HSC Wealth Advisors

Emily Eshleman, Financial Planner, CFP | AUM: $250–$500M | Type: Fee-Only

As a fee-only firm specializing in practical financial planning, Virginia-based HSC Wealth Advisors takes a personal approach to helping set up their clients for a lifetime of success. Their team of Certified Financial Planners® and financial advisors take a fiduciary approach to serving clients’ best interests, underpinned by a commitment to the highest degree of objectivity, integrity, and ethical standards in their work.

While the HSC team offered financial planning and advice that often included insurance, they did not have a way to deliver advisory insurance solutions directly. They faced a challenge — how to fulfill insurance policies in a fiduciary manner. The firm needed a partner to bridge the gap between their planning services and insurance fulfillment.

Leveraging DPL’s Insurance Expertise

By becoming a member of DPL Financial Partners, HSC Wealth Advisors gained access to best-in-class products across life, term, and variable universal life (VUL) insurance, along with a team of experts to support implementation. With DPL, HSC can offer insurance solutions in an objective, fiduciary manner, enhancing client outcomes while strengthening their planning-first approach.

HSC proactively engages DPL as part of their planning process. They rely on DPL’s Insurance Team to conduct in-depth policy reviews to determine whether an alternative can better meet a client’s needs. Providing illustrations, side-by-side comparisons, and hands-on support, DPL enhances both the client experience and the firm’s operational efficiency. As a result, HSC Wealth Advisors can achieve deeper client relationships, greater planning impact, and more investible assets under management.

Real Life Scenario

Mr. Johnson was 55 years old with an existing variable universal life (VUL) policy. While reviewing his plan with his advisor, he expressed interest in additional coverage to help get him through to retirement. DPL’s Insurance Team evaluated his VUL policy and identified a low-cost option that would provide the higher level of coverage he desired.

DPL completed a “1035 exchange” of the existing policy to a commission-free VUL — using a minimum non-MEC (Minimum Essential Coverage) design — to deliver accumulation without additional premiums. DPL also recommended a term life policy to cover Mr. Johnson’s insurance need for the remainder of his working years. These solutions provided greater flexibility, while increasing his protection and peace of mind.

Comparing the Numbers‍

$2,130: Total cost savings from the original policies to the new advisory solutions

$960,000: New death benefit coverage for Mr. Johnson a $440,000 increase

$520,000: DPL was able to increase insurance protection by over $500,000

Empowered Financial Planning

With support from DPL, HSC can implement low-cost, high-value insurance solutions that meet goals in clients’ financial plans and align with the firm’s fiduciary commitment. The results can be significant— in some cases, doubling a client’s total coverage for a third of the original cost. With more investible assets under management and a powerful insurance solutions toolkit, HSC is expanding its planning impact and elevating the overall client experience.