Sun Life debuts estate-planning education program

FWR Staff

5 September 2008

Company's new campaign intended to assist advisors, producers and families. Sun Life Financial's U.S. arm is out to educate advisors, producers and clients about the importance of charitable giving and its importance to estate planning.

"One of the most important uses of life insurance is its role in estate planning - which includes leaving a legacy for your family as well as those causes that are important to you," says Michele Van Leer, head of retail insurance and annuities at Sun Life Financial United States. "Our expanded 'Charitable Estate Planning' program helps guide producers and their clients through this important process."

Lifetime benefits

Sun Life's "Charitable Estate Planning" marketing campaign "covers everything from tax planning to annuity trusts and meshing these with charitable giving to continue helping causes clients," Van Leer adds.

The campaign details planning strategies for achieving tax deferrals and savings -- including things like establishing charitable trusts and foundations -- and for providing lifetime benefits to charities and other good works.

The "Charitable Estate Planning" program also covers areas such as

Understanding the charitable market Leveraging charitable trusts in estate planning Creating opportunities with charitable gift annuities Using life insurance in charitable planning Explaining charitable non-qualified deferred compensation

It also spotlights a charitable giving benefit rider, available with the company's universal life insurance products, that provides a 1% death benefit above the base policy face amount to a designated charity at no additional cost.

Toronto-based Sun Life offers risk- and wealth-management products in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Bermuda, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India and China. -FWR

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