Does this policy still do what it was bought to do?
Your own policy, your company’s, or a client’s — whether it was bought twenty years ago or proposed last week, that’s the question worth answering first.
A financial-risk analysis that happens to include a contract
Plenty of people can produce a policy report or pull an updated projection from the insurer. That isn’t the hard part, and on its own it doesn’t tell you much.
The question we’re answering isn’t “is this a good policy?” It’s does this contract appropriately address the financial risk it’s supposed to address?
Those are different questions, and they can have opposite answers. A well-built policy solving a problem you no longer have is still the wrong policy. A plain, unremarkable policy quietly doing exactly its job is the right one.
The order matters
We deliberately don’t open the illustration first. Judging a contract before establishing what it’s for is how people end up replacing policies that were working.
- 1Define the objectiveWhat was this meant to accomplish, and what does it need to accomplish now?
- 2Reassess the riskDoes that risk still exist, and how large is it today?
- 3Understand the contractStructure, ownership, beneficiaries, funding, guarantees, performance, sustainability.
- 4Compare the contract to the objectiveAnd only then, what if anything should change.
Six honest conclusions
Keep it
The policy is addressing the risk appropriately. Nothing needs to change. This is a real finding and a common one — not what we say when we couldn’t find something to sell.
Fine-tune it
The contract is sound but the funding, ownership, beneficiary designation or death benefit deserves a second look.
Keep it, and fill the gap
The policy does its job. There’s a separate risk it was never meant to cover.
Right-size it
The need has changed. What’s in place may be larger, or shaped differently, than the situation now calls for.
Upgrade it
When a new policy clearly beats yours — but only after weighing the existing contract against the alternatives, the risk of switching, having to qualify medically again, cost, guarantees and tax consequences. Never as a starting assumption.
Exit it
The underlying need may be gone, or another strategy may serve it better.
Business-owned policies
Key-person coverage, buy-sell funding and executive benefit plans were each bought for a plan that may have changed since. We check that the amounts still match the agreement, that ownership and beneficiaries are set up the way the plan requires, and that the coverage will still be there when it’s needed.
Reviewing a client’s policy with you
Send us the policy, or bring us into the conversation. We review it against what it was meant to accomplish, report our findings to you and your client together, and leave the relationship exactly where it is. If a change is warranted, you and your client decide whether we implement it.
The cost of doing nothing, and the cost of doing something
Sometimes leaving a situation alone carries a real financial cost, and we’ll put a number on it. Other times keeping a well-designed policy exactly as it is turns out to be the most sensible decision available — and that deserves to be demonstrated, not assumed.
A review should be able to reach either conclusion and show its work.
We don’t sell insurance. We help people who need it get it right.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to acquire life insurance — and we see a lot of it put in place the wrong way.
We represent the market, not one insurance company — so if a change is warranted, the product, the company and the design are chosen for you, not for us. And if your policy is doing its job, we’ll tell you that.
Opinion is not expertise.
Everyone has an opinion about life insurance; few have the training and experience behind it. Financial risk management and life insurance are our expertise, not our opinion.
How an engagement begins
An initial conversation is complimentary. Comprehensive policy reviews are professional engagements and may involve a fee. If a fee applies, we’ll define the scope and the cost before asking you to complete the full review process.
The first step is short: what you own, roughly, and what’s prompting the question. From that we send you a short initial review — the questions we think need answering, whether a comprehensive review looks warranted at all, what documents it would take, and what it would cost.
If it doesn’t look like a comprehensive review would earn its fee, we’ll tell you that. That’s a legitimate outcome of the first step.
Start a policy review conversation
Tell us what you own, roughly, and what’s prompting the question.
Start a Policy Review Conversation