Insurance & Risk Management

The process of reviewing life, disability, property & casualty, long-term care and medical insurance and designing a program to protect against financial loss.

It is best to start by evaluating all current insurance policies to determine if you are over- or under-insured for certain coverage, then decide if there are gaps in your insurance plan that need to be addressed.

Reasons for Asset Protection

• Claims against your wealth – Potential creditors, litigants, ex-spouses, spouses of children all may make claims against your wealth if not properly protected
• Unforeseen events – Catastrophic losses and identity theft can affect your assets without insurance on your assets

Insurance on Home, Car, and other assets

• Insurance on belongings – Belongings along with assets need adequate protection. These belongings include things such as your home and car
• Protection against perils – assets that may be subject to any number of perils (fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc.) should be covered

Long-term Disability

• Replace job-related income – if a major disability prevented you from working, this insurance helps compensate the income you may lose
• Young w/ high income – Many different people have long-term disability insurance but young, high-income earners should strongly consider this type of insurance

Long-term Care

• Nursing or Home Health Care Services – Costs associated with nursing home or home health care services can decimate wealth not for those who have not planned to cover those costs
• Baby-Boomers – LTC insurance is becoming increasingly popular as the millions of baby-boomers enter retirement

Other Protection Strategies

• Trusts – irrevocable trusts, grantor trusts, residence trusts, qualified domestic trusts, dynasty trusts, charitable trusts and more
• Pre- and Post-nuptial agreements – Either before or after the official marriage, couples enter in a written, form contract that spells out how the property will be divided as well as spousal support in the event of a divorce. These agreements are especially important when there is a significant disparity in wealth between the spouses. Separate legal representatives should be used for each spouse to avoid conflict in the future
• Theft Protection Strategies – Protection against theft can be gained by both “low-tech” and “high-tech” strategies.
  • Low-tech strategies include: reducing the amount of crucial ID and info that you carry in your wallet or purse, keeping important documents (Social Security Card, passport, etc.) at home, and shredding account and financial statements
  • High-tech strategies include: Using only guaranteed secure connections when sending financial information, being aware and avoiding “phising” (falsely identifying oneself to obtain information) emails, installing and updating anti-virus and anti-spam software, and downloading security patches to help block intruders