Life Insurance
Needs Analysis
Smart financial planning means insuring your family and business against the risks they might face without you. But without proper guidance, you risk ending up over- or under-insured.
As your financial advisors, we can help you make confident, informed decisions about your life insurance coverage.
Get a Clear View of Your Life Insurance Needs
A life insurance needs analysis is a detailed evaluation of how much coverage you actually need. At Citrine Capital, this work is guided by a fee-only financial advisor who is compensated for providing advice, not for selling insurance products. This structure aligns our incentives with helping you make sound decisions that support your goals, your family, and the life you want to live.
Our process focuses on protecting your dependents and addressing financial and business obligations in the event of an untimely death. We then integrate life insurance into your broader wealth management strategy so your coverage is aligned, cost-efficient, and free of unnecessary gaps.
Smart Life Insurance Planning Tailored To You
Before you buy life insurance, you need an unbiased view of how much coverage is actually appropriate. We use a comprehensive approach to accurately estimate your life insurance needs, helping you select a policy that aligns with your family’s priorities and financial plan.
Survivor Needs & Income Replacement
We’ll assess how much coverage your family would need to replace income, cover obligations, and maintain stability if you weren’t here.
Estate & Legacy Planning
We collaborate with your estate attorney to design tax-efficient strategies that protect your legacy. This may include tools like irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), which can simplify wealth transfer for your heirs.
Policy Surrender & Efficiency Analysis
We evaluate the economic and tax efficiency of your existing policy to determine whether it’s worth keeping or restructuring. This includes reviewing surrender charges, cash value growth, internal policy costs, and potential tax consequences of surrender or exchange.
Business Succession & Key Person Insurance
For startup founders and business owners, we design coverage that supports buy-sell agreements, protects key roles, and ensures continuity.
Gap Analysis & Ongoing Reviews
Your life evolves, and your insurance should too. We’ll regularly review your existing policies, make adjustments as needed, and ensure your beneficiary designations remain aligned with your estate and financial goals.
Life Insurance Policy Selection
We help you weigh the pros and cons of different policies to find the right one for your situation.
Strike the Perfect Balance
Many people carry life insurance that’s either insufficient or poorly structured for their situation. Too little coverage can leave your family exposed, while over-insuring or holding the wrong type of policy can create unnecessary expense.
A comprehensive needs analysis helps ensure your coverage is thoughtfully calibrated and fully aligned with your financial goals. We’ll help you coordinate insurance with your wealth, estate, and business strategies, so you can be confident that your protection supports the bigger picture.
Comprehensive Financial Advisory Services for High-Net-Worth Families
We proudly offer a full suite of financial advisory services to accommodate your needs at every stage of life.
Wealth Management
Grow and preserve your wealth with tailored investing strategies that serve your long-term goals.
Tax Preparation & Planning
Coordinate your tax strategy with your broader financial and estate goals. We prepare and file your returns while helping you proactively manage taxes throughout the year.
Financial Planning
Build a clear roadmap for your future by aligning today’s financial decisions with tomorrow’s priorities.
The Citrine Capital Approach to Life Insurance
Our insurance planning process is grounded in independent, fiduciary guidance. We don’t sell insurance products, so our recommendations focus solely on what protects your family and supports your long-term financial goals.
Through our comprehensive life insurance needs analysis, we evaluate how coverage fits within your broader wealth, estate, tax, and business planning. From there, we help you determine the appropriate amount and structure of insurance without unnecessary cost or complexity.
The result is insurance that integrates seamlessly into your financial plan and supports the bigger picture of your wealth strategy.
Who We Work With
Citrine Capital is a boutique financial advisory firm based in San Francisco, with deep experience helping Bay Area professionals and their families build and preserve wealth.
We primarily serve high-net-worth individuals - founders and tech entrepreneurs - who benefit from our specialized expertise in equity compensation planning, liquidity events, and other complex financial situations. Our experience navigating complex financial situations allows us to offer guidance that’s both clear and practical.
And because we understand the realities of living and building wealth in a high-tax, high-cost-of-living region, our planning emphasizes tax efficiency and long-term financial resilience - helping you keep more of your wealth working toward your goals.
Why Bay Area Professionals Choose Us
We help innovators and their families protect their wealth and build lasting legacies for future generations.
Strategies Built for the Bay Area
We tailor planning and investment strategies to your goals while accounting for the realities of high taxes, high living costs, and the dynamics of the local tech landscape.
Trustworthy Financial Advice
As a fee-only fiduciary, our advice is completely independent and aligned with your goals.
Comprehensive Support Across Your Financial Life
We serve as a long-term partner for all aspects of your wealth - investments, tax planning, equity compensation, estate planning, and more - helping you grow and protect your assets.
Protect Your Future with Citrine Capital
Gain clarity around your life insurance coverage with guidance from independent advisors who understand how protection fits into the broader landscape of your wealth, estate, and tax planning.
To get started, please complete a short questionnaire so we can determine whether our approach aligns with your needs. We’ll follow up to schedule a meeting to review your existing policies, evaluate coverage gaps, and discuss how insurance fits into your broader financial plan.
Take the first step toward lasting peace of mind for your family and business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The right amount of coverage depends on a wide variety of factors, including your income, debts, dependents, lifestyle, and assets. A needs analysis helps determine the right balance so you’re neither over-insured nor under-protected.
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To calculate life insurance needs, we review survivor income needs, outstanding obligations, estate considerations, and business commitments. Assessing these factors in the context of your full financial picture helps us determine an appropriate coverage level and find a suitable policy for you.
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You should review your life insurance analysis every few years, or anytime you experience a major life change or financial milestone. Marriage, children, business growth, or debt reduction can all affect your life insurance needs, so it’s best to review and right-size your coverage periodically with a trusted advisor.