The 4 Biggest Challenges Advisors Face When a Client Needs Insurance in a Succession Plan

We asked. And we’ve heard these answers hundreds of times.

When financial advisors, estate planning attorneys, and CPAs work with a business owner who needs life insurance as part of a succession or estate plan, the same friction points come up again and again.

Here are the four most common challenges — and how Simplicit Financial was built specifically to address each one.

 Challenge #1: “I Don’t Specialize in Insurance — I’m Not Sure What’s Right for Them”

This is the most common challenge we hear, and it’s completely understandable. Life insurance is a specialized discipline. There are dozens of product types, funding structures, underwriting variables, and carrier differences that affect what’s right for any given client.

For a financial advisor, estate attorney, or CPA — whose core expertise lies elsewhere — navigating that landscape alone is a recipe for either recommending something suboptimal or avoiding the conversation altogether.

The solution isn’t to become an insurance expert. It’s to have one on your team.

At Simplicit Financial, insurance strategy is our entire focus. We design comprehensive insurance portfolios aligned with your client’s business and succession goals, drawing on the full marketplace with no carrier bias. You don’t need to know which product is right. That’s why we’re here.

 Challenge #2: “Coordinating Across the Advisory Team Takes Too Long”

Business owners with complex succession and estate plans typically have multiple advisors: a financial planner, an estate attorney, a CPA, sometimes a CEPA or exit planning specialist. Getting all of these professionals aligned on an insurance strategy can feel like herding cats.

Timelines slip. Decisions stall. The business owner grows frustrated. And the insurance piece — which is often the funding mechanism for everything else — never gets implemented.

Simplicit Financial is built for multi-advisor coordination. We communicate proactively with every member of the advisory team, provide custom client-facing presentations to build alignment, and use electronic applications to keep the process moving efficiently.

We also handle the underwriting process end to end — including physician-assisted review to secure the best possible ratings — so delays on that side don’t hold up the broader plan.

 Challenge #3: “The Client Resists or Doesn’t See the Urgency”

This one is particularly common with business owners who are focused on growth and operations. Insurance feels like an expense, not an investment. The succession plan feels abstract. The estate tax conversation feels distant.

Until it isn’t.

The most effective way to address client resistance is to connect the insurance strategy to something the client already cares deeply about: their business, their family, their legacy. That’s a conversation about how a properly structured life insurance policy can fund a $5 million buy-sell obligation for a fraction of its face value — or how a lack of estate liquidity could force a fire sale of the business the owner spent 30 years building.

Simplicit Financial provides custom client-facing presentations designed specifically to make these connections clear. We translate insurance strategy into business outcomes, which is the language business owners respond to.

We also keep advisors informed on time-sensitive planning windows — such as the TCJA estate tax exemption sunset — so the urgency is grounded in real, current facts rather than abstract warnings.

 Challenge #4: “Finding a Trustworthy Insurance Partner I’m Comfortable Referring To.  I’d Like To Work With a Fiduciary.”

This is the concern that keeps many advisors from referring to an insurance specialist at all. The worry: Will this person try to take over my client relationship? Do they have a carrier bias that’s going to result in a bad recommendation? Will my client trust them?

The Simplicit Financial model was designed to eliminate all three concerns:

•        No AUM participation. We do not manage assets and have no interest in your client’s investment portfolio.

•        We are fiduciaries, always operating in the client’s best interest.

•        No carrier bias. We have access to the full insurance marketplace and recommend only what’s right for the client.

•        You’re always kept in the loop – we get your approval of the proposed solutions and always ensure you’re up to speed.  Clients are better served and more confident.

We also service policies we did not originally place. If a client brings us an existing policy that needs review, we’ll look at it honestly and tell them whether it still fits their plan — even if the answer means no change and no revenue for us.

That’s the kind of partner advisors can feel good about introducing to their clients.

 The Bottom Line

Every one of these challenges is solvable. And solving them doesn’t require advisors to become insurance experts or carry the implementation weight alone.

It requires a specialist partner who understands how insurance integrates with the full financial picture — and who is committed to serving your client without competing for your relationship.

That’s Simplicit Financial.

If any of these challenges sound familiar, let’s have a conversation about how we work with advisors like you.