Michael Zager
Financial Security Professional Michael Zager approaches wealth management from a different perspective.
“I am an insurance guy not a wealth manager,” Zager said when asked about his practice.
Zager adds: “I am a dinosaur, but I am the dinosaur that every accounting firm and law firm comes to when people need insurance. They know me.”
It is a reputation that Zager has spent the past 30 years cultivating. “A private equity firm will call and say, ‘we are buying a business and we need to get some insurance on these guys who own the business,’” Zager said.
Zager, 53, runs Z Wealth Solutions in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he manages a six-person team that sells life and disability insurance underwritten by MassMutual and other top carriers.
Zager, who serves about 3,000 households and boasts a retention rate of more than 98%, was ranked as a 2023 Forbes-SHOOK Top Financial Security Professional.
“Ninety percent of what we do involves using insurance to develop succession, estate and tax planning strategies. Insurance is used in some capacity or another,” Zager said.
“It is my goal to touch as many lives as possible. I don’t care how big or how small,” Zager said, noting that insurance never goes out of style. “People always need life insurance. The reasons may change during their life, but they still need it.”
Early in his career, Zager said he gravitated toward insurance because he found it more interesting than selling stocks and bonds.
“It was my thinking that if I could become an expert and understand the nuances, I could have a niche for myself where asset managers actually think of us and refer work to us,” Zager said.
Building strong relationships and solving problems is part of how Zager approaches clients. Like the time a grieving spouse called him after her husband had unexpectedly died.
“She had no idea where any of his accounts were. I got on the phone and told the insurance company that I had a tragedy on my hands. I asked them to wire a portion of the death benefit to an account. This was before a death certificate, before any paperwork was filled out,” Zager said.
Zager said he explained to the company that the widow was desperate and needed the money. “I said you know how ferocious I am when I am trying to pick up clients,” Zager said. “I explained that I am a hundred times worse when there is something I view as a life-and-death matter. I told them, ‘she needs the money.’”
The company complied and wired $250,000 to the spouse.
Zager said it is difficult to not get involved in clients’ personal lives. “The barrier between business and friendship came down a long time ago,” he said.
Long-time relationships can be rewarding, Zager said. But they also bring unexpected heartache. It is simply part of the territory, Zager said as he told a story about how a friend introduced him to their friend from Italy.
“I sold him two policies. Within six months, Zager said the man was diagnosed with stomach cancer. “He died within three months. Thank goodness he had the policies, but the whole thing was unnerving.”
Zager said his philosophy regarding clients is simple: “I provide solutions and I make it a point to make sure people leave me in a better position than when we first met.”
