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Life Health > Life Insurance > Life Settlements

Now’s the Time to Introduce Life Settlements to Accountants

By Robin S. Weinberger, CLU, ChFC, CLTC, and Peter N. Katz, J.D., CLU, ChFC

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Accountants can be a great source of business, so producers are always looking for something new, exciting and different to get their attention. Many accountants may have never heard of, are still confused about or are simply unaware of life settlements. But when they learn a little about the topic, invariably, they want to know more.

Now that April 15th has come and gone, this is the perfect time to contact accountants about life settlements. With tax season behind them, they usually have more time available to meet with you. But most importantly, they recently met with all or most of their clients to prepare tax returns, so they are up to date on their clients’ financial situations. With a little education, you can help them recognize opportunities that might yield a prospect for a life settlement. Before clients lapse or surrender policies they no longer want, need or can afford, the accountant should contact you to see if see if there could be unexpected salvage value in those policies.

Ask accountants if any of their clients have recently:

  • retired,
  • sold a business,
  • lost a spouse,
  • got divorced,
  • lost a job, or
  • run into financial problems.

If so, these same folks may have:

  • convertible term insurance that is expiring or nearing the end of the guarantee period,
  • convertible term insurance that is coming to the end of the conversion period,
  • too much insurance due to changing needs, or
  • policies that they simply can no longer afford.

Here are some other situations not to be overlooked:

  • key man policies on partners of law firms/professional firms who are retiring,
  • the unconverted piece of a partial term conversion, or
  • term policies bought to cover loans that have been repaid.

Under the right circumstances, a life settlement is one more way of doing good for clients and prospects. But you can’t help them if they are not made aware of the opportunity. One of the best ways to seek out these opportunities is through accountants. Who knows more about their clients than the accountant, who just went through all their financial data to prepare their tax returns? The moment to act is now, when they have the time to listen and while the details of their clients’ situations are freshly on their minds. It’s up to you to educate them, so policies will not lapse or be terminated with unrealized value. Knowledge is power. With newfound knowledge, you could make an accountant a hero to his or her clients.

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