Dear Gary:
It has been over a year since we first obtained your advice on structuring our life and disability insurance programs.
With respect to life insurance, we are happy with the program. In addition, we are delighted that we have the ability to accumulate tax-sheltered funds if we wish to contribute over the basic cost of our life insurance. Our accountant felt that this made a lot of sense.
Your counsel in regards to comprehensively protecting our overhead costs and lifestyle in case of a disability were extremely well founded. We appreciate the way you structured our plan to maximize the discount we could obtain and overall save us money as compared to the original policy we had inplace.
Your attention to detail and your knowledge make us feel that we are in very good hands.
Yours sincerely,
David Share
DAVID SHARE ASSOCIATES
Lawyers
Toronto, ON
Dear Gary:
I am writing this letter to thank you for all the time and effort you expended in assisting me and my partners during our insurance review.
You came highly recommended by a corporate client and that is one of the main reasons I had agreed to meet with you. The majority of our life and disability insurance was arranged through the Canadian Bar Association and some LTD was procured within a health and dental plan. I felt we were well looked after by such policies and therefore I had not felt any need to review or make changes to our insurance coverage.
When you pointed out some of the pitfalls contained within our disability program and you analyzed the cost-benefit of the Bar Term Life, I was quite surprised. To be more specific, you demonstrated how the revisions to the Bar Plan in 1993 dramatically diluted the comprehensive nature of the plan and weakened our benefits. You explained how the group plan’s two-year own occupation clause would fall short of providing adequate benefits in the long term in our circumstances. Improved benefits came at a higher cost, which we were very willing to pay given the coverage offered.
We were also surprised to learn that the Bar Term Life insurance was more expensive than similar term products. It concerned us that the Bar’s rates were not guaranteed. In fact, the savings on the life insurance that we purchased made up for the better and more costly disability coverage.
To be candid, I had never been impressed with insurance salesmen. What struck me as being different with you is your professionalism. The difference came through your sincerity, commitment, follow-through procedures and knowledge. We looked upon you as an advisor rather than a “salesman.” We
appreciate your creative solutions to our various problems and concerns.
I will definitely be referring you to my clients to address their particular estate planning requirements.
Given that so many lawyers use the CBA for their insurance needs, I highly recommend that you continue focusing your time and energy on the legal community. I am sure many of the lawyers you contact feel that there is no urgency to take the time to understand the significant changes that were made to the CBA plan. We all want peace of mind. With these times being so difficult, the last thing anyone wants to find out when they are disabled is that they do not conform to all the policy definitions and thus the claim is delayed or declined.
Once again, Gary, on behalf of all of us, we would like to thank you for providing us with the proper protection and peace of mind.
Yours very truly,
Fred Ernst
BEGLAUBTER, GREENBERG & ERNST
Barristers and Solicitors
Thornhill, ON
Dear Gary:
In 2018, The Marquee Group enlisted Gary Opolsky to establish a benefits program for our
rapidly growing firm. At Marquee Group, we provide financial modeling training, consulting &
accreditation, and help finance professionals use our unique modeling framework to turn their
models into powerful communication tools
Throughout the various stages of benefit selections, Gary provided us with many options and
helped guide us through the decision-making process. He also provided valuable insight around a
critical illness plan that we feel provides great risk management for our employees. Our benefits
program also comes with great software and tools for employees to have their claims processed
and paid online.
Our next steps with Gary involve implementing a HRIS program in hopes of streamlining our
onboarding process and eliminating unnecessary paperwork.
We look forward to continuing to work with Gary and feel he would be an asset to any
organization who wished to utilize his expertise.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions.
Sincerely,
Lisa Cernivivo
Director of Operations & HR
The Marquee Group
Toronto, ON
Gary, you have been taking care of our benefits program for 10 years. We appreciate your advice and high-quality service. For our current renewal,
you negotiated a premium savings of 20%. Thank you.
Yours truly,
Jennifer Doherty
COO JC Clark
Toronto, ON
Dear Gary:
I would like to thank you for your guidance in planning for disability insurance and group benefits for our firm.
In 2004 you assisted us in implementing a disability insurance program. Like many other mid-sized law firms, we did not provide any individual or group disability insurance for the partners. Each partner was expected to arrange his/her own disability insurance.
After you interviewed about 50% of our lawyers you reported that only a small portion of those individuals had any insurance in force.
You recommended a firm program whereby each partner and associate would receive a policy without being required to provide any medical evidence. In addition, it would come with a large discount from what they were able to arrange on their own. On the strength of your findings, we made a decision to structure a mandatory plan for all of the lawyers in the firm. We, now, have a level of comfort that our partners and associates have a top quality disability insurance plan.
In 2008 we appointed your firm to look after all of the group benefits. You saved us more than 20% of the original premiums. You were able to take those savings and create a plan with extra benefits. Our employees are very happy with the improvement to their benefits.
The service that we have received from you and your firm has been exemplary and I feel confident that we can expect similar service in the future.
Yours truly,
Mary Fraizinger
Chief Financial Officer
GARDINER ROBERTS LLP
Lawyers
Toronto, ON
Dear Gary:
In 2009 I joined my present law firm and I asked Gary to assist me in reviewing the firm’s life and disability plans for partners and staff. Gary was able to help us increase the scope of our benefits plan and, in the process, was able to save us a considerable amount in premiums.
I know that he is both knowledgeable and trustworthy. He is and will continue to be our best resource for all our insurance needs and I would recommend him unreservedly.
Yours truly,
Ronald J. Preyra
Managing Partner
Bergmanis, Preyra, LLP
Lawyers
Toronto, ON
