Kerstin Coy
May 25, 2020
Money Financial literacy Economy Good reads Weekly update Weekly commentary
Thinking about all aspects of your financial affairs: Estate Planning & Insurance Risk Management
It has been a few weeks since our last communication so there are a few things we would like highlight. As we debrief on recent client communication (phone calls/emails) we have noticed a few topics were coming up with more frequency than they have in the past. COVID-19 has us and you thinking about all aspects of your financial affairs, including Estate Planning and Insurance Risk Management. There are obvious times when these topics deserve attention. For example, when there has been a material event in your life such as retirement, birth of child, sale of business and change of employment. In this case, clients have concerns about the state of their affairs in the event they contract COVID-19. We reached out to other professionals on our CIBC Private Wealth Team to provide us with some context and comments to share with you. This week we will share comments from Struan Smith, LLB our Senior Trust & Estate Consultant.
Struan and his colleagues across the country have observed a surge in clients concerned with COVID-19 pandemic who are prioritizing updating their will and POA (Power of Attorney) documents. Many clients have outdated wills or POAs that were implemented when their affairs were much simpler. Most have significant personal life event changes that warrant revisiting and updating their estate documents: they may now have adult children and grandchildren, they may have retired or are planning to exit their business in the coming years, their personal net worth is likely substantially greater and their estate is likely more complex. Generally, it is recommended that clients review their estate plans every 3-5 years or after any major life event.
You can find on our blog a few resources you may find useful regarding these topics. I especially found the Estate Plan for Digital Assets to be very valuable. Digital assets for most clients are growing and can often be overlooked when building an estate plan. If after reading and reflecting on these resources you would like a further conversation, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mark or I, and we can answer any specific questions you have. Depending on the complexity, we can also look to engage Struan and his team.
Additional Interesting and Noteworthy Topics
- CPPIB is sitting on a $1-Billion loss on its investment in Royal Caribbean Cruises (read)
- Dow to Gold Ratio - 100 Year Historical Chart (here)
- SGN: SomeGoodNews: John Krasinski (from the office) highlights some good news from around the world (FUN for the whole family)
- YouTube was originally launched as a dating site with the slogan "Tune in, Hook up." (read) The 1st YouTube video was uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim (entitled “Me at the zoo”)
- The oldest company that's still in business today is > 1,400 years old - Kongo Gumi is a Japanese construction firm that has specialized in building temples since 578 AD (read)
As we move through the reopening phases across the global, I have found a few unique indicators to gauge how the reopening is progressing. Have a look at a few of them:
Open Table
Some of you may use Open Table to make restaurant reservations online. They have a robust global data set to review how online restaurant reservations are changing Year over Year. While they are incrementally getting better, they are still down 94.57% from the same day one year ago on May 22. People are starting to venture out but not in a meaningful way. Compare that to Germany which is down 50.23% and the US down 87.31% and you can also get a sense of how each country is dealing with self-isolation and quarantining.
https://www.opentable.com/state-of-industry
US Airline Passenger Throughput
US Airline passengers hit a new recovery high last week. Up 265% from the bottom, but still down 88% from last year.
https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput
Apple Mobility Data
These graphs show a relative volume of directions requests per country, region, sub-region or city compared to baseline volume on January 13th, 2020
https://www.apple.com/covid19/mobility
/documents/1094647/1094811/Estate+Settlement.pdf/1ff3f849-dfba-4dee-8239-e1a719a01876
/documents/1094647/1094811/Executor+Duties.pdf/77c9c771-aa01-4bb0-a7b2-a8aac42ab6bb
Please let Mark or Jason know if you have any questions. Stay safe!
Disclaimer: This information, including any opinion, is based on various sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed and is subject to change. CIBC and CIBC World Markets Inc., their affiliates, directors, officers and employees may buy, sell, or hold a position in securities of a company mentioned herein, its affiliates or subsidiaries, and may also perform financial advisory services, investment banking or other services for, or have lending or other credit relationships with the same. CIBC World Markets Inc. and its representatives will receive sales commissions and/or a spread between bid and ask prices if you purchase, sell or hold the securities referred to above. © CIBC World Markets Inc. 2020.