A Focused Estate-Liquidity Resource for Your Advisory Team
Start with the funding question. Clarify whether an insurance perspective would help before involving the client in a product discussion.
Marc Setton, Estate Liquidity Strategist at Strategic Premium Finance, works alongside existing advisors. His contribution is insurance-focused. Legal, tax and investment decisions stay with the professionals responsible for them.
When a separate conversation may be useful
A client may own a valuable company or property portfolio, yet have no clear answer about which funds could meet a future estate obligation. An ownership transition may raise a similar question: who needs cash, and when?
An insurance-focused discussion may help when existing coverage is part of the proposed funding, new coverage is being considered, or a premium-finance proposal needs to be understood in the wider plan.
These are reasons to ask a question, not evidence that a policy or loan is needed. Existing resources or another approach may already address the concern.
What Marc contributes
Marc can help frame the insurance questions: what coverage is intended to fund, what keeping it in place would require, and which assumptions need an answer from another professional. Any further insurance work should have an agreed scope.
He does not determine estate-tax liability, design trusts, advise on investments or approve credit. A descriptive title does not expand that role.
The useful outcome of an initial conversation is a clearer next step. That may be an insurance discussion, a question for counsel or the CPA, or no further work with SPF.
Start with scope, then decide who needs to be involved
Begin with the general concern and the question you want answered. There is no need to identify the client or send documents to explore whether Marc’s role is relevant.
Before client-specific work, agree on:
- The issue being considered and what is outside the scope.
- Who may authorize the work and information sharing.
- Which professionals need to participate and how communication will be handled.
- The next decision, the person responsible and any actual deadline.
Each professional’s duties depend on their engagement and the applicable requirements. Participation in a discussion does not give one advisor authority over another’s work.
Find the part relevant to your practice
CPAs
Separate the tax assumptions from the resources expected to fund an obligation. Identify insurance questions without taking on a product recommendation.
Estate-planning attorneys
Connect the intended legal arrangement with the insurance funding questions, while keeping ownership, authority and legal conclusions with counsel.
Wealth advisors
Consider premium costs, collateral and repayment alongside the client’s other cash needs. Retaining investments is not automatically better than using them.
Private bankers and family offices
A banker may need to distinguish a possible source of credit from an approved facility. A family-office team may need to establish who owns the insurance work and whether an asset is already committed elsewhere.
Bring that specific question to the discussion. This is not an offer of lender access, institutional affiliation or a formal partnership program.
Financing follows the insurance decision
Premium financing uses a separate loan to fund insurance premiums. It is not the starting assumption in an estate-liquidity discussion.
If considered, the team should understand interest, collateral, policy assumptions, repayment and the possibility that lending terms change. Carrier and lender approvals are separate. Ongoing review responsibilities need to be agreed; they are not automatically covered by someone else’s engagement.
Compensation belongs in the conversation
Marc does not charge a separate planning or advisory fee for this work. He is compensated when an insurance transaction is implemented, under the applicable insurance compensation arrangement.
That creates a financial interest in a transaction proceeding. Ask how compensation applies to any proposed work; it is not a reason to assume insurance is appropriate. Other professionals, insurance and borrowing may involve separate costs.
You can speak before making an introduction
Describe the issue in general terms and what you would like to clarify. Please leave out client names, financial records, legal documents and other confidential details. If further work makes sense, scope, authorization and information handling should be settled first.