A Team Approach To Insurance

When it comes to insurance, coordination between different financial professionals leads to a greater client experience and more efficiencies across the board. When there are multiple parties involved such as advisors, insurance experts, attorneys, trustees and CPAs the process can be grueling if each acts independently of one another.

In our experience, while the end result may be the same, the path traveled is drastically different for clients whose advisors understand coordination, and those who do not.

Coordinating diverse professionals requires a high level of planning.


This is especially true of the trust-owned life insurance policies we encounter.

Here’s a look at a case study that went especially well:


One of our advisors had a client who needed second-to-die insurance for estate planning. This policy was to be held in trust. The clients lived in one state while the trustee lived in another. There was an attorney who was drafting the new trust and the advisor who worked with us to determine the appropriate insurance.

The first call was scheduled by the advisor to include the client, our consultant and the attorney. The advisor ran the meeting efficiently, covering not only the insurance (how much they needed, what type of carriers, and what type of products), but we were also able to venture into the trusts and estates attorney’s realm (how it would be owned, why it should be owned in trust and, how to coordinate for their children). All parties were on the same page and agreed to all decisions.

The advisor then took ownership of the process by helping to get the trust created with the attorney, all while keeping us in the loop as we dealt with the underwriting on the insurance. We were able to work with the advisor and the client to coordinate signatures for all the applications from both the clients, and the trustee. We also worked with the advisor to coordinate the setup of a trust account, and schedule premium payments to coincide with the policy being issued.

All of this work fell to the advisors, without the client having to attend multiple meetings or go through exhaustive work. For them, it was effortless. This is not always the case. Many times, advisors are less involved and allow the client to work independently with the insurance professional, CPA and attorneys. The end result can be conflicting recommendations, multiple meetings and additional, unexpected paperwork. These avoidable pitfalls are one of the reasons clients have an unfavorable experience with insurance.

How are you helping coordinate your client’s advisors? Do you have the right team members in place?