Many of your 50 and 60-year-old clients are part of the “Sandwich Generation”. They are striving to prepare for their own retirement and encumbered by the fact that they not only have financial obligations to their children, but many of them are now also faced with caring for a parent who can no longer live independently. You can help your clients caught in this scenario and determine if their elderly parent can qualify for a Long Term Care Life Settlement. That’s a mouthful, but in a nutshell, it means that if their parent is in need of immediate health care to assist in the activities of daily living, they may now qualify for a life settlement that would help pay for their health care expenses. On average, seniors who qualify for a Long Term Care Life Settlement, receive 40-45% of their policy’s face value.
This form of life settlement places the settlement proceeds into a FDIC insured irrevocable benefit trust that is professionally administered with the healthcare payments being made monthly on behalf of the of the individual receiving care. For example: A 77-year-old male was able to sell his $100,000 policy for $45,000. The proceeds were placed in an irrevocable trust and immediately began paying a monthly benefit of $4,500 for 9 months while retaining a funeral benefit of $4500. There are two benefits in this transaction. First, your clients in their 50’s and 60’s now get some relief from having to take funds out of their own investments to pay for mom’s health care. The second benefit is even greater. After months of feeling like a burden to her son, Mom now has the dignity of knowing that she is paying for her own healthcare. That very fact has improved Mom’s quality of life and that’s priceless.
We had one of the families share with us that, “Our mother said that this was the first time in over 10 years that she hasn’t felt like a burden to us.” As you can see, this goes well beyond a monetary gain. Although the adult children were happy to care for their loved one, they now could alleviate the financial strain and tension that this caused between the siblings.
Every year millions of seniors abandon a life insurance policy and get nothing in return for it. According to the Insurance Studies Institute, “90% of seniors who lapsed a life insurance policy would have considered a life settlement had they been aware of the possibility.” If your client is caring for an elderly parent, be sure to explore a life settlement to help pay those costs. This settlement can provide money for home health care, assisted living, nursing home, and hospice care. The gift of dignity when it is needed the most.
If you are wondering whether a policy you own or are entrusted to may be worth more on the secondary market, you can quickly take the first steps by going to https://ashargroup.com/policy-value-questionnaire/. This short quiz can help you in determining if a policy may qualify for a life settlement.
