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The Inheritance Jackpot

There are supposedly billions of dollars waiting to be transferred to the baby-boom generation in the form of an inheritance.

You may even be one of them. If you are, you're probably wondering when and how much you'll get, right?

Obviously a healthy inheritance could be one of the biggest jackpots you'll ever see. Unfortunately, like most jackpots, an inheritance is not guaranteed. Most people can only guess at how much they'll get.

I first started thinking seriously about the transfer of wealth to the baby boomers in the summer of 2009. It was at the Word On The Street book festival in Toronto and I was there to speak about my book Enough Bull.

On stage before me was Patricia Lovett-Reid, who at the time worked at a financial institution and also had her own TV show on BNN. She now hosts a new show—The Pattie Lovett-Reid Show on CTV News Channel.

Pattie told the story of a woman she met who had been married to a wealthy business owner. The couple had a $2 million life insurance policy on the husband's life. This was a good move because he sadly got very sick and passed away in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, the life insurance policy payments had not been renewed just one month prior to the husband's death. You can understand that happening during such an emotionally devastating period of time; opening and reading the mail would not have been top of mind for this woman.

What do you think happened?

The life insurance company would not budge. They ...

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