Popularity of Life Settlements Soaring

Once upon a time a life insurance policy had limited value for the insured. By limited value I mean he had only two options if he no longer had a need for the policy. He could let it lapse or cash it in. Either way, he lost money.

Thanks to an industry that has two names, Life Settlements or Viatical Settlements, a third option has been grafted onto the life insurance option tree. For purposes of this article, Life Settlements will be the term of choice.

Life Settlements affords seniors an opportunity to capitalize on their current life insurance policy in a new way. Rather than cashing in the policy with the original life insurance company, the insured sells the policy to a Settlement Provider who generally pays more than their insurance company.

As the word has spread about this industry, more and more people are selling their policies. The industry is tightly regulated in all but eleven of the states and even in these States the Settlement Provider is bound by contract law. Regulation has provided a safety net for people wishing to sell their policy.

Obviously people have their own personal reason for selling their life insurance policy. For example, medical bills, ongoing healthcare costs or long term care needs. The premiums may no longer be affordable or the beneficiary has predeceased the insured.

Some people use the money to fund better performing investments, pay all of their outstanding bills thereby deleting the drain on the retirement check. Some take that long put off vacation while others use the money to bequest beneficiaries. The insured wants the beneficiary to enjoy and/or utilize the money while the insured is still alive.

Since people are living longer, they are able to purchase a new policy, should they need one, that has lower premiums for their attained age and still use the sales proceeds to meet their wants, desires or needs. Living longer has extended the mortality table which in turn has lowered the premiums.

The object is to enhance their quality of life and because of Life Settlements they have an opportunity to enjoy and/or benefit from a policy that use to have very limited choices. Just because someone becomes a senior citizen doesn't mean the estate planning needs have disappeared.

Quite the contrary. It is in the golden years that estate planning, depending on the individual's circumstances, may be at its most important. Life Settlements offers the senior citizen the opportunity to make choices he or she didn't have when they first bought the policy.

For most people who sell their policy, this represents a peace of mind they wouldn't have enjoyed before the birth of the Life Settlements industry. Because they have friends in an almost similar situation they tell their friends and the friends contact a Life Settlements professional.

As you can imagine, the word of mouth phenomenon takes hold and the number of Life Settlements soars. After all, if you found gasoline selling for one dollar a gallon, wouldn't you tell your friends?

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