About American West Advisory

An Independent Voice in Life Insurance Analysis

Since 1973, we have served trustees, fiduciaries, attorneys and the professionals who advise them—never as a seller of insurance, always as an independent analyst.

Our Founder

Joe Stefanec

Joe Stefanec founded American West Advisory to give attorneys, trustees and their clients an independent, non-sales resource for evaluating existing life insurance—a resource that exists solely to support well-documented, prudent decisions.

Based in Arizona, Joe works directly with estate planning attorneys, corporate trustees, professional fiduciaries, family offices, and family-law attorneys to provide analysis that stands apart from any product sale or commission.

Joe Stefanec

Founder Since 1973

Our Approach

A Firm Built on Independence

American West Advisory is an independent life insurance analysis and research firm. We do not sell insurance products, and we are not a substitute for legal or tax counsel. Our role is narrow and deliberate: to help fiduciaries, attorneys and their clients establish the facts of an existing policy so decisions can be made from a complete record.

That work today takes two forms: fiduciary analysis of trust-owned life insurance for trustees and estate planning counsel, and independent policy analysis in divorce matters for attorneys and their clients.

How We Work

Three Principles Guide Our Work

Independent

Objective analysis free from product sales or commissions.

Contemporaneous

Documentation created while a decision is being made—not reconstructed years later.

Prudent

Independent analysis designed to support well-documented, defensible decisions about existing life insurance.

Independent Analysis

Contemporaneous Documentation

Supporting Prudent Decisions

Contact Joe Stefanec