September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, and a perfect time to review existing policies with clients. When life changes, the original purpose of a policy may no longer apply. Before clients lapse, surrender, or materially change a policy, a valuation could uncover significant value that can be reallocated to today’s planning needs.

As your clients age, retire, or revise their estate plans, you may find they are allocating significant funds to life insurance policies that no longer serve their original purpose. For fiduciaries, failing to incorporate this vital component into policy reviews may lead to missed opportunities or even liability. Life insurance isn’t just a protection tool; it’s an asset. You can help your clients make more informed decisions, strengthen your policy reviews, and create new opportunities. Learn more.

Changes in tax policy and a growing need for early wealth transfer strategies are some factors driving increased interest in the life settlement market, attracting clients who want to act while conditions are favorable and seize the opportunity to capture the highest fair market value. Learn more.

A life insurance policy is an asset that has the same legal rights as other assets - including appraising and selling. Similar to real estate, value is driven by competition between interested parties, creating buyouts much larger than the cash surrender value offered by the carrier. Learn more.

Don’t let clients abandon policies without getting them appraised for life settlement value. If a policy is no longer needed or has become unaffordable, clients shouldn't settle for what the insurance carrier is willing to give them if they don't have to. Learn more.

Many policy owners surrender policies that could be worth far more than the cash value. This article can be shared with clients to introduce the life settlement solution and explain how a simple appraisal could uncover value that could be used for today’s planning needs. Learn more.

Life insurance should be incorporated into broader conversations about charitable planning, and one sometimes overlooked option involves life settlements, writes Ashar Group CEO Jon Mendelsohn. "A life settlement can free up future premium dollars for other planning opportunities," Mendelsohn writes. "If the donor exchanges the life insurance policy for cash through a life settlement, the donor can reallocate those dollars to their charitable giving."

Financial advisors must adapt to the evolving needs of an aging client base, writes Beverly Flaxington of The Collaborative. Flaxington suggests mapping out clients' life-cycle journeys, holding five-year briefings and conducting visioning exercises to help clients plan for the future.

Advisors can use financial psychology to make insurance conversations more comfortable by focusing on clients' values and goals rather than on topics such as death or disability, writes Joe Buhrmann of eMoney Advisor. Buhrmann suggests asking open-ended questions, practicing empathetic listening and acknowledging the stress clients may feel around insurance decisions.

Just as life insurance meets the needs of the clients you serve, we’re glad to be part of helping them maximize the back-end value of their policies to fund today’s needs. Ashar Group is a nationally licensed life settlement firm that protects the best interests of policy owners by creating a competitive policy auction to deliver the best value to the seller. Ashar Group does not sell life insurance, manage assets, or purchase policies. We are an independent resource for fiduciary advisors and their clients, specializing in life insurance valuation for planning purposes. Learn more.