The Ridgeback Group

Our very own Eric Eklund, Esq., CEPA sat down with Life Insurance Strategies Group to geek out about all things life insurance (and then some). Get inspired. Get ideas. Get... a few restaurant recommendations to check out the next time you're in Santa Barbara or DC. This one is well worth your time to read. Thank you to Jay Judas and Peter Dziedzic for this incredible interview.

This past weekend The Ridgeback Group turned one. And while we commemorated our launch with cake, we want to start off year two by taking a moment to give thanks. 20% of businesses fail before their first birthday. We couldn’t have hit this milestone with such momentum without our team and our 25 firms. Thank you for helping us challenge the industry status quo. Thank you for your passion and focus. And thank you for taking this first trip around the sun with us. Together we climb, but today we also celebrate. HBD RBG 💙  

A remarkable meeting with an incredible firm. Thanks for having us FBO Strategies LLC. It was invaluable getting to connect in person and discuss growth opportunities. Also, always a bonus when Keith Friedman brings his dogs around. We're proud to be your partner and help your talented team climb to new heights.

Some of us just returned from a West Coast swing to see a few current and future The Ridgeback Group firms. And while travel is never easy (especially when you’re trying to get home in the middle of a catastrophic global IT outage), we’d get right back on the plane and do it all over again tomorrow. Even in this disparate, remote and virtual-meeting filled world, our business will always be about relationships. Sure, you can foster bonds over Zoom, but there’s a certain energy and collaborative spirit that can only come from actual face time. And we don’t mean the app on your phone. We will always make time for firms and producers. Whether that means taking a trip across the country or responding to an urgent text message or thinking differently on their behalf. This is your business and your journey, and we’ll go to any lengths to help you grow it.

We don't always play golf, but when we do it's usually for a good cause. Thanks for inviting us Keith Friedman. Our team (Dan Murphy, MBA, CLU, Jordan Carreira) was happy to support FBO Strategies LLC and Stamford JCC.

The Ridgeback Group is excited to announce our newest core carrier relationship with Allianz Life. -This relationship brings together two organizations who love to swim against convention -The Ridgeback Group and Allianz are motivated by a mutual commitment to serving producers and driving growth within their businesses -Innovation through technology and forward-thinking opportunities will be key strategic components of this partnership Here are some excerpts from a recent conversation between our two teams, featuring our Chief Operating Officer Eric Eklund, Esq., CEPA, Crystal Quicano, and Cole Porter. We can't wait to bring meaningful value to our firms with Jason Wellmann, Brett Novielli, CLU, Colin Branch MBA, and the rest of the Allianz Life team.

By now you’ve probably heard about Connelly v. The United States. But what do you and your clients do in the wake of that groundbreaking decision? Eric Eklund, Esq., CEPA has four letter for you: BSIE. Here’s everything you need to know about Buy-Sell Insurance Entities, a streamlined and tax-efficient way for business owners to manage life insurance policies that fund buy-sell agreements. Follow The Ridgeback Group for more advanced concepts made actionable. #SCOTUS #TaxLaw #InsuranceLaw #EstatePlanning #BusinessPlanning #LegalGeek #SupremeCourt #ConnellyCase #BuySellAgreements #CrossPurchase #LegalOpinions #AdvisoryOpinion #LawNerd #InsuranceNerd #LegalAnalysis #BusinessStrategy #TaxpayerRights #RedemptionStrategy #LandmarkCases #LegalDebate https://lnkd.in/evAnwbXy

Maybe you heard but there was a landmark Supreme Court decision on June 6 (Connelly v. United States) that directly impacts how life insurance proceeds and redemption obligations should be treated for federal estate tax purposes. Our in-house legal and life insurance nerd (aka Chief Operating Officer Eric Eklund, Esq., CEPA) has a few thoughts on how firms can approach "buy-sell" planning and make sense of these changes for their clients. Okay, fine, he has more than a few thoughts... Print-friendly version available upon request #SCOTUS #TaxLaw #InsuranceLaw #EstatePlanning #BusinessPlanning #LegalGeek #SupremeCourt #ConnellyCase #BuySellAgreements #CrossPurchase #LegalOpinions #AdvisoryOpinion #LawNerd #InsuranceNerd #LegalAnalysis #BusinessStrategy #TaxpayerRights #RedemptionStrategy #LandmarkCases #LegalDebate https://lnkd.in/eZBc6NKa

We love all of our partners equally at The Ridgeback Group, but this week's Firm Spotlight is a particularly special one. This is the story of our first ever founding firm, FBO Strategies LLC. FBO is an insurance and estate planning practice that puts an emphasis on ethics, accuracy, and above all else, their clients.

When the Wordle of the day is the name of a Ridgeback owner's proprietary tech platform... Thanks for the 1/1 inspiration Maxwell Schmitz, MSFS, CLTC 🐕, Luke Rother, CEPA, and Yetworth Insurance Solutions. Congratulations on the soft launch of Dingo (and the fortuitous "mention" by the NY Times). We can't wait to integrate the power of your new DI processing system with Base Camp to deliver something truly game changing for The Ridgeback Group firms looking to improve/grow their disability business.