Life Settlement FAQ, Information and Resources

Life settlement solutions – plan for retirement

It is true that we always save for the rainy day yet some times all our planning may not help us to meet our financial requirements on time. One way to make this happen is to make use of life settlement solutions. This excellent financial tool has helped people to make use of immediate cash benefit in times of need and is a great way to help elders plan for their retirement days ahead.

 

Life settlement as a part of retirement:

A life settlement refers to the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party before its maturity date for an amount that is lower than the face value but much more than its surrender cash value. Such third party can benefit from the purchase by collecting the death benefit paid out. Such sale is possible only where the life of one or more individuals covered by such policy is ascertainable and limited. Typically, an insurer must fulfill the following conditions to be eligible for a life settlement:

Ø       The policy amount is above $50,000.

Ø       The policy has been in force for a minimum of two years.

Ø       The policy has a low cash surrender value.

Ø       The policy premium is less than 8% per annum.

Ø       The policy holder’s age is 70 and above.

 

A life settlement is a complex financial transaction and hence it would be in your best interest to entrust such jobs to experienced professional advisors. The life expectancy providers are specialized independent companies that will issue your life expectancy report and this determines how much you can get as life settlement. Also most types of life insurance policies can be settled like Universal, Variable Universal, Survivorship, Convertible, Whole Life and even Key-Person policies.

 

The secondary market for life settlement is relatively new and that is why not many are familiar with the term. Though this concept had remained in the market for than 100 years, very few were aware of ways to make use of this hidden treasure during their own lifetime. The offers you will receive for such settlements will vary and hence to get the best price possible you need to get a pool of interested buyers for your policy. It would be a good idea to involve a broker for such a need.

 

The benefit of upfront cash:

Life settlement solution provides you with the best value for your policy before its maturity without any hassles like marketing, haggling, or other expenses involved. The policy holders receive discounted, upfront, lump-sum cash as payment in return for such sale of their life insurance policies before the date of maturity. The benefit of such immediate cash payment is important for people especially in their post retirement days since they are able to enjoy such money they saved during their own lifetime.

 

Structuring the transaction:

The insurance holder assigns such policy to a trust that pays premium to the insurance company to avail death benefits from them. Such trust then pays fees to the settlement agency for an equity payment and then sells such coupons and principal to the investor in return for an investment outlay. Finally, the trust makes the cash settlement to the policy holder. This is one popular ways used to structure the life settlement deal transactions.