Articles

Steve McElhiney of EWI Re, Inc., discusses a time-tested approach to optimizing a single-parent captive insurance company and overlays this approach with key success factors that may be integrated to achieve long-term economic value and superior risk control attributes. Read More

While the US Tax Court's "Avrahami" decision qualifies as a taxpayer loss, Tom Jones of McDermott Will & Emery finds positive elements to the decision. He says along the larger continuum of tax concerns relating to captives, the decision provides further clarity and should benefit larger captives. Read More

Much has been shared, and many lessons can be learned from "Avrahami v. Comm'r" and "Feedback Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Comm'r," 149 T.C. 7 (2017). Jeremy and Richard Colombik provide their take on the lessons learned from the case. Read More

Industry panelists in Vermont recently discussed how technology is currently being used to mitigate risk in different industries. With advances in technology, organizations and captive insurers are discovering new ways to control costs, improve resource efficiency, and compete more successfully. Read More

Understanding the difference between leading and managing is understanding the difference between winning and losing in cutthroat markets. Pure managers make the system work, but leaders make things happen. They make the people around them better. Effective leaders should pay attention to and work to master key emotional intelligence competencies. Read More

Employee turnover is costly. In terms of annual salary, cost estimates for losing a position to turnover range from 30-150 percent (hourly employees) up to 250 percent (sales/senior leadership). Developing a strategy that follows seven key steps is critical to the long-term success of an overall employee retention plan. Read More

For captives, especially smaller captives or group captives, passive investing can help reduce frictional investment expenses in a low yield, total return environment. A recent S&P webinar and "Wall Street Journal" article strengthen the argument for passive investing, thereby reinforcing a case for captives' use of passive investing. Read More

Companies around the world use benchmarking to catapult their organizations to the top in their industry. Benchmarking is the process of improving performance by continuously identifying, understanding, and adapting outstanding practices and processes found inside and outside the organization. Almost any activity that can be measured can be benchmarked. Read More