Owner-led business insurance
Buy-sell funding and key person coverage protect the same enterprise the business policy does. They belong in the same review.
Review the lineCoverage / Life
Life insurance, sized to the obligations it has to carry.
Term and permanent life coverage written against the household's actual obligations: the mortgage, the tuition, the business that does not run without its owner, the estate that should not have to sell assets to settle.
The policy
Term for the years that need it. Permanent for the obligations that never expire.
Life insurance is the one policy in the household file that is entirely about other people. The right structure starts with the obligations: what has to keep being paid, who has to be educated, what has to be settled, and over what span of years. Term coverage answers obligations with an end date. Permanent coverage answers the ones without one.
We approach life placement the way we approach the rest of the file: the household's actual numbers first, the product second, and the carrier chosen for contract quality and financial strength rather than for the convenience of the writer.
- Term coverage sized and laddered to the years the obligations actually run
- Permanent coverage where the obligation is permanent: estate liquidity, special-needs planning, legacy intent
- Survivorship structures for estates that settle on the second death, not the first
- Business continuity coverage for owner-led firms: buy-sell funding and key person protection
- Reviewed alongside the household file so the coverage tracks the actual balance sheet
Who this is for
Households and owners whose obligations outlive a paycheck.
The life conversation in our practice usually starts somewhere else: a homeowners review that surfaces a young family and a long mortgage, a business policy renewal where the firm clearly does not run without its principal, an umbrella discussion that turns to what happens to the balance sheet when its earner is gone.
A Saratoga household with two careers and three tuitions ahead of it. An owner-led firm where the buy-sell agreement names a number that no one has funded. An estate built around property that should pass intact rather than be sold to pay what settling it costs.
Owner-led firms
The buy-sell agreement is a promise. The policy is the funding.
Most owner-led businesses we see have either no continuity plan or a buy-sell agreement drafted years ago and never funded. The agreement obligates the surviving partners to buy a deceased owner's interest; without a funded policy behind it, that obligation lands on the firm's cash flow at the worst moment in its history.
Key person coverage answers the narrower question: what it costs the firm to lose the person it cannot operate without, and what bridge the firm needs while it rebuilds. Both placements belong in the same review as the firm's business coverage, because they protect the same enterprise.
The process
Underwritten properly, placed deliberately.
Life underwriting is a real process: health history, financials at higher amounts, and a carrier decision that can differ meaningfully from one insurer to the next for the same applicant. An independent placement means the application goes to the carrier whose underwriting actually fits the applicant, rather than to whichever single carrier a captive writer is obligated to use.
Your dedicated agent handles the conversation directly, from the obligations review through the carrier's offer, and the principal reviews the file. The coverage is revisited when the household file is reviewed, because the right number changes as the obligations do.
Related coverage
The lines that sit alongside this one.
Umbrella liability at meaningful limits
The other policy that protects the balance sheet: excess liability sized to the household's asset picture, reviewed in the same file.
Review the lineNew to life insurance? Read the guide
Term and permanent coverage explained plainly, and how to think about the amount.
Read the guideQuestions
What clients ask before they begin.
Written by
Armor Group Insurance Agency
New York licensed independent insurance agency
Armor Group Insurance is a New York-licensed independent insurance agency. Life insurance products are subject to carrier underwriting, and availability, features, riders, and premiums vary by carrier, product, and the applicant's individual circumstances. This page is a general description of the kinds of life insurance placements the agency arranges and is not a contract, an offer, a recommendation of any specific product, or a guarantee of insurability or coverage. No coverage exists until a carrier issues a policy and the first premium is paid. This page is not tax, legal, or investment advice; consult your own advisors on estate and business planning questions. Contact the agency to review your specific situation.
Begin
Start with the obligations.
A direct conversation about what the coverage has to carry. Your dedicated agent works through it with you, and the principal reviews the file.