As interest rates continued to plummet over the last 10 years, insurance carriers have for the most part left the Universal Life arena, which reflected 10 year Treasury returns. They have focused instead on index generated returns to drive their crediting rates. This transition to Indexed Universal Life (IUL) has created additional levels of complexity that make products much less transparent. Between Index bonuses that were designed to enhance the basic index returns and participating loan interest rates, it is much harder for advisors to provide the advice their clients need to make informed decisions.
Help has arrived.
This course will provide attendees with powerful tools to breakdown the critical components of any indexed universal life policy and allow any tax professional, regardless of the level of expertise, to understand the policy to better serve and bring value to clients. Imagine discovering that the policy performance clients anticipate was based on non-guaranteed bonuses that may or may not ever materialize. Even with limited insurance knowledge, anyone can use this tool to prepare the facts to work with the insurance broker and not be confused by complicated illustrations.
Course Objectives:
Beacon Wealth Consulting South, LLC
Founder and Managing Partner
[email protected]
(203) 981-1133
Susan is a private wealth specialist creating customized solutions for high-net-worth individuals and families. Susan's extensive estate, insurance, and tax planning expertise is the basis for the comprehensive, multi-generational plans that she develops for her clientele and family offices.
Susan’s expertise in the life and long-term care insurance area comes from her work as a Senior Manager at Price Waterhouse and the many years that followed working with the industry’s brightest minds as an independent broker and consultant. Susan is the driving force behind the AICPA’s risk management track at Engage, the annual Advanced Personal Financial Planning conference, and currently chairs the conference subcommittee.
Susan is also actively involved in women's empowerment to help women take charge of their finances, especially before any of the 6Ds occur: Death, Divorce, Disability, Disaster, Dementia, and Debt. Be Prepared Not Scared® is her motto. She runs an annual women’s panel at Engage to help women share experiences, fears, and best practices to increase gender equality in the industry.
Susan carries numerous professional certifications and designations and is recognized among her peers for her leadership, advocacy, and philanthropy, and is a frequent speaker at industry events. Much of Susan's expertise was acquired while she was a senior tax manager at PriceWaterhouse, LLC (1987- 1992), and as a senior tax consultant with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells (1984-1987). She founded her firm in 1992.
Susan graduated magna cum laude from Fairfield University in 1984 with a BS in Accounting and lives with her husband in Naples, Florida. She enjoys photography, painting, and traveling. She is a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is most proud of launching her two adult children!
Susan has earned the right to use the Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Personal Financial Specialist (CFS), and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.
Windsor Insurance
VP Business Development
[email protected]
(818) 444-2881
Martin Flaxman has worked in the life insurance industry for over 35 years. Most of that time was spent in the field, actively working with agents and brokers. For the last 15 years he has worked for Windsor Insurance, a nationally known brokerage General Agency providing underwriting and sales support for some of the most successful life insurance brokers in the country.
His first significant insurance position was in New England Life's home office as Director of Training for New England Securities. He left New England after 3 years to join their largest General Agency and run their COLI (corporate owned life insurance) operation, which at the time was one of the largest COLI shops in the country. He left that agency after 7 years to run the NYC field office for Hartford Life helping investment professionals, P&C brokers and CPA's sell life insurance products to their clients. After 10 years with Hartford, his last position before joining Windsor was a brief stint as head of design for an M Group firm on the east coast that focused almost exclusively to high net worth clients.
Martin Flaxman is a graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School and was admitted to the NYS bar in 1981. He holds a Series 7 & 24 investment license.
Beacon Wealth Consulting South (BWC) is a boutique firm located in Naples, Florida which specializes in creating tailored financial plans for high net worth families. Susan's expertise in estate, insurance, and tax planning is the basis for the comprehensive, multigenerational plans that she develops for her clients.
BWC is also an independent insurance brokerage firm that often partners with other planners who do not have insurance expertise. BWC customizes life insurance plans for the high net worth clients in the context of the family’s overall financial plan, often integrated with sophisticated estate and retirement planning strategies.
BWC prides itself on successful collaboration with the clients’ team of advisors and/or family office. Susan Joy Bruno, the firm’s founder, and is a nationally recognized CPA/PFS for her work in life insurance planning.
Susan recently launched “The Beacon Method” which is a consulting service to help CPAs launch a financial planning practice or simply help financial planners take their practices from good to great. Some of the topics she will cover include: