- We incorporate insurance into a comprehensive plan to protect against the most common risks that can break even the most solidly laid plans. Whether we are considering a new product or reviewing an existing insurance policy, our analysis focuses on finding the most cost-effective manner of addressing the risk being insured against. This analysis, therefore, has two main components: the maximum amount that you can potentially lose and the cost to protect against that risk.
- We consider a variety of outcomes and scenarios when developing your financial plans. While many insurance agents only focus on one area of risk, we look at the bigger picture to ensure your insurance coverage is appropriate for your lifestyle and your financial resources.
- While we do often recommend utilizing insurance to protect against risks, we encourage you to be cautious of insurance products that also serve as investments. These products are often overly complicated with high costs that prevent them from being a cost-effective solution. We can provide many of these products, but we rarely do because in many instances they do not address the risk any better while providing us additional compensation at your expense.
Disclosure: Foundational Financial Advisors does not provide insurance products. Foundational Financial Advisors will work with your insurance advisors to implement any recommend strategies.
Death
- While any death can be traumatic, the death of a household’s primary earner can be especially problematic from a financial standpoint. Leaving a spouse or children without the means to earn a living can have a long lasting impact.
- Life insurance is the most commonly used product to prevent the devastating impact that death can cause. While no amount of money can replace a person, it can often afford you the peace of mind knowing your loved ones will be taken care of after you are gone. We work with your insurance advisor to help ensure your insurance needs fit into your financial plan.
- With various forms and features, life insurance can be a valuable tool in your financial plan to transfer these risks to the insurance company. Certain life insurance policies can even provide you with tax benefits while living.
Disability
- Becoming disabled is difficult situation that most people prefer not to think about. Most financial planning involves allowing you to focus on working to succeed in your job or career, but good planning includes a safety net to fall back on should you become disabled by injury or illness.
- To fully assess the risk a disability poses to your financial plan, we review information about your employment, health/medical condition, and education history. We then strategically devise a plan to minimize the risk a disability poses in a cost-efficient manner. We do not limit our analysis to recommending disability insurance, but rather factor in all your options and resources.
Health and Medical Care
- Medical conditions and events can devastate your whole life and not just your body. The right insurance not only helps provide coverage against a catastrophic illness or event, but also for your recurring medical needs.
- Whether you are an employer offering health benefits, receive health benefits through your employer, or are considering Medicare Advantage or Medigap policies, we walk you through the complex regulatory and legislative landscape to make your plan meets your specific financial needs.
- Our experience and knowledge allows us to utilize creative strategies to maximize your benefits while minimizing premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.
Long-Term Care
- Long-term care can include lengthy physical therapy/rehabilitation, home health care, assisted living, and nursing home care.
- Rather than being put into a facility, many people choose to remain in the comfort of their own home and receive the treatments or assistance they need there for as long as they can. We can help structure your plan to ensure you enjoy the comforts of your own home as long as possible.
- Two primary options for ensuring you are able to afford this care are long-term care insurance and contracting with a long-term care facility that provides guaranteed life care. These two options can be used to protect your assets and ability to choose your care providers.
Home & Auto Insurance
- Auto insurance protects against the potentially devastating effects of an automobile accident. We can assist your insurance agent in determining the appropriate level of coverage for your financial situation.
- Home owners insurance covers what for many people is their largest asset—their home. We evaluate your ownership and assets in helping your insurance agent to determine the correct level of coverage for your financial circumstances.
- Other insurance is available to cover other valuable assets such as recreational vehicles, watercraft, and motorcycles.
Variable Annuities
- Please note we include variable annuities under Insurance Planning which is under Risk Management Planning and not under Investment Planning.
- Variable annuities in general are a contract with an insurance company funded by a single payment or series of payments from you in exchange for periodic payments for the rest of your life (or potentially the life of your spouse or some other designee). These contracts can help protect against the risk of outliving your assets and can also include a death benefit. They can provide tax-deferred growth.
- These benefits help protect against a risk and often involve additional costs. The investment growth is based upon the selection of investments that can often be obtained outside the contract for a lower cost. To put it more simply, you are paying the insurance company to insure this risk, and you are paying them to invest your money all in this one contract.