Structured
Settlements
You have probably heard the term “Structured
Settlements” on a TV ad and wondered what exactly it meant.
It's not one of those terms you hear every day...
A structured settlement
is a legal contract under which an insurance company decides
to make periodic payments to an injured person as part of a
bodily injury claim, or to a surviving family member to whom a large
settlement has been awarded... Finding a buyer
Definition
Senior Settlements
What are annuities
Tax Free Payments
Structured Settlement Companies
Structured Settlement Annuities
Selling Settlements
Sell Structured Settlements
Annuity for Cash
Selling for cash
Sell annuity payments
Settlment Payouts
Planning Life Settlement
Life Settlments
Life Settlments Articles
Immediate Annuities
Get cash for your Structured Settlment
Get cash for you annuity
Senior Life Settlments
How and When
Who to sell your payout
Selling Structured Payouts
Selling Monthly Settlements
Managing Structured Settlements
Fixed Annuity Options
Choosing buyers of structured settlements
Cash for annuity payments?
Buyers
Annuity Rates
What are senior settlements?
A senior settlement refers to a transaction wherein a senior
citizen, typically aged 55 years old and above, sells his or her life
insurance policy to a third party. Other terms that can be used
interchangeably are senior life settlement, senior life insurance
settlement or simply, life settlement.
Wait – can a life insurance policy even be sold? Yes, you read that right. A life insurance policy is an asset and a commodity, just like any other – a car, a piece of real estate such as a house or tract of land, or stocks and bonds. Just as it can be legally bought, a life insurance possible can be legally sold – that is, to a type of company that is often called a life settlement provider.
Why would I want to sell my life insurance policy?
Simply put, your circumstances today may be radically
different from when you first bought the policy and committed yourself
to paying the premiums year in, year out. Perhaps your original need or
purpose for buying the policy has changed, or even diminished altogether
Most commonly, seniors find that inevitably changes in their health
cause their premiums to rise considerably. When they find the premiums
too expensive to keep up, they begin looking for a way to get out of
paying them. Another common scenario with seniors is that they find
themselves requiring long term care or medical care, the costs of which
can weigh far too heavily alongside premium payments on a life
insurance policy. In case of long term care or medical care, a large
amount of cash – a lump sum – becomes a must.
Aside from changes in health, extreme changes in income and employment
status may lead a senior citizen to sell his life insurance policy. On
one hand, there may be a generous yen to make a large charitable
donation, or a family gifting that allows the beneficiary to distribute
funds while he is still living. Yet on the other, there may be the
looming threat of bankruptcy, which definitely requires a large sum of
cash on hand.
There are also business purposes for selling a life insurance policy,
such as key man, split-dollar or buy-and-sell agreements. There may be
a change in the size of the owner’s estate, or death of the
policy’s beneficiary. Or a senior citizen may simply decide
to change the way he has planned his finances, perhaps to invest his
money in something different.
Why should I consider a senior settlement?
A senior settlement is definitely a more attractive option for
dealing with a life insurance policy that you feel you no longer need
or want to pay for. Rather than surrendering the policy to the
insurance company that you bought it from, which will net you next to
nothing, you can choose to sell your policy to a third party, or life
settlement provider.
In a senior settlement, your chosen life settlement provider assumes
all rights and obligations of your policy, not least of which is the
responsibility for paying the rest of the remaining premiums. In
exchange, the provider becomes the de facto beneficiary of your policy,
receiving its full monetary value upon maturation.
The most important thing to note about senior settlements is this: a
life settlement provider will buy your policy for a lump sum
– a large amount of cash.
That’s your insurance money now when you need it. Use it for
medical care, long term care or to enjoy the things that
you’ve always dreamed of – the finer things in
life. After all, it’s your hard-earned money.