Helping High Net Worth Canadians For 35 years
WEALTHinsurance.com is an independent advisory firm for Canadian business owners, entrepreneurs, incorporated professionals and affluent families — people who have built something worth protecting and want to pass it on intact.
We exist for one reason: to help you keep more of what you’ve earned for the people you love, and to turn what you’d otherwise lose to tax into a legacy for the causes you believe in.
Your wealth has three destinations. At the end of it all, your money goes to one of three places: your family, the causes you care about, or the tax department. You can choose the first two — but only if you plan in time. Most successful Canadians are too busy building to do that planning. That’s where we come in.
How we work. We sit at the intersection of three disciplines most advisors treat separately:
estate preservation, charitable and legacy planned giving, and tax-exempt permanent life insurance. We work alongside your accountant, lawyer, banker and investment advisor — never in place of them. The result is a single, integrated plan that does what fragmented advice cannot: it turns what would have gone to the CRA into something your family and your community get to choose.
Philanthropy is built in. Giving isn’t an afterthought of our work — it’s the heart of it. Our advice has helped direct more than $300 million to over 60 Canadian charities since 2020, through current gifts and legacy giving. You have to pay your taxes. But there’s no law that says you have to leave a tip.
Meet the team
Behind every plan is a team that has worked together for years and shares one purpose: to use everything we have to help people preserve wealth and leave a legacy.
Mark Halpern, CFP, TEP, MFA-P — Founder & CEO. Recognized as one of Canada’s leading authorities on using life insurance, tax planning and philanthropy to preserve wealth and create legacies. (His full story is below.)
Cindy Himelstein, BA, MSW, DSA — Director of Charitable Partnerships & Legacy Planned Giving. After three decades as a community worker with the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Cindy now helps charities and foundations build the strategic philanthropy programs that secure millions in donations. She brings deep non-profit experience across governance, strategic planning, fundraising and community engagement — and a lifelong commitment to giving back in the spirit of tzedaka.
Reuben Menzelefsky — Senior Financial Advisor. Reuben works with business-owner clients who, above all, want a safety net for the people they love. He builds it through careful financial and estate planning, coordinating with accountants, lawyers, tax experts, bankers and investment planners so nothing is left to chance. His clients’ focus on family mirrors his own.
Donna Eldridge — Director of Client Services. Donna has worked alongside Mark since 2003. Each morning she starts with the client birthday list, because the small gestures are how this firm shows clients they are far more than a file. She makes sure every client understands not just what insurance is, but what it can do for the people who depend on them.
About Mark Halpern CFP, TEP, MFA-P
When Mark was eleven, his father died of a heart attack. He was fifty. There was no will, no life insurance, no plan — and Mark, the youngest of four boys, watched his family go from security to uncertainty in a single afternoon.
The loss shaped everything that came after. “I had to develop the ‘struggle muscle,’” Mark says. “You become resourceful. You're always thinking about how to make things happen. It also made me far more aware of how little time we have to do good in this world.”
Mark turned that awareness into a profession. Today he is recognized as one of Canada's foremost authorities on using life insurance, tax planning and philanthropy to preserve wealth and leave a legacy. Over thirty-five years, his work has helped direct more than $300 million to over 60 Canadian charities through current gifts and legacy giving — and has shown thousands of advisors and families how to leave legacies far larger than they ever thought possible.
His Mission
He works toward three goals:
Teaching & Mentorship
Mark pursues these goals through his passion for teaching. His Power of Platinum™ (POP) mentoring and coaching program trains advisors and charities to become experts in Strategic Philanthropy and High-Net-Worth life insurance planning. More than 200 advisors have graduated from the program.
Leadership & Community Impact
That commitment to giving runs through many of Canada's leading institutions. Mark has served as Chair of the Professional Advisors Council at Humber River Hospital Foundation and as Trustee and Chair of the Professional Advisory Committee at the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto.
He currently serves on multiple advisory councils and committees, including SickKids Foundation, St. Joseph's Health Centre Foundation, St. Michael's Hospital Foundation, and TVOntario. He is also a member of several professional organizations focused on estate planning, charitable giving and advanced life underwriting.
Beyond the Profession
Away from the office, Mark is a lifelong student who dedicates three hours every day to learning. He also teaches weekly classes on leadership and ethics.
Mark has been married to Rhonda for thirty years. Together they enjoy spending time with their five married children and growing number of grandchildren.
His Jewish faith continues to guide his work and philosophy, including the belief that if we do not use the talents we have been given, we fall short of what we came here to do.
A Message From Mark
Click to listen:
My path to this profession began when my late father suffered a fatal heart attack in 1974. He was 50 years old and I was 11, the youngest of four boys. In a sudden and shocking instant, our lives changed forever. My family's financial health was in jeopardy, there was no will, no key to a safety deposit box, no savings to speak of and my late mother (then 48) was forced to re-join the workforce.
I'll never forget what happened to my family and that's why my professional life is devoted to protecting you and your family from 'what happens next'.
All our clients are busy and successful people. Most are usually too busy taking care of others to take care of their personal planning.
WEALTHinsurance.com® developed from 25 years of experience at illnessPROTECTION.com.
Wealthy clients sought our help beyond insurance and estate planning. Most wanted to reduce taxes now while ensuring financial security for future generations... no matter what happens.
We look forward to helping you and your family.
Mark
P.S. We have never met with anyone who didn't take away vital information to enhance their financial security.