Only Fee-Only
This podcast interviews fee-only financial planners to learn about how they are helping their clients and serving their specific niches.
Only Fee-Only
#148 - Meet The P&C Pro Powering BC Brokerage
Meet the person you want on your side when policies get real. We sit down with Charles Priest, our new head of Property and Casualty at BC Brokerage, to unpack how a planning‑first mindset turns confusing coverage into clear, confident decisions for households and businesses. Charles brings 16 years of experience helping clients navigate tough choices, manage risk trade‑offs, and pick carriers that stand up when a claim lands—not just when a quote looks cheap.
We start with the basics that most people miss: why umbrella liability is a cornerstone of personal protection, how to right‑size auto and home limits, and the small tweaks that lower friction without raising exposure. For advisors, Charles lays out quick checks that surface red flags fast, from missing umbrellas to deductibles that don’t match cash reserves. Then we move to the commercial side where growth outpaces coverage, and cyber risk demands real defenses. Social engineering and ransomware aren’t fringe threats anymore; they’re everyday business hazards. Charles explains what good cyber insurance should fund—incident response, forensics, notification, restoration, and business interruption—and how to align limits with the data and dollars at stake.
We also dig into timing and markets. The ideal window to shop is roughly 60 days before renewal so we can clarify goals, work with underwriters, and tailor terms. Mid‑term updates can still deliver value with pro‑rated changes. Most of all, we challenge the myth of “apples to apples”: policy wording, exclusions, and claims handling vary widely, and the cheapest option can become the costliest mistake when it matters. If you’re an advisor seeking a smarter P&C partner or a client who wants fewer surprises and better outcomes, this conversation offers a clear path.
If you find this helpful, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review—what P&C question should we tackle next?
How's it going, everyone? Welcome back to the OnlyFe Only podcast. And as always, thanks for being here. In this episode, we talked to Charles Priest, who is the newest member here at BC Brokerage. And uh it was a really great conversation. He joined us and is now going to be leading our PNC division. And so we go over his background, some of the most commonly asked PNC questions, misconceptions, and really just learn about him and all that he's done in the past, and also go over what he's going to be doing for us here at BC Brokerage. So awesome guy. I'm so excited that you guys get to learn a little bit more about him. So let's get into it. This is Charles Priest on the Only Fee Only Podcast.
SPEAKER_02:What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only Podcast. I'm Peter Travolo. I'm here with my co-host Brock Buckles. And today we're so excited to have our new team member on here at BC Brokerage, Charles Priest. Charles, welcome to the show, man.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it. Happy to be on with you both.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, likewise. So one of the reasons why we like Charles so much is he's very charismatic, very outgoing guy, and we're so excited to have him on the team and introduce him to all the Fee only planners. Um one of the big things about Charles is he's coming to us with over 16 years of experience in the property and casualty space. Um so Charles, you want to talk a little bit about your experience and kind of how you got into the industry and what has led you to BC brokerage today?
SPEAKER_00:Sure, absolutely. So when I was very young, five or six years old, I had the idea and the desire to go into insurance, which is completely false because no one ever has that idea, Peter and Brock. No one every man, there's no guys, come on. You know, people want to be doctors and lawyers, right? No one says I'm gonna go into insurance, but uh so pretty much what occurred is I started doing some marketing for an insurance agency uh in Metro Atlanta, because I'm based here in Metro Atlanta. So I started doing that while I was in college uh at Georgia State University. And with that, I I said, man, I actually I really like doing this. I like talking to um business owners and you know, advisors and lenders, etc. And that really started my journey into this industry, and it has been a roller coaster, to say the least.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure, man. And tell us a little bit about you personally, man. Like, what do you what do you like doing for the people out there? We can talk about work and get into the insurance stuff, but I think it's always good to kind of know like what people enjoy doing in their spare time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm one of those people I love to travel. I'm a big traveler. My wife and I, we uh lived in Spain uh for a good bit. Please do not ask me if I speak Spanish, because I do not. No, don't, no, no, I tell people off the bat, let don't even try. Like we that's all it's all my wife. My wife, she is uh thankfully very fluent in the language, so uh she was able to help every day as we navigated various things. So we lived in the south of Spain for uh about a year, uh, and and we just absolutely loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it. And so we were able to visit other places in Europe and whatnot. Um we visited uh Central and South America, so we are big travelers, and uh for a lot of people out there, we are big foodies, so we will travel for food. Yeah, so if you if you know a good a spot or place anywhere, we'll we'll go.
SPEAKER_02:I love it, man. I love that. So what's on your bucket list, just out of curiosity? What's like the next few trips you guys have in mind?
SPEAKER_00:Huge trip Japan, which I keep telling my wife, let me save my pennies. I gotta save my pennies for Japan.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. I don't know if you know this, Charles. Uh maybe I told my grandma's actually from Okinawa, which is the island off the off the coast of Japan. I don't know if I've told you that.
SPEAKER_00:No, you didn't tell me that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. It eventually comes up in conversation because she's one of my favorite people. But uh I love that. Yeah, no, that that's really cool, man. So, like getting into the insurance industry, obviously, we're like super pumped to have you on the team. Um, already the work that we've seen you do is unbelievable. Your knowledge base is incredible. And uh when we were first originally talking, it'd be like, is this gonna work on both sides? What was one of the things that we noticed? Like, this guy can talk to people, he's charismatic, he knows a ton about insurance, but what do you feel like have been some of those things that you've kind of learned like throughout your career that that are some of the misunderstood things about insurance or some of the things that people really um maybe are confused about, or just some important things to know about it?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. One of the biggest things I run into, Brock, is people thinking that insurance is a headache, which is which is very normal. Yeah. Uh a lot of times, what it is, is just needing a great broker, a great advisor that you can sit with, that you can talk with, that can explain what you have, uh what you need, and um maybe some gaps in between, right? And explain that in layman's terms and being able to provide what you need. So that's really the biggest thing. People having the misunderstanding that insurance is hard, uh, that it's just going to take such a big process of looking it over and seeing what's needed. Yeah. That's that's one of the major things I I run into. Uh, and then understanding that with that right person, that right broker advisor, they're gonna make it simple for you. Yeah, uh, and at the end, and with doing that at the end of the day, you you're gonna be happy. So that's one of the biggest things I run into uh in insurance.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. And I mean it all starts with the conversation, right? Like that's the that's the big thing is like there's this big daunting thing about like, well, do are my limits right? Do I have this? So maybe I won't mess with it even though it's gone up a little bit over the last couple of years. We'll just like see where it goes. And then it's like it's funny because if you just look into it and you check in, you review it annually, there's actually a lot of things that can be done.
SPEAKER_00:A hundred percent. And and one thing I've I've learned over the years, I've people say if you get a call from your doctor, lawyer, or your insurance broker, you're gonna call back. Yeah. Because those are all vital things uh within your life that you want to stay on top of, right? For sure. Uh and it's it's no different for what we're doing here in our industry. Uh, we understand we're providing something that is so important, uh, but we're we're making it simple, you know. So at the end of the day, everybody's happy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I love it. So, I mean, in the last you know, a couple of weeks that you've been here at BC, like what are maybe some things you've seen about how your previous experiences compared to working with fee-only financial planners and the client, right? Because a lot of insurance brokers, they're working kind of direct to consumer, right? But here in our market, right, we uh we got to keep another party informed too. So, what's that kind of experience been like and what are some things that you're looking forward to doing?
SPEAKER_00:No, it's been great. I I've been really enjoying it. Um, I've been really enjoying getting to know the the uh advisors, the planners, just getting a better understanding of how they do business. Because everybody does business a little bit differently, right? Uh so just getting a good understanding of that and how we can best help on their scale and communication. That is so key, right? Making sure everybody is on the same page, making sure the client's on the same page, the broker, uh, all of us so that we can reach and complete that final goal. Yeah. So all in all, everything's been working really well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it it's an interesting uh it's interesting when I tell I try to explain what I do sometimes or what we do to people that don't know anything about like the Fiona world or the insurance world, and they're like, wait, now how's that work again? So it does take some like getting used to, but man, you you I I just uh I want to say you've done such a great job, and um, it's been really cool to see what are some of the things that like just for a lot of the let's talk about this. Let's talk about like the planners that are out there, right? A lot of them are kind of looking at their clients' insurance policies and or PNC, and they're like, I don't know, right? Like maybe the the CFP curriculum had like a chapter of P and C insurance and little things that I should be looking for. But a lot of times before anybody introduces someone to us, they're saying, maybe if I had just a few things that I could be like, okay, check, check, check. Like this should be this, or the you know, deductibles or whatever it might be. Like, what are some of those things that you would encourage advisors out there to kind of keep an eye on? And then if they're seeing something other than you know what that norm is, maybe introduce them to us and have us look over the policies.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I think the biggest thing, and I'm I see this already with being here just for a bit now, is that discussion of an umbrella.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Immediately, if you see the client doesn't have the umbrella, uh, that is something we want to rush in and discuss and help them on. Because having that umbrella then ensures that they have certain limits on their other policies, which is very vital and important. Uh, because with having those limits on the other insurance policies, such as their home policy, as their auto and policy, auto policy, you know they're being protected on that level. And then, of course, the umbrella being on top that expands uh overall. So that's one of the biggest things. Not having that umbrella, please, please, please let us step in and help and be that support.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I love it. Um, how about on the business side of things, right? I mean, even in these first couple of weeks, we've seen some of our own clients, right? They were maybe you know small when they started with us and they've grown quite a bit. Um, so like what are maybe some shortfalls or things that you see on the commercial side um that business owners and planners need to be looking for?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Some things I'm seeing much of is certain lack of coverage lines. One of the biggest things is cyber insurance, cyber coverage. That is so vital these days in the world that we live in because of the amount of cyber attacks, uh, social engineering, ransomware, which is just fancy words for for people coming in and attacking uh, you know, the records you have, the the data that you have, uh and looking uh to do harm to you, do harm to your clients. And all in all, that is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in the time that we're living in. So a cyber coverage is very big, but also just having that review with the business owner because when you're scaling, you're not thinking about, okay, you know, what was my payroll the last quarter or what was my revenue the last quarter? Things are happening so quickly. Uh, and so the insurance policy that you as a business owner may have at this time, it may be antiquated to really what your scale is. So taking the time just to have a quick review uh with an advisor with us, it can go such a long way. Because I tell people when you have a claim, when something comes up, all the ancillary things you don't care about. Yep. What you care about is is this going to be covered? Yeah. And that's that's what that's what our job is. We want to make sure to the best of our ability, when something happens, you're covered.
SPEAKER_01:And man, that brings up that's a great point. That brings up another great point is when we're choosing a carrier, whether it's on the life insurance side or whether it's on the PC side, which is what we're talking about today, it's not all about price. And so many people, it is a very commoditized industry where people are like, all right, here's how much this carrier costs, here's how much this carrier costs. But at the end of the day, if there's a claim and the customer service experience is horrible, or the definitions in the policy are horrible, congratulations. You saved$15 a month for a way bigger headache than it's actually worth. So would you mind kind of going into that, like the quality of carriers and companies and definitions and how that all kind of plays a part?
SPEAKER_00:100%. And you're spot on, Brock. Uh, one thing we hear often in the industry when we're talking to clients, whatnot, they'll say, Can you please compare things apples to apples, right? Which is pretty much the coverage I have, can you quote it accordingly to what I had? Which we understand and we do that. That's that's not a problem, uh, that's not an issue. But uh, with the different amount of carriers and how they cover things and how they look at things when situations occur, in reality, nothing ever is apples to apples. Life is not apples, right? Uh, and so you you just have to keep that in mind. And that's why it's so great for our agency, our brokerage, we have the experience and the knowledge to know you know which carriers are better than other carriers, how they handle certain claims, uh, what coverages or gaps do we often find in their policy or or their policy jackets, the the real details within your insurance policy. Uh, so those are all things, the the details that we really get into.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And it and it's an ever sorry, Pete, did you have something? I had one one little bull-on thought right there. Um I was also gonna say that that's an ever-changing landscape, too, right? Because just because this is the best carrier right now, or that was the best carrier when we put you into that home or auto product, doesn't mean three years from now things aren't gonna change and this new up-and-coming company or another one of the existing ones could be at the top now.
SPEAKER_00:100%. You know, one of the biggest um magazines that we have in the insurance world is the insurance journal, right? Who's getting the insurance journal? Who is reading the insurance? Well, we are, right? As insurance professionals, we're the ones reading that magazine because, as you said, Brock, um, the insurance world, it is so dynamic, especially in times that we're living in, things are changing rapidly. So for us, we have to stay on top of such things. And that is how we're bringing the most value uh to our advisors and our our clients. I like to say I have clients who have been with me from day one. And I promise you, it is not because I'm always giving them the best price.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:No, for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So when are like when's like a good time to shop out and a bad time to shop out, right? Because kind of going off of that umbrella question, right? Like, how you know who should we help right now? We have 50 households, right? Like, when's a good time, when's a bad time to shop out for clients? We'll start with kind of personal lines.
SPEAKER_00:Well, for us, there's always a process that we have in place. Many times clients are looking to shop things out at the renewal. And so we recommend at least 60 days out. We want to take a look at your renewals, your insurance information, because that gives us enough time uh to sit down and talk to you, uh, be able to understand what's important, uh what you value, uh, get a good picture, and then we're able to then go to our carriers and uh really do some tailored quoting and getting things back and working with our underwriters so then that we can present some value back to you. So uh we we say about 60 days out from your renewal, but I would recommend even if you're not close to renewal, give us the opportunity to look things over and have that review. Because again, you you just you don't know what you don't know. And that's why we're here to help help it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And furthermore, uh if you're within 14 days of your policy renewing, you might just be sticking with the policy. Yeah. Because the answer is like we might it the quoting process, and I think that a lot of people, especially on the brokerage side, right? Like if you're with a captive carrier, right, or and you have a quoting software that's for one line of products, you might be able to get all the stuff back in one day. But if you want a broker, IEBC brokerage, to truly go out there and be able to say, hey, here's all the companies that we checked with. Here's exactly what we're seeing from the different ones, here's why it might make sense to replace over here or over here. We can't necessarily do that in a week. Sometimes we can, right? But it it really depends on the client's history, claim history, carriers, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, 100%, right? And we're looking to help as many people as we can across the nation. But I mean, we really position ourselves as a boutique. We, you know, there are ones specifically that are in our wheelhouse that are going to understand it's going to take a little bit more time because we're really tailoring things for you. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:I think one other thing to point out, too the renewal date is important, but not everything. Um, you know, we can do stuff middle of the term, right? Um, even if you pay annually, these carriers, they will, you know, prorate premiums back. So there is a lot of flexibility around these policies, too. With that being said, that doesn't mean that everything we look at is just replace, replace, replace, right? We have a lot of these contracts. Some of these contracts we can't beat. They might just need a tweak or two, right? We can't tell you how many times we look at a policy, we're like, oh, holy cow, that's a low deductible. You know, if you call the carrier right now, you could get a little bit of premium back. Um, you know, so just having that conversation with clients um and really letting them know what their options are. Um Charles, was there anything else you're thinking about before coming on the show that you wanted to share? Any golden nuggets or something?
SPEAKER_00:I always say this work with people that you like and that you're comfortable with, right? And that is the type of culture that we're building, uh, especially you know, our property casualty, as we're building that out, and I'm here to help in doing that. And I mention that, Pete, because you brought up a great point. There may be a time when we're sitting on a call and we're discussing your insurance portfolio, and it may be a situation. I've had this situation before, where we say, you know, everything looks great. You're you're doing a great job, you know. And from my experience and expertise, you know, I can give it two thumbs up. And that those that's the person you want to work with, and and that's what we're looking to do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And and all that to wrap it up, it's what we've been doing at BC Brokerage for years, right? We believe in planning before product implementation, right? And it's like double checking, knowing what you've got going on is actually what fits your plan and is actually what's making sense for what you have going on, is it is a great thing to do. And, you know, I think that we do have that reputation and advisors know that we're here to do the right thing, not to swap a policy or make a quick buck. It's just not who we are, right? Um and so, man, I I love what you're doing. We're so happy to have you on the team. I can tell every one of the listeners out there, uh, if if you have clients that have property and casualty needs, you introduce them to Charles, you introduce them to BC Brokers. They're gonna be in great hands because Charles is certainly somebody that's special and really good at what he does. So um, Charles, I want to thank you for the time, man, and and all that you're doing. And can't wait to build this for years to come with you.
SPEAKER_00:100%. Thank you, guys. Looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, thank you for coming on. Appreciate it.