By Josh Gottlieb
Two facets that set The Gottlieb Organization apart are our consistency and realism with clients. Every month, we analyze our clients’ plans and we ask, “Is this achieving their objectives? If not, how can we adjust course?” We reach out to each of our clients to provide our recommendation and reasoning. It’s always a work in progress. The belief that life insurance — or any financial strategy — is something you just buy and will perform how you expect it to is completely flawed. We’ve built a whole program to assist our clients, their advisors and brokers with managing products to make sure they’re working for you rather than just saying, “let’s blow it up” and taking a bunch of expenses when an issue arises. It requires diligence, vigilance and attention to detail but that is part of who we are.
Many assumptions are made in this industry, ranging from the cost of borrowing, the return on the investment and the current charges in a policy. And the popular belief is, “Well, that’s the way it is.” As we tell everybody, what you’re looking at will be wrong. What we’re selling you and what you’re looking at are not in perfect alignment. Because our assumptions — no matter what assumptions we use — are wrong. The results will be better and they will be worse — we can’t tell you exactly how they will fluctuate. We just know that our role, and what we believe is the right thing to do, is to pay attention and be preemptive, flexible and in constant R&D mode. And you know what? Our clients and their advisors are not typically experts in that. They rely on us, not necessarily to make all of the decisions for them but to help them understand what the choices are and their ramifications.
Our programs are not simple because we are not solving simple problems. They demand a high level of care. They have complexities. They have pieces to them that need constant tending. You can’t just purchase these kinds of products and hope they’re going to do what you want and everything will be alright. You need to continually look at things and make sure that wherever you started — a year ago, eight years ago, or 14 years ago — matches what you’re trying to accomplish today.
Joshua A. Gottlieb is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Gottlieb Organization.