About SunCoast Financial

Dreams, Hard Work and Many Challenges

SunCoast Financial is an independent agency, concentrating primarily on retirement planning, representing over 50, “A” Rated or better, insurance and financial companies.  Our philosophy is that there is no one company that fits all customer needs, and as an independent agency we can offer a wide selection of insurance and financial products to fit any need.  We also take this a step further and only represent companies with a rating from Standards & Poor’s with an “A” rating or better.

Credit ratings are forward-looking opinions and are provided by organizations such as Standard & Poor’s, commonly called credit rating agencies, which specialize in evaluating and offering an opinion about credit risk of corporations and their ability to meet its financial obligations in full and on time.  The creditworthiness of an insurance or financial company is very important when deciding on which company to put your faith in.

Each agency applies its own methodology in measuring creditworthiness and uses a specific rating scale to publish its ratings opinions. Typically, ratings are expressed as letter grades that range, for example, from ‘AAA’ to ‘D’ to communicate the agency’s opinion of relative level of credit risk.

SunCoast Financial’s fiduciary responsibility is to the client, not the companies we represent, and is dedicated to finding and providing each client with the service and products that best fit their needs. We answer all questions thoroughly and make sure there is a complete understanding of the products being offered before any transaction is made.  We get paid by the companies we represent, not by the client.

SunCoast Financial is comprised of a team of experts to help the client decide on a variety of products and services.  This team of professionals can boast of almost 60 combined years of insurance and financial expertise.

SunCoast Financial is primarily located on the Treasure Coast of Florida but provides products and services to all of Central Florida including Tampa Bay, Orlando, Daytona Beach and surrounding areas; however, it’s not uncommon to find us doing business in any city in Florida.

THE TEAM:

Phillip Adler is president of SunCoast Financial and has held an insurance license in every one of the United States since 2006.  He has worked in every aspect of the insurance industry and now mainly concentrates on Life Insurance and Annuities.

Howard Frenia, of Frenia Financial, primarily does business in the Orlando region.  Howard has an MBA in business and over 25 years of experience in the Insurance and Financial industry.  He received his early education in this career working for MetLife as a broker and insurance agent.

Michael Lysenko, of CR Planners, primarily does business in the Tampa region and the Central West Coast of Florida; however, his book of business reaches most of Florida.  Michael brings over 25 years of experience in the financial industry as an insurance agent, broker and CPA.

We all specialize in providing clients with Safe Money concepts and alternatives.

OUR MISSION:

Over the years, we've seen many clients build their portfolios through the stock market and then lose half of it and start building again. The problem is that they need six or seven years to get back what they lost, so after that period of time, they are back where they started. We watched as our parents did the same thing throughout their lifetimes. As they get closer to retirement they start to realize that they’re running out of time to start a plan that would give them guaranteed income during their golden years. Their only hope was that their pension and social security would be enough or work part time jobs as long as long as their health would allow.  The reality is that people are living longer and most plans aren't keeping up with the cost of inflation.

Howard tells the story of when he was with MetLife and the advisers would put a plan together for their clients with diversification in mutual funds, maxing out 401(k) contributions, buying term and investing the difference, putting money in the market to get a high return, and deferring taxes until later. But what happens at distribution? That part of the plan isn't covered. Many advisers are concerned with one thing, and that’s growing the bucket of money, not distribution. What happens to the advisers’ pay when you start taking money out of the account? It goes down, since the management fee is on fewer funds, which is why advisers don’t want you to withdraw funds. Ever try to remove a large amount of funds or transfer to another company? How much explaining do you need to do about why you’re spending your money? What I found was that the only people who were profiting from this advice were the advisers, since they were getting paid a management fee.

Do we really believe that taxes will be lower when we retire? It seems that most advisers say you’ll be in a lower tax bracket when that time comes. How can they be sure, with our deficit so high? That’s why it’s so important to take advantage of safe money alternatives so you don’t fall into the trap of Wall Street.

There is a way to help protect the hard-earned money you have invested over the years and to make sure that when your golden years arrive, you’re not a greeter at Walmart. There’s also a great way to help reduce what your taxes will be at the time of retirement. Since we don’t really know what taxes will be at that time, it’s better to plan for a high rate and be prepared.