Private Placement Demystified
Understanding how and why to wrap institutional-quality investments in tax-advantaged insurance structures.
What is PPLI / PPVA?
Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) and Private Placement Variable Annuities (PPVA) are institutional, tax-efficient structures designed exclusively for accredited and qualified purchasers.
Unlike retail insurance products that offer limited, pre-packaged investment options, these private structures allow high-net-worth investors to hold a highly customized portfolio of alternative and traditional assets within the tax-advantaged wrapper of an insurance policy.
Why does it matter?
Eliminate Tax Drag
Ordinary income tax and short-term capital gains on highly inefficient or high-turnover strategies severely degrade compounding. Structuring via PPLI defers or eliminates this drag entirely.
Institutional Access
Access hedge funds, private credit, and other elite alternative managers that are otherwise prohibitively taxed when held in traditional brokerage accounts.
Who is it for?
- Accredited Investors / Qualified Purchasers
- Clients with long time horizons (10+ years to maximize compound growth)
- Individuals in high-tax geographic environments
- Families seeking sophisticated, multi-generational wealth transfer
How RIAs Implement the Strategy
RIAs deploy private placement structures as a complement to the core taxable portfolio, carving out the most tax-inefficient components of a client's asset allocation and moving them into the PPLI or PPVA wrapper.
When not to use it:It is generally not appropriate for short-term liquidity needs or for pure buy-and-hold strategies of highly tax-efficient assets (like broad-market index ETFs), where the structural costs of insurance might outweigh the tax benefits.
Understanding the strategy is just step one.
Historically, the friction of implementation has prevented widespread adoption. Advisure provides the platform to easily model, execute, and monitor these strategies at scale.
Explore the Implementation Platform