Insurance Planning Objectives For Lee And Kate

Objectives of Insurance Planning

Discuss about the Journal of Financial Service Professionals.

Lee and Kate have been married since the year 2008 and they have known each other since their college days. They have two children named Wyatt aged 5 year and Sawyer aged 3 year. The Lee works full time and gains significant amount of income and on the other hand Kate works part time and plans to work full time once Sawyer joins kindergarten. The couple have the objective of planning their insurances in such a manner so that all their objectives would be met and they along with their children would have a secured lifestyle. Hence, the insurance planning objectives of the couple have been given below:

• The initial objective of planning the insurance has been to safeguard the future of Wyatt and Sawyer as both of them are infants and have a long course of life ahead of them. In this respect, insurance plans have to be taken with the help of which the future life of their children can be secured.
• The health status of the Lee addresses that he has plantar fasciitis and occasional joint pain. The family history of Lee even highlights the chances of bowel cancer. The doctor has even suggested taking care of his sleeping and eating habits and has asked not to take much stress. Hence, with these issues it is essential for Lee to purchase an insurance that would be able to provide financial remuneration to his family in case of death and permanent or temporary disablement. In case of any such scenario, his family can be secured and would be able to maintain a smooth and healthy lifestyle.
• Lee and Kate has observed that their children is quite young and have a long way to go in their life. The couple even has the plan of making their children attend college or universities and educate them so that they can have a successful career. In order to do the same, it is essential that the couple purchases an insurance plan that would be able to meet the future educational expenses of their two children.
• The couple have individual cars and the cars need to be insured in order to safeguard them from any sort of unprecedented events.
• Lee draws significant amount of salary annually and therefore needs to purchase insurances that would be able to remunerate similar amount of money to his family so that their financial scenario can be sustained.
• The other insurance objective has to safeguard their property where they reside so that in case of any unprecedented events their children will and spouse would be able to live properly.
• The need for insurance even revolves around the fact that the couple has an outstanding mortgage for the house they have bought and in case of any unprecedented events the liability to pay the mortgage would fall on their infant children. Insurance would be helpful in paying the mortgage on their behalf. 

There are various problems that are pertinent with the death, disability or retirement of the couple. These issues need to be highlighted so that the couple can make adequate changes in their plans. There has been an observation that their children are infant and they require sufficient amount of expenses with the help of which they can educate their children and can create a healthy career for them. In case of death, disability and retirement of Lee, the permanent income would be hampered and the family would face financial issues and therefore his plan of educating his children and establishing a career for them would face problems. In the same scenario if the same happens to Kate, then the level of financial issues would be lower but the dependency level would be higher on Lee and therefore he has to maintain various strategies with the help of which the absence of Kate can be mitigated.

Lee works in a beer company and earns significant amount of salary with the help of which the he can take care of his family and the associated expenses. Lee has the anticipation that few years down the line he would even get promoted and his salary would increase. However, in case of death, permanent disablement and retirement, this permanent source of income would cease and thereby a huge amount of pressure would fall on Kate and her children. They would be facing adverse financial problems. In case the employment of Kate is ceased due to retirement, death and disability, the level of income would be hampered and she would not be able meet her personal expenses and the investments made by her would diminish. Overall, her family would face problems as well mentally and financially.   

Problems Pertinent to Death, Disability, or Retirement

Lee and Kate have various assets and liabilities that are owned by them. In case Lee expires or has permanent disablement, his permanent income would stop and thereby the investments and the insurances purchased by them would have a serious impact due to non-payment of the premiums. Lee has a mortgage loan for the purchase of the property where they reside and therefore in case of permanent disablement and death the responsibility to pay the mortgage would fall on Kate considering that their income level has fallen as well. In case of Kate, the same issue is persistent as Lee would be burdened with extra responsibility to earn and pay the mortgage and even taking care of their children single handed.  

Kate and Lee have a mortgage on the house and have various investments in funds and banks and therefore it is their obligation to take care of the same with the help of which the couple can have a safe, healthy and peaceful life. Therefore, in case of death, retirement or disablement, the obligations would fall on the family and repayment of the mortgage, additional payment in the investments would increase. The couple would not be able to undertake further investments as well. Hence, this can have an impact on the financial position of Lee and Kate. The other beneficiaries include the medical insurance in order to cover for any critical medical illness which they may face as they grow older.

The couple have a retirement plan and have the objective of maintaining the similar lifestyle even after their retirement. In case of disablement and death, there would be an impact on the retirement plan as the savings that is being undertaken in the retirement savings plan would either stop or decrease and thereby the savings amount for the future could be reduced.

This section looks to provide the recommendations that could be given to Lee and Kate with respect to insurance planning and retirement planning. There has been an observation that Lee has various insurance and investments but the level investment and insurance can be improved. It is recommended for Lee that he increases the tenure for the R&C term policy from Sun Life. He can even increase the sum insured amount by 20% as with the advent of time there will be rise in the cost of living and the educational expense of their children. The Group Benefit Plan, of which Lee is a part, has coverage of his family and his children till the age of 21 or 25 years. However, Lee has to purchase an insurance that would cover the life of their children even after they reach the age of 21 or 25 years. Both Wyatt and Sawyer need to have individual insurance for them with the help of which they can have a secured lifestyle. Lee has another life insurance over which a supplementary insurance is existent. The premium for this insurance is paid by the employer. But the amount of money that is insured is significantly low as Lee has three dependents. The amount needs to be increased in order to maintain the financial stability of the family even after his death. Lee needs to have individual insurances for Kate as well as she is his wife and in case of any her death Lee can receive certain financial remuneration as well. Maintaining individual insurance for everyone in his family is essential and therefore it is recommended. Lee does have health care and dental care coverage that is included in the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. But with the advent of time they would be growing old and would need additional medical expenses and therefore Lee needs to purchase a medical insurance which would remunerate for the medical expenses. In case of any hospital related incidents Lee and his family would even receive cashless facilities and thereby would initiate their treatment timely. Lee can purchase medical insurance from Sun Life as well that would be covering his spouse as well so that every one of them is safe and secured. It is even recommended that Lee undertakes a home insurance as the home they have purchased is relatively new and they have mortgage pending as well. Therefore keeping the house insured can assist in paying the loan back in case anything happens to the couple. The retirement plan that Lee has can be improved as well as his income would increase and with time, issues related to health.

Assets and Liabilities

 There are product recommendations for Kate as well. Kate is a working woman and looks to work full time once Sawyer starts going to kindergarten. She has the expectation that her income would become double then. Hence, she can purchase insurance for herself that would be inclusive of medical insurance as well. Kate can even think of purchasing retirement savings plan so that in case of any mishaps between Lee and Kate, she can have an independent retirement plan for herself. She needs to undertake various investments in RBC Financial Group and thereby have her own savings as well. Both Kate and Lee have debts and therefore investments that have to be undertaken should be inclusive of paying for the debts and the mortgage that is existent for them.

The recommendations that have been suggested is affordable due to the fact that Lee has significant amount of income and therefore this income would be significant enough with the help of which further insurances can be purchased. Kate earns $ 24,000 annually and expects to get her income doubled. Hence, with this level of income the two products recommended for her can be purchased with ease.

The suggestions that have been provided is existent within the current cash flow by adding in the expenses and adjusting the income that Lee and Kate receives. The adjustments that have been made have been highlighted in the cash flow and these adjustments have been made by reducing the expenses that are unwanted for the couple and their family. The reduction in these expenses and the increasing their level of income can be useful for the development of effective cash flow statement. This would even counter the additional insurances that would be purchased. There are no recommendations in the restructuring of debt as the level of debt that is present is precise and the payment amount is appropriate. The adjustments that have been made in the cash flow statement has been highlighted in the table below and the changes have been made in accordance to the new products that have been recommended. The assumptions that have taken includes that the rate of interest is constant and there has been growth in the investments and income growth.

Lynch, K.M., 2016. Solid risk management system should include insurance planning to protect assets.

Parthemer, M.R. and Christie, J.C., 2016. Insurance Planning and the Possible End of Life as We Know It: Low Interest Rates and Family Entity Discounts. Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 70(4), pp.24-33.