Policy Management
Enhancing your Insurance Experience by Bridging Expectations with Results
This is accomplished through an effective combination of technology, a dedicated team of policy management professionals and a process developed from ValMark’s 50+ years of experience with sophisticated life insurance policies.
Together, they form a durable bridge connecting your expectations of promised policy benefits with actual results. Our goal is to give you the assurance of ongoing policy performance, as it was designed, while creating what we believe is a superior insurance experience. Potential advantages to both policy holders and trustees include:
- Assurance of ongoing policy performance, as it was designed
- Access to all policy information in one centralized location
- Assurance that your insurance needs continue to be met
- Automated trust administration and documented policy performance
- Assurance of ongoing service by a trusted third party
Policy Design and Analysis
Protecting Your Clients’ Wealth | Life Assurance 360™
A Disciplined Process for Insurance Company Evaluation, Policy Design and Management
Whether you are evaluating your client’s existing coverage or investigating new insurance, Ascent Insurance Advisors uses a unique four-step process called Life Assurance 360™. This enables us to make certain your client’s policy fits their current needs and continues to serve its intended purpose for the duration of the policy.
By taking a comprehensive, 360° approach to designing, implementing and managing life insurance, we believe that the outcome produced for your clients is better than when each of these steps is addressed in isolation. The steps below reflect the professional evaluation process you can expect when working with us.
LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY EVALUATION
This step involves a due diligence review of:
- The company’s financial strength. We consider over 30 quantitative and qualitative metrics gathered from numerous sources; then assess this objective data in light of the economic environment, accounting practices and regulatory issues to develop a comprehensive financial picture of the carrier. Next, we rank the company according to its claims paying ability, overall competence and financial performance, and repeat this process quarterly as new financial data is released.
- The company’s past practices, especially its demonstrated commitment to policy holders in the form of guarantees
- The company’s product portfolio in regard to its suitability for sophisticated planning needs in custom financial, business, and estate plans
PLAN DESIGN
This step involves an examination of the product and plan structure to ensure they are suited to the client’s intended purpose. In the process, we examine the five elements that will have the greatest impact on the overall design of the plan.
- Safety—the degree of protection provided by the death benefit and the equity in the policy
- Flexibility—the ability to modify the plan as needs and circumstances change
- Equity—the ability to accumulate accessible cash value in the policy
- Certainty—the degree of certainty that policy design parameters will perform as expected, including an examination of the product’s potential performance in a variety of circumstances using stress tests
- Competitiveness—The product’s relative price and quality competitiveness with other similar products in the marketplace
UNDERWRITING ADVOCACY
The life insurance application process can produce many unintended results if it is not managed proactively and with the proper level of expertise. We have found that the key to avoiding unwanted surprises in this critical step is to have knowledgeable professionals advocating at the insurance company level on your client’s behalf.
Using our knowledge of how insurance company underwriters, medical directors and actuaries make decisions, we leverage our insight to confidentially represent, clarify and coordinate the details of the client’s application throughout each phase of the underwriting process.
By proactively addressing negative information, we position your client’s information in a positive light to the insurance company and remove as many surprises as possible to obtain favorable underwriting offers that can effectively lower the cost of insurance.
POLICY MANAGEMENT
Without proper maintenance, even the soundest structures are prone to failure. That’s why we believe that the final element in crafting a sustainable insurance plan is ongoing maintenance. In addition to continuous monitoring of the client’s policy, annual reviews should convey critical information required for the upkeep of the plan, including:
- Comparing the policy’s current performance with the most recent design specifications to determine if any recalibration is required in regard to death benefit, premiums or asset allocation of sub-accounts
- Summarizing and reporting policy activity since the last policy review
- Updates on the insurance company’s financial strength
- Updates on new or beneficial policy features available
Why Policies Need to Be Reviewed Regularly
Prolonged low interest rates have pressured insurance companies to seek new avenues to increase profitability. In addition to raising the cost of new policies and reducing their contractual guarantees, several major insurance companies have increased mortality costs on existing coverage.
In these cases, the projected duration of the policies will be shortened, and policyholders will be required to pay significantly increased premiums to be certain their policies will last their lifetimes. These challenges have become more problematic when larger estates and corporate insurance arrangements are involved.
The Importance of Carrier Financial Strength
Several insurance companies are making foundational changes in the way they conduct business which could have an adverse impact on your clients’ policies. For example, some companies have sold large blocks of business to non-insurance entities which may not be equipped to properly manage in-force policies.
Legacy Planning
Preserve and Protect Your Life’s Work
Our comprehensive estate plans directly address the federal transfer tax system of gift, estate, generation skipping, excise and income taxes. Depending upon your specific needs, our plans include:
- Strategies to reduce estate taxes
- Charitable giving techniques with income tax savings
- Continuation plans for family-owned businesses
When you purchased your policies, you may have made certain assumptions about policy charges, interest rates, planned premiums, and other issues. But life is constantly changing. The original reason for your purchase may still exist, yet your needs may have changed, requiring more or less coverage. That’s why it’s important to regularly review all of your personal and business insurance coverages.
Transforming Your Life’s Work From Success to Significance
Too often, families have witnessed the final breath of a loved one setting into motion costly, avoidable financial consequences. The tragic result is a message that represents a contradiction to a responsible life of hard work.
Ascent Insurance Advisors helps clients transform their life’s work from success to true significance…passing value, responsibility, and stewardship ethics to those they care about. The result? A meaningful legacy that completes the circle.
Business and Succession Planning
In the rush of day-to-day business activities, many business owners become so engrossed in running their companies, they inadvertently put their personal finances on the back burner. As clients’ businesses grow and develop, it’s important they keep their priorities on track so their business activities are consistent with their personal financial goals.
Drawing upon our extensive experience helping business owners and entrepreneurs, we can help clients prepare for, plan and fund various business strategies designed to protect clients and help them accomplish their financial goals. In many cases, life insurance is the most appropriate and tax-favored funding vehicle for these strategies. Examples include:
- Buy-Sell Arrangements
- Key Person Insurance
- Non-Qualified Executive Benefit Plans
- Business Continuation Planning
Life Settlements
When a Life Insurance Policy Is No Longer Needed
- Changes in planning needs (e.g., retirement income needs, changes in estate taxes, business changes, etc.)
- Changes in policy structure (e.g., carrier-imposed premium increases, reduced duration of coverage, and other policy performance problems)
- Allow the policy to lapse
- Surrender the policy for cash value
- Restructure the policy
- Exchange for a new life policy or an annuity the policy
- Pursue a life settlement when a higher net value seems likely
Important Considerations
Underwriting Advocacy
A Proactive Approach to Obtaining Favorable Underwriting Offers and Policy
We accomplish this through a proprietary informal underwriting process where we complete 90% of the underwriting BEFORE an application is submitted to an insurance company. This preliminary process enables us to pre-qualify underwriting offers from insurance companies, while protecting your Personal Health Information from the Medical Information Bureau so that your insurability remains unharmed.
As a result, we are able to deliver very favorable underwriting offers to our clients. Once received, the top offers from various companies are analyzed by our team. We match the best underwriting results to the appropriate product and optimized solution. We then discuss all of this information with you so that you can make an informed decision.
Instant Decision Term Insurance
Apply now for term life insurance in as little as 8 minutes!
If you have loved ones that depend on your income, then life insurance is a necessity. Your family needs your ability to replace your income and term life provides that protection at a great value. Term life insurance is still very affordable in your 40s and 50s, but is it important to lock in lower rates now to protect your family.
Apply online and answer a few quick questions to get your Free Quote. Within minutes, we’ll help you find the policy that best meets your needs. You may even qualify for up to $2M in coverage with no medical exams required. Get covered in as little as 10 minutes!
Long-Term Care
Managing the Risk of Long-Term Care
Advances in medicine, technology and health awareness have allowed us to live longer. However, with greater longevity comes the risk of eventually needing some type of extended health care. How you prepare for that possibility directly impacts the security of their entire portfolio and can pose one of the greatest threats to their retirement income security.
As health care costs continue to rise, more and more people are wisely deciding to assign the risk of needing long term care (and the financial impact that comes along with it) to an insurance company through a hybrid life and long-term care insurance policy.
After we assess clients’ personal situations, we can help them design a policy and plan that are individually tailored to protect their assets now and in the future for a variety of situations. These plans can help:
- Cover the costs of long-term care,
- Provide emergency funds when clients need access to liquid assets, and
- Create a financial legacy they can leave to their loved ones or favorite charity
Concierge Services
These private insurance services are made possible by:
- Proven methodology and technology
- A dedicated team of experienced insurance operations specialists
- Strong relationships with the industry’s leading insurance carriers
- Over 50 years of experience providing private, sophisticated services to valued clients of ValMark insurance professionals.
