Principal
Michael S. Seltzer, CLU®, ChFC®
As founding member and Principal of Vérité Group, LLC, Michael brings 40 years of life insurance experience to the firm. He focuses on expanding Vérité’s brand in the financial services industry and fulfilling its unique value proposition: empowering clients to own the amount of insurance they need rather than the amount of insurance they are willing to pay for, by utilizing premium finance.
As a trusted resource and problem solver, Michael simplifies the complicated. He provides his clients a proven process to successfully navigate the intricacies of premium finance.
Michael’s career has been spent serving the insurance needs of high-net-worth individuals, businesses, entertainers and athletes. He has worked closely with several large and boutique accounting firms to manage the insurance needs of the partners and their clients. Prior to Vérité, he was a co-founder/principal in a boutique investment bank partly owned by a national law firm.
He is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), a member of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU) and a member of the Forum 400.
Michael lives with his wife, Iris, and their two dogs in Miami, Florida. He is an avid reader, loves to travel, play golf and spend time with family and friends.
Why did you join the Vérité team?
I created Vérité with the idea of bringing a higher level of professionalism to the premium finance market. I started in premium finance 16 years ago and was taken with how good a business this could be, but how there appeared to be a lack of talent and professionalism – specifically, there seemed to be a lack of full disclosure, something we are proud to say we always manage on all transactions.
What are you most passionate about in your work?
We are helping the affluent and super affluent obtain the life insurance they need to preserve what they have built. This allows them to be able to leave their estates intact and pass them on to the next generation.
What does Expanding What’s Possible mean to you?
It refers to the fact that by utilizing leverage to obtain the needed amount of life insurance, the client can actually afford to buy the amount of life insurance they need, not the amount they are willing to pay for.
Why is Truth and Transparency so important when working with a Premium Finance Professional?
A few reasons. First, so many in the premium finance business do not practice truth and transparency. We feel we bring a new level of understanding to the market on behalf of the client. Second, premium finance is a complex, long-term transaction and each client needs to fully grasp exactly, what not only the initial transaction will look like, but also must be fully aware of how the ongoing maintenance will be managed. Lastly, each client must understand what is expected of them on each annual renewal and what Vérité will be doing in the process.
What is your most rewarding client experience?
This may sound crazy, but we had a client, very rich, very smart, very analytical. We worked with him for months and as we were getting ready to close, he mentioned that all of his cash, $85 million, was really being held by him as the custodian for his children and grandchildren, something we were unaware of until this point.
We discussed it further and decided he would be better off “not utilizing premium finance”, but instead doing a “private finance transaction”.
When outside the office, where might I find you?
We moved to South Beach two years ago, so probably you will find me at the beach or doing something in the sun. I love being outdoors here and most often find a way to take advantage of living on the beach.
Education and Accreditations.
BBA Pace University, CLU, ChFC