5 Underutilized Insurance Strategies

Benjamin Haas |

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I’m not sure that anyone has ever referred to me as an insurance salesman. But make no mistake about it, as a comprehensive financial planner, I recommend insurance all the time. Regardless of your phase of life, insurance can serve many purposes. In fact there a couple insurance strategies that I think are greatly underutilized in the financial planning process.

In this series, I’ll share 5 different strategies that I find myself often recommending, and where I’m often surprised that they haven’t yet been considered. To help illustrate my planning thoughts, I’ll also give you an inside look at specific situations that typically call for the strategy I’m going to outline.

Here’s a sneak peak at what’s ahead:

  • Pre-retirees typically worry about the anticipated expenses associated with rising healthcare costs. Yet few save for this future expense, directly, when drafting a retirement plan. Enter the health savings account.
  • As investors, most of my clients understand investment risk and look for ways to mitigate the risk of losing money by being thoughtful about their allocation and diversifying their holdings, for example. But that investment risk may pale in comparison to the risk of loss if you are sued because someone trips and falls on your property, or you have a bad accident with your car, or your child does something incredibly stupid. Enter liability insurance.
  • I hear two common arguments against having insurance as a retiree. First, why have life insurance when I don’t owe anyone anything. Second, why pay for long-term care insurance if I may never need to use it. Yet long-term care costs are skyrocketing making insurance almost necessary. Enter a life policy with an accelerated benefits rider.
  • There are a lot of business owners. Yet few have a succession plan. If the owner doesn’t wake up tomorrow, who buys the business and how to they afford the price tag? Enter buy/sell insurance.
  • Most people I work for aspire to leave a legacy behind, somehow. So while it may seem counterintuitive to pay for life insurance later in life, it can be a great estate planning tool based on its tax-free nature and leverage. Even more effective if there is a healthy pair who can be insured Enter a second-to-die policy.

The theme with insurance is simple for us. We find it important to protect what’s important to you. So some of the strategies we will address in this series are obvious recommendations. With them we say, “just do it.” Others fit more specific situations, but where appropriate, can make great impacts on a plan while also seeking to provide greater confidence. Because the reality is, sometimes things don’t work out in life. But those things are made exponentially worse when an emotional travesty then becomes a financial one as well.

Tune in to see which of these strategies might be worth your consideration. Because odds are, if you haven’t done a comprehensive financial plan with a Certified Financial PlannerTM like me, you may be part of the reason I call them “underutilized.”

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Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA and SIPC. Investment advice offered through U.S. Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor. U.S. Financial Advisors and Haas Financial Group are separate entities from LPL Financial. 

This material contains only general descriptions and general strategies for use of insurance products. This content is not a solicitations to purchase any insurance product nor is it intended as any financial advice. If you need more information or would like personal advice you should consult our office.