The Insurance Feasibility Audit
Separate the marketing from the mechanics.
In the Canadian high-net-worth market, insurance proposals often function as “fair weather fictions.” They model a 50-year horizon as a straight line of constant returns, stable interest rates, and unchanging tax rules.
However, no one lives in a static world. We live in a dynamic one.
The Insurance Feasibility Audit was born from the demands of independent accountants who needed an objective way to verify insurance strategies for their clients. It tests the structural integrity of your strategy before you commit capital.
First, we audit the fit.
An insurance illustration is not a structure; it is a financial model. Because these projections often look perfect on paper, an independent technical review is needed to identify where the mechanics of a proposal may conflict with your actual circumstances.
Before we analyze an illustration or begin a new design, we first establish feasibility. We assess you with 4 Feasibility Gates—health, finances, temperament, and goals—to check whether the strategy is viable for you.
What We Verify
We strip away the marketing narrative to examine the mechanics of the strategy.
The Insurer
Stability
We analyze the carrier behind the promise.
We look beyond the brand name to understand their service standards, underwriting, and historical performance.
The Product
Configuration
The same product can be built in many ways.
We investigate the configuration: Is the premium structure efficient? Are riders necessary? Is the policy optimized for early cash value (liquidity) or long-term death benefit (estate)?
The Assumptions
Stress-Test
Insurance illustrations often assume current returns will continue forever.
We stress-test these assumptions. We calculate how the strategy performs if dividend scales drop or if loan rates rise, revealing if the plan is sustainable under adversity.
The Benchmark Model
To determine if your proposal is competitive, we must establish a control group. We do not guess; we measure.
We perform a Market Scan across the Canadian landscape—covering the “Big Three,” Mutuals, and Specialty carriers. We build a standardized Benchmark Model based on this scan, then overlay your proposal to identify gaps.
A common issue we find is the Skewed Baseline. A proposal may look superior simply because it uses more aggressive assumptions than the market average. By normalizing the data against our Benchmark, we reveal whether the performance comes from a better product or just a riskier projection.
Resources for your Due Diligence
You are right to be cautious and look for the risks often hidden in static illustrations. These resources help you perform your own checks and get a Second Opinion from your current advisors.
[The Friction Point] The Static Trap: Why Proposals Fail
Understanding the hidden risks of relying on static projections in a dynamic world.
[The Methodology] The 4 Feasibility Gates
The standards used to appraise your fit for insurance strategies.
[The Tool] The DIY Audit
Use our “Skeptical Actuary” prompt to force AI to look past marketing claims and identify specific failure points.
[The Risk] The Sleep-at-Night Test
Why mathematical success is irrelevant if the strategy exceeds your risk tolerance.
[The Validation] Where to Get a Second Opinion
Specific questions to ask your advisors to reveal the risks they might have missed.
Common Questions
Q: Why is there no fee for this audit?
A: We treat the audit as a project feasibility study. Designing a complex insurance strategy takes significant resources. It is far more costly for us to engineer a plan that fails later than to identify a “No-Go” right now.
Q: How is this different from a standard “Second Opinion”?
A: Most second opinions are simple checks (Product A vs. Product B). Our audit is a structural stress test. We don’t just check if the product is cheap; we check if the strategy will survive if interest rates spike, your health changes, or your business liquidity dries up.
Q: Why should I trust your audit?
A: While we are insurance advisors, during the audit, we wear the Auditor hat first. Rather than solely looking for reasons you should proceed with a strategy, we focus on reasons you should not. We reject most of the cases we review because they fail one of our 4 Gates.