Investment & Insurance Services
440 Phillip Street, Waterloo, ON N2L 5R9 Waterloo, ON, Canada

Here are 5 things you should know about your mortgage 1. What is my penalty? The inevitable mortgage penalty comes into play if you decide to break your mortgage for various reasons - refinance, sale, etc. Penalties are calculated differently from lender to lender and fixed vs. variable. The range of penalty can be .75% to 6% or even 7% of your mortgage balance. If your mortgage balance is 400k, that would mean your range is $3,000 to $28,000. To be honest, the lenders ...are banking (pun intended) on you breaking your mortgage as 60% of Canadians do in the first 3 years. It’s my job to make sure when you do, you pay the least amount of interest. 2. Is my mortgage portable? This means, if you buy another home, it might make sense to take your current mortgage and interest rate with you instead of paying the penalty. Most lenders allow this, but some mortgage products don’t. It is essential to know if you can take your mortgage with you for the life of your term so you’re not surprised down the road. 3. What is the small print in my mortgage? Some no-frills mortgage products offer a lower interest rate but come with some small print. A bona-fide sales clause is one, this means you can’t break your mortgage unless you sell your property. Another one is a fixed penalty percentage, meaning you might pay 3% of your mortgage principal to break even a variable rate mortgage. These are just a couple of the things you need to be aware of. 4. What are my prepayment privileges? The majority of mortgages come with prepayment privileges. This is the ability to increase your monthly payment and/or make a lump sum payment - both will put the funds directly towards your principle which means you’re paying off your mortgage quicker. Some lenders allow you to prepay up to 25% of your original mortgage amount at any time during the year. Other lenders allow you to pre-pay up to 10% but only on the anniversary date of your contract. If you anticipate using your prepayment privileges then it would be wise to align yourself with the more flexible lender. 5. Do I have a standard or collateral charge mortgage? It’s important to know this because, at renewal time, there is typically no cost to switch lenders - aka...you are a free agent. But if your mortgage is registered as a collateral charge, you could incur costs of $1,000 to $1,200 to leave your lender. Your current lender knows you have to pay those costs so the renewal rate might not be as low as you expected. Knowing the answers to these questions will only better prepare you and at the end of the day...save you money. Feel free to call me; JEFF 519 658 3771

So many Mortgages are renewing! Most people take out some form of Life Insurance to protect the biggest purchase of their lives. The Mortgage provider offers you a Creditor Protection model that includes lots of "have you ever" type questions. The actual underwriting is done after a death occurs and is based in large part on the perfect accuracy of your answers. Scary! Now, as long as you are perfectly healthy and that can be confirmed by your attending physician, your m...ortgage will be paid under the provisions of the mortgage insurance. I've seen it. But if you made a mistake with a No answer, there is a good chance that the Life Insurance will not be paid out and your family is left with the same mortgage and one less income. What to do? Own your Life Insurance. Name your own beneficiary. Don't tie your Life Insurance contractually to your Mortgage. Why pay the bank mortgage insurance, which decreases with every payment, so that the bank can pay itself? Own it yourself! This way it is also portable when your mortgage renews and you want to shop for a better rate with another Mortgage provider. I recommend a 20 - 25 year term of renewable and convertible Life Insurance. Also, if you are both non-smokers, it is invariably a better deal for you to fully underwrite Life Insurance that you may collect on in the event of a death and use that way that your beneficiary sees fit. Ownership! Don't hesitate to call me. Jeff at 519 658 3771 See more

Best Life Insurance price doesn’t mean best Life Insurance company! This is absolutely true. I have conversations almost every workday where buyers just don’t believe this. Let me give you an example. If you buy term life insurance with the lowest premium...your thought is that you won! Of course, almost invariably, the lowest initial premium for the first term means the highest renewal premium. Ouch! What to do? Well 10 or 15 or 20 years down the road I will just r...ewrite a policy with another company right? What if there is a health issue that came up? There are hundreds of not thousands of health conditions that can make you a less than desirable client to an insurance company. So, you are stuck paying sometimes 6 to 8X the original premium with perhaps one conversion option. Well, I won’t need Life Insurance by then. Really? Bigger house, kids, grandkids, HELOC, Credit Cards.... Believe me, for most of us, your need for Life Insurance doesn’t go down. It is still the best way to leave money to your heirs. So, the Company you chose makes a difference. Remember, in life, you get what you pay for. A dollar or two a month more may mean the difference between being able to keep your coverage intact or not. In all my term Life Insurance sales, I speak about converting all or part of their policy down the road. So, the company I recommend and that the client ultimately chooses IS IMPORTANT. I love that old FRAM OIL FILTER TV commercial. FRAM is owns the fact that their product costs more. But they bank on the idea that a few dollars more will pay off later with reduced repair bills at the Dealership. The slogan, spoken from the point of view of the guy billing you for repair work: You can pay me now, or PAY me later. Pick the right Life Insurance company! Paying a bit more for some contractual benefits is usually a good thing. Don’t hesitate to give me a call. JEFF at 519 658 3771 or drop me an email at [email protected] See more

Universal Life is a type of Life Insurance policy that has an Insurance component and if you wish, and an Investment component. I prefer this type of policy for those who just want to buy the bricks and mortar permanent Life insurance and have it PAID UP between 10 - 20 years from now. For those who have maximized their RRSP's and want a place to grow money in a Tax-Deferred environment, a UL policy just might be what you are looking for. Many wealthy people will set up la...rge UL policies and maximize the allowable funding to the Investment choices and then take income later in life. There are many applications to this hybrid between Life Insurance and Investment. O, and should you die with a lot of money in the Investment component, as long as the policy was set up as a PLUS plan, the death benefit and the Investment amount is paid to your named beneficiary tax free. Give me a call to discuss your needs: Jeff 519 658 3771 See more

What is the real cost of Life Insurance? If you have sub-standard health, it will cost more. Standard health people, the majority, get the standard rates. Sub-standard health people never like the premium, but their families do. Why, because there will be something for them when that loved one dies. I remind you, friends, term insurance is rental. O, it's valid Life Insurance if you die while it is In Force. Odds are you are going to outlive it. Permanent insurance is... like buying the bricks and mortar. As long as it is In Force, it will pay. Ideally, you set up Permanent insurance so that it is Paid Up at a certain point. Then, you have the Life Insurance to pass to the next generation and no more premiums to pay. A 40 Year old male, non-smoker, will pay about a TOTAL of $32,724 over 20 years to VEST $100,000. If you took out a loan for $100,000 at 4.5% and paid it off over 20 years, it would cost you $151,836. Why on earth would anyone try to save money to leave to their families, when they could immediately create it through Life Insurance? And yet, so many do just that. Give me a call. I would be happy to review your situation or your policies and give you a professional opinion with the perspective of experience. Jeff 519 658 3771

A lot of insurance companies have eliminated the typical need for a Paramedical Exam for a Life Insurance application. Most will go up to $1,000,000 before any further requirement than a TeleInterview. And everything is done online. I just got a call from someone whose 10 year term is renewing at 3X the current premium level. If your Life Insurance is lacking or renewing and you want to see if you can get a better deal, please give me a call. I will even tell you if you should stay with what you already own!! Jeff at 519 658 3771