Armenian-Egyptian Has Gone From Big Macs to Big Clients
Julian Movsesian came to the U.S. in 1976 from Cairo, Egypt, with a few hundred dollars and began working at what most people consider the bottom of the job food chain: flipping burgers at McDonald’s.
But Movsesian’s status in life has changed a lot since then. He now runs an estate planning firm and a life insurance practice out of his 10th story Newport Beach office. And his business, Capital Management Strategies Inc., has gathered some of Orange County’s most notable and most wealthy individuals as clients, though he prefers to keep them anonymous. His clients tend to be rather wealthy and include entertainers in the music and film industries, business executives and world-known athletes.
The feather in Movsesian’s cap is the life insurance concept he created five years ago. He crafted a way for wealthy individuals to defer the payment of annual premiums on multimillion-dollar life insurance policies. Movsesian borrows the money for the client to pay the premiums and then reimburses the lender when the client dies and policy benefits are collected. Movsesian borrows the money at below the prime interest rate from a big corporate lender that he declines to name. The company lends to him to diversify its portfolio, he said.
The savings for clients: millions of dollars over time that clients can use while they are still alive. The only drawback is for the beneficiaries, since they get less money when the policy is paid out.
Movsesian’s clients must have a minimum $5 million in net worth because his strategy “is risky,” he said. Last year he sold $43 million in premiums and this year already has sold $52 million in premiums.
“We have been doubling every year,” Movsesian said.
Movsesian’s premium-deferment product has attracted the interest of insurance companies, he said. But it’s a proprietary product, and Movsesian’s signed on with only three insurance companies to offer it: American General Corp., American International Group and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. Movsesian said he wants to work only with the best-rated insurance companies, though it is not the only reason he has for being selective.
“We closed the doors to not saturate the market,” Movsesian said.
Movsesian said he has another reason for not exploiting the market:
“Greed is bad,well, at least bad greed,” he said. “I don’t nickel and dime people.”
Still, Movsesian has plans to expand the offering of his product. He is looking to bring a few more insurance carriers on board to offer the product.
“You never know when the well is going dry,” he said.
A few insurance companies have tried to copy his premium-deferment strategy, but they failed at it, Movsesian said. “Anybody can sell. Structuring and creating is a talent,” he said.
Movsesian was born of Armenian parents living in Cairo. He came to the U.S. when he was 17, planning to stay only a few years to gain some worldly experience. He had only $340 to his name, and his first job was working at a McDonald’s restaurant to make his way through high school.
“You have to pay your dues,” Movsesian said.
After working his way up at the home of the Big Mac, he went to work for the now-defunct restaurant chain, Sambo’s, as an opening manager, getting new restaurants ready for opening day.
Then he came across an opportunity to get into the life insurance sales business. He “took it without ever looking back,” Movsesian said.
He went to work for Connecticut Mutual in 1986, which was later acquired by Massachusetts Mutual. In his first year, Movsesian became one of the youngest top sellers in the company.
“I was always the first one in the office and the last one out,” Movsesian said. And he continues to work long hours, though he admitted that he could quit working and still live a comfortable life.
“If I retired, I’d get bored,” he said.
He originally sold life insurance in Beverly Hills and had a large clientele there, but decided to move to Orange County for family reasons.
And now with his fast food days long over, his pockets are filled with more than a few hundred dollars. He also has three Mercedes-Benz automobiles, collects rare sports memorabilia and lives in Corona del Mar.
Movsesian still carries his unique Armenian-Egyptian accent. “It has hurt and helped,” he said. “It makes people pay closer attention to what I am saying.” n
