Wealth Exposed: Insurance Planning for High Net Worth Individuals and Their Advisors

CONCLUSION

Most of us want to believe that we live in a safe community and that unfortunate events only happen to other people; but, being risk-adverse people, we at least take the essential step of insuring our houses, cars, and even our lives, because it is the responsible thing to do. However, things have a way of changing on the way to the next level. Houses get bigger, cars are more expensive, toys are bigger and more plentiful, and lifestyles are more lavish. As much as we would like to think that wealth can make life easier, the difficult and oft-ignored reality is that it can actually make life more complicated, because with wealth comes a commensurate amount of financial exposure with the potential to lose it all.

The problem for people arriving at the next level is that wealth has a tendency to mask the additional risks it creates. For some, it is the air of invincibility that comes with wealth that creates a false sense of security. For most, it is simply ignorance of the increased risks their new station in life presents. And there are those who recognize the risks but who have severely underestimated them, or overestimated the amount of protection their traditional insurance solutions provide. All of these people are my clients, and all arrived at the next level with hopes for a better life; but all of them were dangerously exposed, not realizing that one unfortunate event could seriously jeopardize their enjoyment of a good life.

The clients you met in this book—John, ...