From Business Success to Family Security: Insurance Planning with Purpose

Thank you everyone for joining us today for today's webinar from business success to family security insurance planning with purpose. My name is Ryan Walker. I'm a senior wealth manager with Stansberry Asset Management and I'm very excited to bring you the next installment of our wealth planning education series. Over the last few months, we've covered a lot of topics such as estate planning 101, charitable giving strategies, how to prepare for the future. Life's What Ifs and last month's very popular Gold and Inheritance Webinar. To find historical recordings, just navigate to our website at StansberryAM.com. Under the Media Hub drop down, you'll find the videos link. Today, we're going to be bridging the gap between holistic financial planning and insurance planning through risk mitigation and efficient options to consider. We're really excited as well to bring on an expert guest speaker, Will Dudley, to offer different vantage points related to insurance planning and some strategies to consider. Will, thank you for joining us today. We're happy to have you. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to our discussion. Yes, me as well. Looking forward to it. We have a lot of ground to cover. So with that, I wanted to provide a little bit of my background. I've been with Sam for the last several years and have been in the industry since 2008. I'm a certified financial planner. I'm also a certified exit planning advisor, meaning that I work with business owners one-on-one, typically in the small to mid-sized business space in terms of developing a business succession plan and how to integrate that into their own personal financial plan. I also work with non-business owners one-on-one to develop financial planning and other retirement goal setting. I'm very happy to bring in experts like Will from time to time. When necessary to time to time to time to time to time to time. I'm very happy to bring in experts to know what's going on. I'm very happy to bring in experts to know what's going on. I'm excited for this discussion and I probably wake up more often than most thinking about insurance. I do get excited about the topic and certainly incorporating insurance planning into an overall financial plan has many benefits. I'm looking forward to sharing some of my perspectives today. So a little about my background. I'm an affiliate partner with Crescent Wealth. We've got about eight locations throughout the United States. We're a financial services firm and really focus on holistic life insurance planning. Oftentimes we partner with other financial advisors, CPAs, or estate planning attorneys to provide the solutions to reach clients' desired goals and goals. And objectives through the use of life insurance. We're an independent firm. We're an independent firm. So we work with numerous life insurance carriers to help identify the best possible structure, carrier, and product to meet their goals and objectives. Oftentimes, as I said, I partner with other financial advisors and estate planning attorneys. So we always love working collaboratively. And at the end of the day, it's all about how life insurance works. And provide the most economic value can provide the most economic value as part of the overall financial plan. Well, thank you, Will. We're really happy to have you. And we have a lot, as I mentioned, a lot to cover. So in terms of the meat and potatoes, we're going to plan to cover some upcoming, really exciting tax law changes and how that could impact the bottom line of your estate and legacy planning, such as the upcoming expected estate tax exemption sunset provisions that go into the next year. We'll also focus on different ways to go into the next year. We'll also focus on different ways to enhance the legacy value of retirement assets over time, such as 401k, Roth IRA, other tax advantaged accounts. Different strategies that we've identified to protect your business and key employees, as well as potentially attract future talent, along with other opportunities to add some flexibility and protection. using life insurance. And the strategies discussed today are intended to be educational in nature. They shouldn't be construed as a recommendation specifically. As always, you should coordinate your specific goals and situation with your wealth manager, your insurance specialist, like Will, your CPA, and attorneys to determine appropriateness, as each case does tend to require individual planning and analysis. Will, do you have any broad comments about insurance planning and how that will be weaved into today's discussion and general high level? Yeah, you know, insurance planning touches a lot of facets within the overall financial plan, as I said, whether it's individual planning for protective reasons, as an asset class to transfer wealth, but also for business purposes to protect the ownership, protect the families that make up a business. along with those key executives. So life insurance can be incorporated into a myriad of different plans to effectively and efficiently mitigate a risk of a premature death, hedge any sort of market volatility, tax rates, but also to provide peace of mind that in the event the unforeseen does happen, there is a plan in place to make sure that there is a plan in place to make sure that there is a plan in place to make sure that there is a plan in place. or nice! That's a plan in place to make sure that people make sure that the goals and objectives of the individual family or business owner remain intact and can be carried out. Real good. Yeah, I mean one thing as of course you're on the insurance side of the industry, I'm on the financial planning side of the industry, often times planning you know runs concurrently across those paths. One thing that I wanted to get viewers up to speed with is how we view financial planning here at SAM. So we put together this visual. As you can see, it's in a wheel-based format. And we realized bottom line is that before you're truly able to understand where you want to go in the future, it's important to fully understand in depth where you are today. And we wholeheartedly believe that that's where holistic financial planning comes in. So for today's webinar, before we discuss some specific strategies related to insurance, I wanted to walk folks through the holistic financial planning process at SAM. Oftentimes, we start off at the top of the wheel. There are six steps throughout the financial planning process. And it always starts with defining the scope and goals and objectives of the specific client and wealth manager relationship. Once that scope is defined, we move on to step two, gathering the client's information. This could be copies of insurance policies that are currently in force. It could be a copy of last year's tax return, other investment account statements, social security benefits statements, and so on. From there, step three, analyze is completed and led by the wealth manager before developing and moving on to the recommendation process at the bottom of the wheel. Those recommendations are then presented to the client by the wealth manager and any agreed upon recommendations are then implemented. That's where we move on to the apply phase throughout the planning process. The last step, step six, is reviewing any updates that might need to be made related to a client's goals and objectives. And typically, we recommend that the financial plan be reviewed annually. Could be more frequently than that if you're nearing retirement or if there's big objective changes throughout the year, changes to income or expenses that might impact the way that our recommendations are being formed. Here at SAM, typically, the first five steps throughout the planning process are completed over two to three separate meetings with your wealth manager. And if you haven't gone through the financial planning process with your wealth manager yet, I would encourage you to reach out to schedule your first consultation as it is an included service as a client. Financial planning, estate planning, and insurance planning, as I mentioned, can run concurrently. And even though today's education is going to focus squarely on insurance, it's important to also consider the other planning factors. They can influence the recommendations that we give. So for now, I'm going to transition back over to Will to walk us through some important reminders about life insurance for any policies that you might currently have in force. Yeah, great. Thanks, Ryan. You know, policy reviews are one of the most important roles of my job. As you suggested, as you suggested, any financial planning, there are certain parts of that plan that ebb and flow as goals change over time. Oftentimes, our clients, they will have purchased a life insurance contract five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. At that time, they have different goals and objectives than they currently do. So it's very important to review. Review some of the basic elements like the ownership, the beneficiary information, but also to review the performance of the policy. Have all premiums been paid? You know, has the policy performing? As it was illustrated, there's many different dynamics inside of a life insurance contract that can impact performance. And then most importantly, is the current structure, is the current performance going to best fit the goals and objectives that best fit the goals and objectives that exist today. Oftentimes, the existing policy is exactly what the client needs. It addresses that same goal and objective that existed 15, 20 years ago when the policy was put in force. Oftentimes, we can do a review of the market to determine if those goals and objectives have changed or if there are other products that have changed. that are available in the market that are available in the market that may be more efficient. We may be able to provide a more cost efficient solution by perhaps securing additional debt benefit with the same premium outlay or reducing the premium outlay with the same death benefit. So it's very important to, as you suggested, go through that holistic financial plan, really determine what are the goals and objectives of your life insurance portfolios. And then make sure that the existing contracts do most efficiently address those goals and objectives. Absolutely. Those are some really important points to hit home. And I would encourage viewers today to hang in to the end of the webinar, even if it feels like some of the topics today might not apply directly to you. We have some details at the end of today's webinar about a really great offer, both up by Sam and and Will, and Will to take advantage of a complimentary review. And that review would be directly with Will to have some of these points reviewed, even if it's just to check the boxes and make sure that current insurance policies that are in force are meeting your goals, are owned by the right people, that the beneficiaries are designated correctly. Just for that peace of mind alone, it would be a really intriguing offer. So I encourage you to hang in to the end so that you have all the best. All those instructions in order to take advantage. With that, I mentioned a few slides ago, the estate tax sunset provision. First, I want to answer the real broad question, what is estate tax? It's also known as the death tax. And it's a pretty considerable federal tax at the rate of 40% when an estate is valued above a specific limit. And it typically changes each year based on inflation. The tax doesn't apply to a surviving U.S. citizen spouse. It does apply to estates of non-spousal heirs like children, siblings, or other family members. If the value of the estate after death and the formal valuation is completed is under the limit, there's no federal estate tax or death tax. And because the current estate tax exemption is so high, right now for married couples, it's about $28 million in 2025. Less than 1% of estates would actually pay any federal estate tax at all. However, with the sunset or the sharp reduction to the exemption expected next year in January of 2026, the number of estates that could be taxed at that 40% federal rate, goes way up. You'll notice that there's a big question mark on the year 2026 in the chart on the slide here. And that's because there are uncertainties about whether the current estate tax exemption is going to be extended. It's currently part of the Tax Cuts and Job Act, which was initially passed during President Trump's first term in office back in 2017. And while the administration has said publicly that they want the Tax Cuts and Job Act extended, it's a complex situation. It's a complex situation. It needs to be negotiated. And it's part of other budgeting efforts as well. So for planning purposes, we should use the expectation that the estate tax exemption is going to drop very sharply. That's roughly 50% starting next year. The chart shown here is the combined spousal exemptions. Single filers would be at half half these values or about $14 million in 2025. If your estate may be above these projected values in 2026. So that would be after the 50% reduction, $7 million for an individual or $14 million for a married couple, you should work with your estate attorney as soon as possible because planning does take time and the environment is changing very soon. So there is a need for urgent emergency if your net worth. If your net worth is above these levels to discuss family and irrevocable trust gifting. The key word is irrevocable trust, not a regular living or revocable trust. There are some other ways to potentially reduce the value of your estate as well. The tax above the threshold, as a reminder, is 40% on the federal level. For those of you who may choose to retire in the future, based on state-specific laws, you should know that the top five least friendly death tax states are Maryland, Oregon, Washington, New York, and Massachusetts. For example, Oregon's estate tax exemption is only a million dollars, and it's also not portable between spouses unless estate planning tools are implemented in advance. This could add potentially another 10% or more in state tax, which would be in addition to the possible federal taxes, the 40%. So in other words, expert estate planning and the costs associated with it could be well worth the time and money if planned well enough in advance to help reduce the tax liability. One additional factor to keep in mind is that the exemptions that you see on the slide here are considered lifetime exemptions, meaning that you can use them actually while you're living, not just at death. So in theory, if you were to give a portion of your estate to an irrevocable trust or to family in 2025 and you're a married couple, you could potentially use that full $28 million exemption before it sunsets next year. As you can see, estate planning can be very complex and specific. So if any of these strategies discussed might be of interest, you should speak to a licensed estate attorney for advice, again, as soon as possible. Now, how does this all connect with insurance? Now, how does this all connect with insurance? You might wonder. To address that, I have a question for Will. Will, how are you considering insurance strategies to potentially address the estate tax, both on a federal and state level, those liabilities associated with it? Yeah, that's a great question, Ryan. You know, I think before answering that question, it's important to really understand the tax impact of estate assets versus irrevocable. trust assets with respect to estate tax, but also capital gains or a step up in basis. So currently, the law states that any assets owned inside of an estate that exceed the estate tax exemption, which is right now currently right around $28 million, those assets will receive a step up in basis upon the past. the passing of the passing of the passing of the individual or the second spouse. But those assets will also be exposed to a potential 40% estate tax. Any asset gifted or values gifted to an irrevocable trust will escape any sort of estate tax liability when owned inside of that irrevocable trust. Although you eliminate the ability to receive that trust does not receive a step up in basis. upon the liquidation of that asset. So very commonly life insurance is used as an asset class. inside of an irrevocable trust. To my knowledge, there could be others, but to my knowledge life insurance is the only asset. when it's owned inside of an irrevocable trust. So that's an irrevocable trust. That receives that step up in basis through that tax free debt benefit. And so oftentimes, families will get assets, gift values to an irrevocable trust to reduce their estate tax liability. But also another key planning opportunity is the growth of those values can help provide the liquidity. to pay the potential estate tax liability upon the individual or second spouse's passing. Because of some of the tax efficiencies, like the tax free debt benefit, and the inefficient tax environment inside of that irrevocable trust as it relates to capital gains upon the liquidation of that asset. Life insurance is a great non correlating asset. that can be owned by that trust. That can be owned by that trust. That correlates to the insured's passing. That also correlates with a potential estate tax liability. So currently the law state that any estate tax owed by an estate is owed to the IRS within nine months of that individual or the second spouse. So life insurance combined with proper trust planning, an irrevocable trust is a very common way to help shield the growth of the values that you're placing inside of that irrevocable trust to receive that step up in basis, but also to receive the liquidity that will be needed upon the passing of the insured that could correlate closely to when an estate tax would be owed. Sounds like a lot of advantages there. Sounds like a lot of advantages there. You know, certainly we're, we're at crunch time because it's, you know, we have months left until the end of the year. And I imagine that you're, you know, you're working with a lot of high net worth individuals to try to reduce that, that potential, you know, tax liability down the road. So thanks for providing us a little bit more insight into the strategies that are available to take advantage of. It's really helpful. Absolutely. So to tee up our next slide, our next topic for today, Will is going to get us up to speed in terms of estate equalization strategies and some different options to consider. Yeah, great. So, you know, Ryan, as we discussed in our estate tax planning discussion, life insurance could be, is really considered in a form of diversification from an asset class. And I'm not sure if you have any clients that may have family businesses. One, one child desires to be in the family business. The other child has zero interest in being in the family business, but that business represents a significant net percentage of the overall values that will be transferred from one generation. So very commonly, so very commonly, we'll see those families that do have a family business or another illiquid asset. It could be a large real estate holding where one child is, is very interested in that business and, and, and, and the real estate business. And so for, for logical reasons, it makes sense to transfer that business or real estate asset, illiquid asset to, property. For Michael, we Pe piles. that produces a certain amount of income that's valued, the value of the business is a certain amount. We can structure a life insurance contract to equal the value of that transfer of wealth of a liquid asset to the child that is not interested in joining that family business or participating in the real estate space. So it's a great way to add a little bit of flexibility to the estate plan. It's a non-correlating asset. So there again, the value of that life insurance contract will ultimately be paid to the beneficiary upon the passing of the insured. So therefore, it's a great way to equalize the values of an inheritance between one child or children. Now, it's an interesting topic that you bring up and something that I feel like a lot of folks don't truly work through. They think about it. They think about the disequal or unequal, I should say, breakdown of their legacy if one child's involved in a business or if they own a farmland or other real estate. It also comes up when I'm working with clients through the financial planning process with blended families. So children from prior marriages. The state equalization strategies could be beneficial. Also, if there's any special needs family members where maybe one child may need more financial support than other fully able-bodied children and where a special needs trust might come into play. So there's definitely different strategies to work through different family scenarios, business scenarios where equalization of the estate and legacy planning comes into play. One other thing that I've come into communication with a lot of clients about is through the planning process is I find that there generally can be significant assets in qualified accounts through 401. 401k contributions, IRA contributions over the years. And sometimes folks have accumulated too much of their wealth in tax qualified plans with no real need to draw down from those plans over time or to take regular cash flows for household budgeting purposes. So I think a good segue into our next topic would be to ask you the question, Will, for folks who do have significant assets in qualified plan accounts, what common strategies do you use to help mitigate the tax burden for heirs related to insurance planning specifically? Yeah, absolutely. We do see a lot of planning around the topic of qualified plans. So the current laws and Ryan, perhaps as a certified financial planner, you could speak to the taxation of qualified plans, both during the lifetime of the lifetime of the qualified plan owner, but also the taxation of those assets after their passing. Yes. Yeah, of course. So while living and contributing, working, chalking away as much as we can towards retirement, we defer oftentimes part of our salary into pre-tax investment retirement accounts. あのas research is a產品 of how people are at retirement Santa Barbara,企呀. And we look at the vertical장이 in 2020. With that comes the planning opportunity to identify different periods of time or different ages where you might be in a lower tax bracket, typically post-retirement, but before your required minimum distribution kicks in. Currently, that's age 73, but that could certainly change over the years. So for example, if you were to retire at age 65 and no longer have a regular steady stream of salary income, there could be a period of five, six, seven, maybe eight years where you could structure distributions to take advantage of a lower federal and state income tax bracket. When it comes to legacy planning, beneficiaries of tax-qualified accounts, I should say non-spousal beneficiaries, are required to fully distribute from those assets over a 10-year period. So that could drive a beneficiary up into a significantly higher tax bracket, depending on how much wealth we're thinking about. A million-dollar portfolio, for example, inherited in the form of an IRA to a child might have to send out distributions of $100,000 to $150,000 a year. Plus, if that child is working and getting an income, that could push them up into a seriously high tax bracket. So potentially working with working with us or a CFP or their tax attorney or CPA, we could identify periods where it could be advantageous to take a plan distribution, even if it's not meant to be spent, but a plan distribution or consider a Roth IRA conversion or other measures to help mitigate the snowballing tax burden that might be experienced down the road. Yeah. And thanks for reviewing that. And from an insurance perspective, the qualified plans are great accumulation vehicles. Although, as you said, there are some pretty significant tax implications on the values of those assets when they're transferred from one generation to another. So as you suggested, there's a couple opportunities, perhaps taking distributions through required minimum distributions or greater distributions to pay a smaller amount of tax on those dollars today compared to a larger amount later to secure a life insurance contract that will greatly leverage those dollars. So for example, if the required minimum distribution is $100,000, we could take the after-tax amount, we'll call it $65,000 to secure a life insurance contract that unlike the qualified plan, when it transfers from one generation to another, the death benefit pays to the beneficiaries of the contract tax-free. And so that's a very common strategy, especially if there's no concern whatsoever of the owner of that qualified plan needing to access those dollars during their lifetime. So that's very important. That's great. Yeah. Thanks for providing some insight into the different approaches there. And, you know, it's a nice balance between determining what portion of income you might need for your own budget and expenses, and maybe perhaps some of that as your RMD, but then determining if, you know, if you want to set up the next generation to help minimize taxes down the road, especially if they're forced out of a qualified plan over a 10-year period, it can make those forced distributions quite large year to year. Long-term care clearly comes up during the financial planning process. What's the current state of the industry these days will, in terms of traditional long-term care, long-term care policies, if it can be bundled in with a life insurance policy? Can you get us up to speed in terms of the current environment and different ways to reduce that risk? Absolutely. Yeah. So there's really three main types of long-term care products. A traditional long-term care contract, a hybrid LTC contract, and then a life insurance contract with a long-term care rider. So I'll break those down individually. A traditional long-term care insurance product is typically going to be the lowest premium requirement. Although, depending how the contract is structured, there may or may not be the ability to recoup the premiums that have been paid in the event a long-term care event is not. So this type of contract is typically best for someone that may be more budget-oriented, that needs to protect their other assets in the event of an unforeseen long-term care event. But really, if they do have enough budget to secure another type of long-term care contract, there's really no reason for them to plan around recouping that premium expense because there's no beneficiaries for that return of premium. So the pro of this type of contract is typically it's the lowest cost. The con is typically it's a use or lose it type benefit. Now, within the traditional long-term care planning space, there's many, many different types of products that can be structured. in many different ways. So it's always important to really analyze what are the goals and objectives, what's the cash flow, the assets that you're protecting to make the best decision on the type of product that's needed. The next long-term care policy type is a hybrid long-term care contract. There's a couple carriers in the market. Typically, these types of products are structured such that there is a lump sum premium or the premium or the premium is paid over a five to 10 year period. That premium amount typically corresponds to a three and a half to five, six X multiple of long-term care benefits. And so if a female age 60 contributes a lump sum premium of $100,000, there could be a $350,000. to $500,000 to $500,000 long-term care benefit. But in addition to the long-term care benefit, there's also that return of premium in the form of a death benefit. And so for this product type, if $100,000 of premium is paid, perhaps the benefit is $125,000. So this particular product is is really used a lot for those individuals that desire to recoup the premium expense if the long-term care services are never needed, but they do want to plan around and protect their other assets if that long-term care event is ever realized. Typically, these clients that decide to pursue this type of contract more than likely do not have any kids or other beneficiaries where they'd like to really leverage the premium to create a larger transfer of wealth in the event that long-term care rider is never activated. The third policy type is relevant for those families, individuals that have kids, grandkids. They desire to transfer wealth at the same time, they desire to protect their other assets in the event of a long-term care event. And so this is a traditional life insurance contract that will allow for the death benefit to be accelerated anywhere from typically 1% to 4% per month. So for easy math, if there's a million-dollar death benefit in the event of a long-term care event, 1% to 4%, so $10,000 to $40,000 per month can be accelerated per month. Typically, we'll see perhaps a 2% of perhaps a 2% acceleration. A couple other interesting points to know is right now, the cost of long-term care varies greatly from the type of coverage that's needed to the location. But in general, the average cost of long-term care is, we'll call it $75,000 to $100,000. It can be far less or far more than that. Long-term care, the healthcare market in general is experiencing a lot of inflation now. So the thought is the average cost will continually rise pretty significantly. Yeah, that's a high level understanding of the long -term care market and some options that may exist. Great. Thanks for the overview, Will. And I will say that going through financial planning with clients, of course, it is a top concern. And what we try to do is weigh together or weigh the advantages and disadvantages of self-covering those expenses out of portfolio distributions or cash reserves or other sources of capital, or whether they should explore insurance -related ways to reduce that risk. Well, we're up to speed on that topic for now. I hope we don't lose too many folks with the next few slides here. We're going to focus on a little bit of business planning, specifically with business owner clients. Should only be about five to 10 minutes or so covering those topics. Again, please hang on through the end of this presentation so that we can share with you the instructions on how to take advantage of some of the offers we have prepared as part of this presentation today. So incorporating life insurance into business planning, there's really two main categories. And one is more from a business succession perspective. And then another opportunity is through the form of executive benefits. So to get started, we'll quickly cover the highlights of key person and buy-sell insurance planning. For example, a business may have two owners. That business is worth $5 million. Oftentimes, business owners will create with their attorney what's called a buy-sell agreement. And what that allows for the business owners to do is have peace of mind that in the event of a premature death, there is a mechanism and clear instruction on what happens with the business and clear instruction on what happens with the business and how that business will be not only acquired from the deceased partner, but as importantly is how does the deceased partner's family, how does the deceased partner's spouse receive the value that the spouse created in that business. And so buy-sell planning, it requires two different, several different components. A, there needs to be a very detailed conversation with a business attorney to determine what occurs in the event of a premature death or disability from one of the partners. Furthermore, there needs to be a valuation performed on the business and in perpetuity to determine what occurs in the event of a business. So that the buy-sell agreement and the direction found within the buy-sell agreement can dictate how one partner is bought out from another. And then the third component of that is life insurance is a common funding mechanism to facilitate that buyout. And so therefore, if there's a valuation performed, it's reasonable to think that each owner, assuming they're insurable, can secure a life insurance contract insuring them so that in the event of a premature death or disability, there's insurance proceeds that can help with that buyout. So in the example, there's two owners, the business is valued at $5 million through a buy-sell agreement, through properly funded life insurance. Each owner could have a $2.5 million life insurance contract. Depending on the type of the buy-sell agreement. Hypothetically, those funds would flow into the business or whatever entity owns the life insurance contracts. And then the buy-sell agreement would dictate how those funds are paid out to redeem the deceased partner. And then the deceased partner shares, the deceased partner shares, so that the remaining surviving partner would have full control, 100% ownership of the business. They wouldn't be in business with a spouse that may or may not know much about the business. And then furthermore, the deceased partner spouse would then have the liquidity that may be needed to support the rest of their life. At least to the extent of the value of the business. Six to 12 months ago, there was a ruling made, it was the Conley case. And there, essentially the ruling is changing some of the landscape of the buy-sell planning. Because after the Conley case. And there, the death benefit of the estate partner. And there, the death benefit of the estate partner. And there, the death benefit compounded the value of the owner. So not only in the example that we used earlier, the value for estate purposes of, of the owner. Each of those owners share in the business would be $2.5 million. But it was compounded based off the death benefit proceeds. And so that $2.5 million asset was actually impacted by something greater based off the, the, the life insurance proceeds. So at a very high level, it's important to not only review the life insurance policies, but more now than ever before post Conley. It's important to review the type of buy-sell agreement. It's important to review the type of buy-sell agreement because that can impact the tax efficiency of, of that buy-off, the overall valuation of the business. So it's, it's important to make sure that not only the life insurance contracts inside of the, that are owned by the business are performing well, but equally as important, we should consider how is the, what's the structure of the current buy-sell agreement and what impact the business is. And so that's what the latest Conley ruling have on, on, on your buy-sell agreement. That's great. Yeah. The other, the other planning opportunity is, is key person planning. Oftentimes key person in the buy-sell or, or, or, or, or kind of co-mingled with one another, but key person insurance is, is really a, a, a way to protect the business. And the event of a, a, a way to protect the business. And the event of a premature death of, of a key executive or owner that is impactful to the profitability of the organization. Um, perhaps it's, it's someone in management and operations and sales, but if a key person or executive has a premature death and there was an impact to the company's profitability, um, oftentimes companies will secure a key person. And, um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and get back to some of those profit levels that, uh, that has existed prior to that premature death of the key person. Um, so there's a lot of opportunities that, uh, impact both the business, the, uh, the operations of the business, the employees, but also, uh, the actual ownership group and also families that, that make up that business. Great. So what I'm hearing is bottom line. If you're a business owner and you're in business with multiple partners and owners that a combination of either key, key person insurance or buy, sell insurance planning. If you don't have those, um, planning processes in place, it makes sense to set those up. You know, not just for your own personal benefit, but for, for business continuity reasons and, and for heirs and legacy purposes reasons. And also if, if two, you do have existing buy, sell agreements in place, but they were formed prior to this Connolly ruling in 2024, that it would make sense to have those evaluated with a fresh set of eyes to make sure that there aren't any, um, unfavorable tax consequences related to the current structure. Would that be a good summary? Absolutely. Fantastic. Okay. I will add as well that just as a exit planning advisor, shoring up, um, your business's balance sheet with protections and risk mitigation, uh, techniques, it gives you peace of mind. It gives your, your family and heirs financial security, but it also has the potential to drive up the long-term value of your company. If you're ever looking to exit or sell the company, um, down the road, you're going to be able to sell the company. Um, so I think that's a good idea. So where, um, okay. I think so. is really, as the name implies, a benefit for the executives. Typically, this type of planning revolves around attracting, retaining, and rewarding key talent. So a lot of business are in a very, very competitive marketplace, not only with product, but also really good employees. So a properly structured benefit package, not only qualified plans like a 401k, but non-qualified plans can be a great add-on to help attract, retain, and reward some of that top talent. And so there are many ways to structure an executive benefit plan. And so that really is going to boil down to a couple key business structure discussions, cash flow discussions, but also the desire to take a tax deduction in the current year or sometime in the future. There are many different plans that can address the business type or goal and objective of that business. Furthermore, there's ways to create certain vesting schedules. There are ways to mandate that an executive remain at the business for a certain number of years. hit certain metrics. So there's a lot of flexibility with being able to structure that contract. But most importantly, whatever type of benefit is created, it obviously needs to be impactful to maintain that desire to outcome of attracting, retaining, and rewarding key talent. Life insurance can come into this type of discussion as a way to informally that they accumulate funds on a tax-advantaged manner that could pay a benefit in the future. In addition, life insurance is commonly used as an additional benefit to an executive that where they own the policy. So life insurance is used in a myriad of different ways and really depending on the goal, the goals and objectives of the goals and objectives of the business that can be structured in a way that accomplishes exactly what the business owner hopes to accomplish. That's great, Will. Thanks for getting us up to speed on executive benefits and SERPs. And one final thing is that because of the informal nature of this funding is that you are able to discriminate against employees. So you can reward key executives. It doesn't need to be a benefit that's offered to every single employee. So as a business owner, if there's key executives that need to be rewarded in a unique way, sometimes taking advantage of the insurance options can, you know, could be a rewarding path to consider going forward. So some key takeaways, as we learned, there could be estate planning opportunities, tax mitigation strategies, and a slew of other reasons to consider insurance, not just protection. As we've emphasized throughout today's presentation, now is really the time to plan ahead. Don't delay if any of these topics seem to be like they might be appropriate for you to consider. Reach out to the experts, get the process started. Folks like Will could be a great first contact point and then reaching out to your attorney. As we mentioned, they could be in very high demand right now because of the possible 2026 estate tax changes. And again, if your net worth is above either the current or the projected estate tax exemptions, it would be a great deal. So if you're not working with Sam yet, here's our contact information for the firm. For those who are not following us on social media yet, please do We actively post pertinent information appropriate for the current environment. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and we post fairly often. So feel free to follow us. We'd love to have you. Thanks for staying on to the end of the presentation. And here comes the instructions on how to take advantage of the complimentary offers that we had mentioned at the beginning. The QR code shown here on the left can be scanned by prospective clients interested in scheduling a complimentary portfolio consultation. You can also use this QR code by existing clients to schedule a portfolio review meeting with your wealth manager. The code on the right can be scanned to schedule an appointment with Will directly for either a consultation or to review any existing life policies that are currently in force. These reviews will allow you to have peace of mind knowing that the policy is structured appropriately to meet your goals. The QR code on the left is to get in contact with someone from our firm, from Sam and scan the QR code on the right. If you're looking to get in touch with Will directly. Thank you so much for participating in today's webinar. We're very glad to have you and please look forward to future wealth planning education series videos like today. Take care. Thanks for having me Ryan. I enjoyed the discussion. Thanks for joining us Will. Of course. See you next time.