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There are many reasons and needs for purchasing life insurance. Working with a broker does not cost any more than purchasing online. In fact, you might be best off working with someone who can prepare you for any required medical or group medical exams to find the right carrier that best fits any adverse risks you may have.
Like with any industry, carriers have niches. One might have better underwriting programs for someone who is overweight, and another might approve those with a history of cancer while another will not. These underwriting programs, along with the amount of risk a carrier is willing to assume in-house, change throughout the year. It is always best to work with a broker who sees first-hand the current underwriting patterns amongst all major carriers.
And if you prefer to apply for coverage online and not in person, most of our policy applications are taken by phone or done online with our assistance.
Our product offerings include products from most A-rated carriers. These products include term life, guaranteed universal life, whole life, indexed universal life, survivorship life, annuities, and key person life insurance.
Our professional life insurance planning is a basic step in overall financial health. From covering your income-earning years with basic term insurance to more advanced planning to pass on wealth to the next generation, we will help you, your family, and your business strategize and plan for immediate and future needs.
We help provide unique compensation strategies through split-dollar life insurance policies for executives or business owners. Unlike other brokers, we have unique ways to use split-dollar strategies for estate planning purposes, most of which can be premium financed by our banking partners.
The split-dollar arrangement is an excellent way to reward partners or executives for their hard work. They will receive a fully paid-up life insurance policy that includes a cash value. The premiums paid into the plan by the employer will be returned once the policy is released to the employee. This type of planning also encourages senior-level staff to stay with the company while keeping insurance cash value funds on the balance sheet and returning all premiums to the employer when the employee leaves or retires.
With estate tax exemptions potentially on the chopping block, many of our clients are exploring Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts and Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts. Besides creditor protection, these trusts remove life insurance proceeds from one's estate if set up properly. We work with our attorneys or yours to implement the best strategy for you and your family.
Using a survivorship or second-to-die policy is often easier to approve than an individual plan, as they pay out after the second spouse has passed away. Even if one of the spouses has significant health issues, underwriters are typically more lenient. The death benefit is intended to cover or significantly reduce any estate taxes due at the time of wealth transfer. For families with a large portion of their wealth in illiquid investments like real estate, these policies are a must.
Most people take out loans for their homes, cars, and businesses. The same financing structure works with life insurance if set up and monitored properly. Bank leveraging allows one to purchase more benefits at a lower cost. We make premium financing easy and implement this strategy across all types of life insurance planning.
There are many moving parts when putting premium financing deals together. We walk clients and their trusted advisors through each piece and provide an in-depth analysis that includes stress testing, input/output numbers, interest rate fluctuations and fixed-rate locks, participating policy loan products, interest payment options, financial and general risk underwriting, collateral requirements, and much more. Most high-income earners are unaware they can take advantage of premium financing, even those with incomes starting at $250,000.
We use both cross-purchase and entity-purchase approaches when funding buy-sell insurance policies. The basic need for these policies is to use the life insurance proceeds to buy out the shares from the deceased partner's estate. A valuation at the time of purchase is usually performed along with a formal valuation at the time of the partner's passing. This is a common practice for closely held businesses, as it reduces the amount of business or partner funds needed to buy out the estate.
Key-Person Life Insurance is purchased to help the business perform should one of its partners or key employees pass away. When set up to cover financing provided by a bank or lender, the policy is set to pay off any debt should the key person pass away. This area is one of our specialties. If you would like a no-cost valuation to help you and your partners decide the necessary insurance coverage amounts, please let us know.
Reach out today and let's build a plan around your goals.