Protecting Your Wealth for Generations
Discover how Premium Financed Life Insurance solutions can elevate your estate planning.
You've created Wealth, now Preserve it with Tailored Insurance Strategies
Preserve your wealth with exclusive, premium financed, tax efficient life insurance strategies built for High-Net-Worth individuals. Capture the Power of Life Insurance to fund your business, estate taxes, and trust insurance needs without Liquidating assets while protecting your wealth.
What We DO
Business Planning
Business Planning
Business Planning
Praxis Insurance Partners helps High-Net-Worth clients fund buy/sell agreements, business succession planning, and key-executive protection plans.
Estate Taxes
Business Planning
Business Planning
Praxis Insurance Partners helps High-Net-Worth clients preserve their wealth by designing custom leveraged Insurance solutions to fund estate taxes versus liquidating assets at death.
Legacy
Business Planning
Legacy
Praxis Insurance Partners Helps High-Net-Worth clients preserve their legacy and pass on their wealth to your future generations.
Our Services include
Funding Estate Taxes
Funding Business Buy Sell Agreements
Funding Business Buy Sell Agreements
We help High-Net-Worth clients preserve their wealth by using strategic life insurance solutions to fund estate taxes efficiently. Our tailored approach ensures heirs receive their full legacy without forced asset sales or liquidity challenges.
Funding Business Buy Sell Agreements
Funding Business Buy Sell Agreements
Funding Business Buy Sell Agreements
We help High-net-Worth business owners design and fund seamless buy-sell agreements using strategic life insurance solutions. Our expertise ensures business continuity, liquidity, and tax-efficient equity transfer, protecting both owners and heirs from financial disruption.
Estate Equalization Planning
Funding Business Buy Sell Agreements
Estate Equalization Planning
We help High-Net-Worth clients ensure fair and seamless wealth transfer by using life insurance to resolve estate equalization challenges among their children. Our tailored strategies help prevent conflicts, protect family harmony, and preserve your legacy as intended.
Business Succession Planning
Philanthropic and Charitable Giving
Estate Equalization Planning
We help High-Net-Worth business partners secure seamless succession by using life insurance to fund buyouts when partners of different ages or generations transition out. Our strategic solutions provide liquidity, stability, and certainty, ensuring business continuity without financial strain.
Family Legacy Planning
Philanthropic and Charitable Giving
Philanthropic and Charitable Giving
We help High-Net-Worth families preserve their legacy by using life insurance to create tax-efficient, multigenerational wealth transfer strategies. Our customized solutions ensure your heirs receive a lasting financial foundation while protecting your estate from unnecessary erosion.
Philanthropic and Charitable Giving
Philanthropic and Charitable Giving
Philanthropic and Charitable Giving
We help High-Net-Worth clients maximize their philanthropic impact by using life insurance to fund tax-efficient charitable giving strategies. Our solutions ensure you have liquidity to pay estate taxes while still leaving a lasting legacy for the causes you care about while preserving your estate for future generations.
Meet our Team
Wes Patterson, MBA
Shawn Thompson, CFP
Shawn Thompson, CFP
Wes Patterson, MBA
High Net Worth Insurance Advisor
Wes was born in Baton Rouge, LA and moved to Bountiful Utah in 1987. He attended Bountiful High School where he was an All-State baseball and football player. Wes continued his football career in college where he played running back and kick returner at BYU in 1997-1998. After serving a 2-year mission for his church in Scotland, Wes returned home and transferred to Southern Utah University where he earned his B.S. in Marketing in 2003 and his MBA in 2004 and finished his football career.
Wes started his Career as a Financial Advisor in 2004 with the Torchmark Corp. He was quickly promoted to a Sales Manager. In his first 2 years, Wes’ team the nation in total production. Wes was promoted to a Regional Manager position in Phoenix, AZ. In 2008, Wes moved his family back to Utah and took a position at Northwestern Mutual as a Managing Director. During that time Wes leaned on his experience as an MBA in working with closely held businesses, doing planning in risk management, business buy sell agreements, succession planning, key person planning, executive benefit planning, and Premium Finance.
In 2014, Wes left his large corporate firms in pursuit of a more nimble, flexible and creative business model. Wes recognized a gap in the financial services industry that was being grossly underserved, namely the way in which Corporations and Individuals fund large Corporate, Trust, and personally owned life insurance protection. Using his experience in risk management strategies, finance, and creative risk management plan design; Wes is uniquely positioned to secure the funding for his Corporate and Individual clients to secure the protection they require at a fraction of the traditional cost of paying premiums. While most advisors encourage their clients to fund large life insurance premiums with cash, when appropriate, Wes works with the client to help them retain the maximum amount of cash in their control, which they can then reinvest back into their business, and secure the coverage by Financing the premiums, posting collateral and paying the interest.
Known as Premium Finance, this funding strategy allows high net worth business owners and families to secure the large amount of life insurance necessary to fund their trusts, business succession, estate taxes, estate equalization and liquidity needs, and more. Wes has become a leading expert in this space with access to funding markets across the country.
Wes has built his practice by forming alliances with other Trusted Advisors, CPA’s, Estate Attorneys, Financial Advisors, Commercial Insurance Advisors, etc. Wes designs the underlying insurance contracts using carefully selected and designed products to fit the risk tolerance of his client and meet the client’s overall objective for the coverage. Throughout Wes’s career, he has placed over $1.5B in Life Insurance coverage for his clients protecting their families, their businesses, and their legacy.
On a personal note, Wes is married to his high school sweetheart Kiersten, and they have four sons. Wes is a passionate father who loves to donate his time coaching and mentoring his sons and other young men. Wes is a Varsity Football Coach at his local High School. Wes is a family man first who loves to work hard and play hard. Wes loves to take his family to the lake for wake surfing sessions and to play golf in the BEAUTIFUL Utah summers!
Education:
Brigham Young University
1997-1999
Southern Utah University, 2001-2003
BS Business Marketing
Southern Utah University, 2003-2024
MBA
Shawn Thompson, CFP
Shawn Thompson, CFP
Shawn Thompson, CFP
SHAWN C. THOMPSON, CFP, CLTC
Shawn C. Thompson is a Certified Financial Planner who specializes
in advanced uses of Life Insurance to preserve and protect families
and businesses as part of their estate plan. With more than $1
billion of lifetime coverage insuring his clients, Shawn has, to this
point in time, helped more than 100 families and businesses with
death claims that helped offset the financial loss caused by the
untimely death of their loved one.
For example, one claim provided $50,000 of benefit to a family of
modest means that helped with final expenses, while another paid
$12 million to help keep a family-owned business “in the family” by
providing funds to pay estate taxes and other liquidity needs
instead of selling assets. His largest face amount case to date is
$155 Million of coverage on a single life.
Shawn works successfully with major law firms, CPA firms, and other professionals, and their clients in facilitating the efficient transfer of assets at death through estate planning and life insurance. They
consider him a life insurance specialist in the planning process. In many instances this includes using “Premium Finance” to reduce the net cost of coverage – an area where Shawn is a recognized leader.
The Chief Executive Officer of a billion-dollar company, said of Shawn, “After meeting with many life insurance professionals throughout the years I never really felt comfortable with the product until
Shawn met with me. His way of communicating helped me see how it can help our organization and our family, and we have decided to use premium financing to help us acquire more than $60
Million of coverage on key family members and employees.”
Shawn is licensed with all major life insurance companies to assure the best possible product based on client needs. He is carrier-agnostic and strives to do the right thing for the client. His goal is to obtain the best product for the most affordable premium.
Shawn graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Finance in 2002. He started his career with MassMutual Financial group in 2002. He qualified for the rigorous education
and testing requirements of the Certified Financial Planner designation in 2007. In 2011, he went independent so that he could be truly unbiased when it came to helping a client select an insurance
company for their coverage. Together with Wes Patterson, they founded a small boutique firm called Praxis Insurance Partners which collaborates with Estate Planning Attorneys, CPA's, Commercial Insurance Advisors, and current clients in delivering exclusive life insurance policies for their clients. .
At the age of 17 he earned his Eagle Scout. At that time, he didn’t quite understand how well that would serve him over the years. He served a mission for the LDS church in Madagascar at the age of 19. That experience has helped shape his life and taught him communication skills that have been invaluable throughout his career.
Shawn finds joy in both work and life. He enjoys spending time with his wife and three children. He works hard and plays even harder when he can. He and his team would be pleased to work with you, your family, and your organization.
Our Ideal Clients
Business Owners/Closely Held Corporations
Owners of privately held Businesses with or without equity partners, doing a minimum of $5M in Annual Net Revenues, up to $10B+.
Multi-Generational Businesses
Businesses in any industry with multiple generations owning equity and looking to make a transition.
High Net Worth Individuals
Personal/Business net worth between $20M - $1B+ with a taxable estate.
Agricultural Family Businesses
Farming and Ranching families, perhaps illiquid, over the estate tax exemption, looking to protect your wealth while doing transition planning to the next generation
Large Life Insurance Needs
Individuals/Businesses currently paying over $100,000 annually for life insurance products
Secondary Market Solutions
Individuals with larger UL/SUL life policies facing premium increases, lapse notices, etc, who may want to consider selling their policy, or trading it for a new policy increasing coverage amounts and extending their coverage to an older age
Case Studies
Estate Taxes - The Anderson's
Estate Equalization - The Johnson's
Estate Equalization - The Johnson's
Federal Estate Taxes impact families whose net worth is over the federal exemption amount. That amount is a moving target and subject to the US Congress tax policy. Currently, the exemption for a married couple is approximately $28M. Any value over that amount is subject to a 40% tax with no cap, and is due to the IRS within 9 months from the date of death, creating a need for LIQUIDITY. Some individual states have their own estate tax in addition to the federal estate tax,
Who? The Anderson's grew their business over 3 decades and exited the business at age 62. They netted $105M after taxes. Their estate attorney created a trust and moved some assets inside it, but $78M was still inside their estate. After the estate tax exclusion of $28M, the
Dilemma? Anderson's are facing a 40% estate tax liability on $50M resulting in a $20M tax. The Anderson's have invested much of their capital into high performing and illiquid commerical real estate. Instead of liquidating those assets to pay estate taxes, they wanted to pass those on to their children and grandchildren. So the estate tax solution was to purchase a $20M Life insurance policy on the couple. The premium for the $20M life insurance was over $6.5M.
Solution? Teaming up with Praxis Insurance Partners, a customized policy was designed to insure both of their lives, and third party bank financing was put in place to fund the life insurance. The Anderson's simply needed to service the interest on the premium and post gap collateral. Outcome? The Anderson's now own $20M of permanent life insurance, will pay less than $2M in out of pocket costs, retain their highly appreciating and illiquid real estate assets, and have the liquidity to pay their estate tax upon their death.
Estate Equalization - The Johnson's
Estate Equalization - The Johnson's
Estate Equalization - The Johnson's
Many wealthy families have become wealthy by taking on calculated risks and putting it all on the line to build their empire (business, farm, ranch, etc.). All too often, that wealth becomes more difficult to transfer to the next generation without severe infighting amongst the next generation, producing a challenge for Mom and Dad to figure out how to best pass their wealth in a way that is equitable and perceived as “fair”.
Who? Johnson, LLC fit this scenario exactly. Dad had created a product that was revolutionary in its design and function, procured a patent, and sold them in the millions. Over the years, he and his wife had six children, two sons and four daughters. The son’s became active in the business after college and spun off several ancillary businesses under the family corporate umbrella. Mom and Dad have a net worth of $35 Million.
Dilemma? Now, Dad and mom are in their early 70’s, the sons are in their 40’s, and are now running the entire organization. Mom and Dad have divested themselves from the operations but are very concerned with making sure that the four daughters receive an equal share of the wealth that has been created. The two sons’ are ok with that to a point, but they do NOT want to be in business with their sisters or their in-laws. So how can Dad and Mom divide that $35M among their children without forcing the two sons to sell off companies, or take out large loans to cash out their four sisters? Especially having the majority of their net worth illiquid.
Solution? Praxis insurance Partners designed and built a plan utilizing an insurance product that will provide enough capital at the passing of both mom and Dad, for the two sons to purchase their sister’s shares in the business. At that point, the sisters are made whole by receiving the amount of money their parents desired to give them, the two sons maintain full ownership of the business entities moving forward and receive a very large step up in basis in their ownership of the business. All of this is accomplished by using Praxis Insurance Partners, LLC strategic funding strategy allowing the family to maintain control over their own money.
Business Succession Planning - Summit LLC
Business Succession Planning - Summit LLC
Business Succession Planning - Summit LLC
Most business owners think the way they will cash out a partner is by bringing a new one on board in their place, or by having existing partners increase their ownership percentages by buying the exiting partners out. That rarely works.
Who? Summit LLC was a group of oral surgeons who had built a very successful practice in Chicago. They quickly became known as “the best” and their calendars (and checkbooks) reflected that. The burnout rate was quicker than most and the founding doctors started wanting to exit the practice 10 years sooner than most other working Americans. Their buyout strategy was simple. Find another Oral surgeon who wants to buy into the practice, either an established surgeon or one fresh out of school. They quickly realized the only surgeons that were compatible to joining their practice were the younger docs who didn’t have their own ways of running a small practice and could be molded to fit their model. The problem they discovered was that the younger docs didn’t have any money…
Dilemma?- How does Summit LLC plan for the exit of Doctors and the buyout of their shares while realizing the incoming replacement doctors would be buying in at a slower pace then the exiting doctors were being bought out??? If they could solve this problem they felt like recruiting younger docs would be easier for them to do.
Solution?- Praxis Insurance Partners designed and built a plan utilizing cash value building life insurance that allowed the company to accumulate significant cash while the doctors were working, that at retirement would be used to buy shares back over time after they left the practice. The flexibility of the plan allowed for additional partners to be added and for other acquisitions that happened with practices etc., to be included in the formula. No longer was the redemption of shares to be handled from cash flow and new doctor buy-ins only.
Buy Sell Agreement - Heavy D Builders
Business Succession Planning - Summit LLC
Business Succession Planning - Summit LLC
More often than not we come across businesses that have multiple owners or partners. Most of them have buy out language in their operating agreements but very few have a way of funding those obligations, or they are not up to date with current values and scenarios. When we were approached by the estate attorneys for Heavy D Construction that is exactly what we found.
Who? Heavy D Construction started in 1987 with 2 partners. Had grown into large operation with other operating entities and 10 partners.
Dilemma? The operating agreement language called for a buyout upon death of the surviving spouse but that small amount of insurance that had been in place since 1987 wasn’t enough to handle the obligations that all the entities would have. 8 of the 10 partners had no insurance at all and 2 of them had a small amount. Reaching a valuation that the partners (especially the partners wives) could agree on was problematic and there was a drastic difference in the ages among the partners.
Solution? Using the Praxis Insurance Partners strategy, an Insurance only LLC was formed, and Heavy D Construction deployed a larger life insurance plan to handle the share redemption at the death of a partner. Flexibility was built into the plan to allow for growth of the companies/additional companies being added and the addition of partners as existing partners retired. No longer was the business’s cash flow at risk to fulfill the obligations of the operating agreement.