Jeff Maroz - Wealth Management Group

April 22, 2012 - PRLog -- Beverly Hills times

August 2007

www.BeverlyHillsMagazine.com

The new Face of Corporate America…

Jeff Maroz

Wealth Management Group President

A Finance Savvy Numbers Guy Who Helps

Clients Create and Secure Wealth

Through Premium Finance Insurance

And Estate Management.

Wealth Mangement Group President

Jeff Maroz

A finance savvy numbers guy who for more than 20 years has helped clients create and secure greater wealth through premium finance insurance and estate management.

by Suzanne Takowsky

It would be difficult to find any Angeleno (native or transplant) better versed on the subject of life insurance and retirement planning than Jeff Maroz. Raised in San Fernando Valley, Maroz parents (mother a retired school teacher and father a pioneer in creating scholarships for college students) instilled the value of education and encouraged the entrepreneurial mentality at an early age. A star baseball player throughout school, Maroz says all during his youth his dream job was to become a professional ball player. Not in the cards this time around it seems. These days, Maroz is a savvy business and numbers guy who has helped hundreds take advantage of more cost effective way of buying life insurance known as premium financing, an exceptional option to paying your premiums if you are a wealthy senior citizen.

"I have always been very self-driven. Growing up, I always admired my father for his entrepreneurial spirit and the success that it brought him," states Maroz. "To me, an entrepreneur is someone with the vision to create a service to satisfy a need that has gone unanswered, or for that matter someone who has the internal drive to take an idea and make it better. More importantly, love what you do. Most people don't enjoy their work and that's a shame"

Truer words were never spoken. Maroz' work days include a phone to his ear, conferencing a roster of clients which includes celebrities, executives, and retired couples with one common goal in mind; gain financial freedom and make their hard earned money work for them. As the president and CEO of Wealth Management Group, a private life insurance brokerage firm he started in 1999, Maroz focuses on showing his clients how to spend less money on their life insurance.

I interviewed Maroz at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Immediately upon entering, it is obvious that he is inspired by the finer things in life. Secluded and spectacular, this architectural masterpiece offers a retreat from the hectic daily schedule that has become second nature.

ST - How many hours a day do you work?

Jeff Maroz - (chuckles) Although I genuinely love what I do for a living, I guess I am one of those guys referred to as a "workaholic." The team that I work with is accustomed to working long hours. It dos hand in hand when you're working with select clients. But don't get me wrong, I still love to have fun. I'm a huge beach fan and love to go for a Sunday ride on my Harley whenever I get the chance.

ST - Life insurance isn't an easy sell, most people like to think about their death. You are very well known for helping higher net worth clients and celebreteries structure their life insurance and retirement plans. How important is having life insurance for high net worth families?

Jeff Maroz - Life insurance serves to provide a financial solution to many potential pitfalls in life. On the most basic level, it has saved thousands of families from losing their homes and experiencing financial hardship when the breadwinner of the family passes away unexpectedly. For higher net worth clients, it is fundamental tool in protecting the value of their estate.

ST - What is premium financing?


Jeff Maroz - Many senior citizens who own life insurance, particularly those who buy for estate planning purposes, face the unpleasant reality of expensive life insurance premiums for the type of amount of coverage that is commonly recommended. If a client can qualify, premium financing is a special program that allows clients to obtain the same type of coverage without paying many of the out-of-pocket expenses that the alternative policies usually require. With premium financing, the premiums are paid by a finance company that used the policy death benefit as partial collateral for the premiums paid on your behalf. Upon your death, the finance company is repaid these premiums (along with interest) out of your death benefit, allowing your beneficiaries to receive the remainder of the death benefit tax-free. It's an incredible solution. Consequently, by having a finance company pay the premiums on your behalf, the money used to fund the policy premiums is deemed to be out of your estate, thereby avoiding federal estate and gift taxes and allowing you to gift other assets to your heirs tax-free instead (there other assets would have been taxable to your heirs has you used up your tax credits to pay the premiums yourself).

ST - Recently the subject of individuals selling their existing policies to outside investors has gained popularity and is being discussed in nationally recognized magazines. How does it work?

Jeff Maroz - Traditiaonlly, a policy was all work it's surrender value if someone didn't want the coverage any longer. Today, there are investors known as settlement companies are in business to buy your policy from you for considerably more than the surrender value depending on the age of the insured and the type of policy, Most of these settlement companies are major institutional investors. However, there are also some smaller investors and agents that have misrepresented the legalities surrounding selling your life policy. Recently, business week and the wall street journal touched on some of the issues surrounding this subject. Essentially, if you have a existing policy that your thinking about canceling, you can shop it among these settlement companies and will often find several companies that will pay you a generous portion of your death benefit on the spot, versus canceling it for oftentimes the much less surrender value. In exchange, that company becomes the beneficiary to the remainder of your policy death benefit when you eventually die. They also take over your premiums so that you are not responsible for any future payments related to the policy.

Clients appreciate that I both save and make them money. They see me as a contributor to their financial success and happiness.

It can provide for a great opportunity, but it should only be done in compliance with regulations set by the insurance industry. My advise, make sure you're working with a reputable agent.

ST - What are the criteria that must be met for you to work with a new clients?

Jeff Maroz - We encourage everyone to have a good advisor, but our clients generally are senior citizens with a minimum net worth of $3 million or greater.

The principals of Wealth Management Group have been assisting individuals and corporations with their life insurance needs for over 20 years. They are nationally respected authority in life insurance and retirement planning. Along with their affiliates, they have collectively sold over $1 Billion in life insurance coverage in the senior citizen market alone. To speak to Jeff Maroz about your life insurance needs, please contact the Wealth Management Group office at (800) 761-9550