With the ability I discussed yesterday to write foreign nationals through US life insurance companies, there is now an opportunity to consolidate and save money in international business partnerships that should have business buy/sell agreements.

I am currently working on a buy/sell life insurance package where one of the executives is from Maryland and the other from India. They wanted both policies to be held in the US. No problem with our US citizen and as it turned out there were several companies that didn’t have a problem writing the Indian partner, living in India. We should have everything wrapped up for them in the next month.

This is not without a few challenges, but being primarily an impaired risk life insurance agent I’m used to working harder for everything I get approved. The first hurdle was that the exam and application need to be completed in the US. In this case the partner from India makes 5 or 6 trips to the US annually anyway so all we had to do was wait until he was in Maryland this week.

The next hurdle, especially if there are any health issues, is acquisition and in some cases translation of medical records. I have moaned in the past that acquiring medical records can be the slowest part of the application process right here in our country. Without an actively involved client the same process can be almost terminal overseas. If a client is willing to get involved and push the right buttons it can speed things up exponentially.

Another hurdle, especially for higher net worth clients looking for $1 million to $20 million in life insurance is the need to have a third party verification of financial information. It’s one thing to have to fill out a financial questionnaire, and a bit more work and a little money to have an accountant complete a detailed financial breakdown of your net worth.

And the final hurdle is returning to the US to put the policy in force. If the savings is significant, which it should be, another trip is probably not a big deal. Not really a big deal at all when you now have your buy/sell agreement bound by the strongest and best priced life insurance in the world.

OK, one last bump in the road. For what I believe are obvious reasons the US companies I am working with won’t write coverage in all countries, so a partnership with an Afghan citizen won’t work.

Enough bumps and hurdles. How about some good news. Some of the US companies I am working with are great impaired risk underwriting companies which means even with health issues we should be able to get policies at rates that will beat anyone.

Bottom line. It’s a global economy out there and situations of international corporations and partnerships are becoming more and more common. Whether you are a high net worth foreign national in need of personal life insurance or are part of an international partnership and need funding for a business buy/sell agreement, give me a direct call or email and let’s talk.