Learning from Experience: Lars and Nora’s story

Lars and Nora’s first baby, a small two-person operation, had matured into a mid-sized family run business, due in part to the expertise of their now grown children; daughter Fleur, son Lucas, and his wife Julia. Giving credit where credit is due, they also had a number of faithful employees, key to ongoing production and management of the company. Lars manned the helm as the main visionary, salesperson, and overseer of product development as the company expanded its reach.

It was business as usual until Lars, Nora, and their daughter Fleur were involved in a serious car accident. Income dipped as their recuperation times stretched on, but thanks to Lars and Nora’s strategic planning, the company and its key employees weathered the storm nicely. With Lars’ close involvement in the principal business activities of the company, his Advisor had recommended an Overhead Expense Plan (EOP). With the OEP insurance in place at the time of the accident, several business overhead expenses were covered during Lars’ recuperation to make up for the lost business income. Rent and utilities at the plant were covered by the OEP, and the payroll was also supplemented when needed.

In retrospect, there was a silver lining to Lars’ unexpected absence and the disruption in day-to-day operations. A vision emerged to restructure the company for sustained growth well into the future and to create new and unexpected opportunities for some of their key employees. This meant carving out certain in-house functions and outsourcing to newly formed independent manufacturers – owned and operated by some of their very own faithful few.

Lars and Nora had attracted and retained great talent with solid employment benefits like competitive salaries, generous vacation time, and even a Wage Loss Replacement Plan (WLRP). It was in their DNA to help set employees up for success, whether coming or going. Under their WLRP, for example, Lars and Nora had grouped together individual disability insurance policies that offered a whole host of benefits not available with traditional group disability insurance, including the option for their employees to take their plan with them if they ever left the company. The WLRP approach paid off—for their daughter Fleur, who would have missed out on numerous income and recovery benefits under a traditional group policy, and for their key employees who were now venturing out on their own with irreplaceable insurance coverage in hand.