With the October 15 tax filing deadline behind us, now is the perfect time for advisors to revisit their clients’ broader financial and insurance needs. While tax planning often focuses on deductions, credits, and compliance, it also opens up an ideal opportunity to explore additional strategies, such as life insurance, to further clients’ financial goals.
For advisors, leveraging this post-tax season period can bring unique insights and actionable advice to clients, especially around life insurance. Here’s why this moment offers valuable potential to revisit clients’ coverage, estate strategies, and long-term planning.
Why Now?
After tax season, clients have had their finances under the microscope. This provides a fresh window into potential gaps in their insurance coverage, estate planning opportunities, and ways to optimize their portfolios. By addressing these topics now, you can engage your clients on a deeper level, especially around insurance solutions that protect wealth and create tax efficiencies.
Three Key Areas for Discussion
Life Events and Changing Financial Goals
Did your client experience any significant life events this year? Whether it's a job change, marriage, retirement, or a new addition to the family, these can alter financial priorities and tax implications. Addressing them now allows you to make the right adjustments while there’s ample time to plan.
Investment Efficiency and Tax Implications
For clients with taxable investment accounts, this is an ideal time to assess the efficiency of their investment portfolio. Could tax-loss harvesting, asset location strategies, or adjustments to capital gains planning optimize their investment growth while minimizing tax impact?
After reviewing their tax returns, many clients may be more open to discussing how life insurance can play a role in tax-advantaged growth. Permanent life insurance policies, for instance, offer tax-deferred cash value growth, which can be an attractive feature for clients seeking to diversify their investments while managing tax impacts.
An annual check-in ensures that your clients’ investments are aligned with both their short- and long-term goals.
Retirement and Legacy Planning
Many clients’ tax situations reveal gaps in retirement and estate planning. By incorporating life insurance into these strategies, clients can ensure that their wealth is transferred smoothly to heirs, often with minimal tax burden. This is an ideal time to revisit any existing policies, explore estate equalization for family-owned businesses, or consider trust-based strategies that integrate life insurance to support tax-efficient legacy planning.
Ready for a Deeper Dive?
We’ve put together a detailed list of questions that can guide your conversations, covering areas such as tax strategies, wealth building, and legacy planning.
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