business owners

Standby Survivorship Trust an Alternative to an ILIT for Insureds Desiring Control

Situation: The uncertainty of the estate tax laws has created a dilemma for many taxpayers, estate planners, and insurance professionals. Should moderately high net worth couples take action today to shelter a significant amount from estate tax (under the $12.92 million exemption) by making a large gift; or should they hold off making a large […]

Stretch Demise Mandates Beneficiary Review

Read our print-friendly PDF version With the passage of SECURE 2.0 and the opportunities it provides, financial professionals are reminded of the changes made in the original Act. In addition to making other changes to retirement plans and IRAs, SECURE 1.0 changed the rules on distributions for deaths occurring after December 31, 2019. Stretch Distribution […]

Men are from Mars & Women from Venus in the LTC Universe

Situation: A financial representative called her dedicated DBS Case Design Analyst with concerns about balancing the life insurance and long-term care goals of a married couple. Her client’s husband refused to attend a planning meeting to discuss long-term care, but always attended meetings in the past. The client was very interested in discussing long-term care […]

A Business Does Not Need to Die At the Death of a Key Employee

Read our print-friendly PDF version Businesses are born when the market has a need and someone has a great idea for meeting the need. A product or service is developed and offered to the public. Over time, the skill, knowledge, leadership, and experience of the business’s key people make it possible for it to grow […]

Don’t Let Splitting the Business Split the Family

In many family-owned businesses, the commitment and contributions the children make is not equal. Sometimes this is because the older siblings come into the business earlier and carve out their place. They are often resentful of younger siblings who enter the business later expecting to be treated equally when they haven’t “earned their stripes.” Sometimes […]

NonQualified Executive Benefit Arrangements

DBS wants to stand by its goal of making life insurance easy and more profitable for YOU, the advisor. That’s why we’ve created a number of tools and resources to help you better understand the topics. Take a look at our comparative summary of life insurance-based executive compensation plans for a better understanding of the […]

Private Split Dollar as a Buy-Sell Premium Payment Strategy

Situation: Financial advisor called DBS concerning a situation involving a family business where only one of the owner’s three adult children was involved in the business. As is typical with business owners, a significant portion of the owner’s estate was the value of the business. The advisor was struggling with how to provide an “equal” […]

What Are the Most Popular Life Insurance Based Nonqualified Plans?

The post-COVID resignation boom has brought employee retention issues to the forefront. With turnover rates on the increase business owners are keenly aware of how difficult it is to attract and retain key personnel. The competition for superior technical, managerial, and executive talent is so fierce today that business owners are constantly faced with finding […]

Key Person Coverage: A Simple Concept with Underwriting Challenges

The hardest part in working with business owners is getting them to set aside time to talk about their life insurance. However, once the business owner agrees to meet with the financial professional, the next most difficult challenge may be determining the face amount of coverage and then getting the insurance carrier to issue the […]

Key Employee Life Insurance Checklist

Read our print-friendly PDF version The purpose of key employee life insurance coverage is to help indemnify a business for the loss of a key employee’s skills and experience in the event of the death of that person. Death benefits or cash values may be used to help recruit and train a replacement, to pay […]