Maximizing the value of your HNW clients' unwanted and surplus life insurance.
We have been a trusted partner to top wealth management firms since 2016, enabling advisors to confidently undertake the process to realize the full value of the life insurance that older HNW/UHNW clients no longer want or need.
TRUSTED BY THE BEST WEALTH MANAGEMENT FIRMS AND ADVISORS IN THE COUNTRY
Confidence is our most important deliverable
We help wealth management professionals confidently and efficiently monetize the life insurance policies their older clients no longer want or need — with the transparency, sophisticated price discovery, expedient execution, and reasonable fees that fiduciary standards demand.
Experienced
Capital markets professionals deep and broad experience in this specialized, inefficient, but highly institutional market. We set out in 2016, after seven years on the buy-side, to change the origination side of the market, deploying the most effective price discovery process and engaging the best wealth management professionals.
To Your Standards
Disciplined transaction calendar, end-to-end transparency, 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 it will be executed to your standards.
Effective
The highest 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, while doing the right thing for your client and winning the trust of other advisors.
Together, we deliver great results.
Leading wealth management firms increasingly recognize the need to evaluate clients' life insurance as part of financial and estate planning — identifying policies whose original purpose no longer justifies the cost, and facing a choice: lapse, surrender, or settle.
When that moment arrives and you assess that exploring a settlement makes sense, advisors nationwide trust us to run the industry's most professional engagement, generating the highest bids and greatest net proceeds — often hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars more than a straight surrender (and other means to engage buyers) would return.
REMARKABLE results for real families
A fundamentally different approach, delivering fundamentally better outcomes
Conscientious wealth advisors have for years been faced with a Faustian bargain of foregoing altogether the benefit of the sale of a client's unwanted life insurance policy or engaging a distribution channel that simply does not operate with the same level of sophistication or client advocacy that you do.
We have made the decision of whether to undertake the transaction is much simpler and clearer.
"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 (ChFC, CLU)
$350B RIA
What Our 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)
$30 billion RIA
SAMPLE ENGAGEMENT #1
$2,000,000 GUL
$582,000 winning bid | $540,000 net proceeds
Our Client
$500 billion AUM wealth advisor arm of global asset manager
Insured
93 year old healthy female
Description
Assessing the implications of a pending premium increase, the two adult children of the insured simply no longer wanted to pay premiums after 15 years and $400,000 in premiums having been paid. Instead of a surrendering the policy, which had no cash value, their advisor pursued a sale with us, generating multiple bids from buyers, ranging from $240,000 to $582,000.
Our Client
$30 billion RIA
Insured
51 year old female, cancer diagnosis
Description
Shortly after the sale of her successful business to a private equity firm, the client of our first RIA client firm received a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. She had a key man policy (convertible term with ten years of term left) when her advisor reached out to us to assess her options after receiving an offer of $150,000 from a buyer that advertises on TV.
SAMPLE ENGAGEMENT #2
$5,000,000 Term policy
$900,000 winning bid | $832,500 net proceeds
Our Client
$10 billion RIA
Insured
73 year old healthy male
Description
Several years after his wife had passed, the retired farmer had sold his large farming operation, spending most of his time traveling to visit his children and grandchildren around the country and no longer wanted to fund the second-to-die policy, preferring the $20,000 remaining cash in the policy or something greater, if a settlement were a possibility - which it was.
SAMPLE ENGAGEMENT #3
$1,500,000 UL
$130,000 winning bid | $117,500 net proceeds
Our Client
$350 billion RIA
Insured
91 year old healthy male and female
Description
The retired, former CEO of a large public corporation, and his wife, with a large life insurance portfolio that was part of a complex estate plan, wanted to "trim the sails" a bit on their holdings. They chose to sell about 20% of what they owned, using the proceeds to fund other policies that they would maintain.
SAMPLE ENGAGEMENT #4
$9,800,000 GUL
$4,300,000 winning bid | $3,977,500 net proceeds
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 from your process and what it takes to get through it, which really was not bad."
$540,000 for $2M GUL
$500 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
Podcast Appearance: Smarter Planner Podcast
We speak your language
"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."
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.
ROBUST, COMPREHENSIVE, EFFICIENT PRICE DISCOVERY
Higher winning bids, by design, discipline, and rigor - and materially higher net proceeds
In 90% of auctions that produce bids, we see divergent values, with a winning bid that is often not just a fraction higher than the next highest, but a multiple. In the other 10% we do see convergence among multiple bidders, indicative that the incumbent channel would likely also have discovered that high value (after weeks and even months of "negotiations" that rarely and only by coincidence reveal a policy's true market value).
Importantly, those higher winning bids, in combination with our much lower fee structure, result in substantially higher net proceeds.
1.3x
premium to incumbent channel of our winning bids
1.8x
premium to incumbent channel's net proceeds
7.5%
fee (of Gross Offer - CSV), minimum of $12,500
Preferred to fund different strategy for Trust after death of husband on 2nd to die policy
Divorce - rather than maintaining policy, settle and split proceeds
Change in beneficiaries obviated need for death benefit
Preferred liquidity of a sale to SV of a policy that owner no longer wanted to maintain
Unpalatable increase in premiums, policy no longer "worth it"
Opportunistic windfall, borne of health diagnosis and unwanted policy (term conversion)
Illiquid trust that owner could not/would not fund more
Adjusting large life insurance portfolio & prefer proceeds of sale to SV
Charitable Trust that donor no longer wished to fund/still healthy & lived much longer than anticipated
Corporate-Owned Key Man on departed CEO; policy obviously no longer necessary, but of value
Buy/Sell policy after sale of business of no value to insured/owner's estate
Proceeds to fund repayment of poorly performing premium finance loan to avoid collateral call
Key Man policy on owner after sale of business with subsequent health diagnosis that created value in policy
With growth of other assets in the estate, owners simply no longer wanted policy for beneficiaries
Term conversion opportunity for windfall
Last 15 engagaments
IF YOU ARE VIGILANT, YOUR CLIENTS WILL NOT MISS OUT
Nobody is better positioned to identify opportunities than you
As the architect and quarterback of your client's financial plans, you are uniquely positioned to identify the instances that 40% of your clients who live past 70 who will at some point face the decision of what to do with a life insurance policy that no longer meets their needs - who better to understand the implications?
The art and science of extracting maximum value for your clients from a niche, thinly traded market
We deploy the only institutional-quality process worthy of the best, most conscientious wealth management professionals, engaging only the most reliable capital through regulated intermediaries (Providers), never fringe capital or counterparties that we aren't 100% comfortable putting across the table from you and your client.
The lowest transaction risk, greatest transparency, most effective price discovery, and highest confidence in the professional execution of a high-value engagement.
10
bidders/20+ buyers reached
90%
auctions produce bids
15
days to actionable bids
60
days to funding
WITHOUT YOU, THERE ARE ONLY SUB OPTIMAL OUTCOMES
Lack of fiduciary advocacy costs $US billions each year - how many are your clients?
Is a client better off with you not responsibly engaging them about selling an unwanted or surplus life insurance policy from which they might be able to extract significant liquidity? Is there a client who wouldn’t want to at least know?
There are real and measurable costs to them of their trusted advisors not engaging them about it.
10%
$4 billion/year
are settled, but do no receive the full value from a channel that does not identify the policy’s true value and/or extracts egregious fees
90%
$45+ billion/40,000 policy owners
unwittingly forego the opportunity altogether, unaware of the option and without an advisor to engage them about the best options
<72/72+
if healthy/if unhealthy
$500K
minimum policy size
Any UL
policy type
Doing the right thing...
Which approach would your clients choose, if you made them aware of the options?
The pragmatic thing, too...
Which is more likely to reinforce your image as a principled, Best Interest financial professional?
Gain confidence of advisors
Which is more likely to engender the confidence and loyalty of HNW/UHNW wealth advisors and firms you want to work with?
Lower time commitment
Much faster go/no-go with actionable bids in 15 days (not months), less time on process to build and present case, and fewer iterations
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Comparable comp
Receive compensation comparable to brokers' while doing the right thing for your client - lower % of proceeds, but higher winning bids
Receive your fee faster
You typically receive your compensation in 60 - 75 days, not 130+
MESSAGE FOR LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCERS WHO USE BROKERS
Which solution better positions you in an evolving market?
Simply, if a client were to ask you about the approaches, which would be easier to describe and defend? How would you intellectually defend the price discovery and how would you defend the commissions?
We understand that you must/want to be compensated for your role in this high-value transaction and we will work with you to ensure you receive compensation comparable to what you receive from a traditional broker, even at lower %’s, borne of our higher winning bids.
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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