Building Multigenerational Loyalty with Wealth Transfer Strategies for Life Insurance Professionals

Thought Leadership in Action for Life Insurance

For many families, providing for children and grandchildren is the ultimate financial goal. By passing money and assets to the next generation, your clients may leave behind a legacy of comfort, success, and peace of mind, knowing their family won't struggle financially after they're gone.

However, these goals often do not become reality. Generational wealth transfer can be difficult. Older family members may not discuss financial planning with the younger members or younger members may not feel adequately prepared to handle their inheritance.

The most successful families depend on legal and financial guidance and have open discussions about how beneficiaries can gain and use their assets.

Life insurance professionals have an important opportunity to help clients build generational wealth. Below, we explore the use of life insurance to help clients with this goal.

Benefits of Using Life Insurance for Generational Wealth Transfer

Life insurance can be a powerful tool for generational wealth transfer when used as part of a broader financial plan. One of its primary purposes is to protect a family’s financial well-being by passing along wealth through a guaranteed death benefit. If the policyholder pays the required premiums, their beneficiaries are typically guaranteed a payout upon their death.

Life insurance also allows your clients to:

Tax-free proceeds.¹ Death benefits are generally exempt from income tax and estate tax, unless the proceeds exceed the $13.99 million estate tax exemption in 2025 (or your state’s exemption, if applicable).²
Bypass probate. If a beneficiary is named, the death benefit is paid directly to them, avoiding probate. Most policies allow easy updates to beneficiaries without legal fees.
Protect funds from creditors. Depending on state laws, policyholders may designate death benefits for specific uses, protecting them from collections.

Life Insurance Producers Can Encourage Multigenerational Loyalty

Generational wealth transfer benefits both you and your clients. The client and the client’s family may feel more financially secure and, in turn, keep you as their financial professional throughout the years. The following tips can help you grow your multigenerational client base and encourage wealth transfer between generations.

Build Strong, Long-Term Relationships
If you have a strong relationship with your clients, you increase the chance that you’ll be their go-to person for any life insurance needs.

Grandmother, mom and child hug in a portrait for mothers day on a house sofa as a happy family in Colombia. Smile, mama and elderly woman love hugging young girl or kid and enjoying quality time.

They may also be more likely to recommend you to other potential clients. Some of these referrals may even include their children or other family members, creating multigenerational loyalty.

Focus on customer service. Show your clients that you truly care about their financial needs by keeping an open line of communication, getting to know their personal lives (remembering birthdays, hobbies, etc.), and asking for feedback about your services.

Provide Opportunities for Education

By educating your clients, you help them make smart decisions about their financial needs and life insurance policies. Offering educational opportunities is also a great way to build trust and establish your authority as a life insurance expert.

Your website is one of the best places to provide educational material. You may want to start a life insurance blog, create pages for each type of life insurance policy to outline the features, or provide a glossary of common life insurance terms. Posting on social media and emailing a monthly newsletter to clients can also help educate your audience while bringing in more clients.

When your clients understand how life insurance works and how it can help create generational wealth, they’re more likely to trust you when you recommend a policy as part of a financial solution or wealth transfer strategy.

“Life insurance can be a powerful tool for generational wealth transfer when used as part of a broader financial plan.”

Customize policies to each client’s needs

While most life insurance policies can aid clients in building generational wealth, your clients may need a specific type of life insurance to achieve their goals. Many policies will allow you to customize the coverage amounts, term lengths, investment or cash value options, and other features. Some offer riders that address specific areas of concern, such as long-term care.

In addition, life insurance policies can typically be adjusted over time to reflect changes in your client’s financial situation. This makes life insurance more effective as a long-term financial strategy.

Include Younger Generations in the Plan
Many of your clients will list either their spouse and/or their children as their beneficiaries. Including the younger generations in discussions about life insurance can help them understand what life insurance is and how the policy can be used to reach their financial goals.

These younger family members can then become potential clients for you. According to the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA), 55% of millennials have no life insurance coverage.³

Regularly Audit Policies
By reviewing your clients’ life insurance policies, you help ensure that the policies are still suitable for your clients, their financial situation and goals. At the very least, you should review each policy annually. However, if you know that your client has experienced a major life event or financial change, such as getting married, having children, changing jobs, or experiencing a health issue, you should take the time to conduct a review. That’s because your client’s situation can affect the type of life insurance or coverage amount they need.

You should also review whether their beneficiary information is up to date, how their policy is taxed, and whether any more suitable life insurance products have been released since the client originally purchased their policy.

Take Steps Now to Build Multigenerational Clientele

As a life insurance professional, you already understand the value of life insurance in building generational wealth. But your clients may not. By helping them understand the benefits, offering tailored solutions, and positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, you can build a thriving business rooted in multigenerational loyalty.

For resources to help ensure clients' life insurance policies meet their current needs, visit plpromise.pacificlife.com/practice-management.

¹For federal income tax purposes, life insurance death benefits generally pay income tax-free to beneficiaries pursuant to IRC Sec. 101(a)(1). In certain situations, however, life insurance death benefits may be partially or wholly taxable. Situations include, but are not limited to: the transfer of a life insurance policy for valuable consideration unless the transfer qualifies for an exception under IRC Sec. 101(a)(2)(i.e. the transfer-for-value rule); arrangements that lack an insurable interest based on state law; and an employer-owned policy unless the policy qualifies for an exception under IRC Sec. 101(j).

²Internal Revenue Service. “Estate Tax | Internal Revenue Service.” Internal Revenue Service, October 29, 2024, www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estate-tax. Accessed September 17, 2025.

³Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association. “It’s Time to Help Get More Millennials Insured.” Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association, July 6, 2022, www.limra.com/en/newsroom/industry-trends/2022/millennials-its-time-to-get-insured. Accessed March 22, 2024.

Rob Bisch
Pacific Life

Rob Bisch is a Field Vice President for Broad Market distribution at Pacific Life Insurance Company. With more than 28 years in financial services, he’s established a deep expertise in brokerage, underwriting, and product strategy, earning multiple industry awards for excellence.

Broad Market Sales Desk
LynInternalSales@PacificLife.com
(888) 900-9777

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