PACE Insurance Brokers is a subsidiary of PACE Savings and Credit Union, which has 40,000 members
Canadians will have a new option to buy life and disability insurance this September as PACE Insurance Brokers enters the fray. A subsidiary of PACE Savings and Credit Union, the agency will serve the group’s 40,000 members as well as the general public. Earlier this week the firm announced Mitchell Singer as its CEO, who brings with him years of experience in the financial and legal fields.
Called to the Bar in 2000, Singer later moved into the advisory business, with stints at National Life, Canada Life, Transamerica and most recently CIBC Wood Gundy. He also co-authored the book, “Succession Planning for Family Business: Preparing for the Next Generation,” so PACE’s appointment means having an expert in tax and estate planning at the boardroom table.
“In my training as a lawyer I did a speciality in taxation, so I’m very interested in the tax and estate planning side of the law,” he says. “It was a natural fit for insurance, which is one of the last sanctioned tax shelters that exist in this country. It is natural that insurance is used as an estate planning tool.”
Located in Vaughan, ON, Pace Insurance Brokers will offer life insurance, segregated funds and disability insurance from a variety of major insurers when it launches in September. The members of its parent company provide an obvious starting point as far as clients go, but Singer hopes to expand way beyond that.
“The cooperative space has been underserved on the insurance side, so there is tremendous opportunity to bring new products to our members,” he says. “It is also an opportunity to serve the middle market. The independent advisor for the most part doesn’t work in the middle market. When I was with Transamerica, one of our largest distributors was World Financial Group and while I didn’t always agree with the way it sold products, it definitely served a section of the market typically not looked after by independent advisors.”
Selling life insurance isn’t the easiest business to find yourself in, and the penetration rate has been slipping for years now right across North America. Despite this, there are tools available to a broker in 2017 that their 1980s counterparts could not rely on, which is why Singer is confident for the future.
“Part of my overall plan will be to use the internet and social media to help people understand why insurance is important,” he says. “My experience is that people are underinsured and often don’t understand that with good advice and the right access, insurance is a lot cheaper than they think. For a young person, the difference between having $1 million or $2 million worth of insurance might be less than the cost of going out for a burger and fries.”
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Called to the Bar in 2000, Singer later moved into the advisory business, with stints at National Life, Canada Life, Transamerica and most recently CIBC Wood Gundy. He also co-authored the book, “Succession Planning for Family Business: Preparing for the Next Generation,” so PACE’s appointment means having an expert in tax and estate planning at the boardroom table.
“In my training as a lawyer I did a speciality in taxation, so I’m very interested in the tax and estate planning side of the law,” he says. “It was a natural fit for insurance, which is one of the last sanctioned tax shelters that exist in this country. It is natural that insurance is used as an estate planning tool.”
Located in Vaughan, ON, Pace Insurance Brokers will offer life insurance, segregated funds and disability insurance from a variety of major insurers when it launches in September. The members of its parent company provide an obvious starting point as far as clients go, but Singer hopes to expand way beyond that.
“The cooperative space has been underserved on the insurance side, so there is tremendous opportunity to bring new products to our members,” he says. “It is also an opportunity to serve the middle market. The independent advisor for the most part doesn’t work in the middle market. When I was with Transamerica, one of our largest distributors was World Financial Group and while I didn’t always agree with the way it sold products, it definitely served a section of the market typically not looked after by independent advisors.”
Selling life insurance isn’t the easiest business to find yourself in, and the penetration rate has been slipping for years now right across North America. Despite this, there are tools available to a broker in 2017 that their 1980s counterparts could not rely on, which is why Singer is confident for the future.
“Part of my overall plan will be to use the internet and social media to help people understand why insurance is important,” he says. “My experience is that people are underinsured and often don’t understand that with good advice and the right access, insurance is a lot cheaper than they think. For a young person, the difference between having $1 million or $2 million worth of insurance might be less than the cost of going out for a burger and fries.”
Related stories:
Brokerage firm offers numerous insurance services to aid seniors
Insurance firms need to get with the technology program
