Life
Are You age 65 or older and thinking about dropping your life insurance?
Read this first!
Don’t drop your policy if it’s a universal life or term insurance policy without getting it appraised! Why? Because if it’s a universal life policy, you may be able to extract a significant amount of additional cash from your policy, well beyond any cash surrender value that remains, by selling your policy.
Also, if you own a 10-year or 20-year convertible term policy, you may be able to sell your term policy for cash. Right now, you may be thinking about the adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.
But I can assure you it’s true and you may be able to sell your policy, even term insurance, and receive a significant cash payment by completing a life settlement.
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Never surrender your life insurance policy without first checking if you qualify for a life settlement!
What is a life settlement?
A life settlement is legal in all 50 states, yet most policy owners are totally unaware of this valuable option. A life settlement involves the sale of an existing life insurance policy for an amount greater than the cash surrender value but less than the death benefit. This means that you can get more cash out of a policy you no longer want or need, a lot more cash! There are many reasons you might sell your policy for cash. Here are some examples of happy policy owners who sold their life insurance:
- Funds needed for LTC expenses – At age 80, Maria moved into a long-term care facility relying on her adult children to help pay her LTC expenses. She had heard about an opportunity to sell her existing life insurance policy. She sold her policy and used the proceeds to relieve the financial strain on her adult children who had previously sacrificed their own planning needs to fund mom’s care. Janice said, “For the first time in years, I feel like I have my dignity back.”
- Running out of money in retirement – At age 87, Carlos was living longer than expected and running out of money in retirement. Expensive premium payments were becoming too much of a burden to maintain and draining cash that could be used for other needs. “The life settlement gave me the ability to maintain my lifestyle in retirement.”
- Retiring business owner – Jamie was negotiating the sale of his business and discovered that his term policy owned by the business could be transferred to him. Once he became owner of the policy, he explored the possibility of a life settlement. “My wife and I now have more money to enhance our retirement lifestyle.”
- Policy no longer needed – Judy and her husband (now deceased) had been making premium payments on their life insurance policy for over 30 years. Over time, the original need for the policy was overshadowed by Martha’s need for cash to help her maintain her quality of life in retirement. “I was able to uncover additional value over the cash surrender value. At my age, found money is a blessing.”
- About to surrender their policy – Mike and Sharon were about to surrender a life insurance policy they no longer needed. “Talk about a win-win! We not only eliminated annual premium payments, but we also received a large cash payment from the life settlement.”
Who has the best chance of qualifying for a life settlement?
Anyone age 65 or older that has developed health issues since their policy was issued and owns a universal life or convertible term insurance policy has a high probability of benefiting from selling their policy. Policies with a death benefit of 250K or more can qualify. Even policies used in estate planning and business protection with death benefits from 2M-100M can qualify. Younger policy owners with serious chronic illness can also receive extra settlement value contained in their life insurance by exploring a life settlement. Bottom line: Never surrender your life insurance policy without first determining if you qualify for a life settlement!
A word to the wise:
Before you get involved with any life settlement company, check them out to make sure they are on your side. Ask them one question: Are you a life settlement broker or a life settlement provider? If they are a life settlement provider, then walk away. Life settlement providers represent the buyers and will give you a discounted offer so that their buyer can get the best return on purchasing your policy. Most direct-to-consumer marketers, with ads on television and social media, are providers. Remember, providers represent the buyers. The seller’s representative is a life settlement broker. Brokers have a fiduciary duty to protect your best interests when you are selling your policy. They obtain the best offer for you by making all providers compete for the purchase of your policy by conducting a policy auction. Always check who you are dealing with and only work with a life settlement broker when selling your policy. If you would like to determine if you may qualify for a life settlement, click here
Jason T. Mendelsohn is President and Co-founder of the Ashar Group LLC.
Contact Us For More info!
When you need advice on senior services, senior living options, home health services, elder law, hospice, adult day care and more, please call us. Orlando Senior Help Desk is here to help you navigate the senior maze.
407-678-9363 for more information.