About Us
Your resource for evaluating & implementing life settlements
Hidden Asset Advisory Group is a unique partnership between
Robert D. Cavanaugh, CLU and the Ashar Group.
We do not sell life insurance, manage assets, nor purchase policies. Our only interest is your best interest. Our partnership combines 50+ years of life insurance experience, 25 years of internet marketing, and 23 years of representing life insurance policyholders in receiving the maximum cash value for their policy via a competitive auction process among institutional buyers.
The policyowner-centric approach
Mr. Cavanaugh is a 50+ year veteran of the life insurance industry.
He started his career in 1969 with Northwestern Mutual in Tucson, AZ. He achieved immediate success by making the Million Dollar Roundtable in his first year in the business.
He went on to build a clientele of 400 attorneys.
In 1983, he was asked to build a Mass Mutual District Agency from scratch. He also continued his personal production, ultimately achieving the Court of the Table distinction in the Million Dollar Roundtable.
He has remained a Mass Mutual agent until his retirement. During his career, he has worked in a number of areas where life insurance plays a part. These include: 1) Estate planning 2) Business continuation 3) Buy-sell agreements 4) Split dollar 5) Executive bonus plans 6) Pension & profit sharing plans 7) 401(k) plans 8) IRAs 9) Annuities: fixed, immediate & indexed 10) Disability income: personal, buy-outs & business overhead expense 11) Long-term care 12) Charitable estate planning: All advanced planning strategies, from charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts to lead trusts & more. 13) Life settlements.
Since his early retirement, he has spent the past 25 years in various internet marketing businesses. He is proficient in almost every internet marketing strategy, including 1) producing videos (since 2006), 2) Google and Bing pay-per-click advertising, 3) reputation marketing, 4) SEO: website & for local businesses, 5) YouTube videos: long-form, shorts, & marketing, 6) Facebook (Meta) marketing, 7) Content marketing: articles, blogs, infographics, 8) Social media marketing (primarily LinkedIn), 9) Email marketing, 10) Affiliate marketing, 11) Webinar marketing and many more.
This combination of a broad range of life insurance planning topics and markets, along with his extensive experience with a wide array of internet marketing strategies, puts him in a unique position to explain how a life settlement works and how it benefits seniors, businesses, churches, and non-profits.
Bob also helped a number of Tucson charities during his career. In addition, he was active in his church as an usher, lay reader, chalice bearer, and vestry member.
He coached Little League for 12 years.
The Ashar Group is one of the premier life settlement companies in the U.S. It is a family partnership and has been in business since 2003.
They are unique in that they represent the policyowner in a fiduciary responsibility role to ensure the person obtains the maximum value from their life settlement.
They do this by putting each policy up for competitive bidding at an auction among institutional buyers representing companies and investment portfolios that hold life insurance policies as investments.
This is in contrast to the commercials you may have seen on TV promoting life settlements. These advertisements are placed by companies whose fiduciary responsibility is to their shareholders, not to the policyholder. Their goal is to obtain the policy at the lowest possible cost.
During the auction, the policy may receive 10 to 40 bids. Here are a few actual case studies that illustrate the value this bidding process can yield:
Diane, age 92
Diane had a $ 500,000 universal life policy with a cash value of $12,000.
Her adult children were funding her long-term care needs. The long-term care facility recommended using Ashar Group to value the policy to uncover more potential value. After 21 bids, she received a cash settlement of $225,000.
Hector, age 79
Hector had a $1,500,000 indexed universal life policy. He just received a massive premium increase. which he could not afford. But instead of cashing in the policy for its $75,000 surrender value, he elected a life settlement. After 30 bids, he received a lump sum of $450,000, which he could apply to meeting his current needs.
Edna, age 91
Edna had a $350,000 universal life policy. As many philanthropic individuals do, Edna donated her life insurance policy to a charitable organization she loved.
At the time, the cash value was expected to carry the policy, so neither party would have to make a premium payment. However, Edna lived well beyond her financial plan, and the policy was running out of money. It only had a cash value of $4,500 left.
The life settlement generated $140,000 that the charity could use for today’s needs, and Edna could witness her donation at work. It took the Ashar group getting 20 bids before the final settlement offer was reached.
These are just three of hundreds of life settlements the Ashar Group has helped people multiply what they would have received by surrendering their policy to the issuing company.