AN ELEVATED APPROACH TO LIFE SETTLEMENTS FOR THE BEST FINANCIAL ADVISORS.

Since 2016, the most trusted resource among wealth management firms to enable conscientious advisors to confidently monetize, for maximum value, older clients' unwanted and surplus life insurance.

TRUSTED BY THE BEST WEALTH MANAGEMENT FIRMS AND ADVISORS IN THE COUNTRY

Confidence is our most important deliverable

We liberate wealth advisors of all stripes from the uncertainty and angst of the traditional life settlement process that has prevented even the most conscientious advisors from considering a solution that can deliver profoundly beneficial results for older clients whose life insurance no longer cost effectively serves the purpose for which it was bought - or whose purpose is no longer relevant - but that can generate meaningful liquidity in a professionally executed settlement.

Sample Results

Experienced

We are capital markets professionals with a deep understanding of how inefficient markets function. After seven years as buyers of in-force life insurance, we set out in 2016 to change the origination side of the market, deploying a more effective price discovery process and engaging the most conscientious wealth management professionals.

Advisor Friendly

End-to-end transparency, active advisor engagement throughout, a complete audit trail, bidding all done on secure ShareFile platform, and the fastest process in the market, with actionable bids in <15 days and funding in 60 days, give you confidence that the engagement has delivered to your highest standards.

Effective

Materially higher winning bids and far lower fees (7.5% vs. 33%) result in substantially higher net proceeds to your clients; for life insurance producers, given our higher winning bids, your comp splitting 10% - 15% with us is comparable to what you receive with brokers.

EXPERIENCE, VALUES, discipline, SOPHISTICATION

Trusted by the best for a reason

We started this business because we were frustrated by what we saw as buyers with a large private equity buyer of in-force life insurance for seven years, offended by the incumbent channel's business practices, opaque and ineffective price discovery, and egregious commissions, knowing that top wealth advisors would never not engage the market in a meaningful way without real change, and believed that we could – and should – do it better.

Meet Us

"My mind is analytical and I love it when someone dives deep into an industry looking for ways to improve it. You have certainly done that with your approach. You did a great job explaining to us why your firm is structurally different from the brokers we used in the past and I appreciate that and agree with your approach. We'll help many families together."

UHNW Insurance Advisor (CFP, ChFC)

Together, we deliver great results.

Leading wealth management firms are increasingly recognizing the need to evaluate older clients’ life insurance as part of the financial and estate planning processes, often identifying policies whose initial protection or estate planning purposes are no longer relevant or cost-effectively achieved - and they either lapse the policy...or explore a settlement.

For those among the latter, we are engaged by many of the most highly-regarded RIAs in the country, including three of the top five, six of the top 10, and a dozen of the top 50 RIAs, representing $2 trillion AUM. We are also engaged by a number of principled life insurance advisors, Trust companies, private banks, fiduciaries, and wirehouse advisors.

Get Started

REAL FAMILIES, REAL RESULTS.

We have a responsibility to deliver professionally for you and your clients.

There are few higher professional callings than to manage the money of someone who has worked a career to acquire it. We know that we play just a tiny little role in that effort that you lead, but we take our responsibility to you and your client in this otherwise niche, bespoke transaction very seriously.

So, nothing gives us greater professional pride than we have achieved the level of engagement - and universal repeat engagement - with so many top firms, including those that avoided the transaction altogether and those that switched to us from the incumbent channel.

Case Studies

top 50 RIAs

100%

have engaged us multiple times

10+

BGA's/IMO's/top producers

LIFE CHANGES, SO DO YOUR CLIENTS' LIFE INSURANCE NEEDS

We have a responsibility to deliver professionally for you and your clients.

Client Engagements

Top 50 RIAs

10+

top BGAs/IMOs/Producers

10+

Trust Companies, other Fiduciary firms

100%

have engaged us multiple times

OUR SUCCESS IS GROUNDED IN DELIVERING FOR YOU

What Your Clients Say about Us

"We were out of luck until 1908 came along. I think ours is a good example of what can be gained and what it takes to get through it, which really was not bad."

$540,000 for $2M GUL

$585 billion wealth manager

"Thank you for all you've done to make this deal happen. You have an incredible work ethic and we are so fortunate that Rich made the introduction. Too bad we can't rate you on Yelp!"

$92,500 for $1M UL

$195 billion UHNW RIA

"I can't believe that they got that much for the policy. I was excited about the possibility of $125,000 and in a million years did not think I could get more than three times that for it."

$439,000 for $1.5M UL

UHNW life insurance advisor/GA

truly effective price discovery, not '"negotiations"

Reliably higher winning bids.

Unlike the incumbent channel, which rewards bargain hunting and rarely - and only by coincidence - discovers a policy's market value, we recognize and take advantage of the fact that each bidder's "private value" for a policy is unique and independent of others' valuations. In only 10%of our auctions do we see pricing converge to a common value, in which case we conduct a one-day run-off, permitting those bidders who are within 5% of the highest bid to refine their bid.

And we get to that answer in 3 days, not two or three months.

Highest Winning Bids

"We have seen time and time again direct evidence of 1908's higher winning bids and faster transaction calendars, not to mention the lower fees, for our clients who have undertaken life settlements."

Senior Insurance Advisor (CFP)

$10B RIA

Podcast Appearance: Smarter Planner Podcast

We speak your language

"Host Belle Osvath, CFP, interviews wealth management industry thought leaders and professionals targeting meaningful and useful information to help you stay on top of your game."

"In this episode, Belle interviews 1908's founder, Scott Sanders, about his company's innovative approach to helping financial planners work with their clients to sell life insurance policies that they and their advisors determine they no longer want or need."

Listen

Intelligent market engagement

We deploy the only institutional-quality process to sell (settle) in-force life insurance policies, engaging only the most reliable capital through regulated intermediaries (Providers), never fringe capital, ensuring the lowest transaction risk, greatest expediency, and highest confidence in the orderly completion of the transaction.

With an in-force illustration, we can give you an assessment as to likelihood of market interest and a range of values where we would expect the policy to trade, before you undertake any real effort to start the market engagement process.

Our Process

10+

bidders

days to policy assessment

days to actionable bids

days to funding

What Clients Say

"Once it was clear how big a difference your approach makes for our clients, we could never again in good conscience go back to the broker we used before we were introduced to you and the 1908 team."

Client Service Lead

$10 billion in-force life insurance advisor (part of $350B RIA)

"I won’t even imagine the reaction of one of our advisors to learning too late that a life insurance partner that we work with didn't engage 1908 and put a shared client into a brokered life settlement and charged our client those outrageous fees."

Head of Insurance Solutions

$190 billion RIA

"I know our advisors just added a new tool to their toolbox and I’m excited to see our teams collaborate."

Region Head, CFA

$15 billion RIA

"Your bids are much higher and you deliver them for our clients *months* faster than we have from other firms that we used in the past."

Director of Risk Advisory

$585B AUM wealth management arm of $1.8T asset manager

"1908's model has turned this sector upside down amidst all these cowboy brokers."

Managing Director (ChFC, CLU)

$30 billion RIA

"Your approach aligns with where the true advice business for life insurance is going, including bringing real transparency to the otherwise murky industry of life settlements."

Vice President (CFP, CLU)

Large national life insurance broker

"We *love* working with you and your team."

Co-Founding Partner (CLU, ChFC)

$10 billion in-force life insurance advisor (part of $350B RIA)

"You are our only partner in the life settlement space and have built an outstanding reputation with our advisors. We appreciate your partnership and the great work you do for our clients!"

Director of Financial Planning (CFP, CPA, LLM)

$28 billion RIA

LIFE CHANGES. SO YOUR CLIENTS' LIFE INSURANCE NEEDS.

Know what to look for.

At least 40,000 HNW/UHNW HH's >72 lapse or surrender $75B of UL and convertible term life insurance each year, 2/3 of which likely have value as a settlement, but, less than $5B is settled, for lack of awareness and comfort with the incumbent channel.

Your intimate knowledge of clients' financial planning objectives and life events that change the utility of a policy, whether purchased for protection, estate planning, or business planning, uniquely positions you to identify and create significant value from that otherwise unnecessary or unwanted asset.

Who & When to Engage

High Cost of Inaction

RECENT ENGAGEMENTS

Rebalancing charitable trust

85 year old healthy male

$350 billion RIA

$12,000,000 GUL

$5,300,000 winning bid

$4,770,000 net proceeds

Change in beneficiaries

91 year old healthy female

Large national wirehouse

$754,000 GUL

$437,400 winning bid

$404,595 net proceeds

Simply no longer wanted policy

73 year old healthy male

$10 billion RIA

$1,500,000 GUL

$130,000 winning bid

$117,500 net proceeds

Illiquid trust

85 year old healthy male

$10 billion RIA

$2,000,000 UL

$200,000 winning bid

$185,000 net proceeds

Unnecessary key man policy

51 year female w/ multiple myeloma

$30 billion RIA

$5,000,000 convertible term

$900,000 winning bid

$832,500 net proceeds

Adjustment of life insurance portfolio

91 year old healthy male and female

$350 billion RIA

$9,800,000 GUL

$4,300,000 winning bid

$3,977,500 net proceeds

Illiquid charitable trust

85 year old healthy female

$10 billion RIA

$5,300,000 GUL

$2,948,000 winning bid

$2,726,000 net proceeds

Illiquid trust

79 year old male/78 year old female

$10 billion RIA

$5,200,000 GUL

$802,500 winning bid

$742,000 net proceeds

Divorce/change in beneficiaries

73 year old healthy male

$70 billion RIA

$3,000,000 GUL

$165,000 winning bid

$152,500 net proceeds

Expired buy/sell agreement

67 year old male w/ cancer diagnosis

General Agent (RIA referral)

$1,500,000 UL (converted term)

$475,000 winning bid

$439,375 net proceeds

Departed CEO policy - company owned

72 year old healthy male

Large public multi-national company

$51,000,000 GUL

$10,000,000 winning bid

$9,500,000 net proceeds

<72/72+

if healthy/if unhealthy

$500K

minimum policy size

Any UL

policy type

THOUGHTS FOR LIFE INSURANCE ADVISORS EXPERIENCED WITH THE INCUMBENT CHANNEL

Financial and Psychic Rationale for Change

Which would clients choose?

Best Interest & fiduciary

Engender confidence of advisors

Much faster go/no-go and less time on process

Comparable compensation while doing the right thing

You receive your fee in 60 days, not 130+

Insights and analysis on the market and options for your clients with surplus and unwanted life insurance.

Our quarterly e-mail newsletter delivers insights on the forces shaping market, ideas on how to identify opportunities and engage your clients, and examples of recent transactions that we have undertaken with the most sophisticated and conscientious wealth advisors, life insurance professionals, and fiduciary and Best Interest advisors of all stripes.

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