Insurance & Risk Management
As critical as protecting your assets and income are to securing the ultimate success of your wealth management efforts, we recognize that it is often the most neglected aspect of anyone’s program. Understandably, no one really likes to think about, much less talk about, the bad things that happen to good people – and the financial devastation which can accompany such occurrences. Given this reality, the Risk Management Hierarchy diagram below is one of the top priorities we discuss in any initial conversations we have with prospective clients, and it is an area we review every year with our existing clients to ensure that their risk exposures are appropriately addressed.
Our Risk Management Process is extremely thorough to ensure we have not missed identifying and addressing any risk factor facing our clients. Fortunately, we have unfettered access to the open market of Insurance & Risk Management solutions which enables us to mitigate the risks our clients face, or at least minimize the negative financial impact to them when such events do occur. The reality is that the most wonderfully constructed investment or retirement plans can be significantly undermined, if not obliterated, if the proper insurance strategies and solutions have not been implemented. We strive to ensure that the appropriate protections are in place for all our clients, and the processes and resources shown below allow us to accomplish that objective.
Risk Management Hierarchy
No matter what stage of life you are in, you always need to be protected against both the expected and unexpected risks you face. The below Risk Management Hierarchy diagram (one half of the overall Prioritization Hierarchy - shown here on our site - which we see as foundational to helping our clients achieve their overall financial needs and objectives) reveals the various levels and types of risk management resources and services available in the markets today to protect you and your family. This graphic incorporates our belief that everyone should follow a prioritization process in choosing how and when to enact protections from the various risk management categories. Specifically, we believe everyone should begin addressing risk management issues at the base of the Risk Management Hierarchy, advising them to have at least considered, if not fully satisfied, one category level of risk before moving up to the next level. 
Our Risk Management Process
Our risk management process is a continual one in which our clients' risk exposures and protections are consistently being reviewed, evaluated and potentially modified. We begin any new client relationship with a thorough risk identification and quantification analysis, which also incorporates a values discussion to better understand who and what you truly desire to protect. This analysis will help determine your risk management methodology priorities. Next, any existing insurance policies are analyzed to evaluate what type of solutions are currently being utilized to address your risk exposures and how effectively they are working. As a result of these analyses, we are then well positioned to evaluate which methodologies are appropriately satisfied according to your risk management needs and objectives, and where risk exposures may still exist. If your risk exposure includes basic Estate Protection issues, then we will refer you to an attorney for legal documentation services if you do not already have such a professional relationship in place.
Once any unsatisfied methodologies are identified, then we use our expertise in researching the best-of-breed insurance solutions available within each methodology to present you with the most competitive solutions for your review and selection. After you have made your choices, we guide you through the entire insurance policy underwriting and implementation process. Once the policies are in force, we are then responsible to you for the ongoing monitoring, reporting and evaluation of those policies. The process comes full circle when we next reaffirm of your risk management objectives, priorities and exposures. This reaffirmation process typically occurs on an annual cycle, unless there are significant life changing events which occur in a shorter time frame that would materially alter your protection desires or risk exposures.
Risk Management Methodologies
In the scope of personal risk management, there are three primary methodologies which everyone needs to consider: Mortality Risk, Morbidity Risk and Longevity Risk. Each of these risk methodologies are unique: mortality - while the risk of death is certain, it's timing and nature are unknown; morbidity - while the risk of illness or injury is uncertain, its' occurrence may cause financial impairment, if not financial ruin due to lost wages in the case of long-term disability, so it is a paramount risk during your employment years; longevity - the risk of diminished capacity due to physical or mental heath limitations generally does arise later in life, and the cost of long term care can destroy one's asset base when it hits. All these risks represent significant exposures which jeopardize the security of your assets and income for yourself and your loved ones, regardless of age, sex, occupation or lifestyle. We endeavor to help our clients identify and quantify the risks they face, and then evaluate and implement the protection strategies, products and services required to meet or exceed their risk management objectives.
The below diagram presents the specific categories of solutions available to address each risk methodology. We provide our clients with both our expertise in identifying and our access for implementing the leading insurance products and services available to successfully address any risk exposure they desire to alleviate. We are constantly monitoring, reviewing and comparing these leading resources to be sure we are always bringing the best-of-breed solutions to the table to help satisfy our clients' needs and objectives. So, once we have worked with our clients to determine which and to what extent they wish to address the three primary risk methodologies, we then focus on educating them on the leading solutions in each of those methodologies. Our clients are then fully prepared to select the most appropriate solutions to implement through us to optimize their desired protection.
