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Canadian Group Insurance
Group
Insurance Plans
With the TFG Global Insurance
Solutions Ltd. large
block of employee benefit clients and experience, we are well
positioned to let you take advantage of both the best rates and
options available for your employee benefit plans. We act as
independent brokers to advise and assist in the implementation and
review of benefit plans with special attention to communication and
service. We offer group insurance plans for companies from 2 to 400
employees.
In order to provide quotations from the
marketplace, we need the EMPLOYEE CENSUS
sheet filled-in and faxed or emailed to our office. It contains
information such as
- Industry and Business Name;
- Employee Names or Initials;
- Sex;
- Dependent or Single or Covered by
Spouse;
- Occupations;
- Income;
- Location;
- Hire Date if possible;
If you have a plan already, please also
fax or email or post:
- Claims experience for health, dental
and short term disability and a copy of you last renewal or billing
statement if your company has a plan already.
If your company is already covered by a
group or pension plan, please send a copy of the last two renewals if
possible,
especially the health, dental and short term disability experience
versus premiums paid. A copy of your current benefit is also needed.
All information is kept in strictest
confidence. TFG Global will then call to review your benefit needs and
then report back to you with a proposal.
After implementation and an employee
seminar, we keep you abreast of emerging trends and review your plan
every year to make sure it fits your current needs in addition to
regular contact.
Benefit plans are an excellent way to
reward and keep employees, especially since most of the benefits are
tax free for the employees. Since we am compensated by the respective
insurance company, there are no charges for our initial or ongoing
services
Interested in a quote, use our
CONTACT page and email or fax us the
Employee Census form in MS Word.
Fax and email address at Contact page.
Group Pension Plans
In addition to group insurance, the
TFG Global Insurance Solutions Ltd. brokers Group Pension and RRSP
plans to numerous employers. Employees and employers alike know that
they can’t rely on government programs such as CPP. Many more
companies are choosing Group RRSPs over Pension Plans (Defined
Contribution) as a way to foster retirement planning for their
employees. Which is better depends on your company goals and
preferences.
A Group RRSP is simply a collection of
individual RRSPs that are administered via an employer for the
employees. The employee can either receive his/her refund at tax time
or the employer can simply deduct the monthly contribution from his
payroll and no tax will be payable on the amount deposited. Employees
AND employers can make contributions. The money is fully vested with
the employee, who can collapse the RRSP and pay the tax at any time or
transfer the funds to a personal RRSP. At retirement, the employee can
cash in the RRSP, buy an annuity or transfer into a RRIF.
Whereas with a Defined Contribution pension
plan, the funds are locked in until death or retirement after age 55
(depends on Provincial Legislation that is applicable). The employer
usually matches the employees contribution up to a fixed amount or
percentage of earnings. If the employee terminates, his portion is
fully vested and the employer’s money is usually vested after two to
five years. The administration costs are higher with a pension plan
and you have to deal with lots of provincial red tape.
When a member of a defined contribution plan
retires, he can transfer the funds into a RRSP and keep it there until
age 68. Also, he/she can transfer the funds into an annuity or a Life
Income Fund(LIF). A LIF is similar to a RRIF, except there are maximum
and minimum payments and the remaining funds at age 80 have to be
turned into an annuity.
Some employers like Defined Contribution plans
because it gives them more control over their contributions and
ensures that the funds won’t be collapsed before retirement to buy a
boat or take a holiday. Others like the Group RRSP because of its low
costs and simplicity. Both plans offer the employees the choice of
where the funds can be invested.
A third choice is a Defined benefit plan that pays a percentage of
final earnings at retirement. I will not go into detail about this
plan. Suffice to say that there are very few sold and/or still offered
today except for large corporations. I have found that these plans are
very difficult to understand for all parties concerned, a possible
future liability for the employer, expensive to operate and only of
value to the employee if they stay with that employer for a very long
time.
The bottom line is that it is important to get some type of plan in
force so when employees are in their less productive states later in
life, they will have the money there to retire and make room for new
hires. This helps avoid the retirement liability for the employer!
TFG Global has access to a wide variety of plans from numerous
companies. For more information on employee benefit plans,
contact us.
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