Most of what you own — life insurance, annuities, IRAs, 401(k)s — passes to your family by beneficiary designation, not by your will. I’m Daniel Faiella, an independent estate advisor and licensed insurance broker in Carson City — estate advisor certified, with more than 10 years of experience in sales and education. I help Northern Nevada families structure those assets on purpose: life insurance that transfers wealth efficiently, beneficiary designations that actually say what you mean, and a team that handles every moving piece so it all comes together. The review costs you nothing.
Beneficiary designations override the will. That’s either a powerful tool or a quiet disaster — depending on whether anyone is paying attention.
Families are often surprised to learn that a carefully drafted will never touches the life insurance, the annuity, or the retirement accounts. Those assets transfer by contract — directly to whoever is named on a beneficiary form, sometimes one filled out decades ago. When the form is right, money moves quickly, privately, and usually outside probate. When it’s wrong or blank, it can undo the entire plan.
That contract layer is where I work as an estate advisor. We inventory every policy and account, make sure primary and contingent beneficiaries actually reflect your wishes, and structure new coverage so it does a specific job: creating estate liquidity so nobody has to sell the house or the land in a hurry, equalizing inheritances between children, or simply making sure final expenses never land on your kids’ credit cards.
And here’s what sets us apart: you don’t have to assemble a team of professionals or chase down paperwork to make any of it happen. My team handles the entire process for you, start to finish — coordinating every moving piece so your legacy plan comes together as one cohesive whole, with nothing left to chance.
Six jobs I do every week for Northern Nevada families. Each one starts with a free conversation and ends with paperwork that says what you actually mean.
Every family’s estate is different, so the right mix of these tools depends on your goals, your assets, and the people you love — and we build the plan around yours.
The kindest thing you can leave your family isn’t just money. It’s money with instructions — so grief never has to share the table with paperwork.
— Daniel J. FaiellaYou bring your goals for the people you love. We take care of the rest — every piece, coordinated into one plan that holds together.
Never tackled any of this before? That’s exactly why we’re here. There’s nothing for you to assemble and no one to track down — from the first conversation to the finished plan, my team takes care of every step for you.
Kitchen table, my Carson City office, or a video call — the same local estate advisor before you sign and every year after.
Estate conversations are personal. You deserve to have them with someone local — who knows Nevada, answers his own phone, and will still be here for the annual beneficiary check years from now.
Estate and legacy planning help near you:
We handle the whole thing for you. We start by mapping out your family, your assets, and your goals, then build and put in place a complete legacy plan — the life insurance and annuities that transfer wealth efficiently, the beneficiary designations that make sure the right people receive what you intend, and the structure that ties it all together. One team, one plan, start to finish, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Usually not — and that's one of their quiet superpowers. When a valid beneficiary is named, life insurance death benefits and annuity proceeds pay directly to that person by contract, typically bypassing probate entirely. The exceptions are avoidable mistakes: naming your estate as beneficiary, letting designations lapse after a death or divorce, or leaving them blank. That's exactly what a beneficiary review catches.
Three big ways. First, death benefits are generally income-tax-free to your beneficiaries, so a premium dollar can deliver more than a taxed dollar of savings. Second, it creates immediate liquidity — cash your family can use for final expenses, debts, or taxes without selling the house, the land, or the business in a hurry. Third, it can equalize an inheritance — for example, one child inherits the ranch and the other inherits a policy of similar value. We design the coverage and build the tax-smart details right into the plan.
Nothing out of pocket. Like the rest of my work, legacy reviews and beneficiary checkups are free — if a policy or annuity ends up being part of the plan, the insurance carrier you choose pays me a commission. There's no fee to sit down, and no obligation to buy anything for the conversation to be useful.
At every major life event — marriage, divorce, a birth, a death in the family, a move to Nevada, retirement — and at least once a year even when nothing feels different. Beneficiary designations override your will, so an outdated form can send money to exactly the wrong person no matter what the rest of your plan says. It's a ten-minute check that prevents the most painful mistakes I see.
Bring your policies, your statements, and your questions. Leave knowing exactly what your family would receive, how, and how fast — and what to fix while it’s easy.