Last week, we discussed why owning a captive insurance company is “THE BEST SELF-INSURANCE MONEY CAN BUY.” A captive insurance company is the most powerful risk management and wealth accumulation tool that a business can access. When properly employed, there is no other financial vehicle
Risk management is a challenging business. In the twenty-first century, companies (particularly small and mid-sized ones) face innumerable existential threats. For instance, cyber risk is a growing and wildly unpredictable threat as evidenced by the havoc recently wreaked on Target by hackers. Terrorism is a real threat to businesses and their operations today (did you hear about the recent attack on a California electric company? How long could your business last without power?). Environmental disasters like the recent water contamination in West Virginia are more and more common (How long could your business last without clean water?).
Government regulators wield more power than in bygone days. Overzealous government regulators can “shoot first and ask questions later”
We have all heard the expression “Better safe than sorry,” but is it really true? And, to what extent is it true in business
Some captive “experts” argue that captives should be managed as much as possible like third party, commercial insurers in order to increase the odds of surviving IRS attack. Specifically, they argue that captives should look to the standards of third party, commercial insurers when making such decisions as setting premiums, establishing reserves, deploying assets, etc.
We have long maintained that comparing the management decisions of captives to third party insurers is to compare apples to oranges. Captives are formed for unique purposes