You Really Need A Financial Team
Doesn’t life insurance drive you crazy?
Underwriting is hard enough…
All the medical questions…
All the personal questions…
And on and on and on.
But then you have all the legal and financial stuff.
Who should be the owner?
Who should be the beneficiary?
What happens if you change the owner?
What if you cash in the policy?
…Okay, so it’s a complicated product. The good news here is that if you get the right advice, buying it can go (relatively) smoothly.
And it can give you quite a feeling of being in control.
Get Your Team Together
When you make the big purchases in life, you need a team.
What happened when you bought your house?
You found a realtor… And a mortgage banker… Along with a home inspector… And a lawyer… Maybe even a contractor or two.
And it was the same with your business, right?
You needed a lawyer… And an investor… And a banker… Certainly a business valuation specialist… And a multitude of others…
Life insurance is no different.
Do you want to pay the lowest price? Get a broker who does field underwriting.
Tax questions? Get your accountant.
Concerns about ownership? Your lawyer is the go-to person.
You Are The Quarterback
Working with all these professionals may seem like a headache, considering everything else you have to do.
But it doesn’t have to feel that way.
Actually it can be very empowering… You just have to assemble your team and give them their marching orders!
- Tell your broker that the bottom line is value. You want to pay the lowest cost.. or get the most benefit… or reap the highest cash value in the policy you choose. The broker must therefore get you the best underwriting, and the product with the exact design you need.
- Tell your lawyer that control is key. The right person must control the policy. The right person must get the proceeds. Who should be designated as owner and beneficiary, and why?
- Tell your accountant that you want to minimize and avoid taxation. Are income taxes an issue? How about estate taxes, on both the federal and state level? How do these concerns affect the way the policy is set up? What about future changes?
Taking Charge Means Taking Control
Look at it this way:
Somebody has to be in charge.
This way controls are in place to make sure your life insurance policy does exactly what it is supposed to do.
If you are ready, willing, and able to be the quarterback, you will get a lot of satisfaction in managing your team.
If you would rather one of your trusted professionals lead the way, that can work too. (I find that the broker typically steps up and manages a team on behalf of the client.)
With leadership in place, you know that this important financial decision is being made the right way.
Have you found this to be true for yourself? Have you experienced good leadership when making some of your financial decisions?