All around the world this month (and especially in Canada) you may have noticed a dramatic trend in men’s facial hair. Welcome to Movember.

Movember started in Melbourne, Australia back in 1999 as an awareness campaign focused on men’s health. It has since become a global phenomenon, focusing primarily on prostate cancer. Canada has lead the world recently, with nearly 119,000 men participating in 2010, raising over $22 Million for Prostate Cancer Canada.

The rules are simple:

1. Each mo bro must begin the 1st of November with a clean shaven face.
2. For the entire month of Movember each mo bro must grow and groom a moustache.
3. There is to be no joining of the mo to your sideburns. (That’s considered a beard.)
4. There is to be no joining of the handlebars to your chin. (That’s considered a goatee.)
5. Each mo bro must conduct himself like a true country gentleman.

This is my second year participating in Movember. Part of my job at The Financial Benefits Group is helping our clients plan for worst case scenarios, and unfortunately that means considering the impact that cancer would have on their lives. It is estimated that 1 in 7 Canadian men will develop prostate cancer at some point. The good news is that prostate cancer is over 90% curable if detected early.

I’d like to speak directly to anyone reading this, and ask you to do two things:

1. If you’re a man, get yourself checked. If you are a woman, tell any man you care about to get himself checked. Here’s a link to a pdf poster that talks about what guys can do, and what they need to talk to their doctor about.
2. Get Critical Illness Insurance. Any amount is better than none. You can even build it so you get all your money back if you don’t claim. If you do get sick, the worst thing for you is to be stressed out and worrying about bills and mortgages and child care instead of focusing on getting healthy. Talk to your advisor or give us a call, but I truly believe that Critical Illness Insurance is the most important coverage any of us can have.

I also invite you to check out my Movember page: mobro.co/mikelawtonyeg

You can laugh at my pictures, follow my progress, and (most importantly) donate to Prostate Cancer Canada.

Thanks for reading and thank you for your support.

From the Movember Canada website:

Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month.  The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for prostate cancer.  Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

Prostate cancer is frightening common in Canadian men, but fortunately it is also very treatable. If caught early. The Movember campaign focuses on two goals: raising money for research, and raising awareness of prostate cancer and the need for men to be screened regularly for it.

Part of planning for your future is preparing for situations which are uncomfortable to consider right now. Death, sickness, injury, family responsibilities, financial trouble… ignoring the possibilities and just hoping they won’t happen is never the right choice. We save money so we can retire with some degree of comfort and dignity. We visit our doctors to make sure everything is OK and hopefully catch anything that isn’t before it gets too bad to do something about. We have health care coverage and life and critical illness and disability insurance so we won’t have to sacrifice our financial future (or our family’s) if something does go wrong.

So make sure you smile at every ugly, half-formed mustache you see in November, and make sure you think about yourself or an important man in your life. Get checked out, and think about your plans if something does happen. It may not be comfortable to think about right now, but I promise you, you’ll be glad you did. Call us if you want to talk.

Prostate Cancer Facts

Prostate Cancer is:

• The most common cancer among Canadian men – it will afflict 1 in 6 men and is a greater threat for those with a family history of the disease
• Turning up in men in their 40s
• Going to be diagnosed in about 24,600 men this year, not including cases that go undiagnosed due to men’s unwillingness to go for annual check-ups
• Develops as a result of dietary, environmental and heredity factors (more research is needed to identify its causes and prevent the disease)
• New, preliminary research suggests pharmaceuticals may help prevent prostate cancer in men at high risk of the disease
• Often without symptoms in its earliest, most curable stage – making annual testing ever more important
• Treated by surgery, radiation and hormone therapy (among other treatments)
• Thought to be a potentially preventable cancer in many cases, but more research is needed

We have been receiving more and more inquiries regarding insurance covering the occurrence of a life threatening illness.  There is just such coverage called Critical Illness Insurance. This type of insurance is designed to pay a tax free lump sum of cash on the diagnosis of a life threatening illness such as heart attack, stroke or cancer.

Most people want to know the true financial effect of such an event and the linked article below gives a good viewpoint referring to studies done by the Canadaian Breast Cancer Institute. We usually propose coverage to replace a full years income, so if you are making $50,000.00 per year, female, non smoker, age 40, your premiums would only be about $30.00 per month (assuming “standard” health underwriting results).  Please review the article and contact us for more information.

Harvey

Economic impact ‘huge’ for breast cancer patients, report says – The Globe and Mail

“The economic impact of breast cancer is huge and, in many cases, devastating for patients and their families,” says the report, released Thursday.

The study, which CBCN says is the first to examine the financial and labour impacts of breast cancer, is based on a survey conducted last year of 446 Canadians with the disease.