtual consultations; call us or email us: 1-833-266-6464 and inquiry@macmillanestate.com.