LAD Financial is a brokerage general agency for independent insurance agents who write fixed annuities and life insurance. We launched in 2026 because the existing BGA market is dominated by 1990s-era operations — opaque commission grids, slow contracting, case managers who don’t return calls, and platforms that look like they were built before iPhones.
We thought we could do better. So we did.
The team
Zebadiah Wade — CEO
Vice President at LaPorte Insurance (Portland, Oregon) and CEO of LAD Financial. Zeb personally supports every new broker through onboarding alongside Justin. Brings deep P&C cross-sell experience — the playbook for converting a P&C book into life and annuity premium without alienating clients. CA license #0M66286.
Justin Breen — Brokerage Director
15+ years in life insurance and annuity distribution. Case-design expertise for complex insurance clients. Licensed in CA, FL, OR, NV, ME, MT, and ID (NPN 16437704); additional state appointments added as needed. Justin runs every contracting decision personally and answers his own phone.
Zach Wade — Tech Lead
Software architect who built the LAD broker platform from scratch. Background in fintech and lending platforms (Wade Intel, Acorn Finance, Amres). Owns the platform end-to-end, including the carrier integrations, broker dashboard, commission engine, and case-tracking system.
Why we built LAD
If you’ve shopped BGAs in the last few years, you’ve felt this:
- Commission grids that change without notice and never get published.
- Contracting that takes 6-12 weeks because everyone’s emailing PDFs.
- Case managers who are responsible for 40 brokers and respond on Tuesday.
- Platforms that require eight portal logins to quote five carriers.
- Vague “house overrides” that nobody can explain.
The legacy BGA model works for the BGAs. It doesn’t work for the broker.
LAD’s working hypothesis: the broker who has all of this in one modern platform — with transparent commissions, fast contracting, and a real human answering when something breaks — out-produces the broker who’s juggling six carrier portals on a 2008-era BGA.
We’re betting our agency on it.
National network reach
LAD operates through a master network contract that gives us national carrier breadth, top-tier appointment access, and the depth of a top-tier BGA. We’re independent in operations, networked in scale.
How we’re different
- Top-street commissions, published. Not “competitive grid.” Not “call for comp.” The grid is the grid; we publish it.
- 14-day average contracting. Through SureLC, automated PDB verification, and active case management.
- One platform. Quote, e-app, case tracking, commissions — single login. Built on FireLight + SureLC + custom platform.
- Real human case management. Justin runs case management personally with newer brokers. Zach handles platform issues himself.
- No required exclusivity. Many of our brokers run multi-BGA strategies and use LAD for specific carriers we’re strongest with.
Where we’re going
The website you’re on right now is launch-quarter. The platform you’ll log into post-contracting is more mature than what most legacy BGAs ship to brokers after 5 years. The roadmap from here:
- AI broker assistant (suitability draft generator, NIGO resolver, comp grid Q&A)
- API-first integrations (let your CRM talk to ours)
- Public NIGO data (transparency about what gets rejected and why)
- Free tools (commission calculator, MYGA-vs-CD calculator, suitability skeleton generator)
Most BGAs treat their tech as overhead. We treat it as the product.
Get in touch
Justin or Zach personally responds to every applicant within one business day. There’s no offshore queue, no “agent success specialist” template reply.
Apply to contract · See how the platform works · Compare current MYGA rates