Insurance and Annuities

Capture The Investment Potential Of Insurance

In building a profitable portfolio, smart investors spread their assets over a variety of investments to be able to benefit from the higher returns of equities and the safety of fixed income investments. This makes perfect sense because over the long term diversification has proven to be a prudent approach to successful investing. To their loss, some investors avoid investments that can deliver higher returns because they can't deal with the potential volatility. What they don't realize is that they are forfeiting the opportunity to grow their assets in a bid to protect themselves from possible loss.

One solution to this dilemma of growth versus safety is to incorporate insurance into your financial plans. Insurance policies can enable you to build or maintain your wealth, while limiting risk to your capital. This strategy can work especially well in later years when you need to protect your investments for today – and for your beneficiaries when you're gone.

Get Connected To Insurance Solutions

Life insurance has often been overlooked as a source of investment opportunities. Now, especially with a rapidly growing retirement population, there's increasing awareness that some life insurance offerings are specifically designed with an investment and a life insurance component. In some cases, the investments that can be held have the potential to deliver higher returns than the more popular investment vehicles

These include guaranteed investment annuities (GIA), segregated funds and insured annuities. And with insurance, you also gain the benefit of arranging your affairs and selecting your investments to achieve certain desirable results for your estate on your death.

Let's Talk About The Possibilities

Through our partnerships with strong insurance companies in Canada, we can provide you with access to the possibilities that life insurance can offer. Sorting through all the investment choices available to you can be time consuming and difficult – even more so when they include an insurance component. Your CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor can introduce you to a qualified Estate Planning Specialist (Financial Security Advisor in Quebec). To find out how we can help you, use our Find An AdvisorOpens a new window in your browser. tool to contact a CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor near you.

Safeguard Your Income For Life

Many of us dream of filling our retirement years with leisurely activities, travels around the globe or simply taking the time to enjoy life. Just because you have significant funds and income to pursue your retirement aspirations doesn't mean you're safe from outliving your savings and also reducing the assets you pass on to your loved ones. Enjoyment of your later years could be severely reduced without proper planning.

Investment solutions offered by insurance companies could help you protect your income during your lifetime while providing benefits for your estate. Life insurance policies like a guaranteed investment annuity (GIA) or if you are insurable, an insured annuity, can go a long way to protect your savings during your lifetime and beyond.

Invest For Income With A GIA

An estate-friendly equivalent to a guaranteed investment certificate (GIC) is a guaranteed investment annuity (GIA). With a GIA, you can also purchase a guaranteed rate of return with a corresponding term of maturity. The maturity term is usually one to 10 years, but can extend to 15, 20 or more. GIAs offer many advantages:

  • Choice of income paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually, or compounded
  • Ability to designate a beneficiary under the annuity contract to avoid probate and other costs (probate fees do not apply in the province of Quebec)
  • Creditor protection, providing certain criteria are met

Get The Benefits Of An Insured Annuity

An insured annuity is essentially a life annuity and a term 100 life insurance policy, purchased together. An annuity provides a guaranteed regular income stream, while a term 100 life insurance policy provides a cash payout upon death. The combination of the benefits is ideal for those seeking guaranteed income and the preservation of their capital. Benefits include:

  • Guaranteed, regular lifetime income
  • Preservation of capital
  • Ability to bypass the process and cost of probate and other estate-settlement costs

We only work with the leading companies in the insurance business to be able to bring you the most effective solutions that are right for your needs.

Make The Most Of Your Opportunities

If you're nearing the retirement phase of your life, we can provide the expertise to guide you through the myriad of insurance solutions. Your CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor can introduce you to a qualified Estate Planning Specialist (Financial Security Advisor in Quebec). To find out how we can help you, use our Find An AdvisorOpens a new window in your browser. tool to contact a CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor near you.

Get The Most Out Of Life

You've attained the good life: Earning a good income, accumulating a sizable portfolio, paying off your liabilities and maximizing your RRSP contributions. Along with your financial success comes increased taxes and the worry of protecting your assets today and in the future. Without proper preparation, the good life you've worked so hard to create could be short-lived.

One solution to decrease the likelihood of this happening is life insurance When many people think of life insurance, they only consider its ability to protect against the unexpected. While this is true, life insurance is a powerful financial tool that can also do double duty as an effective investment vehicle. And it can safeguard your wealth as well as potentially minimizing your taxes.

Protect And Grow Your Assets

Some types of insurance are strictly geared to protecting your assets. However, universal life insurance goes beyond that to offer a savings component along with life insurance and can also be useful for estate planning. Universal life insurance combines permanent life insurance with tax-advantaged investment options in one policy. You can benefit from considerable choice and flexibility in investment selection, premium amount, and death-benefit options. Other advantages include:

  • Tax-sheltered investing and tax-free payout to the beneficiary
  • Investment has the potential to fund the cost of the premium
  • Relatively unrestricted switching of investment options
  • Investments may be withdrawn (subject to taxes) before the death of the policy holder

Let's Work Together

Not all universal life policies are created equal. We partner with all the top insurance companies in Canada to be able to bring you a wide breadth of policies. We can provide the expertise to help you design a universal life policy that is optimally suited to your lifestyle. Your CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor can introduce you to a qualified Estate Planning Specialist (Financial Security Advisor in Quebec). To find out how we can help you, use our Find An AdvisorOpens a new window in your browser. tool to contact a CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor near you.

A Way To Build Wealth And Limit Risk

If you're looking for a unique investment opportunity that combines potential for growth with peace of mind, segregated funds could work for you. Segregated funds are professionally managed investment funds that give investors the opportunity to build wealth while minimizing their risk. Though similar in many respects to mutual funds, segregated funds offer investors some distinct benefits.

The Potential To Secure Your Gains

In addition to the strong opportunity for growth offered by equity mutual funds, segregated funds provide potential protection against downturns in the stock market on maturity or the death of their owner. This is possible because they offer a reset feature that enable you to lock in your gains. By combining the protective benefits of an insurance contract with the investment performance potential of mutual funds, segregated funds can be an effective strategy for long-term investing.

As an investor, you benefit from the ability to:

  • Protect your principal by locking in gains
  • Avoid probate fees (do not apply in Quebec) by naming a beneficiary if you are the named owner
  • Potentially protect your assets from creditors

Take Control Of Your Portfolio

Leading mutual fund companies and institutional investment managers have joined forces with insurance companies to provide investors with the flexibility to build a highly diversified portfolio by offering segregated funds. Much like with mutual funds, professional money managers make investment decisions based on the objectives and the management style of the fund. However, you maintain control through the ability to allocate your investment over the major fund categories and to change the asset mix of your funds.

We Can Help

We can offer you a broad range of segregated funds issued by Canada's top insurance companies. Your CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor will help you determine if segregated funds are a suitable investment vehicle to assist you in meeting your investment goals and objectives. To find out how we can help you, use our Find An AdvisorOpens a new window in your browser. tool to contact a CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisor near you.