CDIC Protects Our Deposits And Increases Peace Of Mind For Special Needs Families

Disclosure: I was provided compensation by CDIC to discuss deposit insurance.  All opinions are my own. 

I talk about my autistic son on occasion. However, something I do not discuss a lot on my blog is the level of severity of his autism. My son is classic, non-verbal autistic. He goes to school (half days currently) with his peers, and is well accepted by staff and students. However he is also on the more severe end of the scale when it comes to autism.

One issue this creates is that it is highly likely our son will require full time care for all of his life.  It is true that he does make strides, and every parent of an autistic child hopes that child will be able to function independently within society. However, given the level of severity of my son’s autism, we also have to accept the possible reality that he will likely be with us as long as we can physically care for him.

Preparing For the Future When Special Needs Are Involved

That in and of itself is not a huge hardship. It’s not what parents expect when they give birth but, life happens and we deal.  However, dealing means we need to look at the big picture and start paying attention to the things that matter. My wife is currently preparing to get her driver’s licence for the first time. We are also taking steps to make sure she has credit, etc. While I have always had my driver’s licence, we recently took steps to re-establish my own credit. I was less than attentive in my younger days and had to clean up my mess. These things will help put us in a better position, so that both of us have the supports we need to care for our son if something happens to one of us.

All of this is good, but that still leaves long-term finances to deal with.  More importantly, it puts the stability of our long-term finances as one of our few remaining question marks.  We need to be able to provide for our son. More importantly, we need to be certain that the funds we provide for him are protected in case the worst happens.

CDIC Works to Protect Our Deposits

This means that we have to look at the various issues that could lead to problems, including making sure that any money we place in the bank is protected in case the bank fails. That may seem like a joke, but the reality is that it has happened and could happen again. In Canada, there have been over 40 financial institution failures in the past. The last one was over 20 years ago, in 1996, but the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) was there to protect depositors.

CDIC was created by the Canadian government in 1967 to protect deposits in the event of a bank failure. Since its creation, CDIC has handled 43 failures, affecting over 2 million depositors. No one has lost a single dollar of deposits under CDIC protection.

There are a number of different deposits that are covered (and some that are not) by CDIC, as long as they are held at any of the over 80 member institutions. Deposits are protected up to a total of $100,000 per deposit category.

I don’t currently have anywhere near the limit saved up, but the money I have is important to our family. If we get to a point where we cross the $100,000 CDIC threshold, we will split our holdings. It will be done to ensure that our son’s long term care is protected for as long as possible.