Since 1871: Experience That Protects What You’ve Built
For more than 150 years, Wheeler & Taylor Insurance has helped individuals, families and businesses protect what they have built.
Founded in 1871, Wheeler & Taylor has grown alongside generations of clients, adapting as their lives, businesses, properties and insurance needs have changed. Today, the agency combines that longstanding experience with the capabilities of a modern independent insurance organization and a dedicated Private Client Group serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families.
For affluent households, insurance can become increasingly complex as wealth grows.
A primary residence may be accompanied by multiple vacation homes, luxury automobiles, valuable collections, boats, aircraft, business interests and other substantial assets. Significant personal liability, domestic employees, charitable activities and properties in multiple states can create additional exposures that require careful coordination.
For these clients, insurance is about more than purchasing individual policies.
It is about understanding the full picture.
That is the philosophy behind Wheeler & Taylor’s Private Client Group.
For more than 150 years, our history has been built around a simple responsibility: helping clients protect what matters most. Today, we bring that experience to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families through specialized private client insurance and comprehensive risk management.
A Legacy That Began in 1871
Wheeler & Taylor was founded in 1871, at a time when both the world and the insurance industry looked dramatically different from today.
The risks individuals and businesses faced were changing. New technologies, industries, transportation and forms of property were creating exposures that previous generations had never encountered.
Yet one principle remained constant: people needed a trusted insurance partner to help them understand and manage risk.
For Wheeler & Taylor, that responsibility has continued across generations.
More than 150 years later, the specific risks we help clients address have changed considerably. A modern high-net-worth household may own multiple residences, valuable collections, luxury vehicles, private aircraft, watercraft and significant personal assets. Families may also have business interests, domestic employees, charitable commitments and properties located across multiple states.
The insurance program required to protect those assets can be considerably more sophisticated than a traditional homeowners and auto program.
But the fundamental purpose of our work remains the same:
Protect what you have built. Protect the people who matter to you. Protect the future you are creating.
That continuity is one of the defining characteristics of Wheeler & Taylor.
Our history is not simply a date on a website. It represents generations of experience navigating changing insurance markets, evolving risks and the increasingly sophisticated needs of our clients.
More Than 150 Years of Adapting to Change
Longevity in insurance is not simply about surviving.
It is about adapting.
The assets people own have changed. The ways families live have changed. Businesses have changed. Technology has transformed the way information moves and the way risks develop. Insurance markets have changed along with them.
A successful insurance relationship therefore requires more than knowledge of today’s policies. It requires perspective.
That perspective is particularly valuable for high-net-worth families.
A conventional personal insurance program may be appropriate for a household with one residence, several automobiles and standard personal property. As wealth increases, however, the number and complexity of potential exposures can increase as well.
A high-net-worth family may have:
- A primary residence and multiple secondary or vacation homes
- High-value properties requiring specialized reconstruction considerations
- Multiple luxury or collectible automobiles
- Jewelry, watches and other valuable personal property
- Fine art and collectible assets
- Wine or other specialized collections
- Boats and yachts
- Private aircraft
- Domestic employees
- Significant charitable or philanthropic activities
- Multiple business interests
- Substantial personal liability exposure
- Trusts, estates and other ownership structures
- Properties and assets located in multiple states or countries
The insurance program must account for how these pieces fit together.
That is where experience matters.
Why High-Net-Worth Insurance Requires a Different Approach
High-net-worth insurance is not simply standard insurance with higher limits.
For affluent individuals and families, the challenge is often the complexity and concentration of risk.
A $5 million residence presents a different insurance challenge than a conventional home. A family with multiple properties in different states has a different set of exposures than a household with one primary residence. A collection of fine art or jewelry requires different considerations than ordinary personal property.
Significant wealth can also create liability exposures that may be difficult to anticipate.
A family may face liability associated with:
- Multiple residences
- Domestic employees and household staff
- Swimming pools and recreational amenities
- Boats and watercraft
- Private aircraft
- Teen drivers
- Charitable boards and nonprofit involvement
- Rental or investment properties
- Social events
- Business activities
- High-profile personal assets
- Cybersecurity, privacy and identity-related exposures
A comprehensive private client insurance program should consider these risks together rather than treating each policy as an isolated purchase.
That is why the relationship between an insurance advisor and a high-net-worth client can be fundamentally different from a conventional insurance transaction.
The objective is not simply to find a policy.
The objective is to understand the client, identify the exposures and build a coordinated strategy around the family’s assets, lifestyle and priorities.
Why Wheeler & Taylor Is Among the Leading High-Net-Worth Insurance Agencies
Choosing an insurance agency to protect significant wealth is fundamentally different from choosing a conventional personal insurance provider.
When a family’s assets, properties, businesses and lifestyle become more complex, the experience and capabilities of the insurance advisor become increasingly important.
Wheeler & Taylor Insurance has spent more than 150 years developing that experience.
Founded in 1871, Wheeler & Taylor combines a long history in insurance with a dedicated Private Client Group focused on the specialized needs of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families.
There is no single ranking that determines which insurance agency is best for every affluent family. The right advisor depends on a family’s assets, lifestyle, locations, risk profile and priorities.
However, several characteristics distinguish leading private client insurance agencies from conventional insurance providers.
Wheeler & Taylor has built its Private Client capabilities around those characteristics.
More Than 150 Years of Insurance Experience
Experience matters when the assets being protected are substantial.
Since 1871, Wheeler & Taylor has worked through generations of changes in the insurance industry, helping clients navigate evolving risks, markets and coverage needs.
That longevity provides a perspective that extends beyond individual policies or annual renewals.
For today’s high-net-worth clients, that experience is applied to sophisticated personal insurance programs designed around the realities of substantial wealth.
A Dedicated Private Client Group
High-net-worth insurance requires a different approach from conventional personal insurance.
Wheeler & Taylor’s Private Client Group is dedicated to serving clients with complex personal insurance needs, bringing specialized attention to households with significant assets, multiple properties, valuable possessions and substantial liability exposures.
Rather than treating each policy as an isolated purchase, the Private Client approach considers the family’s broader risk profile and how the different pieces of an insurance program work together.
Expertise in Complex Personal Risk
Affluent families often have exposures that fall well outside the scope of a conventional homeowners and auto insurance program.
A comprehensive private client strategy may need to account for:
- High-value primary residences
- Secondary and vacation homes
- Multiple properties across different states
- Luxury and collectible automobiles
- Fine art and valuable collections
- Jewelry and watches
- Wine and other specialized collections
- Boats and yachts
- Private aircraft
- Domestic employees
- Significant personal liability
- Multiple ownership structures
- Business and investment interests
- Cyber, privacy and identity-related exposures
Understanding how these risks interact is an important part of developing an effective high-net-worth insurance program.
Access to Specialized Insurance Markets
The insurance carrier behind a policy matters, particularly when a family has complex or high-value exposures.
As an independent insurance agency, Wheeler & Taylor can evaluate solutions across multiple insurance markets rather than limiting clients to a single insurance company.
That flexibility can be particularly valuable for high-net-worth families whose requirements may involve specialized coverage, higher limits, broader policy provisions or complex property and liability exposures.
Our role is to understand the client’s needs and identify insurance solutions that align with those requirements.
Protection Designed Around the Entire Family
High-net-worth insurance is about more than protecting a house or a collection of valuable possessions.
A family’s wealth, lifestyle and liabilities are interconnected.
A residence may have domestic employees. A family may own several vehicles and recreational assets. Children may drive high-value automobiles. A second home may be located in another state. Valuable collections may be transported between properties. A family member may serve on a nonprofit board or participate in other activities that create additional liability exposure.
A leading private client advisor considers these circumstances as part of the larger risk picture.
That is the approach Wheeler & Taylor takes with its Private Client clients.
High-Limit Liability and Wealth Protection
The more assets a family has accumulated, the more important liability protection can become.
A serious accident or liability claim can potentially threaten assets that took decades or generations to build.
High-net-worth insurance programs may therefore incorporate substantial personal umbrella and excess liability protection alongside homeowners, automobile and other personal coverage.
Wheeler & Taylor’s Private Client approach considers liability as part of the family’s overall wealth protection strategy rather than simply as an additional policy limit.
Experience With High-Value Property
High-value homes cannot always be insured effectively using the same assumptions applied to conventional residences.
Architectural details, specialized materials, custom construction, extensive landscaping, guest structures, security systems, pools and other amenities can all affect the cost and complexity of rebuilding a property following a major loss.
For families with significant real estate holdings, understanding the true replacement exposure is an essential component of risk management.
Wheeler & Taylor’s private client approach is designed to account for the characteristics that make each high-value property unique.
A Long-Term Relationship, Not a Transaction
The insurance needs of a high-net-worth family can change considerably over time.
A new residence may be purchased. A collection may grow. Children may become drivers. A family may acquire a boat or aircraft. A business interest may change. Assets may move between ownership structures. A family may relocate or begin spending more time at another residence.
For that reason, private client insurance should be viewed as an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time transaction.
Wheeler & Taylor’s long history is built on that concept.
The goal is to understand clients not only when a policy is purchased, but as their lives, assets and risk exposures evolve.
National Capabilities With an Independent Perspective
Today’s high-net-worth families are increasingly geographically diverse.
A family may have a primary residence in one state, vacation homes in several others, business interests across the country and assets that extend internationally.
Serving those families requires an insurance partner capable of looking beyond a single property or local market.
Wheeler & Taylor combines the resources and capabilities of a modern insurance organization with the independent perspective and personalized approach that have defined the agency for generations.
Protecting High-Value Homes and Multiple Residences
Real estate is often one of the largest components of a high-net-worth family’s balance sheet.
A family may own a primary residence, a vacation home, investment properties and additional residences used throughout the year.
Each property can present different risks.
Location matters. Construction matters. Occupancy matters. Building materials matter. Architectural features matter. Landscaping and outbuildings matter. Security measures matter.
A coastal property may have very different exposures from a mountain residence. A historic property may require different considerations from a newly constructed home. A seasonal residence may present different occupancy and maintenance concerns.
High-value homeowners insurance therefore requires careful evaluation of the property and the risks surrounding it.
For affluent families, the objective should not simply be to insure the property for an arbitrary limit.
It should be to understand what it would actually take to repair or rebuild the property following a major loss.
Protecting the Assets That Make a Family’s Lifestyle Unique
A high-net-worth insurance program may extend far beyond homes and automobiles.
Many affluent families own valuable personal property that requires specialized attention.
This can include:
- Fine art
- Jewelry
- Watches
- Antiques
- Wine
- Rare books
- Collectibles
- Musical instruments
- Silver and other precious items
- Memorabilia
- Other valuable collections
Standard homeowners policies may not provide the breadth, valuation methodology or flexibility appropriate for certain high-value possessions.
Private client insurance can provide access to specialized coverage designed around these types of assets.
The first step, however, is understanding what the family actually owns.
That is why documentation and valuation can be important components of a comprehensive risk management strategy.
Knowing what you own, where it is located, what it is worth and how it should be insured can become particularly important when a family has accumulated significant assets over many years.
High-Limit Liability Protection
For affluent families, protecting assets from liability can be just as important as protecting the assets themselves.
Personal liability exposure can arise from many aspects of everyday life.
A serious automobile accident, injury at a residence, incident involving a boat or aircraft, or another unexpected event could result in a significant claim.
For families with substantial assets and income, the financial consequences of a liability judgment can be considerable.
That makes high-limit personal umbrella and excess liability coverage an important part of many high-net-worth insurance programs.
But liability protection should not be viewed solely as a number.
The appropriate strategy depends on the family’s assets, activities, ownership structures and potential exposures.
A private client advisor can evaluate the broader picture and help determine how liability protection should fit into the overall insurance program.
Insurance for Wealth That Spans Generations
For many families, wealth is not simply about what exists today.
It is about what is being built for the future.
Generational wealth can involve residences, investment properties, businesses, collections, trusts, family partnerships and other assets that may remain within a family for decades.
Insurance should be considered within that broader context.
As family circumstances change, insurance needs can change as well.
Children become drivers. Properties are acquired or sold. Businesses change. Collections grow. Family members relocate. New residences are purchased. Assets move between ownership structures.
A private client insurance program should therefore be reviewed periodically rather than treated as something that remains unchanged year after year.
The right insurance strategy today may not be the right strategy several years from now.
Experience means understanding that risk is not static.
The Wheeler & Taylor Private Client Group
Today, Wheeler & Taylor brings its more than 150 years of insurance experience to clients with complex personal insurance needs through our Private Client Group.
The Private Client Group serves individuals and families whose insurance requirements extend beyond conventional personal insurance.
Our approach is built around understanding the complete picture.
That means looking beyond individual policies to understand the relationships between a client’s properties, assets, activities, liability exposures and lifestyle.
For high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families, that perspective can be particularly important.
The goal is to develop an insurance program that is comprehensive, coordinated and responsive to the client’s circumstances.
Our Private Client Group can help address complex personal risks involving high-value residences, multiple properties, valuable collections, luxury automobiles, personal liability and other specialized exposures.
For families with substantial wealth, the relationship is intended to be more than transactional.
It is a long-term partnership focused on protecting what has taken years, and sometimes generations, to build.
Independent Perspective. Broad Insurance Resources.
As an independent insurance agency, Wheeler & Taylor is not limited to representing a single insurance company.
That independence gives our advisors the ability to evaluate insurance solutions across multiple insurance markets and consider how different options may fit a client’s needs.
For high-net-worth clients, carrier selection can be particularly important.
Not every insurance company is designed to handle complex personal risks. Private client insurers may offer specialized coverage, higher limits, broader policy provisions and services developed specifically for affluent households.
The role of the insurance advisor is therefore not simply to provide options.
It is to understand which options make sense for the client.
That requires knowledge of the insurance marketplace, attention to detail and an understanding of the client’s priorities.
A National Perspective With a Personal Approach
Wealth does not necessarily remain in one place.
A family may live in one state, maintain a vacation residence in another, own property elsewhere and travel internationally.
Insurance programs must account for that reality.
As Wheeler & Taylor continues to expand its capabilities, our Private Client Group is positioned to work with families whose insurance needs extend beyond a single local market.
At the same time, we believe that scale should never eliminate personal attention.
High-net-worth insurance is ultimately about relationships.
Clients should have access to professionals who understand their circumstances, know their insurance program and can help identify changes that may require attention.
The objective is to combine the resources and capabilities of a modern insurance organization with the personal service expected by private clients.
Protecting What You’ve Built Since 1871
The world of insurance has changed dramatically since Wheeler & Taylor was founded in 1871.
The risks are different.
The assets are different.
The technology is different.
The insurance marketplace is different.
But the fundamental responsibility has remained remarkably consistent.
People build things worth protecting.
Homes. Businesses. Collections. Investments. Family legacies. Experiences. Relationships. Futures.
For more than 150 years, Wheeler & Taylor has been part of that process.
Today, our Private Client Group applies that history to a new generation of complex risks.
For high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families, protecting wealth requires more than purchasing individual insurance policies. It requires understanding the full picture, anticipating potential exposures and developing a strategy that can evolve as circumstances change.
That is the value of experience.
Not simply knowing where we started, but understanding how that experience can help us serve clients today.
Since 1871, Wheeler & Taylor has been built around protecting what matters most.
And that remains our commitment to the families we serve today.
Frequently Asked Questions About High-Net-Worth Insurance
What is high-net-worth insurance?
High-net-worth insurance is specialized personal insurance designed for individuals and families with substantial assets, complex lifestyles and insurance needs that may exceed what conventional personal insurance programs are designed to address.
Coverage may include high-value homes, multiple residences, valuable personal property, luxury automobiles, collections, watercraft, private aircraft, high-limit liability and other specialized risks.
What qualifies someone for high-net-worth insurance?
There is no single universal definition of a high-net-worth insurance client. Financial assets are one consideration, but the complexity of a household’s property, lifestyle and liability exposures can be equally important.
A household with a high-value residence, multiple properties, significant collections or substantial liability exposure may benefit from a private client insurance review even if its circumstances do not fit a specific net-worth threshold.
Why do wealthy families need specialized insurance?
Affluent families often have more assets, properties and activities that require protection. Standard insurance policies may not be designed around the valuation, coverage limits, service expectations and specialized exposures associated with complex households.
A private client approach evaluates the entire insurance program rather than treating each policy independently.
What does high-net-worth insurance cover?
Depending on the client’s circumstances and selected policies, a high-net-worth insurance program may address residences, secondary homes, valuable personal property, automobiles, collections, watercraft, aircraft, personal liability, domestic employees, cyber risks and other specialized exposures.
The appropriate coverage depends on the family’s individual assets and risk profile.
Do high-net-worth families need umbrella insurance?
Many affluent families carry substantial personal umbrella or excess liability coverage because they have significant assets and potential liability exposures to protect.
The appropriate amount of liability coverage depends on the client’s assets, activities, income, properties and overall risk profile.
What is ultra-high-net-worth insurance?
Ultra-high-net-worth insurance generally refers to specialized insurance solutions for households with exceptionally substantial wealth and increasingly complex assets and exposures.
These households may have multiple luxury residences, extensive collections, private aircraft, yachts, businesses, domestic staff and significant liability or privacy concerns.
The greater the complexity of the household, the more important a coordinated private client approach can become.
How often should a high-net-worth insurance program be reviewed?
A high-net-worth insurance program should be reviewed whenever there is a significant change in assets, properties, family circumstances, ownership structures or lifestyle.
Even without a major change, periodic reviews can help identify gaps created by changing property values, new assets, evolving insurance markets or changes in the family’s activities.
Why choose an independent insurance agency for high-net-worth insurance?
An independent agency can evaluate insurance solutions from multiple insurance markets rather than being tied to a single carrier.
For complex personal insurance programs, access to multiple markets can provide greater flexibility when evaluating coverage, limits, policy provisions and specialized solutions.
Protect What You’ve Built
More than 150 years of experience has taught us that no two families are exactly alike.
Your properties are different. Your assets are different. Your priorities are different. And the risks you face can change over time.
Your insurance program should reflect that.
Discover how Wheeler & Taylor’s Private Client Group can help protect your home, assets, lifestyle and legacy.
