Independent feasibility analysis

Almost everyone who writes a captive feasibility study is paid to say yes.

Brokers keep commissions or win a management contract. Captive managers win administration fees. Consultants win the follow-on engagement. Law firms win the formation work. This is why free feasibility studies exist: the provider monetises the decision to proceed.

We take no formation fee, no management contract, and no commission, and we maintain no office in any domicile. There is no arrangement under which we earn more by telling you to form a captive. That is the entire product. Everything else is implementation.

Which means this platform is willing to return no — and to name the specific threshold you would need to cross before the answer changes.

What it computes

Real actuarial method, shown in full, with every assumption on the page.

You can see each development factor, change it, and record why. The simulation is seeded, so a number in your board pack can be reproduced identically three years later during an examination. Where the data is thin, the platform widens the interval and says so rather than projecting false precision.

Loss development

Chain-ladder age-to-age factors computed from your own triangle — volume-weighted, simple average, or median. Every factor visible and adjustable, with a mandatory rationale on any override.

Bornhuetter-Ferguson

An independent second projection using an a priori expected loss rate, shown side by side with chain-ladder. When the two disagree, that disagreement is information, and we quantify it rather than averaging it away quietly.

Monte Carlo simulation

Poisson or negative-binomial claim frequency, lognormal severity, up to 10,000 iterations. Percentiles read off the empirical distribution — not a normal approximation, which understates the tail that matters.

Funding range

Indicated premium at expected, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentile confidence, with the implied risk margin at each level and the full expense build shown line by line.

Domicile scoring

Ten domiciles scored across capital, cost, speed, regulatory posture, and infrastructure. You set the weights. Every dimension shows the reasoning behind its score, and disqualifying constraints are stated outright.

Tax and regulatory

Vermont's tiered premium tax with its $7,500 minimum and new-licensee credit. IRC §4371 at 4% casualty and 1% reinsurance. State self-procurement rates with statutory citations. 831(b) diagnostics stamped with the regulatory as-of date.

The same argument, in ninety seconds

If you would rather hear it than read it.

Three parts: why almost every feasibility study is written by someone with a stake in the answer, what this platform actually computes, and why a diligence tool has to be willing to tell you not to proceed.

Nothing is asserted in the video that is not sourced elsewhere on this site. If you would rather see the arithmetic than hear the argument, the methodology page is the better use of your time.

Molly is a synthetic presenter — an AI avatar, not a member of staff. The figures she cites appear on this site with their sources and as-of dates. 92 seconds.

The market, sourced

Every figure carries its source and the date it was true.

The captive trade press recently caught an AI-generated article claiming West Virginia hosted 563 captive insurers. West Virginia hosts none. We hold ourselves to the standard that failure implies: nothing appears on this site as a statistic unless it is attributed and dated, and where sources genuinely disagree we show the range and name both rather than choosing the flattering one.

1,413
Captive licences Vermont has issued since 1981
Vermont Department of Financial Regulation · as of 2025
706
Of those licences, the number since closed
Vermont Department of Financial Regulation · as of 2025
683
Captives currently active in Vermont
Vermont Department of Financial Regulation · as of 2025
~6,000
Captive insurers worldwide, roughly half of them domiciled in the US
Captive International, Captives by the Numbers · as of 2026
$50K–$150K
Typical annual operating cost of a standalone captive
Industry range across multiple published sources · as of 2025
$250,000
Minimum capital Vermont requires of a pure captive
8 V.S.A. § 6004; Vermont DFR · as of 2025

Why companies do it anyway

Rated captives have outperformed the commercial casualty market on underwriting result.

88.0
Five-year average combined ratio, AM Best rated captives
AM Best · as of 2020–2024
97.0
Five-year average combined ratio, commercial casualty composite
AM Best · as of 2020–2024

A nine-point combined-ratio gap is real and worth understanding, but it is not evidence that a captive would work for you. AM Best’s rated captives are large, mature, and well capitalised — a population that survived selection. Your own loss history is the only evidence that matters, which is why this platform starts there rather than with an industry benchmark.

Pricing

Priced so that our revenue does not depend on your answer.

You pay the same whether the study returns proceed, not yet, or do not proceed. That is not a marketing position; it is the structural reason the output is worth reading.

Single feasibility study

$2,500one-time

One complete feasibility analysis: actuarial projection, simulated funding range, domicile comparison, five-year pro formas, and a board-ready report.

  • Chain-ladder and Bornhuetter-Ferguson projections, shown side by side
  • Monte Carlo simulation at 10,000 iterations, seeded and reproducible
  • Premium funding range at expected, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles
  • Domicile scoring across all ten domiciles with adjustable weights
  • IRC 831(b) diagnostics with the regulatory as-of date on every output
  • Five-year pro formas under base, adverse, and severe-adverse scenarios
  • Board-ready report, exportable
  • Full audit vault for the study, retained and hash-verified
  • A signed actuarial opinion — we are a modeling platform, not a credentialed signature

Platform license

$4,999per year

Unlimited studies for a year. Re-run as loss data matures, test alternative retentions, and compare structures without paying per analysis.

  • Everything in the single study, without a per-study fee
  • Unlimited studies and unlimited re-runs
  • Versioned results — every re-run is retained, never overwritten
  • Side-by-side comparison of study versions as data matures
  • Audit vault across the whole portfolio

PCC network membership

$9,999per year

Access to a protected cell structure for companies too small to justify a standalone captive, with statutory cell segregation and credibility-weighted premium allocation.

  • Everything in the platform license
  • Protected cell placement analysis and indicative allocation
  • Credibility-weighted premium allocation across participating cells
  • Statutory cross-liability segregation between cells, explained in full
  • Cell-level pro formas and capital requirements

Get in touch

Tell us what you are trying to work out.

If you already have a broker’s captive proposal in hand, an independent second read is exactly what this platform is for. If you are earlier than that, we can tell you what loss data you would need to gather before the question can be answered honestly at all.

You do not need to speak to us to use the platform. You can start a study immediately and the analysis will run either way.

We use your details to respond to this enquiry. We do not sell them, and we do not pass them to brokers, captive managers, or domiciles. See our privacy policy.

Captive Feasibility

An independent captive feasibility platform. We take no formation fee, no management contract, and no commission, and we maintain no office in any domicile. There is no arrangement under which we earn more by recommending that you form a captive.

Des Moines, Iowa

Important. Captive Feasibility is a modeling and analysis platform. Its outputs are not a signed actuarial opinion, not legal advice, and not tax advice. No output of this platform substitutes for a qualified actuary’s signed opinion, for counsel licensed in the relevant jurisdiction, or for a domicile regulator’s own review. Regulatory figures carry an as-of date; law changes, and a stale figure is a wrong figure. Verify current requirements with the domicile and with your own advisers before committing capital.

© 2026 Captive Feasibility. All rights reserved.