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Relevant Topics Inside and Outside the Box
Publications
Browse our curated selection of publications or search by topic for easy-to-understand information about relevant financial concepts and strategies.
Cleaning Out the Attic, Analyzing My Life Insurance, and Other Tasks I Never Get Around To
Every policy needs to be reviewed periodically, especially when life circumstances change.
Life Insurance: How Much is Enough?
The right coverage always starts with assessing the need and thoughtfully designing a plan to meet the client’s specific objectives.
Capturing Insurance Capacity
Once basic life insurance needs are met, a client may wish to inventory additional coverage for future planning and optionality.
Do Your Homework on Indexed Universal Life Insurance
High-net-worth clients should answer four questions before implementing premium financed Indexed Universal Life.
How to “Settle” for More: Creating Excess Value with Life Settlements
When life insurance is no longer needed, institutional buyers may pay fair market value in excess of the policy’s cash surrender value.
Insights
Use Their Money
Dollars in a Box
Unknown Time
Estate taxes can be paid with a client’s assets or with life insurance. Without planning, many affluent individuals will pay up to 40% of their taxable estate to the IRS at death. Instead of saving money for the IRS bill, why not use that money to buy life insurance for heirs?
Estate tax is a liability on the balance sheet. In effect, the IRS has a lien on your property.
This means that a portion of your wealth is not truly yours. It is money owed to the IRS at death.
Money being saved for the IRS can be used now to buy life insurance to replenish wealth to heirs.
Why not use the IRS’s money to protect your money?.
Minimizing money to the IRS helps to maximize money to heirs.
Estate tax is a liability on the balance sheet. In effect, the IRS has a lien on your property.
This means that a portion of your wealth is not truly yours. It is money owed to the IRS at death.
Money being saved for the IRS can be used now to buy life insurance to replenish wealth to heirs.
Why not use the IRS’s money to protect your money?.
Minimizing money to the IRS helps to maximize money to heirs.
Life insurance dollars, like 401(k) or IRA money, is one of the few tax-deferred investments. What is tax-deferred growth really worth over time?
If you put a dollar in a box and it doubles every year for 20 years – tax free – at the end of that time, you have $1,000,000.
If you put a dollar in a box and it doubles every year for 20 years – but you take out 40% each year for taxes – at the end of that time, you have $12,000.
Choosing the right box matters.
If you put a dollar in a box and it doubles every year for 20 years – tax free – at the end of that time, you have $1,000,000.
If you put a dollar in a box and it doubles every year for 20 years – but you take out 40% each year for taxes – at the end of that time, you have $12,000.
Choosing the right box matters.
We may not know what stocks, bonds, real estate or other assets in a portfolio will be worth in the future.
We know for certain that it will be 100% liquid and usable at that time – it's the only asset that will do that.
This allows for use of the immediate liquid insurance proceeds to protect the valuable illiquid assets of the estate.
Make sure you are using all valuable assets of an estate.
We know for certain that it will be 100% liquid and usable at that time – it's the only asset that will do that.
This allows for use of the immediate liquid insurance proceeds to protect the valuable illiquid assets of the estate.
Make sure you are using all valuable assets of an estate.
Use Their Money
Dollars in a Box
Known Outcomes at an Unknown Time
Estate taxes can be paid with a client’s assets or with life insurance. Without planning, many affluent individuals will pay up to 40% of their taxable estate to the IRS at death.
Instead of saving money for the IRS bill, why not use that money to buy life insurance for heirs?
- Estate tax is a liability on the balance sheet. In effect, the IRS has a lien on your property.
- This means that a portion of your wealth is not truly yours. It is money owed to the IRS at death.
- Money being saved for the IRS can be used now to buy life insurance to replenish wealth to heirs.
- Why not use the IRS’s money to protect your money?
Minimizing money to the IRS helps to maximize money to heirs.
Education
Business Planning
As with individuals, businesses also need a Plan B. Closely held businesses implement life insurance to continue operations in the event of a key employee’s unforeseen death, to attract and retain executive talent, and to facilitate succession plans to ensure business continuity.
Restricted Executive Bonus Agreement
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Stay Bonus
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An Overview of Buy-Sell Arrangements
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Wealth Transfer Planning
Affluent families utilize life insurance as a means of providing estate liquidity at death and preserving wealth across multiple generations. When implemented in the context of sophisticated planning strategies, clients benefit from the favorable tax characteristics of life insurance and alleviate gift tax friction to maximize overall wealth to heirs.
Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT)
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Split-Dollar Spotlight Exits, Terminations, Rollouts
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Personal Planning
High-net-worth individuals implement life insurance to accumulate cash on a tax-deferred basis for retirement or to provide a financial legacy for loved ones at an indeterminate point in the future. Life insurance is a tangible expression of one’s ongoing desire for the wellbeing of surviving loved ones and cherished causes.
Tax-Advantaged Retirement Income
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Corporate Loan Regime Split Dollar
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Tax Diversification in Retirement Planning
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Life Insurance as an Asset Class
Life insurance uniquely provides cash when it is needed the most, at the loss of life or retirement income. Traditional life insurance, unlike equity assets, is not subject to market fluctuations. Allocating a portion of one’s investment portfolio to life insurance provides diversification, smooths out volatility, and provides predictable wealth to heirs.
Life Insurance as an Asset
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News
News
July 15, 2021
A New Look to Celebrate Our 80th Year!
News
August 28, 2020
Congratulations to Ken Samuelson for being a member of NAIFA NC for 37 years!
