Wiegers Financial & Benefits is one of the largest private financial planning and employee benefits consulting firms in Saskatchewan. Its Saskatoon Financial Planning Division provides business owners, households, retirees, and students with expert investment and insurance planning services to help them reach their long-term financial goals. They also have a division for benefits and personal insurance planning. In this latest Wiegers Group Benefits expert tip, they explain how much employee benefits plans do for employees and their families. Wiegers Financial & Benefits are Trusted Saskatoon Insurance and Group Benefits experts.
When employees think about their benefits plan, the benefits that most often come to mind are for prescription drugs, massages, and maybe a dental check-up every year. However, I’m confident that if you were to ask any Benefits Advisor or Consultant, he or she would swiftly tell you that benefit plans are so much more than that! These benefits are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what a plan can provide for employees and their families.
Many people – employees and employers alike – are surprised by just how extensive an employee benefits plan can be. They’re often also surprised by how much a plan can do for an employee’s physical, mental, and financial well-being. If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is that our well-being is something we can no longer take for granted. And having an employee benefits plan is one of the best ways to stay protected.
There are two cornerstones of a benefit plan that deserve a lot more attention than they typically receive: Life Insurance and financial protection in the event of a disability or illness, namely, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance. These benefits are often included in benefit plans but are not touted enough for the critically important protection they provide.
Benefits Canada reported recently that many people between the ages of 30-50 have no Life Insurance outside of what is provided through their employee benefits plan. On the one hand, this makes for a hefty responsibility for employers. But on the other hand, employers who provide their employees with a strong Life Insurance benefit have a competitive advantage that helps them attract and retain top talent.
As for Disability Insurance, Wiegers Financial & Benefits is passionate about including it in every benefits plan. The reality is that many employees work paycheck to paycheck, and in the event of a severe or prolonged illness or injury, most don’t have enough money saved to be able to weather the storm financially. Disability Insurance is very often a financial lifeline that enables employees to focus their time and energy on getting better instead of stressing about how they’re going to pay their bills. And it’s apparent that the pandemic’s impact on mental health and disability is not going to lessen any time soon. This Benefits Canada article speaks to how the majority of Canadian employers are prioritizing mental well-being, and Disability Insurance benefits are a key part of what they’re doing about it.
If you’re like a lot of Canadians who believe that employee benefit plans are most important for getting their prescription drugs paid for or their massages covered, I encourage you to delve into the details of your plan. You’ll likely be surprised by what you learn, and you’ll be in a better position to know what you can be, or should consider, doing outside of your plan to protect your well-being. Your personal financial advisor will be a great asset to you in advising you on a good path to take and then actually putting these wheels into motion. But always remember that your benefits plan is likely doing more for you than you realize so be sure to provide your advisor with all of the details. Your benefits plan is there to help take care of you; let it do all that it can!
Jewelian Berry,
Benefits Account Manager, Wiegers Financial and Insurance Planning Services Ltd.
Local House was founded in 2020 by Mike and Chuck Le Page, who themselves are local retail business owners with stores in both Saskatoon and Regina. When COVID-19 shut down nearly everything in March of 2020, Mike Lepage recognized a unique business opportunity. Scrambling to buy a birthday gift for his fiancée, Lepage reached out to several local businesses but found it very tedious to organize the purchase and delivery of products. Knowing there could be a better way to navigate this time-consuming approach, Mike and his father, Chuck, reached out to
Trusted Marketing Services, and together, they started the complicated task building on the idea of Local House and bringing it to market with a brand and custom online shopping platform.
“I kept wishing there was a marketplace and delivery system for local business,” Mike Lepage explains. “I had been sitting on the Local House URL for a while, so I did some research on the concept, and there wasn’t anything quite like it yet.”
What Is Local House And How Does It Compete With Amazon?
Michael LePage wants to give local retailers in Saskatchewan a digital platform that can compete with the likes of Amazon.
Local House is more than just an e-commerce store, it’s a local ecosystem and essential a local online shopping mall that allows small local retailers to gain access to new sales opportunities, compete with foreign/out of market retailers stealing local market share and extend their brand reach to new customers in new places near where they operate. Retailers set up Local House stores for free and they can upload their products directly into the store. The development team spent many hours working on allowing Local House to work in hand with other well know and established major e-commerce platforms, such as Etsy and Shopify to make it more accessible for businesses and merchants who have already invested time and money in their own online stores. Now merchants can simply integrate with their existing online store software at the click of a mouse. The full checkout takes place on Local House and the retailers only pay if they make a sale- so it’s a win-win!
Local House Delivers Same Day Or Next Day to Saskatoon Shoppers
Convenient, same-day delivery or next-day delivery ( dependant on order time) on most products on Local House, means you can shop at your convenience, and get items delivered directly to your door. If your order total is under $25 delivery costs $7.00. If your order is larger than $25 delivery is $3.50. Some vendors also offer free delivery if a minimum purchase amount is met.
Local House is an amazing and innovative example of a local business whose mission is to support other local Saskatoon businesses and provide solutions to Saskatoon consumers, which is the foundation of why we started the Trusted Saskatoon directory!
Trusted Saskatoon warmly welcomes Mike and the Local House team to the Saskatoon directory of excellence in the Saskatoon specialty retail Category and we are proud to give them the ‘Thumbs Up’!
