February 17, 2022
I also cover this in a YouTube video. Click here to watch!
If you were diagnosed with cancer, do you have all of the necessary pieces of the puzzle in place to protect you and your family?
In sharing my personal journey through cancer with you, by the end of this blog, you will have all of the necessary information needed to develop your own plan if life throws you this curveball.
I love my life, and I am living my dreams.
I’m financially free, which means I can have fun and do whatever I want, whenever I want.
Like refereeing volleyball both nationally and internationally, meeting interesting people like Prince Harry – who, fortunately, I met referring sitting volleyball at the Invictus Games in 2017.
I have 3 amazing children who have all graduated from university and are starting their own careers and lives.
I have been lucky in business; I was a part of a successful startup High Tech software company and in 2003 we sold it to IBM (in New York) for just over $76M US.
A year later, in 2004, I joined a large Mutual Fund company and I built a book of 350+ clients with over $80M in Assets Under Management. And, in the span of 10 years, I was awarded the “Financial Planner of the Year” Distinction Award 7 times.
However, in 2013 I came to the realization that I had too many “conflicts of interest” in my practice. I could only offer one type of Mutual Fund platform and I could only recommend insurance products from one or two insurance companies. It was my clients who helped me in making the strategic decision to leave that practice, and in 2014, I started my own company – Moakler Wealth Management.
I help people to live their dreams and I love what I do. But it wasn’t always this way.
In June of 2010, I had just finished completing my Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations. I was ready for my next great adventure.
But 6 months later, in December of 2010, I was diagnosed with cancer. It was Osteosarcoma, the same cancer that Terry Fox had.
Talk about a life event. When I heard the word ‘cancer,’ all sorts of things went through my mind. Panic, fear, worries for my family, and my finances are just the shortlist.
It was all too real, but I stayed positive.
I started chemotherapy in February of 2011 and then received treatments every 3 weeks after that for 3 months. In May 2011 I had surgery, but the tests came back inconclusive. So it was 2 more rounds of chemo, another surgery, and lots of being in and out of hospitals. I was thankful for the expertise of the doctors, surgeons, nurses, and many others who took care of me at that time.
By September of 2011, I was told that I was cancer-free.
I was lucky. I had the knowledge and the insight to have Life Insurance in place should something happen to me that my family would be taken care of. I had Disability Insurance in place too, but it didn’t payout – because I didn’t have a disability, I had cancer. However, I did have a Critical Illness Policy that paid out.
With these necessary funds in place, I was able to take the time to deal with my cancer and fight it. It’s now been 10 years of being cancer-free! And while I continue to be monitored, I am not going anywhere.
After my treatments, I continued my practice; what I saw through the years in my own company was that over 90% of the people I met did not have a written financial plan! I simply could not imagine someone going through what I went through with financial worries.
And it gets worse.
A shocking eight to ten MILLION Canadians will be entering into retirement, but they do not have a clue if their money will outlive them – or, worse yet, if they will outlive their money and need to turn to the government for assistance in order to survive.
That is why I decided to write a book in 2015 to help my fellow Canadians.
My best-selling book is called “Heal Thy Wealth” – How Doctors Are Misdiagnosing Their Own Financial Health And What They Can Do About It.
Life will always throw us constant curveballs – so you need to make sure that when you hit a speedbump (like I did), you have your seatbelt on. The truth is, your life can change in an instant, but if we put the necessary bumper guards in place for you and your family, we can make sure that panic doesn’t set it.
If you would like to learn more about how you can incorporate the same strategies that I am using for my family, contact me at the coordinates below to apply to become my client.
For the best life insurance advice and information, subscribe to my YouTube Channel and hit the notifications bell to be notified when we post new videos. The channel allows me to share my passion for personal financial planning and I produce content that I would want to watch – and because of that, I promise to give you 110% effort in every video that I make.
By John Moakler, BMath, CFP, CLU
President and Senior Executive Financial Planner
Moakler Wealth Management
info@moaklerwealthmanagement.com
1 416 840 8544