Life insurance could be an asset transfer tool or a business succession planning tool.

As it refers to family, the way to minimize costs involved in transferring your accumulated net worth to whomever your beneficiaries may be will come with a price tag. This price tag comes in the way of the time delays of probate (during this time, taxes, insurances, utilities, maintenance, etc., still come due and payable), state tax, federal tax, inheritance tax, etc. erode what you may think the nest egg looks like. To have a life insurance policy in force, satisfies not just the immediate need for burial, but most importantly transferring these assets and having ready cash to keep things afloat and shore up the deficit as things move from Generation 1 to Generation 2.

Life insurance creates a bucket of money that a family can use to meet the demands necessary to get an estate completely transferred and closed. We work as a team with attorneys, CPAs and the family to accomplish your goals. If you have not started this process, we should start with a blank sheet of paper and figure it out, sooner, rather than later, as I do not see taxes, or the other costs associated with daily life, decreasing.

Business succession planning is vital. Life changes. We may want to retire. We may have health issues that cause us not to be able to continue. So, what do we do? Shut the door? And let the “blue sky” just evaporate?

Our recommendation is to have your business properly appraised and work with our team or yours to find a successor that can continue your legacy, creating an income for your retirement. This can be done through what might be called succession planning. For example, Boomer that I am, wants to see where I might want to be in 10 or 15 years. So, I recruit a successor. And with the help of our trusted team of other professionals, we consummate a buy/sell agreement. If we did not have life insurance on the person purchasing our business entity, and they pass away prior to the payout of the buy/sell agreement, we would receive no further payment. Leaving us with a business to go out and try to find a buyer for.