Foundation Insurance Services

What Foundation Insurance Services does

Foundation Insurance Services, LLC, operating as WealthEnsure, is a privately held financial advisory practice headquartered in the United States and led by founder Frederick Saide, Ph.D. The firm focuses on retirement income planning for pre-retirees, retirees, and business owners, with a stated emphasis on decumulation — the distribution phase of retirement — rather than portfolio accumulation. Core services include retirement income planning, the proprietary Income Floor Strategy (which combines structured annuities with portfolio growth to generate guaranteed income from less capital), Social Security optimization, IRA/401(k) guidance, strategic tax planning, estate and legacy planning, long-term care planning, life insurance planning, and business succession/wealth unlocking for owners approaching a sale.

The firm generates revenue through fee-based advisory services and insurance/annuity product commissions, with engagement initiated via no-cost, no-obligation consultations followed by personalized written income plans. It is licensed to serve clients in 10 U.S. states (NJ, PA, CT, AZ, DE, NC, FL, NV, MD, WA) and conducts consultations in-person or virtually. There is no proprietary technology platform; the practice is positioned as a human-centered advisory firm differentiated by founder expertise (two Ph.D. degrees, 30+ years of experience, USA Today publication) and a methodology emphasizing forward-looking tradeable benchmarks over backtested returns.

Go-to-market combines a consultative, sales-led direct engagement model with a community-led content strategy. Weekly podcast, radio show, and videocast programming — alongside an active blog and USA Today/Gannett Media features — serve as top-of-funnel demand generation, with listener questions on-air driving consultation requests. The firm operates as a small, founder-owned boutique practice (11-50 employees) with no disclosed institutional investment, parent company, or M&A activity.

Name

Foundation Insurance Services

Legal name

Foundation Insurance Services, LLC

Website

https://wealthensure.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Foundation Insurance Services (DBA WealthEnsure) is a founder-led U.S. financial advisory firm specializing in retirement income planning, decumulation strategies, and the Income Floor annuity methodology for pre-retirees, retirees, and business owners across 10 licensed states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Advisory and Retirement Planning Services

NAICS

Finance and Insurance (52)

SIC

Insurance Agents, Brokers & Service (6411), Life Insurance (6311), Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Insurance-Integrated Wealth Managers (RIA + Insurance Solutions) (FSAAACAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Annuity & Insurance-Based Retirement Solutions Advisory (FSAEABAH), Retirement & Pension Wealth (401(k)/IRA/SIPP/Superannuation Retail) (FSAAAAAJ)

Keywords

• Retirement income planning
• Estate planning services
• Tax planning advisory
• Life insurance solutions
• Business succession planning

Headquarters

HQ city

Bridgewater

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Financial Advisory Services: Fee-based or commission-based financial advisory services offered through appropriately registered representatives. Services include retirement income planning, strategic tax planning, estate planning, business succession planning, and long-term care planning. Revenue derived from advisory fees and/or insurance product commissions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Foundation Insurance Services (DBA WealthEnsure) is a financial advisory firm that designs and delivers retirement income planning, tax planning, estate planning, business succession planning, and insurance solutions for pre-retirees, retirees, and small business owners. The firm operates as an independent practice advising clients across 10 U.S. states, with services spanning life insurance, long-term care, and annuities sourced from multiple carriers.

Product overview

WealthEnsure, led by Frederick Saide, Ph.D., offers a suite of financial planning services organized around three core retirement considerations: longevity, certainty, and probability. The core offering includes Retirement Income Planning with the proprietary Income Floor Strategy (using annuities to create guaranteed income), Social Security Optimization, IRA/401(k) Guidance, Strategic Tax Planning, Estate Planning & Legacy, Long-Term Care Planning, Life Insurance Planning, and Business Succession & Wealth Unlocking services. The Income Floor Strategy specifically uses properly structured annuities to generate higher guaranteed income rates than the traditional 4% rule while using less capital, freeing the remaining portfolio for growth. A complementary media sub-brand includes a weekly podcast, radio show, and videocast covering retirement planning topics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retirement Income Planning

Quantifiable outcome

• The Income Floor Strategy example shows: Traditional 4% Rule requires ~$1,500,000 fully at risk for $5,000/month income vs. Annuity + Portfolio Strategy uses ~$900,000 for guaranteed income, leaving $600,000 free to grow
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Holistiplan: Tech-enabled retirement tax-planning software for financial advisors, popularizing Roth conversion and tax-planning workflows for the same retiree/firm community Foundation Insurance Services serves. Not a direct competitor for client relationships, but adjacent tooling that could augment or substitute parts of the firm's planning workflow.

Broad incumbents

• Cetera Financial Group: Independent advisor network supporting thousands of financial professionals across brokerage, advisory, and insurance. Comparable business model layer (independent advisors offering retirement + insurance solutions) but with a multi-firm aggregator structure rather than a single boutique practice.
• Prudential Financial: Large insurance and retirement income manager with annuities, individual life, retirement strategies, and group benefits. Comparable in targeting retirement-income and insurance-integrated wealth solutions for individuals, but operating at enterprise scale across product lines.
• Northwestern Mutual: Major insurance-and-wealth incumbent combining life insurance, disability, long-term care, and financial planning through a career advisor force. Overlaps with Foundation Insurance Services on life/LTC insurance plus retirement planning, but with a much broader product portfolio and national footprint.
• Cambridge Investment Research: Independent broker-dealer supporting financial advisors in retirement, insurance, and wealth planning with a similar dual-registered advisor profile. Comparable at the business-model level (advisor-led practice combining advisory and insurance) but operates as an aggregator over many practices.
• New York Life Insurance Company: Large mutual insurer and wealth manager with retirement income, life insurance, long-term care, and advisory offerings — overlapping product shelf with Foundation Insurance Services, especially in annuities and retirement income, but at vastly greater scale and through captive agents.
• MassMutual: Mutual insurer and retirement/wealth manager offering annuities, life insurance, retirement income, and advisory services. Comparable product set to Foundation Insurance Services, particularly in insurance-integrated retirement income planning, but as a much larger diversified carrier.

Direct peers

• Wade Pfau Retirement Income Research: Independent retirement income researcher and advisor focused on decumulation, sequence-of-returns risk, and safe withdrawal strategies. Highly comparable niche and intellectual content, though operating more as a researcher/educator than a client-engaging advisory practice.
• Ed Slott and Company: Retirement tax-planning thought leadership firm built around a single founder's media brand (workshops, public TV, podcasts), targeting the same pre-retiree/retiree audience with similar advisor- and consumer-education approach. Most directly comparable to Foundation Insurance Services in niche, GTM, and content-led positioning.
• Buckingham Strategic Wealth: Fee-only RIA with explicit focus on retirement income planning and evidence-based investing; integrates tax planning and behavioral coaching for retirees. Closest large-scale direct peer in service mix, though at materially greater scale and with a multi-advisor bench.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/FoundationInsuranceServices

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Foundation Insurance Services