Critical Illness Insurance Revisited
Posted by Gail | Filed under Insurance
Did you know that the three most common medical conditions in Canada – cancer, heart attach and stroke – make up about 85% of all the critical illness insurance claims. Yup, The Big Three are the top causes of CI insurance kicking in.
But those aren’t the only illness CI covers. Depending on the policy you choose, you could be covered for up to 20 sicknesses from brain tumour to MS, from Alzheimer’s to blindness, deafness to paralysis. Look for a plan that covers the highest number of variables. And watch the definitions used for critical illness conditions, which also tend to vary from plan to plan. Don’t let the medical terminology baffle you into buying something you don’t understand. Be clear on when you’ll be covered and for what.
Critical Illness insurance pays a lump sum on either diagnosis of the conditions you’ve bought coverage on, or their progress to an agreed state. While a heart attack is a heart attack and requires no further definition, multiple sclerosis might not actually impair your lifestyle for many years.
CI pays out a lump sum of cash that you can use to supplement you cash flow while you’re off work, pay for treatment, or simply get you to and from the hospital. Of course, you have to survive your diagnosis by at least 30 days to get your CI benefit. (If you don’t the policy refunds all the premiums paid.) You could use the money to hire a nanny or a housekeeper. You could use it to provide special equipment or modify your home. There are no limits. As long as you’re diagnosed with a covered condition, you’re in the money.
I often recommend people who don’t qualify for disability insurance look into CI as an option. Since there’s an income requirement for disability insurance that doesn’t exist for CI, it’s a good option for those who choose to stay home with the kids.
As with life insurance, CI premiums are based on the amount of coverage you’re buying. Choose the amount you wished to be covered for, which can range from about $25,000 to the millions. Then provide medical evidence of your good health. (Be warned: a strong emphasis is placed on your family’s health history and a tendency toward a heredity disease such as cancer could result in its omission from your coverage.) The insurer will asses that info along with your age, your gender and whether or not you smoke to figure out your annual premium.
If you think CI is too expensive and you’d rather have the money for your savings account, keep in mind that a unique option available with CI policies is the Return of Premium when the policy expires. Usually expiry happens at age 65 or 75, depending on your policy. If you haven’t had a claim (in which case you would have been very glad to have the policy), the insurance company will refund the full amount of the premiums you paid. This is sometimes referred to as the “no regrets” clause.
If you can’t get disability insurance, or the premiums are just too high to be affordable, consider a CI policy to provide you with some protection against a future health crisis. Remember, however, that your CI policy only covers the conditions listed in the policy. If you develop a serious health condition not covered, you won’t be eligible for a payout.
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Casssie Howard of MrsJanuary.com has written a new e-book called Money In Your Pocket, which focuses on saving money on your grocery bills. I’ve had a look at her book and liked what I saw. Cassie is giving away copies of her ebook to five lucky people here. I’ll be awarding one copy a day this week. To enter answer the question of the day. Today’s question: What one money lesson do you wish you had learned earlier in your life?
June 27, 2011 at 6:00 am
The money lesson I wish I’d learned earlier in life: Pay yourself first.
June 27, 2011 at 6:20 am
The lesson I wish I’d learned earlier: Budgeting (using the Life Pie)
June 27, 2011 at 6:39 am
I wish I had learned earlier on not to wait until “x” to start living within my means (x could be finishing school, getting a better job, etc).
June 27, 2011 at 6:47 am
i wish i had of learned that delayed gratification is often the most ‘gratifying’ thing! Meaning, saving up for something and having the money, cash, to buy a big ticket item feels SO good, much better than ‘buy now, pay later’.
June 27, 2011 at 6:50 am
I wish I had saved more during high school. I bought a lot of crap and paid bills when I was in high school, and although I didn’t make a lot, I certainly could have saved more.
I also wish I had budgeted more during university. I only came out with student loan debt, but I was a little more free with my money then (given I had $9000 in loans, plus summer earnings). I was able to prioritize debt repayment once I graduated (as I made cuts to other areas in life), to get the loan paid off, but now I’m struggling with all the saving required for the “next steps” (wedding & honeymoon next year, house downpayment [2015?], emergency, retirement).
June 27, 2011 at 6:55 am
Oh, and given the subject of the post, I also wish I had obtained insurance before health problems arose. Now I’m ineligible for anything that could arise as a result of my condition, but it’s unknown as to what all I can expect to experience, aside from the vision loss since the condition is considered rare and more funding is required for research! If only I had gotten insurance BEFORE 25.
June 27, 2011 at 6:56 am
I wish I’d learned about investing at 16 when I got my first job.
June 27, 2011 at 6:56 am
I wish I had learned to ” not spend more than I earned.”. Of course knowing how to budget what I do earn plays a big role as well.
June 27, 2011 at 6:57 am
Money lesson I wish I had learned earlier: that it doesn’t matter how much money you make, it’s how much you save that will help make your financial future a little brighter
June 27, 2011 at 6:58 am
The lesson I wish I had learned at a very young age: budget becasue life has an infintie number of ways to use money, but money is finite.
June 27, 2011 at 6:59 am
The one money lesson that I wish I learned when I was younger (and something I always tell my students) is that the money you earn from a p/t job as a student is not all disposable income. Sure, blowing a pay check on clothes, eating out and going out seems like fun at the time…but you should be saving for University so you are not paying student loans four years after graduating. Paying student loans + other adult things = no shopping for clothes
On that note: Only 4 more months of OSAP payments and I am free!!! Thank you summer school employment!
June 27, 2011 at 7:00 am
I wish I had learned how to save earlier in life. My parents had no savings whatsoever, and that skill was never taught to me by them. The school of hard knocks taught me that you must have something set aside for bad circumstances you haven’t even thought of yet.
June 27, 2011 at 7:14 am
The money lesson I wish I had learned is to not get burdened with credit.
Oh the stupid things that I have put on credit cards and it is so hard to pay it off!!
So NOT worth it.
June 27, 2011 at 7:15 am
I wish I had listened to my “gut” when making a huge finanical mistake which we are still paying for today – with any luck we will be debt free in 5 years. I was raised by frugal parents and lifestyle which we adhered to until we received an inheritance and did not act wisely upon it. Always always listen to the gut!
June 27, 2011 at 7:44 am
With CI insurance, READ THE POLICY. Not just the fancy brochures the agent hands out. Your agent should be able to get you a sample policy upfront.
Gail said “a heart attack is jut a heart attack’. Not with CI. There are a number of tests available to determine if you have a heart attack, and it’s the tests that decide if you’re able to make a CI claim. Get the wrong test (there’s a number of them) and maybe you don’t get paid because you didn’t take the right test. Again, it’s not the heart attack that causes the claim, it’s the test. And CI covers cancer right? Does it cover hodgkin’s lymphoma? That’s a type of cancer, but don’t assume it’s covered in your CI policy. You’ll have to read the policy.
Gail is bang on in that premiums are like life insurance premiums. CI is available with premiums like 10 year term, 20 year term, and term to 100 as some examples.
One other thing, if you can’t qualify or don’t want to take the medical exam, a couple of companies have no medical exam CI insurance.. The tradeoff is that you’ll have fewer covered conditions.
June 27, 2011 at 7:53 am
There is one money lesson I learned at about age 18 that I wish I had never even heard of! It got me into trouble, and I stayed that way until about 3 years ago, never even stopping to question the validity or wisdom of what I had been taught. We were living with the in-laws, being newly married without a penny to our names, and I had applied for a credit card to “build up my credit rating” so we could qualify for a car loan. I got it in the mail, and was leery of using it, since I had no money in the bank to pay for the thing I wanted to buy. My dear misguided MIL told me, “No silly, you don’t have to have the money NOW, you buy something and then pay a little bit on it every month. The credit card statement tells you how much you have to pay – it’s only $10 or so! That’s how credit cards work!!”
I took that as gospel truth for almost 15 years until I finally realized that’s how credit cards work if I want to support the nice credit card people by paying for my items three times over, be in debt for the rest of my life, stress over how much I owed all the time, and die early of a heart attack when the bills came in every month!
June 27, 2011 at 7:57 am
“Regardless of your gender, know how to handle the finances in case something ever happens to your spouse either by sickness, death or divorce”
I got married young and foolishly let my spouse take care of all the finances. Although I was told this advice by my own mother based on my grandmother’s divorce, I wish I had listened. I was a bit lost when I went through my own divorce 10 years later.
June 27, 2011 at 8:05 am
Wish I had put money in an RRSP when I was 16 and not 35. But no student loans, no credit card debt – it could have been worse!
June 27, 2011 at 8:23 am
The money lesson I wish I had learned earlier in life would be ‘Have an emergency fund’!
I lived overseas for 5 years and boy I wish I had learned that lesson before I went. I was making good money but blowing it all on living it up and then when heart attacks and strokes hit my family and there were emergency trips home (from Australia) the credit cards were quickly maxed out. The message really hit hard when there was yet another emergency, and I couldn’t get any more credit to fly home and didn’t get to see someone I loved before they passed away.
Thankfully I heard about Gail from a friend who loved the show and I’ve absorbed every ounce of advice I can read or watch! I now have a solid emergency fund that I put more into every month and never ever dip into. My secret for never dipping into it is to make sure it is always a perfectly round number, its a mental barrier to breaking in and taking even 20 bucks out.
June 27, 2011 at 8:47 am
The money lesson I wish I had learned earlier is to BUDGET!! No one ever taught me and I certainly got into a mess. Now I know and have an emerg fund which is saving my but right now as I have just lost my job.
June 27, 2011 at 8:48 am
wish i had learned the difference between what i WANT and what i NEED …. just learning now at 45…..
June 27, 2011 at 8:52 am
I wish I had learned about RRSPs, GICs, and other investment plans when I was young. I didn’t catch on until well into my thirties. It was not something my peers discussed, I guess because we didn’t have the knowledge at the time. If I had known I would have started investing fifteen years earlier.
My parents had always believed in living debt free, a lesson I’m glad I learned, but anything saved was just kept in a savings account.
June 27, 2011 at 9:03 am
Good day!
The money lesson I wish I had learned earlier in life is to save at least 10% of my salary for the long term AND the magic of compound interest over tmie. I’m not that “old” now. I am 28 years old, but I got my first job at the age of 13! Just in the summertime selling ice cream cones. Then I worked at age 14 and continued working part-time during high school. I got my first jobs so that I could buy clothes. That was my motivation! My allowance only went so far. But if I had saved even $20 from every paycheck and put it into a savings account, RRSP or investment at my young age I strongly feel I would have at least twice what I have in the bank right now. Once I started working part-time in University I got a job working with Seniors, and it took that experiene for me to realize how important it is to save for the future. I RAN to the bank to open my first RRSP. I didn’t make much working part time as a student, so I started by having $20/week deducted from my bank account automatically and I have increased it gradually ever since.
If only I would have known about the importance of saving and the magic of compounded interest at my young age!
June 27, 2011 at 9:04 am
The money lesson i wished i had learned was how to invest. Unfortunately my parents never taught me because they didn’t know much either.
June 27, 2011 at 9:04 am
BUY NOW PAY LATER..ugghhh.. the first buy now pay later we had we didn’t pay before the expiry date.. YIKES.. you would have thought that we would have learned to stay away from them.. oh no.. we just vowed that we would always pay them off before the expiry date..which we always did..but those payments each month always threw our budget completely out of whack.. 9months earlier when I bought the couch I figured we could easily pay for it each month.. but that was just on paper ..in real life things come up and without a buffer we turned to visa… so while the BNPL was getting paid the visa was creeping up.. or the savings were stalled…
June 27, 2011 at 9:05 am
I wish I would have learned to SAVE MY MONEY for an emergency fund!! I could have easily saved my babysitting money when I was a young teen and then a portion of my paycheck when I was a cashier, so that when I broke my foot and was off work for 2 months (I was 19 and living on my own), it wouldn’t have been such a struggle. Lesson learned!
June 27, 2011 at 9:11 am
In my early twenties I was naïve and thought that the bank’s mutual fund advisers were looking working in my best interest and not just trying to sell me investment products. I now know that picking index funds with the lowest MERs is definitely a better way to invest my hard saved money.
June 27, 2011 at 9:11 am
I wish I had learned earlier about having an emergency fund when I had a mortgage and a family to feed. I had to learn fast when the company I worked for was bought and moved south. The next job had a similar outcome 3 years later, but this time I was slightly more prepared with a small emergency fund put away. Now many years later and many more companies merged, I’ve been able to weather the storms quite well. I’ve also managed to come out further ahead and been quickly employed. As my mother always said “When God closes a door, he opens a window, but you better be prepared for the gust of wind that comes in the window.
June 27, 2011 at 9:14 am
Saving! Saving is the big one I wish I had been taught as a child. If I had had stronger skills in that area I would have been better equipped to put myself through college. Thankfully by chosing to go to college and transfer to university after I managed to keep my student loans down to around ~$15,000, which are thankfully almost paid off! But had I saved from jobs I had as a teen I would not have required much if any loans as I did not go to college until age 21 when I decided upon a career path.
June 27, 2011 at 9:15 am
I wish I could go back in time to tell my younger self this important money lesson – your parents are right, listen to them, pay cash for everything which means you have to save money today so you can get what you need and what you want tomorrow… I like to think my younger self would listen, but I already know the answer – didn’t then, and sadly probably wouldn’t now either (if time travel were possible!)
June 27, 2011 at 9:16 am
Hi All,
The biggest leason I wish I learnt as a kid is the ‘jar system’. Being able to see money physically instead of via a ‘bank booklet’. As a kid I feel this would have helped re-inforced my ability to learn about the basics of money management.
Even though i’m advisor now, something as simple as this is invaluable for children – in fact, I will implement this with my yung’ns when they are old enough to start getting there own money.
Regarding critical illness – critical illness is an amazing product that I feel everyone should have a discussion. As Glen had put it, there are many plans with many definitions out there so please get a speciman contract to review. However, it should be noted that the industry (major insurers) are moving towards standard definitions.
Critical illness provides you protection at a time you need it most – one should focus on the quaility of the contract, not the price of the contract (my experience shows, the ‘cheaper’ the contract the more restricted the defintions).
Critical illness is available for children, and one should also look into that. I can say the best part of my job has been delivering claims to people. But it really hit home 4 months ago when I delivered a claim to a family who’s child became critcially ill. The child was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at 9 years old. Because of the benefits it provide and my experience, as an agent Critical Illness is discussed with everyone of my clients – kid’s included. If a client does not want it – that’s there choice and their right to decline – they will just sign off that they have been informed about it and we can re-visit it down the road if they would like.
Bottom line – read your contract beforehand. Ask for a copy. If you are unsure about some of the definitions, first talk with your agent – then take it to your family Dr. for review.
June 27, 2011 at 9:21 am
Good morning Gail! I wish I had learned about RRSPs and the power of compounding interest when I was first starting out. I’m 33 and wish I had started saving sooner, even if it were just a little bit.
June 27, 2011 at 9:23 am
My money lesson was to pay myself first and save for the planned expenses. I will be expecting my daughter to save most of her pay when she starts working as a teenager and using the same percentages allocated toward transportation, life, food and savings/housing in a category for after university or during. My parent’s taught me nothing and expected me to pay for everything as soon as I started working.
Again get your disability or CI insurance when you are young. Encourage your children since cancer at 21 is not the easiest thing to deal with.
June 27, 2011 at 9:39 am
The one thing I wish I had learned earlier in life is how much even the smallest savings can add up over time, if you started with even just $20 a month in your RRSP when you first start working, you are way ahead of the game, because when you are young you have the best thing on your side – TIME! A little planning for the future can go a long long way.
I read an article a couple of years ago that really put this into perspective for me, can’t remember the numbers exactly but it was amazing how much more money someone would have putting a very reasonable amount away from a young age vs. someone putting a very high amount in only 10 – 15 years later. It made me realize how you really SHOULDN’t wait until you have “enough” money to set some aside for RRSP’s, you will never have “enough” but it can grow to an amazing amount if you give it time, which is something we all have at one point in our life and its sad for people who don’t realize this until its too late.
June 27, 2011 at 9:40 am
I too wish I had learned the jar system when I was a kid. I tried enveloping but it was too complicated for me and my DH at the time. The jars make it very straightforward and visual so all in the family know if there is anything left in them to spend.
Second lesson, to save for an emergency fund and planned spending. We are watching our fund grow now, but it could have been useful many times over if we had had it in place.
These are things we are teaching our kids now as well as how to save for a goal.
June 27, 2011 at 9:43 am
This may sound odd, but I wish I’d learned earlier on life to live within my means. I great up with a wealthy family, but am now independent and decidedly not wealthy. It took quite a while for me to learn that spending beyond my means and having my dad swoop in to pay my debts was not Independence.
June 27, 2011 at 9:43 am
I wish I’d learned that’s it not what you earn but what you keep.
And that buying a pretty girl pretty things to keep her gets old never works.
June 27, 2011 at 9:44 am
The one money lesson that I wish I had learned early in life – be more selective in who you take financial advise from. I love my family – but they were not the right people to seek out advise from regarding money.
June 27, 2011 at 9:46 am
I wish I’d learmed earlier:
1) that I’m the captain of my own money ship, and that I’m the one who cares the most about my finances, and
2)that it’s fine to work with a financial advisor but even then track, for yourself, what’s happening. I believe in the adage, “Trust, but verify,” and
3) to educate myself about my investments so that I could judge for myself whether or not an investment is in my best interest.
I also wish that I’d been conscious about money and money-related values earlier in life so that I could have made informed decisions. I may then have decided to stop my 15-year pack-a-day cigarette habit much earlier. I’ve done the math and I’ve learned.
June 27, 2011 at 9:50 am
I wish I had learned at an earlier age about the importance of communicating with my partner about finances. We are in a much better place now, but we could have made more progress while we were younger if we were working as a team rather than working against each other.
June 27, 2011 at 9:53 am
I wish I had known that sometimes taking out a loan is a good idea.
I wish I had taken out student loans when I was 18 and started my studies to be and engineer then. Instead I worked minimum wage jobes until I was 25 then started university. So now I feel like I’m last in the race, I have no assets and little savings.
June 27, 2011 at 9:56 am
I wish I had learned about investing a decade earlier along with the power of compounding interest. As a 40-year-old, I sort of see my thirties as a lost decade where I didn’t take full advantage of my savings. Fortunately, my wife and I are frugal by nature so saving hasn’t been the problem – growing our nest egg has been our issue.
June 27, 2011 at 9:57 am
Everything surrounding compound interest and debt – how to calculate compound interest, how out of control things can get and how compounded debt can quickly eat up any savings you may have.
In my late teens I was a great saver. I made little line graphs including milestone amounts with different colour pencils on graph paper . I was also well organized. I kept my receipts stapled to my paid bills which were in shoeboxes all lined up and labelled SEARS etc. Kept all my paystubs in order. I knew exactly what was going out and what was coming in.
Then I went to University and expenses got out of hand. I worked part-time through University. I got another credit card and began carrying balances. I had a car that my dad called a lemon. So I was stressed with school, paying for my textbooks every year, paying for my car which kept breaking down and my bills – totally lost track and did NOT understand compound interest. My savings were sapped and I was in debt all through University.
I did the pay credit with credit thing by getting more cards. I shopped because I was depressed and I eventually ended up with $19K in debt with not really understanding how I got there. Soon my payments became a drop in the bucket (and knew it = more shame) and I ended up only being able to meet the minimum payment thanks to compound interest. I know what Debt Hell is and I don’t want to go back.
Today things are not perfect but much better. I understand compound interested and now I know how it can actually work in your favour with savings instead of debt.
June 27, 2011 at 10:04 am
I wish I had learned earlier that having “stuff” does not equal happiness, but getting the stuff when you can’t really afford it, creates worry and stress that are unneccessary for the fleeting joy of the “stuff” and can really dent your happiness in all areas of your life.
June 27, 2011 at 10:17 am
I wish I’d have learned that money doesn’t grow on trees so you stop spending when the money runs out. Man, am I learning that lesson now. My parents just kept shopping and when the money ran out they spent on credit.
June 27, 2011 at 10:20 am
The one money lesson I wish I had learned earlier in life is to budget my money. Without a budget I found myself going into overdraft, living off a line of credit and living pay cheque to pay cheque.
June 27, 2011 at 10:23 am
I wish I had learned about benefits of investing at young age and compound interest
June 27, 2011 at 10:24 am
I wish I had learned to save money and set up an emergency fund when I got my first job.
June 27, 2011 at 10:26 am
I wish that I would have learned that I usually regret an impulse buy a lot sooner than I have. The item will still be there tomorrow…do I still need it?
June 27, 2011 at 10:29 am
I wish I hadn’t believed that a line of credit is okay for an emergency fund – thereby allowing me not to save for eventual crisis. I am learning that now but unfortunately still have to pay off my previous emergencies (and some wants that I classified as an emergency!)
June 27, 2011 at 10:31 am
My lesson would have been that use credit in emergencies situations only, and save save save!
June 27, 2011 at 10:32 am
I do regret my earlier emphasis on obtaining great ’stuff’. I had it all – a great life, a good income, a spouse that was into stuff even more than I was ( if that was even possible). After a nasty divorce, I woke up and realized that my children and our emotional health was worth for more than anything I had or wanted. I am re-learning patience, simple pleasures and frugality.
Gail, a heartfelt thanks for your work!
June 27, 2011 at 10:32 am
I wish I had learned how much of a difference it makes if you invest at a young age instead of waiting for the “right time”, like a good job, done school, etc
June 27, 2011 at 10:34 am
I wish I had started an RRSP plan earlier in life. Had I put aside even a portion of the
money I blew on what Gail would call CRAP, I would be able to retire today at the age of 50. Oh well, live and learn.
The good thing is that my son (25) has benefited from the mistakes I’ve made. His financial house in order – RRSP set up – presently looking to buy a house – 20% saved for down payment.
June 27, 2011 at 10:44 am
I wish i had learned how to use MY OWN CASH wisely and not get stuck using credit cards to pay for things, only to be left with trying to pay off large amounts of consumer debt.
June 27, 2011 at 10:47 am
My mom wasn’t a saver, if you had money it was disposable income right than and there, so now I’m teaching my children to save (got the Moon Jar for them for easter) and they really enjoy saving. Yesterday my daughters tooth fell out, so she got $2 for her tooth, she wanted to put it in a jar instead of buying something….I’m so happy that she’s understanding saving before spending! So I guess it would be putting your future first (SAVE) is what I wished I did when I was younger. I guess in order to save you need a Budget (plan) so that too
June 27, 2011 at 10:47 am
The “save at least 10%” rule … before I was a home owner, I had little concept of what “life” really costs. Instead, I overspent on all the little things.
Thank goodness for the budget binder these days and the rule of save ’til you can pay for it in cash (including vacations – thanks for this tip – I just returned from vacay guilt-free!)
June 27, 2011 at 10:54 am
I wish I had learned to save. My parents said “If you want it go buy it yourself” Which resulted in my working hard to earn money and buy things, but never save any of it of that money! Now that I save around 20% a paycheck right now, my savings is growing by leaps and bounds.
June 27, 2011 at 10:58 am
i wish someone had taught me to save money. i worked for a full decade without putting a single cent away. everything i bought was on credit, which was explained to me as the magical card that you used to buy things you didn’t yet have the money for and pay off each month all the while building a great credit score. even when i went in to speak to a mortgage broker he told me i didn’t need to bother saving for a down payment (when zero down was still an option). luckily i found gail in the nick of time, but i had already blown so much money and i hadn’t been paying rent for most of that time. the very thought of how much i could have had saved up makes me wish i had known then what i know now.
June 27, 2011 at 11:02 am
I wish I had learned who to take advice from… I also wish I had chosen my own financial adviser, and not let my parents choose. 10 years later, and I’m still having trouble sorting out the bad investments!
June 27, 2011 at 11:32 am
I wished I had learned to pay attention to where my money was going when I was younger. When I think of all the money I spent through my early twenties on “stuff” I definitely regret it!
June 27, 2011 at 11:41 am
Divide my earnings up. Savings, retirement, expenses, spending. I am so doing that now. Life is much better now.
June 27, 2011 at 11:43 am
I wish I learned to continue living like a student after I was done university.
June 27, 2011 at 11:58 am
Hi Gail!
One money lesson I wish I had learned early in life is the difference between a need and a want. There are so many times where I have blown $ on a want only to look back later and think “why did I buy this?” I often times hear myself saying “I need….” Eg. We need a new couch, I need some new pants…. Whenever I catch myself saying something like this I question the NEED… Is it really a need? Or a want? I wish I had learned this earlier in life because a lot of $ has been wasted on things that I didn’t need.
Thanks Gail! I love your show and I read your blog everyday. You have helped millions, including myself take a deeper look at their finances! Thanks for all of your advice!
Carol
June 27, 2011 at 12:15 pm
My money lesson? Avoid the “lifestyle inflation” that occurred when I went from a mim. wage job to a salaried position with benefits position at the age of 18! The improved living situation was nice to have though, but I could have still managed without a vehicle until i had saved up the cash insteasd of getting a car loan. ( a never-ending car loan, it seemed). When i was 17 i paid $600 cash for a used mazda that unfortunately didn’t last…at that time i was pretty good with my $ because I had to be, if i didn’t have the cash i couldn’t buy anything, credit was not an option!
June 27, 2011 at 12:18 pm
I wish I had learned to live on a budget! I’m spending my 30’s paying for my 20’s! But man, I had a good run during my 20’s!
June 27, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Wished I learned to save in order to pay for things first instead of buying then paying. I wish I learned that I don’t need excess amount of “things”. And I wished I listened to my parents more when they told me that just because people have a nice house/car/or whatever I envied, that it might not be paid for.
June 27, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I was 24 when my insurance advisor highly recommended CII. I purchased the policy, and within three months my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and my mother developed some scary health problems. Tell your kids to sign up for life insurance and CII as young as they can afford it; it’s cheaper and they’re less likely to be rated (made to pay higher premiums) or declined due to the fact that their parents are younger and may not have been diagnosed with something that can be a red flag. I pay an extra 20% because my mother had a stroke at 35, for example.
June 27, 2011 at 12:54 pm
The two things that have helped me the most, and I wish I had started earlier, are to plan for retirement as soon as you have income and to plan how to use your money before it’s even in your pocket.
June 27, 2011 at 12:55 pm
I wish I could have helped my friends more with learning the tougher things of being on their own, like budgetting and saving, so that they would not be in the predicaments that they are not in. I realize I have to look out for number one (me), but it becomes very tiring seeing them repeat their mistakes over and over. I wish I could have showed them more and have them listen when we were younger.
June 27, 2011 at 1:04 pm
I wish I’d learned to trust myself more with money earlier on. I had myself convinced that there was too much information, that I would never be able to figure it out, and that ‘Professionals’ should handle my money decisions. Over time, I’ve learned to trust in my own ability to learn what I needy, and I’ve learned not to overcomplicate things. I’ve also learned to take ownership of my actions: I research and ask questions, but I’ve learned to set a deadline to ACT on those decisions. I don’t worry so much about not doing the perfect thing (choosing the best account, credit card, investment, etc). I do what I think is best at the moment, and then revaluate as I learn more.
I wish I’d known that it’s just money – that is, money is important, but it’s fundamentally a tool that I can use to have a fulfilling life or a desperate one. Money isn’t a good in itself; it’s what allows me to have a good life, but the look of that life is up to me.
June 27, 2011 at 1:17 pm
I wish that I had put some money away when I was 20 and let it compound instead of playing catch-up in RSP’s now in my mid-50’s. Back then we had a new baby and we were saving for a house, so even $10 seemed like a lot of money – when I think now what it could have added up to in 30 years, as they say – hindsight is 20/20.
I also wish that I had learned a lot more about the difference between wants and needs – still working on that one every day.
June 27, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I wish I had learned the automatic withdrawal/pmt lesson. I use it tons now but sooner would have been better for saving for RRSP’s, RESP, & just plain saving.
June 27, 2011 at 1:41 pm
The lesson I wish I’d learned earlier: even young women can make investments…
June 27, 2011 at 1:44 pm
I wish I would have learned to budget earlier. Now that I have started to budget, I couldn’t see myself not in the future and I have a better idea at where my money is going.
June 27, 2011 at 2:05 pm
The lesson I wish I’d learned earlier… just because you pretend you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Pretending you don’t have money problems won’t make them go away, so arm yourself with the knowledge necessary to prepare yourself for when ‘life happens’.
June 27, 2011 at 2:13 pm
I’ll provide a contrarian post here – here’s a lesson I learned early enough to avoid any foolish financial mistakes. I learned not to invest in hot stocks or even individual picks.
Many years ago I dumped <$1000 into an online grocery retailer. I knew it was foolish, but it was an actual company with deliveries. Plus, it was clearly something that was eventually going to take off, I didn't care if it took years. And I limited how much I 'invested'(/gambled) to an amount I was unhappy with but OK with losing if it came to that.
Of course my money started at what I invested and went downhill from there, finally landing at $0. Lesson learned nice and early on, I don't invest in individual stocks ever. Thankfully I learned that before I used my masterful investing techniques on my retirement savings
.
June 27, 2011 at 2:36 pm
The money lesson I wish I had learned earlier: don’t spend more than you make.
June 27, 2011 at 2:47 pm
The money lesson I wish I had learned earlier: don’t wait until “later” to pay down student loans, PAY THEM NOW!
June 27, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Live within your needs but below your means.
June 27, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I wish I’d learned to pay myself first. When my husband and I were first married, we didn’t think we could afford to put 10% away…we were barely making $20,000 a year between us. Too bad we couldn’t see that $2000 a year saved was better than nothing. It would have compounded into a lot by now
June 27, 2011 at 3:25 pm
The money lesson I wish I’d learned earlier in life: Nevermind what he Jone’s have. Be happy with what you have. You don’t know their numbers.
June 27, 2011 at 3:26 pm
I wish I had learned that taking a year after high school to work BEFORE going to university. I not only would have saved more money, but would have had to budget (parents wouldn’t have paid for a thing!) AND explore what careers are out there. I have tons of student debt, and while I’m working my butt off to pay it off as quickly as possible, life would have been much easier if I didn’t have as much in the first place.
June 27, 2011 at 3:39 pm
My biggest regret is letting the wrong people talk me into what to do with a $100,000 windfall – I wish I could have a ‘do-over’
But, live and learn, right? Oh, and save for those ‘emergencies’.
June 27, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I wish I had learned that student loans are not free money. At 18, I really did not understand the value of $9,000+ per year. Student loans seemed inevitable, like an easy way out.
It was only when I was out of school (without a degree… it took me another 5 years to earn myself that by studying part time) and trying to pay them back that I realized…. woah… this is a lot of money!
Had I fully understood the value of that money, what it would take to pay it back and what I would pay in interest, I certainly would have worked more hours at my part time job, moved back home to live with my parents during the summer to save more money and thought twice about nights out partying, buying clothes, shoes, etc, and would have ate out less.
Thankfully, I have learned this lesson now, and hope to pass it on to my children BEFORE they graduate highschool.
June 27, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Starting to save for retirement sooner.
June 27, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Oh yeah, one more thing…
I wish I’d learned earlier to stay with my investment strategy and to keep my emotions out of investing. My advisor figuratively held my hand through the first couple of down-cycles. Otherwise, I’d have done the worst thing; sold low and then bought in high. Contrary to the talking heads, the market will prevail, for better or worse.
June 27, 2011 at 4:34 pm
The one money lesson I wish I had learned earlier was how to prepare for home ownership – more specifically, saving for a down payment for a home. My parents never had a mortgage (my dad inherited the house from his dad), so I grew up not knowing what it was to have a monthly bill towards having a roof over your head… and while my folks did their best in raising us to be money-savvy, I realized only too late that a down payment for my first home should have been 20%, to avoid the extra costs from the bank.
Lesson learned!
June 27, 2011 at 4:53 pm
For the first time at age 50′ish I availed myself of one of those “zero interest for 4 months” cheques that came with one of my credit cards to cover some Christmas expenses. For 30′ish years I have religiously paid off my credit card balance every month until this point in my life, but I figured why not get this 0% loan for 4 months.
What a mistake!! It was great at the time but when the balance came due it was another story. I am thankful that my wife and I are good savers so we had the cash to pay off the balance, otherwise, interest (at 19.9%) would have been charged on the several thousand dollar amount starting from the date the cheque was written.
Never again!
June 27, 2011 at 5:26 pm
I wish I had learned to live within my means.
June 27, 2011 at 5:29 pm
The money lesson I wished I had learned was that having a budget does not mean deprivation. That would have been a useful one to understand.
Knowing more now than before, I will be better able to pass on that kind of information to my kids. At the very least, money won’t be a taboo subject in our house!
June 27, 2011 at 5:36 pm
I love love love MrsJanuary.com
I consider myself a passive couponer (or is that lazy?). MrsJanuary.com does all the work for me and all I do is check out her site once a day and she tells me how to get the good coupons and the good deals. I’ve saved a lot of money from her site! Grocery store cashiers ask me where I’m getting my coupons for “free” items and I refer them to Cassie’s site.
The lesson I wish I had learned: ‘IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL’. I’m not an extravagant spender, but rather, I tend to let opportunities pass by because I don’t feel comfortable in taking an active approach to my finances, ie. “growing” my money.
June 27, 2011 at 6:17 pm
The lesson I wish I had learned earlier was that a very expensive, long-term post secondary education isn’t necessarily a great investment. Had I entered a different field without the need for multiple degrees I would likely have made similar money and not had all the student loan debt. Post-secondary education is great, and I’m definately socking away money into my kids RESP but there does need to be a reasonable limit. I love my job, but the things I love about it, I could have found in a different line of work that would not have entailed incurring so much debt.
June 27, 2011 at 6:42 pm
The money lesson I wish I’d learned earlier in life was that it is OKAY to borrow money to spend on a good education. I was too scared at 18 to get into the debt it would have taken to get into the career I wanted (doctor) … but I didn’t realise education is good debt as long as you have a good opportunity to find work in your field and will make a good enough salary to justify the expense!!
June 27, 2011 at 6:53 pm
I will I had been more curious about money when I was younger. My parents never discussed it with me and I never asked about saving, bills and mortgages. I taught myself and made a lot of mistakes (student line of credit) and missed a lot of opportunities (worked part-time since I was 14 and never saved a penny of it). My daughter WILL know more than I did.
June 27, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Sorry – “I wish I had been…”
June 27, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I wish I had learned to budget more. And the difference between wants and needs.
June 27, 2011 at 8:41 pm
The money lesson I wish I’d learned earlier in life: Get a credit card earlier in life (and use it smartly) to establish a good credit score.
June 27, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Hi Gail,
I wish I learned not to sign up for every credit card they offered in college. Having those cards made such a huge impact on my credit score. And at a young age once I got a job after graduation, it was awful paying off the debt from my education…. , and from 5 different credit cards.
June 27, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Critical Care Insurance is a joke… Many couples get sucked into this scam.. My husband and I were just one of those couples. What we were made to understand about this insurance is that is you suffer a heart attack(for example) then house is paid off automatically through this type of insurance.
Do not let yourself be fooled…
My husband suffered a heart attack in 2006 at the age of 50, and this insurance did not pay out… Upon speaking to TD Bank, I was informed of the following… because my husband suffered no damage to the heart muscle itself, then they don’t pay…. also if you have what they determine is a pre-existing condition ie: high blood pressure, then they consider that a contributing factor for a heart attack..
Many people are sucked into this insurance… what the banking agents at your branch do not tell you, is that, they get a bonus at the end of the year for the persons that they do sign up..
We have been long time customers of the TD Bank, and were totally shocked at how this game works… so very sad…
The CBC television show “Marketplace” investigated “Critical Care Insurance.
I suggest to all to check it out..
cbc.ca/marketplace/2008/02/06/in_denial