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BUSS FINANCIAL GROUP

Products

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Insurance Solutions

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Investment Solutions

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Mortgage / Lines of Credit

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Travel Insurance

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Group Benefit Plans

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Group Retirement Savings

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Individual Health Plans

LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED BY BUSS FINANCIAL GROUP AND MAY BE PROVIDED BY STANDARD LIFE, MANULIFE INSURANCE, DESJARDINS INSURANCE, GREAT WEST LIFE, CANADA LIFE. LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH DESJARDINS FINANCIAL SECURITY INVESTMENTS INC. (DFS INVESTMENTS) NOR ARE THE INSURANCE PLANS OR SERVICES AVAILABLE AND/OR OFFERED SUPERVISED OR REVIEWED BY DFS INVESTMENTS.

Here are just some of Buss Financial Group’s key partners for providing our clients with the best product solutions available:

Insurance Solutions


Critical Illness Insurance

Many of us are planners; organizers; multi-taskers. How else would we get everything done in a day that needs to get done? But are you prepared for life’s unexpected and sometimes devastating challenges? Do you have a plan to deal with the physical and emotional burdens of a critical illness for yourself or another family member?

Critical illness insurance provides a lump-sum payment should you become seriously ill. The payment can be used for anything you choose including care of dependents, income replacement or medical expenses that aren’t covered under your medical plan. Payments can also vary according to the degree of severity of, or conditions associated with, an illness or disease.

Disability Insurance

You may create a business plan faster than a speeding bullet, or plow through an agenda at the speed of light, but you know that even Superman isn’t invincible. Accidents happen and people get hurt. Wouldn’t you like to know that while you’re recovering, your world will be taken care of? Disability insurance will supplement your income in the event of an illness or accident resulting in a disability that prevents you from working at your regular job. Disability benefits are usually provided on a monthly basis so that you can maintain your standard of living and continue to pay your regular expenses.

Life Insurance

No matter how self-sufficient you are, sometimes you just need help. So, you hire a housekeeper or an assistant, but what do you do when it comes to your estate? When these extra needs arise, how do you make sure you’re covered?

Term Life Insurance provides you with protection for a specified period of time, the premium is level and guaranteed for a set term (like 10 or 20 years). It is meant to cover a temporary need. The premium goes up at the end of the term.

With Permanent Life Insurance/level premium life insurance, your premium remains the same from year to year, the policy lasts for the life of the insured, the payout benefit is assured at the end of the policy (assuming the policy is kept current) and the policy accrues cash value.

Universal Life insurance is another type of permanent insurance has an investment element which provides your family or business with a tax sheltered advantage as well as insurance if you need it. The tax sheltered reserve can be used to increase your retirement income, fund your children’s education, provide an emergency reserve, a disability benefit or as an alternative tax shelter.

Long Term Care Insurance

Long Term Care insurance pays a tax free monthly benefit if you lose your independence due to physical or mental limitations following an illness or accident. You can use the benefit for whatever you need including access to a better long term care facility or to hire an independent care provider.

Travel Insurance

Before you travel out of country or out of province, you will want to make sure that you have emergency medical insurance in place before you go. This will protect you in the event of an unforeseen accident or illness which requires medical attention while you are away. Your provincial health plan limits payments to what they would have paid out if that injury or illness occurred in your province. This payment is typically much less than the cost outside of your province.

Medical Insurance

Health and Dental insurance covers expenses that may not be covered through your provincial health plan. If you do not have a Group Benefit Plan offered through your workplace, these pans can be customized to suite your individual needs.

Investment Solutions


Annuities

When you see your retirement savings as one big balance, it can feel like the sky is the limit. But somehow, before you know it, those coffee dates, minor renovations and lunches out have eaten away a large part of your retirement income. When it comes to retirement, you don’t want to have to worry about running out. You may want to consider a more manageable option.

An annuity is a contract with an insurance company wherein you convert money from an investment plan into a stream of regular income payments, either for your lifetime or the lifetimes of you and your partner. Once you choose to annuitize, the payment schedule and the amount is generally fixed and can’t be altered. By annuitizing, you can convert part or all of the money in a qualified retirement plan or nonqualified annuity contract into a stream of regular income payments.

Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GIC’S)

Sometimes saving for the future can feel like preparing for an apocalypse: you stockpile your resources for a threat that never seems to materialize. You know it’s important to save for your kids’ educations and your retirement but wouldn’t it be nice to get some short-term reward for your hard work?

A Term Deposit (GIC) is a deposit held at a financial institution that has a fixed term and interest rate. These are generally short-term with maturities ranging anywhere from a month to a few years.

Life Income Funds (LIF)

You may be wondering what happens to your locked in RRSP when you turn 71. The Life Income Fund (LIF) is used for retirees to transfer a locked-in RRSP to an income vehicle. A LIF will have more flexibility in retirement and tax planning than a traditional annuity. Locked-in registered pension plans are not eligible for conversion to a RRIF, but they can be transferred to a LIF. An LIF is essentially a RRIF with both a minimum and maximum annual withdrawal requirement. The minimum amount is set by the RRIF withdrawal rules under the Income Tax Act, and the maximums are a matter of provincial legislation. Any funds remaining in a LIF must be used to purchase an annuity not later than the year one reaches age 80. Payments from an LIF generally cannot begin earlier than 10 years before one reaches normal retirement age as defined under the Canada and Quebec Pension Plan, which is age 65.

Mutual Funds

Our partner, Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc., which is a mutual fund dealer, gives you access to a wide variety of mutual funds from many of the top mutual fund management companies in Canada.

Mutual funds can be held in open or registered plans such as a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) or Tax-free Savings Account (TFSA).

Mutual funds give smaller investors access to professionally managed, diversified portfolios that may include equities, bonds and other securities. There are many different types of mutual funds available that range in risk and volatility. Because they are professionally managed, you don’t have to spend your time watching the markets.

DFS INVESTMENTS IS A MUTUAL DEALER REGISTERED IN EVERY CANADIAN PROVINCE AND TERRITORY AND AN EXEMPT MARKET DEALER REGISTERED IN ALL PROVINCES, EXCEPT MANITOBA. IT IS ALSO REGISTERED IN EVERY CANADIAN PROVINCE AND TERRITORY FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSURANCE PRODUCTS. DFS INVESTMENTS’ ADVISORS MAY BE QUALIFIED TO PROVIDE ADVICE ON MUTUAL FUNDS, EXEMPT MARKET PRODUCTS AND OTHER INVESTMENTS PRODUCTS, AMONG OTHER THINGS. IN QUÉBEC, DFS INVESTMENTS IS ALSO REGISTERED AS A RESTRICTED DEALER, A GROUP INSURANCE OF PERSONS AND A FINANCIAL PLANNING FIRM. UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, INVESTMENTS IN PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTED BY DFS INVESTMENTS ARE NOT INSURED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, BY THE CANADA DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION OR BY ANOTHER PUBLIC DEPOSIT INSURANCE FUND, AS THE CASE MAY BE, NOR ARE THEY GUARANTEED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, BY DESJARDINS INSURANCE¹, AND THEIR VALUE IS SUBJECT TO MARKET FLUCTUATIONS. ¹DESJARDINS INSURANCE REFERS TO DESJARDINS FINANCIAL SECURITY LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, A PROVIDER OF LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE AND RETIREMENT SAVINGS PRODUCTS.
Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP)

You only want the best for your kids. From music lessons to math tutors, you never want them to miss an opportunity. But with the rising cost of tuition and living expenses, you may be doubting whether post-secondary education will be a viable option. Why not start saving now to ensure they have every possible chance to succeed in life?

A Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a government-registered savings plan that helps you to save for a child’s post-secondary education costs. Your savings grows tax free until withdrawn. When the student withdraws the investment income and grants for educational purposes, the withdrawals are taxes in the student’s hands, typically at a lower tax rate.

Helping your savings grow – To encourage savings for higher education, the Government of Canada offers grants to a child’s RESP – which is even more money to grow!

  1. Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) – The basic CESG will top up your annual contribution by 20%, up to $500 per child each year to a lifetime limit of $7,200. Additional CESG grants may be available, depending on your income.
  2. Canada Learning Bond (CLB) – This grant is available to children born on or after January 1, 2004, whose families are eligible to receive the National Child Benefit Supplement. The CLB can add up to $2,000 to your RESP per child.

 

More ways to save!

One way to save for your child’s education is to use your Universal Child Care Benefit. On January 1, 2015 the UCCB was expanded. Children between 0-5 receive up to $160 monthly and children age 6-17 receive up to $60 a month.

How it works: If you had a family income of $60,000 and were to contribute your full UCCB payments from age 0 to 17 that would be a total of $20,160 + up to $4,032 in CESG grants = $24,192 per child of government money that could be invested in your child’s future. Imagine the growth on that!

 

More Questions? Ask one of our Advisors.

$4,032 is calculated on the assumption that the RESP is eligible for the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG). The CESG will top up annual RESP contributions by 20% on the first $2,500 in contributions (up to $500 per child each year, to a lifetime limit of $7,200, per child). ³$50,000 per child is the lifetime contribution limit.

Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIF)

A Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) is a retirement vehicle that pays out income to a beneficiary to fund their retirement. The money usually originates in an individual’s RRSP and then rolls over into a RRIF without any tax penalty.

The roll over must occur by December of the year the retiree turns 71. RRIF payouts are considered normal income and are taxed by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) in the year received. With a RRIF the minimum yearly income is set by the CRA. There is no maximum yearly income set and the individual can choose the income.

Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)

Your life is a flurry of activity. You work hard at your career, you save for the kids’ educations, and try to put aside a little for your future too. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that when it’s time to wind down, you will have enough retirement savings to maintain your current lifestyle?

Take advantage of the benefits of a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) where contributions are tax deductible and taxes are deferred until the money is withdrawn at retirement when your income tax bracket is lower. An RRSP can contain securities, mutual funds, segregated funds and term deposits. An RRSP also has a direct beneficiary and will bypass probate.

Segregated Funds

As you watch your bills climb and markets rise and fall, you cannot help but compare the stock market to a game of Russian roulette. Let’s face it: you’re not willing to leave your investments to chance. There is a way to secure the value of your investments, taking only the good and leaving the bad.

Segregated funds protect you from market jitters. They offer a combination of growth potential and protection with built-in guarantees, which means you can invest confidently knowing that your exposure to market downturns is limited. Like a mutual fund, a segregated fund is a collection of stocks, bonds and other investments but they provide additional features and benefits not available with mutual funds.

Segregated funds are often used in estate planning because they bypass probate and go directly to the beneficiary similar to a life insurance policy.

Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)

For all of your bargain hunting, and coupon-clipping, do you feel like the cash you’re able to save still seems to disappear come tax time? Typically investment income is taxable but with a TFSA you can keep your hard earned money and the interest – tax free! Contributions to a TFSA will not be deductible for income tax purposes but any investment income, including capital gains, earned in a TFSA will not be taxed, even when withdrawn.

You can contribute up to $10,000 per year. But don’t worry, if you don’t have the money this year the contribution room will be carried forward to future years so if you don’t use it you won’t lose it. You also get the space back if you remove money from the account. Once you turn 18 this is a great tool for financial planning.

Mortgage or Lines of Credit


For most people, buying a house is their single largest purchase. A mortgage might seem like a straightforward concept, but in fact, borrowing money to purchase a home can come in many forms. Traditional mortgages, lines of credit and All-In-One Accounts are three options to consider.

Once you decide on the type of financing best suited to you, then you must choose fixed or variable interest rates, taxes in or out. Consider everything carefully before signing on the dotted line, just like the house, each individual is different and should consider what suits the situation.

Travel Insurance


Travel Insurance is essential for any travel outside of the province today. Contact us and we can check what you’ve got through your group benefits provider and assist you with any top-ups you may need.

  • Emergency Medical Insurance – covers essential benefits like ambulance, emergency dental, physician services, hospital care, etc.
  • Trip Cancellation Insurance – covers non-refundable costs in the event your trip is canceled before your departure. Includes out of pocket expenses for delays, lost or damaged baggage.
  • Trip Interruption Insurance – covers costs incurred if you have to come back home for an emergency.

For information on what is covered with OHIP please click on the following links:

Group Benefit Plans


At Buss Financial Group, it’s our business to protect your business.

 If you own a business, planning for your company’s financial future and taking care of your employees may seem overwhelming and expensive. You may know that having an employee benefit plan or a group retirement plan will help you keep and attract good employees, but perhaps you aren’t sure what is best for your company or if they are affordable.

Tammy Buss has over 30 years’ experience helping businesses and families plan and organize their financial affairs. Her focus on small business has resulted in a portfolio of over 50 Group Benefit and Pension plans. As Owner and President of Buss Financial Group she has personally provided financial advice to over 500 clients in the areas of Life and Critical Illness, Retirement Savings and Estate Planning.

Plan design consulting is critical to the ongoing viability of a Group Benefit Plan. Whether you choose a Traditional or Pooled Benefit Plan, a Health Care Spending Account or a Self-Funded Plan, your group plan will be designed and customized benefit to meet the needs of your company. Our clients range from companies with hundreds of employees to small businesses with one employee.

We are committed to keeping you up-to-date on the latest market and legislation changes so you can make the most informed and cost-effective decisions possible. Coordination with Provincial plans ensure that you are not paying for unnecessary claims.

Annual renewal reviews ensure you are getting the best value at renewal time by evaluating the rates, usage and renewal projections. It’s always our goals to reduce costs without reducing benefits.

Employee Benefit Plans include:

Group Disability Insurance

A single disability policy that covers many people.

Group Life Insurance

A single life insurance policy that covers many people. It is offered by an employer to its employer as part of the benefit package.

Group Health and Dental Plans

These plans offer coverage for medical expenses that aren’t covered under the provincial health plan. Plans are often customized and can include prescription drugs, vision, hospital, paramedical and dental expenses.

Group Retirement Savings


Group retirement savings plans can include Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Deferred Profit Sharing Plans (DPSPs), and Registered Pension Plans (RPP). These types of group plans can help your employees to benefit from a tax-efficient compensation option and ultimately enables them to pay lower investment management fees than they would pay if they were investing on their own.

A Group Retirement Plan can help provide greater financial security for your employees and their families with the added benefit of building morale and enthusiasm.

Group Retirement Savings Solutions can include:

Defined Contribution Plans

A type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts (through employee/employer contributions) plus any investment earnings on the money in the account.

Defined Benefit Plans

A type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified monthly benefit on retirement that is predetermined by a formula based on the employee’s earnings history, length of service and age, rather than investment returns.

Deferred Profit Sharing Plans (DPSP)

A type of pension plan registered with the CRA, where the employer contributes a portion of pre-taxed profits to the employees. Employees can not contribute to the DPSP. The employer’s contribution is considered a tax deductible expense and are not a taxable benefit to the plan member.

Group RRSP

A group RRSP is an employer-sponsored savings plan, similar to an RRSP but administered on a group basis by the employer. Contributions are made by pay-roll deduction, on a pre-tax basis, through a group RRSP administrator.

Group TFSA

A group TFSA is another type of employer-sponsored savings plan, similar to an individual tax free savings plan but administered on a group basis by the employer. Contributions can be set up through pay-roll deduction, through a group administrator.

Individual Health Plans


Individual Health & Dental plans are available for people who may not have coverage through provincial plans or group benefit plans that are offered through your workplace. These plans are available through a variety of insurance carriers and may be customized to suit your individual needs. Please contact us for a quote today.

Craig L.

Everyone at Buss Financial has been exceptionally helpful in organizing our family finances and estate planning. A complete look at the existing situation and thoughtful dialogue to understand future goals helped facilitate a simple and comprehensive financial plan.

Liz M.

If you are new to investing for your future or if you are closer to retirement I highly recommend Buss Financial. It is so nice to deal with a company that cares about not only our investments but in us!! They are friendly, knowledgeable and listen to what your goals are so you can achieve them! Can’t say enough about them. They are awesome!

Karen E.

Tammy and her team give the highest professional investment and money management advice I’ve ever experienced over the years. I wouldn’t have the financial freedom I now have without them. Thank you for all you do Buss Financial Group!

Lori D.

My husband and I recently moved all our investments to Buss Financial. Tyler has been exceptional to work with. He explains investment strategies and answers questions thoroughly, yet in a simple to understand way that is interesting. This business is well organized, electronic signatures are sent in a timely fashion, and updates are communicated clearly and promptly. I am very impressed with my experience with Tyler and the entire team at Buss Financial. I highly recommend their services to anyone looking for professional advice and a relationship with the same people, which you cannot find often in the transient world of investments, where advisors can often change, especially at banks.

Kent U.

Working with Buss Financial Group has been outstanding! They have helped us financially plan for the arrival of our daughter. This has really helped put our minds at ease that finances will not be a stress all the while helping us continue to work toward our other financial goals! We can really thank Buss Financial Group and their staff for the caring support as we continue to plan for our growing family’s future!

Ronald Y.

Buss Financial is a great place for all your financial needs. My wife and I have been going to them for years and always receive an excellent customer experience. The business is built with strong leadership and culture and their team members are amazing. They help us invest, save and plan.