The Unger Company analyzes insurance companies and policies for high and ultra high net worth clients in a way no Internet best of list can. The benefits of wealth your family enjoys today will continue providing you make the right choice. Call us today to learn more.
A large component of the estate tax strategy The Unger Company Ltd. uses in our asset protection plans is to employ various types of insurance to counterweigh the tax implications of high and ultra-high net worth estates. This is much more complicated than calling an 800 number and signing up for a life insurance policy that someone may see advertised in a TV commercial.
The conversations we have with our high and ultra-high net worth clients often involve a basic question: How do we construct the best policy with the best life insurance company? People come into our universe with certain biases due to pre-existing relationships with various insurance entities, so from our perspective the question is very natural.
We took a few minutes and checked Google: “What is the best life insurance company?” We found one list after another purporting to have exhaustively analyzed and reached a conclusion on a list of top providers. These “top” lists, sometimes three, sometimes 10, came from such sources as U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, NerdWallet, CNBC, Investopedia, USA Today, Money…the list of lists goes on and on. If none of these are really “the best”, then it begs the question: Where do I start? We tell our clients that it’s not only the insurance company, but it’s the policy design and its funding that are key.
After doing this for five decades, The Unger Company can tell anyone who asks that different insurance companies and different insurance products have uses that can be applied and structured very differently depending on the application. While we aren’t pointing any fingers or denigrating any of these well-intentioned lists, we would caution any high net worth individual (HNWI) or ultra-high net worth individual (UHWNI) who is doing a bit of shopping to stop and talk to an expert (like us).
Where can the problems lie? For people with very large, complex estates who want to ensure wealth transfer, there are a number of long-range tax planning considerations that need to be made, understood and accounted for before making an insurance buying decision. In another article, we will dig deeper into the methodology of designing a bespoke policy, meaning a policy tailored to your needs, and this is an incredibly important consideration. Our analysis and decision-making on behalf of our clients isn’t driven by choosing off-the-shelf products that are perfectly well suited for people with average sized estates, but not for those in the $10 million-plus that is our specialty.
For The Unger Company, choosing an insurance company is a bottom-up and not top-down process. We are constructing an insurance program that is part of a broader, more involved estate plan that must be designed to comply with the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), or our clients could be left with a very severe tax liability. This is exactly what we are here to help our clients avoid.
The Unger Company designs and implements insurance solutions to the complex tax problems that the estates of HNW and UHNW individuals encounter. We are experts in insurance, tax law and estate planning, and devise elegant, efficient strategies to negate most, if not all, estate tax issues. The Unger Company works in tandem with your existing team of attorneys, financial consultants and accountants to ensure that your wealth transfer plan will not leave the next generation having to pay the tax man. Call us at 212-755-4777 or contact us here at your earliest opportunity.
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Harold Unger LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harold-m-unger-9453aa73/
The Unger Company Ltd. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/93617123/
Keywords: #wealth transfer, #estate tax strategy, #asset protection, #long-range tax planning, #HNW UHNW estate
