Protect The Business. Protect The Owners. Protect What Comes Next.

Businesses with one or two individuals whose death or departure would materially hurt revenue — founders, top producers, critical operations leaders.

Key Person Insurance

How it works: The business owns the policy, pays the premium, and is the beneficiary. If the insured dies, the death benefit goes to the company to cover lost revenue, recruiting costs, debt service, and the time it takes to stabilize.

What we bring: Carrier selection across 64 A-rated options, underwriting paths for health-complicated insureds, and sizing based on actual revenue concentration — not a generic multiple-of-salary rule.

Any business with two or more owners. Every business with a buy-sell agreement should have the funding in place the day the document is signed — not "someday."

Buy-Sell Agreement Funding

Structures we place:

• Cross-purchase — each owner insures the others; proceeds flow to surviving owners outside the company.
• Insurance LLC — for 3+ owners; centralizes policy ownership while keeping proceeds outside the operating entity.
• Entity-purchase — still appropriate in limited cases post-Connelly, but warrants careful analysis.

Post-Connelly restructuring: We work with your attorney and CPA to transition existing entity-purchase arrangements to cross-purchase or insurance LLC without triggering transfer-for-value tax problems under IRC §101(a)(2).

Business owners who want tax-advantaged retirement accumulation above 401(k) limits — or a selective, high-value retention tool for one or two key employees without ERISA administration.

Section 162 Executive Bonus Plans

How it works: The business pays a deductible bonus under IRC §162. The employee (or owner-as-employee) uses the bonus to fund a personally-owned permanent life insurance policy. The business gets the deduction as reasonable compensation. The employee gets personally-owned cash value with tax-deferred growth and potential tax-advantaged policy loans at retirement under current law.

The honest version: The bonus is taxable W-2 income to the employee in the year paid. Many plans are "double-bonused" so the business covers both the premium and the resulting income tax. Deductibility depends on total compensation meeting the "reasonable compensation" standard under Treas. Reg. §1.162-7(b)(3) — your CPA handles that analysis.

Variations: REBA (Restricted Executive Bonus Arrangement) adds a vesting schedule via collateral assignment for retention. Double-bonus structures cover the employee's tax on the bonus.

Any business owner preparing to close an SBA 7(a) loan, a commercial real estate loan, or a business acquisition loan where the lender requires life insurance as collateral.

SBA Loan & Business Debt Collateral

How it works: Under SBA SOP 50 10 8 (effective June 1, 2025), a collateral assignment of life insurance is required when business viability depends on one or two individuals and hard collateral doesn't fully secure the loan. Coverage and term should match the loan. Term life is acceptable; whole life and universal life are generally not appropriate for this purpose.

How we handle it: Term life policies collaterally assigned to the lender, with carrier documentation formatted for the SBA file. We coordinate directly with your loan officer and the carrier's home office on the acknowledgment required by the SBA.

Timing reality: Fully underwritten term life generally takes 2–6 weeks depending on health, face amount, and carrier. Simplified-issue paths may be available for qualifying healthy applicants at lower face amounts, subject to carrier limits. Timelines are never guaranteed.

Owners whose combined estate — business + real estate + retirement — is approaching or above the federal estate exemption ($15M individual / $30M married, 2026 under OBBBA), or who have significant illiquid wealth concentrated in a closely held business.

Business Succession & Estate Liquidity

How it works: An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) owns a policy on the owner, or on both spouses in a second-to-die structure. At death, the death benefit is paid to the trust — outside the taxable estate, outside probate — and used to pay estate taxes, buy out heirs who aren't involved in the business, or provide liquidity so the family doesn't have to sell the company to pay the IRS.

What we handle: Policy placement inside the trust from inception (avoiding the three-year lookback rule under IRC §2035), coordination with the trustee on Crummey notice timing and premium funding, and carrier selection across individual and second-to-die products.

What your attorney handles: Drafting the trust, interpreting its terms, and legal advice on structure. Wolf Financial does not draft trusts or provide legal or tax advice.

Owners and key employees whose income the business cannot afford to lose if they're sick or injured for 30, 90, or 180+ days. Also for owners who want the business covered for fixed overhead if they're disabled.

Business Disability Income Coverage

• Individual Disability Income (IDI) — replaces a portion of the owner's personal income if they can't work.
• Business Overhead Expense (BOE) — covers rent, payroll, utilities, insurance, and fixed costs for a defined period (typically 12–24 months) while the owner is disabled.
• Key Person Disability — short-term liquidity to the business if a key employee is disabled.
• Disability Buy-Out (DBO) — funds a buy-sell in the event of permanent disability rather than death — a funding gap most buy-sells ignore.

Why this matters: Disability is statistically far more likely than death during working years, and most buy-sell agreements are funded only for death. A permanent disability with no buy-out funding can paralyze a business for years.

SC business owners evaluating group health for their team, small employers weighing ACA marketplace vs. group coverage, and self-employed owners needing individual or family health plans.

Business & Owner Health Insurance

What we place:

• Small group health plans — traditional fully-insured group medical for businesses with eligible employees, shopped across SC-admitted carriers.
• ICHRA & QSEHRA — reimbursement-based arrangements that let a business fund employee health coverage without running a traditional group plan. Often better economics for small SC employers.
• ACA marketplace plans — for owners, 1099 contractors, and small businesses where group coverage doesn't pencil out. Subsidy analysis included.
• Short-term medical & gap coverage — bridge coverage between jobs, during open-enrollment gaps, or for seasonal needs.
• Medicare supplements, Medicare Advantage, Part D — for owners aging into Medicare and Medicare-eligible employees/spouses.

Why this belongs on the business page: Health insurance is the benefit employees ask about first, and often the single largest benefit cost for a small SC business. Getting the structure right — group vs. ICHRA vs. individual — can save thousands per employee per year.

SC businesses with 10+ employees who want to offer competitive benefits without the cost and complexity of fully-funded plans.

Group Term Life & Voluntary Benefits

• Group Term Life — employer-paid base coverage, typically 1× or 2× salary.
• Voluntary Life — employee-paid supplemental coverage at group rates.
• Voluntary Disability — short- and long-term disability options.
• Enrollment Support — we handle employee education sessions so you don't have to.

Why owners add this: Retention, recruiting, and — quietly — because every enrollment meeting surfaces personal coverage gaps that turn into individual policy conversations outside of work.