Buying or Selling a Book of Business

Below you will find articles written by LSM Insurance designed to be a resource for brokers looking to buy or sell their book of business. The information comes from Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, managing partners of Jacox-Hilton Producer Consulting. We hope you’ll find these resources helpful and the wealth of knowledge presented here expansive.

Posts on Buying or Selling a Book of Business

How to Tell a Book of Gold from a Book of Coal
One of the key questions all advisors in the market for a book of business are wondering in one way or another is how to tell the difference between a book to avoid and a book that's worth buying. This is the perfect question to pose to our friends, Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, managing partners at Jacox-Hilton Corporation and true experts when it comes to book valuation. One of the biggest red flags for a "book of coal," Jacox says, is a book that has been churned and that has ...
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Why a Traditional Book Valuation is Not Enough
The widely accepted and so-called "traditional" method of valuing a life insurance book of business favours buyers. Downplaying the value of a book has led not to a buyers market but to a market in which there are almost no sellers. "Buyers favour traditional valuation because it allows them to apply a very arbitrary number that is often in their favor," says Cameron Jacox of the Jacox-Hilton Corporation. "What we often find when we do our analysis is that the future profit potential, ...
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How to Maximize Your Return on Investment After Buying an Insurance Business
LSM Insurance and the book valuation experts at Jacox-Hilton Corporation have taken you through the purchase of a book of business, but the question becomes, "What do you do with the book once you have it?" We asked Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, managing partners of Jacox-Hilton, to answer this question. "As soon as the transaction is completed, the advisor who bought the book is now in the negative," says Hilton. "They're expecting their return on investment to come from the ...
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The Market for Life Insurance and Investment Books
If you are an advisor looking to buy or sell a book of business, the market for investment books determines whether or not you'll be able to find a book to buy at all or what you can expect to sell your book for. This is why LSM Insurance has partnered with the book valuation experts at Jacox-Hilton Corporation. General partners, Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, told us what the market looks like these days if you're an advisor looking to buy or sell a book of business, as well as what ...
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Using Valuation to Maximize the Sale
Valuation is an integral part of determining the value of a book of insurance business. Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, managing partners at Jacox-Hilton, a software and consulting services firm for life insurance advisors, will tell you that they conduct a book valuation based on five points of criteria: Revenue "This has to do with looking at component revenue streams," says Hilton. "Primarily, that means recurring revenue streams, first-year commissions, and the trending over the ...
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Estate Planning: Valuing Your Book and Finding a Buyer Today
Selling a book of business is most often an integral part of estate planning for advisors nearing retirement. "I think most advisors, because it's their job to do estate planning for others, sometimes forget to do it for themselves. This means valuing and preparing your book of business for sale way before it's actually needed by the buyer," says Cameron Jacox, managing partner with Jacox-Hilton Corporation, a firm that offers consulting services and in-force analysis software to ...
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How to Increase the Value of Your Book Before You Sell It
Those advisors who wish to move on from the insurance business and are in need of a successor will be looking to sell their book of business. Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, managing partners of Jacox-Hilton Producer Consulting, are experts not only when it comes to selling a book, but also when it comes to maximizing its value for potential buyers. Thankfully, they have partnered with LSM Insurance for a series of exclusive articles on Buying or Selling a Book of Business and ...
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Strategies for Maximizing the Value of Your MGA
When assessing the value of your MGA, don't expect the same level of consistency as you would when assessing a bottle of wine: neither individual books of business, nor MGAs have aged very well. "It's important to be aware that you can't assume that things will be the same as they have been," said James Hilton, managing partner of Jacox-Hilton Producer Consulting, during an audio presentation sponsored by Advisor.ca. James Hilton and Cameron Jacox have also joined forces with LSM ...
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How to Find the Right Book of Business to Buy and How to Maximize It
How to maximize the opportunities in a new book of business. A great New Year's resolution insurance brokers often make is to grow their business. They can do this rather quickly by acquiring books of business from other brokers who are selling their books. No one knows this better than Cameron Jacox and James Hilton, managing partners at Jacox-Hilton, a producer consulting firm that helps brokers across North America sell their books and maximize the opportunities that are recognized ...
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How to Sell Your Book of Business
As insurance and investment advisors reach retirement age, they start thinking about divesting their books of business and selling it to the next advisor who can manage the needs of their various clients. However, there are a few things every advisor should know going in when they're about to take the plunge and sell their book. Do you want to actively market yourself? This is the first question advisors and financial planners need to ask themselves, according to Cameron D. Jacox and ...
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