Planning for 2026: Why Clarity Creates Opportunity
For the past several years, families and business owners have been planning in a fog. Estate tax exemptions were uncertain. Interest rates were volatile. Tax legislation seemed to change with every news cycle. In that environment, postponing major planning decisions often made sense as you couldn’t plan confidently for a future you couldn’t predict.
That’s changed.
Life Insurance: An Opportunity, Not an Obligation
For many families and business owners, life insurance is something they know they should have, but often view as a task to complete. Just another item on the long list of financial responsibilities. But when you strip away the misconceptions and look at how insurance functions in sophisticated planning, a very different picture emerges.
What Most People Don’t Know When Buying Life Insurance (But Should)
At Summit Legacy, we’ve seen time and again how a little more awareness up front can prevent a lot of frustration later. Here are a few things clients should know when buying life insurance, but often don’t.
The Unfair Advantage: Why Summit Legacy Stands Apart
In the life insurance marketplace, access is easy to find. Alignment is not.
Countless firms offer policies, products, and promises, but very few are structured to serve the complex needs of high-net-worth families and the professional advisors who guide them.
At Summit Legacy, we’ve built what we call an unfair advantage. Unfair not to our clients or partners, but to competitors constrained by corporate mandates and limited perspectives.
It’s an advantage built on three pillars: independence, selectivity, and collaboration.
The ABCs of Life Insurance for Business Owners
Imagine this: your business partner passes away unexpectedly. Overnight, you’re not just grieving, you’re also faced with running the company alongside their spouse, who now owns half the business but has no desire (or ability) to be involved.
Clients get nervous. Employees worry about their future. And you’re left scrambling to find the money to buy out the family’s share and that money isn’t readily available.
It’s the kind of scenario that unravels even the strongest companies. But with the right planning, it doesn’t have to. That’s where life insurance comes in. Life insurance isn’t just as a personal safety net, but can also be one of the most effective tools for business continuity.
At Summit Legacy, we like to think of it in terms of the ABCs
The Right Beneficiary Can Make, or Break, Your Plan
It’s one of the simplest forms in planning, and yet one of the most overlooked.
A life insurance beneficiary designation might seem like a straightforward detail. A name, a relationship, a signature. Done.
But that signature can carry more legal weight than your will. More practical consequence than your trust. And when it’s wrong, or missing, the ripple effects can be devastating.
But permanent life insurance can also serve another purpose – creating a source of accessible cash during your lifetime. For those with long-term planning goals, this built-in flexibility can offer significant advantages, particularly when it’s structured and managed with care.
More Than a Death Benefit: How Life Insurance Can Offer Cash Value Access While You’re Living
When most people think about life insurance, they think about what it provides after they’re gone. And for good reason. Life insurance plays a critical role in protecting loved ones, funding estate strategies, or providing continuity in a business.
But permanent life insurance can also serve another purpose – creating a source of accessible cash during your lifetime. For those with long-term planning goals, this built-in flexibility can offer significant advantages, particularly when it’s structured and managed with care.
Estate Equalization: Planning for Fairness, Not Just Equality
When it comes to legacy planning, few topics are more emotionally charged than who gets what. That’s where estate equalization comes in.
Behind the Curtain: What Life Insurance Underwriting Really Involves (And Why the Right Broker Makes All the Difference)
Life insurance underwriting isn’t exactly cocktail party conversation. Most people don’t give it a second thought until they’re deep in the application process, when questions start piling up, forms start flying, and the process can feel a bit like being on trial.
And even when we do think about our financial future, how often does that discussion include life insurance policies that were previously purchased and are in effect?
Unlocking the True Value of Life Insurance: Understanding Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
As the new year begins, it’s natural to think about resolutions. Many of us set goals for health, relationships, and careers, but how often do we prioritize our financial health?
And even when we do think about our financial future, how often does that discussion include life insurance policies that were previously purchased and are in effect?