Founded in 2008 with a single purpose: to create the agency model that independent agents always wanted but never had.
Independent Financial Solutions, Inc. (IFS) opened its doors in 2008 in Wall, New Jersey. Initially started as a Brokerage General Agency on an independent platform, offering brokers access to top insurance and annuity companies and their products.
Our founder, Greg Napolitano, started his career as an agent at a captive agency. He found that he could not properly provide solutions for all of his clients' needs in that model — a solid financial strategy simply could not be implemented with such limited products. With this in mind, Greg moved on and founded Independent Financial Solutions, Inc.
The brokerage model allowed brokers to fulfill their clients' goals and objectives. But Greg saw that many of his brokers were actually operating as agents of IFS — working closely with experienced support staff, having access to virtually any product needed, and receiving high compensation rates.
Greg transformed what he didn't like about both the captive agency and the brokerage model and created something new: an agency where agents were fully independent, while being housed, annualized, receiving benefits, rewards, and bonuses.
As IFS grew, it garnered the attention of large carriers looking to associate with a steady, principled organization. After careful consideration, Greg partnered with Ameritas — one of the country's oldest mutual insurance carriers.
IFS is now one of the largest Ameritas agencies in overall production and headcount, and continues to grow. In April 2014, the agency moved from Wall, NJ to a larger office in Matawan, NJ, with several offices throughout the tri-state area.
Greg began his career at a captive agency and experienced firsthand the limitations that prevent agents from truly serving their clients. Frustrated by narrow product shelves and restrictive structures, he founded IFS in 2008 to create the agency he always wished existed — one that combines the independence of a brokerage with the full support and compensation of a career agency. His vision: in business for yourself, not by yourself.