Sell Term Life Insurance Policy
Want to Sell your Term Life Insurance Policy? What You Need to Know.
You may find yourself strapped for cash and looking for assets to sell off. If you find yourself in this situation then it may be worth considering to sell your term life insurance policy. This may make sense especially if you are no longer able to keep up with the payments.
If you feel that selling your life insurance is the best option for you then owe it to yourself to know what the process entails. The first step is having your life insurance policy appraised to see how much it is worth. The next step is finding a buyer who is willing to give you a cash settlement for the policy and continue paying the premiums. The benefit to the buyer of engaging in such a deal is that they will be the one to collect on the policy when the seller dies.
How to Find a Buyer When You Want to Sell Term Life Insurance Policy
Finding a buyer may just be the most difficult part of the process however as there are people out there who are looking for lucrative investment opportunities and your life insurance policy may appeal to them. They make their interest know through third party life settlement companies. Brokers act as intermediaries and charge a commission for the service. If you choose to sell your life insurance policy it is advisable to use a broker as they are able to give you a better deal than you would get on your own.
Things You Should Know Before Selling a Life Insurance Policy
While your life insurance policy may be worth a lot to you it may not have much market value. Settlement broker firms report that only about 25% of life insurance policies that are made available to them are worth anything. This is partly because life insurance policy buyers are looking for people over the age of 65 or who are suffering from terminal illnesses. Buying the life insurance policy of a young and healthy person is not a wise investment for them.
If the settlement company decides that your policy is worth buying then you will not get the face value for your policy with buyers only ever offering a maximum of 21 percent of the policy’s value. If you factor in the commission that the broker will take, which is about 9 percent of what you receive, you can see that selling your life insurance policy is not a great way to make a lot of money fast. There are also taxation laws to take into account as the money made from selling a life insurance policy may just be subject to income tax.
Having seen all of these complications involved and you still want to sell your life insurance policy, remember that selling the policy may not be the only way to make money off of it. You can also use it as an asset and take out a loan against it or sell the policy to members of your family. These are all viable options however it is advisable to see professional consultation from a financial adviser before you make any decisions.
The bottom line is that your life insurance policy is yours to do with as you please. Financial troubles may make you decide to liquidate your assets for cash and your life insurance policy is an asset that is worth considering. You’ll get to recover a percentage of the policy before you die and you won’t have to continue making payments on the premium. The thought of quick cash and one less bill to pay every month may be attractive however you should take a moment to think about why you took out the policy in the first place.
If you no longer need the coverage and the policy’s original beneficiaries are no longer in a position where they would depend on the benefits if something happened to you then by all means, sell it off. However if that is not the case then it may be in your best interest to hold on to the policy. Get questions answered about if you should sell your term life insurance policy with an experienced insurance broker.