At a Glance
| Member | Matthew Zabatta · Starter |
| Role | Agent licensed to sell insurance through New York Life Insurance Company · Registered Representative, NYLIFE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC) |
| Helps with | Life insurance & family protection · college funding · retirement · managing costs for extended periods of care · lifetime income strategies |
| Top skill | Problem solving — reading the real need underneath the numbers |
| Reach him | Connect on LinkedIn |
| His creed | "The mission is the gift." |
There is a phone call no family ever plans for.
It comes on an ordinary Tuesday. And in the space of one sentence, everything a household was built on — the income, the plans, the tuition fund, the mortgage math — is suddenly resting on whoever is left holding the phone.
Most people spend their lives insuring the car, the house, the phone screen. The one thing they leave uninsured is the engine that pays for all of it: themselves.
Matthew Zabatta has built his career on closing that gap. Not with fear. With love. Because in his world, protection isn't a product you get talked into — it's a promise you make to the people who share your table.
"The mission is the gift."
That's Matthew's creed, and it reads two ways on purpose. The mission — protecting families, funding futures, making sure nobody he serves gets blindsided by life — is itself the reward. And the work he does is a gift: the kind a father or mother leaves behind quietly, signed years earlier at a kitchen table, that speaks loudest on the day it's needed most.
What Life Insurance Actually Is (Hint: It's Not About You)
Strip away the jargon and life insurance is one of the simplest instruments in all of finance: money that shows up for your family on the worst day of their lives, so grief never has to share a room with financial panic.
It's the mortgage that still gets paid. The tuition that still gets funded. The spouse who gets to say "take the time you need" instead of "we need to sell the house." It is, quite literally, love — notarized.
And here's what most people miss: the conversation isn't really about death. It's about everything you want to stay alive — the plans, the education, the standard of living, the dignity. A good agent starts there. Matthew starts there.
Beyond the Policy: Four Problems Matthew Helps Families Solve
Matthew offers a variety of products that can help meet a number of insurance and financial needs. In practice, the families he serves usually walk in carrying one of four questions:
- College funding. "How do we pay for their education without mortgaging our retirement?" Matthew helps families analyze the timeline and consider strategies that can play a role in a college funding plan.
- Retirement. "Will we actually be okay?" Not a brochure answer — a real needs analysis of where you are, where you're going, and what could knock you off course.
- Managing costs for extended periods of care. The expense nobody budgets for and nearly every family eventually meets. Planning ahead can help protect both your savings and the people who would otherwise carry that weight alone.
- Lifetime income strategies. Turning what you've built into income designed to last as long as you do — so retirement is something you live, not something you ration.
Matthew's top skill, in his own words, is problem solving — and it shows in the order he works. First, fully analyze the need. Then, and only then, recommend appropriate solutions. No product-first pitches. No one-size-fits-all. The question is never "what can I sell you?" It's "what are you actually trying to protect?"
Why the New York Life Name Matters
When you're making a promise that may need to be kept decades from now, who stands behind it matters. Matthew is an agent licensed to sell insurance through New York Life Insurance Company — one of the oldest and most recognized names in American life insurance — and may be licensed with various other independent, unaffiliated insurance companies. As a Registered Representative of NYLIFE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC), he can also offer securities products and services.
Translation for the rest of us: he has a deep bench of tools, and the licensing to match the tool to the job — instead of forcing every job to fit one tool.
The Man Behind the Mission
Ask Matthew what he loves and the list comes fast: his family, golf, networking, and helping people stay protected. Notice the order. The family comes first — which is exactly why he's so convincing on protection. He isn't selling an abstraction. He's selling the thing he'd want waiting for his own family.
The golf and the networking aren't hobbies bolted onto the bio, either. They're the same muscle. Golf, as Matthew sees it, exposes every weakness in your game — and every opportunity to grow. So does building a business. So does protecting a family. You don't get to hide from your gaps; you get to work on them, one honest rep at a time.
That's the mindset he carried through the gate of The Country C1ub:
"Grateful to be part of The Country Club and accepting the mission: growth, connection, and continual improvement - on and off the course. Golf has a way of exposing every weakness, but also every opportunity to grow. Excited to embrace the process, build relationships with great people, and keep showing up with the mindset of 'Today We Improved'."
"Today We Improved" is the c1ub's daily creed. Matthew didn't need it explained. He was already living it.
Who Should Be Talking to Matthew
If any of these sound like you, the conversation is worth an hour of your life:
- New parents who feel that new, wonderful, terrifying weight of someone depending on them
- Homeowners and spouses whose household runs on two incomes — or one
- Business owners and builders whose company would wobble without them
- Parents staring down tuition who want a plan instead of a hope
- People approaching retirement who want their savings to become income that lasts
- Anyone who has watched a family go through loss unprotected — and swore theirs never would
The common thread isn't age or income. It's that someone is counting on you. That's the whole qualification.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who actually needs life insurance?
Anyone whose income, work, or care someone else depends on. That includes parents with young children, spouses sharing a mortgage, business owners whose company depends on them, and even stay-at-home parents whose daily work would be expensive to replace. If your absence would create a financial hole in someone's life, life insurance is how you fill it in advance.
When is the best time to get life insurance?
Generally, the younger and healthier you are when you apply, the more options you tend to have. Big life events — marriage, a new baby, a home purchase, starting a business — are the moments most people act. The honest answer: the best time is before you need it, because by definition you cannot buy it after.
Can life insurance really help with college funding?
Certain life insurance products and strategies can play a role in a family's college funding plan, alongside other savings vehicles. The right fit depends on your timeline, goals, and complete financial picture — which is why a needs analysis with a licensed agent matters before choosing any approach.
What is a lifetime income strategy?
A lifetime income strategy is a plan designed to help turn what you have saved into income you are less likely to outlive in retirement. Products and approaches vary, and what is appropriate depends on your goals, assets, and risk tolerance — a licensed professional can help you analyze your needs and recommend appropriate solutions.
What about the cost of extended periods of care?
Extended care — the help many people eventually need with daily living as they age — can be one of the largest unplanned expenses a family faces. Planning for it in advance, as part of a broader financial strategy, can help protect both your savings and the people who would otherwise carry that burden. Matthew helps families analyze this need and consider appropriate options.
How do I get started with Matthew Zabatta?
Reach out to Matthew on LinkedIn to start a conversation. The first step is a straightforward needs analysis — understanding your family, your goals, and what you are trying to protect — before any product is ever discussed.
The Next Step
Here is the uncomfortable truth about protection: every family gets a plan eventually. The only question is whether it's the one you chose in advance — calmly, at full strength, with a problem-solver across the table — or the one that gets improvised on the worst day.
Matthew Zabatta helps you choose the first kind. Contact him to fully analyze your needs and recommend appropriate solutions — for your family's protection, your kids' education, your retirement, and income designed to last a lifetime.
Matthew Zabatta is an Agent licensed to sell insurance through New York Life Insurance Company and may be licensed with various other independent unaffiliated insurance companies. He is a Registered Representative of and offers securities products & services through NYLIFE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC), A Licensed Insurance Agency and a New York Life Company. Any testimonial on this site is based on an individual's experience and may not be representative of the experience of other customers. These testimonials are no guarantee of future performance or success. This article is for general informational purposes only and is not individualized advice; product availability, features, and guarantees vary and are subject to the terms of the issuing company.
The Country C1ub Member Spotlight Series celebrates the builders, founders, and mission-driven people who make this community what it is. Nobody achieves great things alone.