Life Settlements available for Term Insurance

Someone once said that change is the only constant in life. Life insurance, of all places, provides the underlying proof to this remark. Something called a Life Settlement has sprung up in this heretofore stodgy industry.As one would expect, a Life Settlement is a financial transaction between the policy owner and an entity called a Settlement Provider. The policy owner sells his policy to the Settlement Provider. Thanks to the emergence of this relatively new financial transaction a person in possession of an unneeded or unwanted life insurance policy can sell his policy to a Settlement Provider for more than the cash value offered by the life insurance company.People sell their policies for a variety of reasons. They range from premiums being no longer affordable to a beneficiary predeceasing the insured. Sometimes the policyholder owns multiple policies and wishes to eliminate one or more of the policies.Maybe the insured needs money for long term care, ongoing medical bills or wants to replace the policy with a survivorship type of policy.Estate planning may dictate a change in insurance coverage or the insured may wish to transfer the cash into higher paying investments. Charitable or family gifting arrangements may now be the best means to distribute assets or cash.Some folks may have experienced bankruptcy forcing a complete revamping of their financial plan. Others may have become unemployed or under employed. The circumstances are as numerous and diverse as the population.Businesses utilizing a key-man policy may find it is no longer necessary because thebusiness has folded or the individual is no longer integral to the business's success.All in all, the sale of the policy allows the policyholder to maintain a desired standard of living and live out his final years with dignity. Personal welfare and comfort rank high on the policy sale consideration list.Generally speaking, people with universal life policies make up the bulk of current policy sellers. However because the industry has matured in its ability to perform accurate financial analysis and predictions, term insurance owners are now able to come to the table and receive consideration for what was once considered a worthless form of insurance.Heretofore, their only options were to let the term-life policy lapse or convert at a premium increase. The only party benefiting from this travesty was the original insurance company. They received premiums for a certain number of years and because of the lapse, they faced no obligation to pay the face amount. Profit in its purest form.This meant the policyholder simply lost everything no matter how much money he now needed to pay medical bills, living expenses or meet long term care obligations. Thanks to the secondary market, Life Settlement, the opportunity for term life insurance owners has improved. They too now enjoy a liquidity almost on par with whole life policy owners.Since they can be sold with a life settlement as long as the policy still can be converted, their face value can be lower. This has transformed them from a worthless program to one gaining value in the eyes of the Settlement Provider.Life Settlement is, and will remain, an individual choice. It may not be right for everyone but it is an important option on the personal welfare menu that could possibly increase the return on a policy owner's life insurance program.