Tim Berry Financial Services brings four disciplines under one roof — insurance, finance, hard-asset investing, and tax-incentive planning — so the pieces of your plan finally work together instead of against each other.
Most people bolt these together from four different salespeople who never talk to each other. We build them as one plan — because a tax move can undo an investment gain, and the right insurance can protect both.
Life, disability, annuities, and retirement income — the protection layer that keeps one bad year from turning into a permanent setback for the people who depend on you.
Explore insuranceCommercial and residential financing structured so the money you borrow works for you — coordinated with your protection and tax plan.
Explore financeHand-selected U.S. rare gold and silver coins — a tangible asset that sits outside the paper markets, sized as part of a whole plan, with the spreads, the liquidity, and the risks stated plainly up front.
Explore investmentsLegal, code-based strategies to keep more of what you make and pass more of what you keep — coordinated with the other three pillars.
Explore tax incentivesWhat you're working with
One independent advisor, four coordinated disciplines, and straight answers.
Appointed with 40+ carriers and institutions, we answer to you — not to one company's product line or a sales quota.
Insurance, finance, investments, and tax under one roof — coordinated so a smart move in one never quietly costs you in another.
Ranges, not sales quotes. No guaranteed-return promises. We'll tell you plainly when the cheaper, simpler option is the better one.
Nothing on the left is anyone's fault. It's just what happens when four disciplines are sold separately.
We map all four corners of your money — what you're protecting, borrowing, investing, and paying in tax.
We find where the pieces fight each other — an investment gain lost to tax, a loan with no protection behind it.
We shop 40+ carriers and institutions and put the plan in place, showing you the trade-offs at every step.
Life changes, so we review the whole plan every year and adjust before small gaps become expensive ones.
If one of these sounds like something you've said out loud, you're in the right place.
“I have a $50k policy through work and a $280k mortgage. I've known that's a problem for three years.”
We size the real obligation, price it across 40+ carriers, and date the term to outlive the debt.
Protect the paycheck“If I'm out for six months, the business is the one that stops paying me.”
Key-person and buy-sell coverage, owner disability, and the loan structure looked at in one sitting.
Structure the debt“I'm 61 and I still don't know whether this savings turns into a paycheck.”
Income sequencing across taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free — with the threshold effects mapped first.
Plan the income“I want something tangible, but every gold site reads like a doomsday ad.”
A defined role, a defined size, and the spread and the exit explained before anything is bought.
See the approachFounder & Independent Advisor · Tim Berry Financial Services
I built Tim Berry Financial Services because I kept watching good families get worse outcomes than they deserved — not from bad luck, but from four different salespeople selling four disconnected products that quietly worked against each other. An investment gain wiped out by an avoidable tax. A mortgage taken on without the protection to survive a disability. An annuity bought for the brochure instead of the need.
As an independent advisor across insurance, finance, hard-asset investing, and tax-incentive planning, my only job is to make the pieces fit. I'm not tied to one carrier, one fund, or one lender — so I can shop the whole market and tell you plainly when the cheaper, simpler option is the better one. My help costs you nothing up front; I'm paid by the institutions you choose, and I'll always show you the trade-offs.
The difference between four disconnected salespeople and one plan that fits together.
| What you get | Tim Berry | Single-carrier agent | On your own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shops 40+ carriers & institutions | ✓ Yes | — | — |
| Coordinates insurance, finance, investments & tax | ✓ Yes | — | — |
| Independent — not tied to one product | ✓ Yes | — | ✓ Yes |
| Plain-English ranges, not sales quotes | ✓ Yes | Sometimes | — |
| Free annual plan reviews | ✓ Yes | Sometimes | — |
| Costs you nothing up front | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
No obligation at any step, and nothing to pay up front — we're compensated by the institutions you choose, and you'll always see the trade-offs.
We talk through what you're protecting, borrowing, investing, and paying in tax. No forms, no pitch — just the map. Most people have never had all four in one conversation before.
You get a short, plain-English summary of where the four pieces work against each other, ranked by what it's actually costing you. Yours to keep, whether or not we work together.
Forty-plus carriers and institutions, priced side by side, with the trade-offs shown — including the times the cheaper, simpler option wins and we say so.
Applications, underwriting, and funding, handled. Accelerated underwriting can close some cases in 48 hours; a full medical file takes longer, and we'll tell you which one you're in.
Beneficiaries, coverage amounts, loan terms, allocation, and the tax calendar — checked annually, before a small gap turns into an expensive one.
We meet in person around Fort Wayne, IN and work with families and business owners across the country by phone and secure video. Wherever you are, the plan is coordinated the same way.
Straight answers on how we work across insurance, finance, investments, and tax.
Often, no. Most major carriers offer accelerated underwriting up to $1M–$3M for applicants roughly 18–60 in good health, using prescription databases and health records instead of labs. Same price classes as fully underwritten coverage — and if the algorithm wants more information, you can still complete a traditional exam.
Underwriting is carrier-specific: one company's decline is another's standard class. Diabetes, anxiety medication, sleep apnea, a past cancer diagnosis — we pre-shop your profile anonymously across carriers before any formal application, so you apply where you're most likely to be approved at the best class.
For most families the honest answer is term, sized with the DIME method, because it makes adequate coverage affordable during the years dependents rely on you. Permanent coverage earns its higher cost when the need itself is permanent — estate liquidity, a special-needs dependent, or business succession. Many clients do both: a large term ladder plus a small permanent base.
No-exam approvals commonly come back in 24–72 hours, and coverage is typically in force as soon as the first premium is paid. Fully underwritten cases with labs usually take 3–6 weeks. Either way, we can often bind temporary coverage at application so you're protected while underwriting runs.
Life insurers pay the overwhelming majority of claims; problems typically trace to misstatements on the application or lapsed premiums. We help you answer the application accurately, set up automatic payments, and review beneficiary designations yearly — the three habits that make claims routine instead of contested.
Nothing out of pocket. We're paid a commission by the carrier you choose, and the premium is the same whether you buy through us or directly. The difference is that we shop 40+ carriers against each other on your behalf.
Straight talk on the decisions that actually move money — across all four pillars.
What an annuity is built to do, what you give up to get it, how it is taxed in Indiana, and the situations where the honest answer is no.
Why some investors hold tangible metal and rare coins, the real difference between bullion and numismatics, and the risks — no yield, spreads, volatility, no FDIC — you should know before buying an ounce.
The tax code is a list of things it will reward you for doing. Here's how coordinated tax-incentive planning — across insurance, investments, and your estate — quietly becomes some of the highest-return work in a financial plan.
One conversation to see the whole picture — insurance, finance, investments, and tax — and where it's leaking. No cost, no pressure, no sales script.
