LIFE SETTLEMENT ADVISORS EXAMPLE

life-settlement-advisors-example.jpg
MALE - Age 82
$2,000,000 Universal Life
  • $140,000 Annual Premium

Life Insurance Settlement Amount of $230,000

Following an annual review necessitated by the recent stock market crash, a team of life settlement advisors recommended an astute elderly investor discontinue life insurance that was no longer needed to pay estate taxes. After obtaining life settlement quotes, the client sold the policy and directed the proceeds and premium savings toward rebuilding his portfolio.

Want to know what YOUR policy is worth?

Start LIVEpdq Here

Types of Life Settlement Advisors

Individuals from various professions often serve as life settlement advisors from the time life settlement quotes are obtained until a life settlement transaction has been fully consummated. Among the more prominent players are:

  • Life Insurance Agents
  • Financial Planners
  • Attorneys
  • Accountants
  • Trust Officers

Duties of Life Settlement Advisors

Successfully completing a life settlement requires more than just accumulating a bunch of life settlement quotes and then picking the highest one. For optimum results, a number of specialized tasks need to be performed after preliminary life settlement quotes have been obtained. This may require the assistance of a team of life settlement advisors, since it is unlikely an expert from one profession will also be an expert at all of the others. These are some of the more important tasks that follow obtaining life settlement quotes:

  • Policy analysis to determine if a policy should be sold now, later, or never
  • Suitability analysis to determine if a life settlement is the best alternative in light of the seller's current prioritized concerns
  • Legal analysis to make sure all documents, procedures, and disclosures comply with state and federal laws or meet acceptable standards if the seller's state is unregulated
  • Tax analysis to verify tax implications

Choosing Your Team of Life Settlement Advisors

In a perfect world, the policy owner should personally oversee the process from the time the initial life settlement quotes are obtained until the policy has been sold and the proceeds received. Throughout the process the owner's team of life settlement advisors should work together to accomplish the policy owner's goals. The policy owner should also determine up front how and to what extent each of the other team members will be compensated according to all potential outcomes. In addition, all life settlement advisors should fully disclosure all potential conflicts of interest including the sharing of fees and/or commissions with other life settlement advisors. Depending on a policy owner's understanding of life settlements, they may be able to perform some tasks without the help and additional costs associated with outside life settlement advisors.

Accountability of Life Settlement Advisors - Especially in Unregulated States

If the policy owner is not capable of overseeing the process, they should consider having a trusted family member or one of the life settlement advisors assume the leadership role of the team. However, this suggestion comes with a strong statement of caution:

AVOID LETTING ANY ONE ADVISOR FUNCTION ALONE ON YOUR BEHALF WITHOUT AN ACCOUNTABILITY SAFEGUARD. THIS MEANS THE POLICY OWNER OR A RELIABLE FAMILY MEMBER SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE TO THE ENTIRE TEAM OF LIFE SETTLEMENT ADVISORS, NOT JUST THE LEADER. THIS IS EXTREMELY CRITICAL IN UNREGULATED STATES.