Dick Weber: Clients are often convinced - through the agent’s apparent expertise and the policy illustration that becomes a “projection” of likely outcomes - that IUL-for-income (worse yet, premium financed IUL-for-income) should be pursued with nothing more than the illustration and a smile. There are few independent advisors from whom to obtain a “second opinion” and we have experienced more than one HNW buyer willing to ignore the appropriate amount of due diligence such a significant investment would suggest on the theory they can just sue the agent and carrier if the plan doesn’t work out.

If your clients own life insurance or annuities they may soon be at risk for losing all the money they’ve put in. That dire warning comes from Larry Rybka, chairman and CEO of Valmark Financial Group in Akron, Ohio, and other advisors who are alarmed at how U.S. insurance companies are farming out risk. “It is no longer just theoretical,” he said. The life insurance and annuities industry, he said, has become “like the Wild West.”

The paper Capturing the Illiquidity Premium is related to the February 3rd, 2025, presentation to the YCISG by member Larry Rybka. It is downloadable by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. This paper studies the restructuring of financial intermediation in the United States since the 2007-09 financial crisis. It shows that the largest U.S. life insurers have entered private debt markets as banks refocused on commercial banking, against a backdrop of unconventional monetary policies and tighter bank regulations.

Please note this content is for YCISG members only. If you would like to login please use the following link: LOGIN

Co-authored by YCISG member Richard Harris, this second installment explains the abuses that led to the 2003 regulations and examines these regulations in some detail as they now form the foundation for split-dollar planning.

Co-authored by YCISG member Richard Harris, this is the first of a three-part series on split-dollar life insurance that lays the groundwork for understanding the available planning strategies by defining split-dollar arrangements and key terms, discussing the variables and parties that may be present, and examining the two main types of split-dollar arrangements.

YCISG member Richard Harris examines the methods used to build a valuation of an existing insurance policy, especially when it is advantageous to sell or gift the policy to an ILIT, and how dated regulations at that time created hurdles for pursuing such an option with high-valuation policies. This article appeared in the April 2011 edition of Trusts & Estates magazine.