Life insurance planning for business owners, professionals, families, and the advisors who serve them.
They begin with a person, a business, an obligation, or a transition.
What happens if an owner or key person is no longer there?
Is the buy-sell agreement actually funded?
Has the insurance kept pace with the value of the business?
What would a family need if much of its income or wealth is tied to the company?
Would existing coverage still do the job it was originally purchased to do?
The right starting point is the problem — not a particular product.
A policy can look sound on paper and still miss the problem it is meant to solve.
I am not captive to a single insurance company. That allows me to evaluate relevant coverage approaches across a broad carrier marketplace rather than beginning with one company's product shelf.
Different insurers can have different underwriting approaches, product strengths, pricing, and case appetites. The search begins with the need the coverage is meant to address.
You work directly with me. I take time to understand existing coverage, agreements, obligations, and the professionals already involved so the insurance can support a coordinated plan.
You work directly with me throughout the planning and insurance process.
When a case calls for additional depth, I can draw on resources through a national independent brokerage platform for advanced case design, underwriting, illustrations, carrier navigation, application processing, and new-business support.
That allows complex cases to receive additional technical support while keeping one clear point of contact.
Relevant carriers and approaches can be evaluated rather than stopping at one company's answer.
Health, financial, and ownership details can materially affect the available options. Additional underwriting resources can help navigate those differences.
I remain the primary point of contact and coordinate the insurance work with the professionals involved.
A useful policy begins with a defined problem. These are some of the situations where life insurance may have a role.
An agreement may name the buyer. Where will the funds come from?
Life insurance may help provide liquidity for a death-related ownership transition. The insurance should be considered alongside the ownership agreement, valuation, and the work of the appropriate legal and tax professionals.
How long could the business absorb losing the person everyone relies on?
The death of a key owner, executive, producer, or relationship holder can create financial disruption at exactly the wrong time. Insurance may provide additional liquidity while the business responds, replaces expertise, or meets ongoing commitments.
What happens at home when so much of the family's income or wealth is tied to the business?
A successful company can still create personal concentration risk. Life insurance may help create greater financial certainty for the people depending on the owner outside the business.
Which obligations remain if an owner or key person dies?
Debt, guarantees, payroll, operating commitments, and transition costs do not necessarily disappear after a death. Insurance may have a role in providing liquidity while the business determines what comes next.
What if the estate has value, but cash is needed at the wrong time?
A closely held business or other concentrated assets can create a liquidity challenge. Life insurance may help provide funds in support of broader estate or legacy objectives, with ownership, tax, and legal structure handled by the appropriate professionals.
Does the insurance bought years ago still fit the life or business you have today?
Income changes. Businesses grow. Ownership changes. Families evolve. Existing coverage can be reviewed to determine whether it still aligns with the purpose it was originally meant to serve.
We begin with the people, obligations, decisions, and outcomes at stake. The objective is to understand what needs to be protected before discussing how to protect it.
I review relevant existing coverage, agreements, obligations, timing, and other factors that shape the insurance need.
When legal, tax, investment, valuation, or other professional issues affect the answer, I work alongside the appropriate professionals rather than trying to replace them.
If insurance has a role, I evaluate relevant coverage approaches, carrier options, underwriting considerations, costs, and tradeoffs so you can understand how the alternatives address the need.
If you decide to proceed, I coordinate the insurance process from application and underwriting through placement. Our relationship continues after the policy is issued. We'll review your coverage at least annually and as your family, business, ownership, or priorities change. I remain your point of contact for questions and adjustments along the way.
For CPAs, estate & business attorneys, financial professionals & commercial insurance professionals
A legal, tax, estate, financial, or ownership-planning conversation can create an insurance question.
When that happens, my role is focused: help identify and implement the life-insurance component of the plan.
I can help clarify the coverage need, evaluate relevant carrier and underwriting options, coordinate the insurance process, and — with the client's authorization — keep the professionals involved informed through placement.
Legal questions remain with legal counsel.
Tax matters remain with tax professionals.
Investment matters remain with appropriately licensed financial professionals.
My objective is collaboration, not displacement.
A useful introduction doesn't have to begin with:
“My client needs life insurance.”
It can begin with:
“The business has grown, but the buy-sell funding hasn't been reviewed.”
“Everything depends on one owner or key person.”
“The client has significant insurance, but nobody has reviewed it in years.”
“We're working through an estate or succession issue and insurance may be part of it.”
“The owner has substantial wealth tied to the business and I'm not sure the personal protection still fits.”
Those are exactly the kinds of questions I welcome.
I'm Brian A. Powell, an independent licensed life & health insurance broker.
My background includes supporting life-insurance cases in a wealth-management environment, business-to-business and consumer sales, and firsthand experience building and operating a business.
Having sat on the owner's side of the table, I know a policy illustration represents more than numbers. It reaches into family, ownership, obligations, and years of work.
My role is to listen closely, explain the tradeoffs clearly, involve the right professionals when a question crosses disciplines, and follow through on the insurance work from evaluation through placement.
We can start with what's at stake, what is already in place, and whether life insurance has a useful role.
I welcome conversations with business owners, professionals, and families, as well as introductions from professional advisors whose clients have an insurance question.
Request a private planning conversation