Risk Management & Insurance Archives | Wealthspire Advisors

Most executives rightly focus on their offensive strategy—saving and investing—but a defensive strategy is essential, too. As high earners, executives are often in a position to self-insure for some potential needs, but in almost all situations there remain gaps to fill with wisely chosen insurance strategies. Essentially “delegating” your defensive strategy to your HR department—in the form of workplace-provided policies—is unlikely to be wise. Ideally, a risk-aware strategy will include some base components available through the workplace, such as group disability and life insurance policies, augmented by tailored products purchased personally. Across both workplace and personal products, there are subtleties…

A major advantage of life insurance is a (typically) tax-free death benefit. In structuring life insurance, the owner of the policy generally assumes that the beneficiary will receive the death benefit without any tax being due. However, this assumption can prove incorrect in special cases. The 1946 court case, Goodman vs. Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, examined whether the death of an insured party created a taxable gift from the owner of the policy to the beneficiary. Commonly called the Goodman Triangle, the case can inform solutions to assure benefits remain tax free and help you avoid the life…

Here today. Gone tomorrow. While the risk of losing substantial assets because of a creditor judgment is remote, it is worth thinking about, along with what you should be doing to prevent it. As wealth managers, we help clients diversifying their investment portfolios to preserve and grow their wealth with the appropriate amount of risk. Beyond investment risk management, clients should also focus on minimizing the risk of loss of their assets to creditors. Those creditors include tort judgments from a lawsuit (malpractice, auto accident, slip and fall on property, etc.), contractual obligations, divorce, or civil and regulatory penalties. This…

Equifax Call: (800) 685-1111, NY residents must call: (800) 349-9960 Online: visit www.freeze.equifax.com - Users will be prompted to input personal information and submit online form. (Equifax is waiving fee to temporarily lift or permanently remove a security freeze through June 30, 2018; any requests after 06/30/18 may be subject to the fees provided by state of residence.) Mail: Send request in writing to: Equifax Security Freeze P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, Georgia 30348 Include: Complete name, including any suffix such as Jr. Complete Address Social Security Number Date of Birth Copy of item to validate identification Copy of item to validate address Note:…

For many, credit information is a mystery until applying for a loan/lease, credit card or mortgage.  Often by that time, negative and/or erroneous information on one’s credit report will have already caused problems resulting in possible denials of credit or higher interest rates due to creditor perceived risk.  Because your credit report is a means for creditors, landlords and others to know your creditworthiness, it is important to review the reports periodically to check for mistakes or negative information as well identity theft, which has become more common in recent years.  Not addressing such issues may mislead creditors, ruin your credit…

My wife and I recently purchased our first home, which was not nearly as fun as an episode of HGTV’s House Hunters makes it out to be. After actively searching for months and putting offers in and losing out on six different houses, we finally grabbed the brass ring with our new home. To do that we had to beat out seven competing offers after seeing the home for only 20 minutes during an open house on its first day on the market. Overall it was a stressful experience, but we ended up with a beautiful home that will serve…