David Lau of DPL Financial Partners - Why You Should Consider Insurance and Annuities in Your Investment Plans

Feb 4, 2025

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Today, Rusty and Robyn are joined by David Lau, Founder and CEO at DPL Financial Partners. David Lau is widely recognized as an innovator and disruptor in the financial services industry. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DPL Financial Partners, a privately held financial services firm that specializes in the development and distribution of low-cost, commission-free insurance and annuity products, as well as technology-driven product discovery tools and education, for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and individual investors. Since going to market in 2018, DPL has worked with 20 leading insurance carriers to bring a range of value-driven, no-load products to its turnkey insurance management platform for advisors, and built an advisor base of more than 10,000 advisors from more than 3,500 RIA firms. Mr. Lau is a sought-after speaker, commentator, and adviser to financial journalists, insurance carriers, RIA firms, fintech providers and others in the financial services and fintech industries. His work has received coverage in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron's, CNBC, Wealth Management, and other financial media where he provides insights on industry products, players, trends, and best practices. Mr. Lau serves on the CFP Board's Standards Resource Commission, and also on the Insurance sub-committee, to help develop resources that provide guidance to CFP® professionals and their firms on CFP Board’s new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct. Prior to founding DPL, Mr. Lau was Chief Operating Officer of Jefferson National, a leading innovator of tax-advantaged investing strategies for RIAs and fee-based advisors, where he led sales, marketing, technology, operations, and service. During his tenure, Mr. Lau architected the industry’s first flat-fee variable annuity product, Monument Advisor, and grew it into the leading no-load variable annuity in the market. Prior to joining Jefferson National, Mr. Lau was principal and co-founder of The Oysterhouse Group, LLC, a management consulting firm focused on retail delivery of financial services products, where he developed “go-to-market” strategies for key initiatives. His firm’s list of internationally recognized clients included Shinsei Bank, Merrill Lynch and Ace Insurance Group. Earlier, Mr. Lau served as Chief Marketing Officer of E*Trade Bank, and its predecessor TeleBank, the first pure-play internet bank. As the chief marketing strategist, he was responsible for creating and implementing break-through national direct marketing and branding campaigns that defined the online banking category. During Mr. Lau’s six-year tenure deposits at the bank grew from $200M to over $8B, and, at the time of its sale to E*Trade, TeleBank was the largest internet bank worldwide and five times larger than all US competitors combined. Mr. Lau’s early career included various positions at the Jamestown Foundation and the American Trucking Associations. In his leisure time, David enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf and cooking. Additionally, David is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan and an avid Duke basketball fan.

Key Takeaways

[04:13] - David’s professional highlights and more on his current role at DPL
[06:25] - What was the impetus for founding DPL and for the services they provide?
[10:35] - What are some of the unique challenges that fee-based advisors face, when it comes to implementing insurance solutions, and how does DPL address them?
[13:30] - How does DPL help advisors break away and retain their book of annuities?
[15:52] - Why has the growth in insurance and annuities not kept pace with the growth of the rest of the financial services industry?
[18:11] - How should advisors go about incorporating insurance into their holistic financial plans?
[20:17] - What are the behavioral and psychological benefits of using insurance and annuities as strategic tools during periods of market volatility?
[24:11] - What kind of trends is David seeing in the adoption of commission free insurance products among registered investment advisors?
[26:33] - What role does technology play in simplifying the process of offering insurance products to clients?
[28:40] - What are some common misconceptions financial advisors have about annuities or life insurance products?
[31:24] - For advisors looking to integrate these commission free insurance products, how do they educate their clients about the benefits of them?
[34:03] - What inspired David to create the Advisor Revelations podcast?
[36:27] - What feedback has David received on his podcast and how has that shaped its content?
[37:56] - For someone who has not yet checked out his podcast, does David have any recommendations for an episode to start with?
[39:47] - If David could give one piece of advice to financial advisors looking to grow their practice, what would it be?
[41:48] - What is currently David’s favorite investment idea?

Quotes

[22:25] - “Annuities kind of give…the client a license to spend, because they don’t worry about overspending and outliving their money because they have that guaranteed income stream…they’re still getting a paycheck, and that’s another great behavioral thing.” ~ David Lau

[41:13] - “It’s always more expensive to go find the next customer than it is to further monetize your existing ones, and that’s what we can help you do. We can help you further monetize your existing ones, giving them better products, better outcomes and then also your ability to more easily find and attract new clients.” ~ David Lau

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Disclosure(s) - Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, an Orion Company, is a registered investment advisor.

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