Did you know that even though your insurance policy is a death benefit, you can benefit from it while you’re still living? One of the main reasons people hate to talk about life insurance is that conversations about last wishes and burial preferences naturally follow. However, if you find yourself in a financial bind, your life insurance policy could be your way out. Viatical and life settlements are the main ways you can reap the cash value of your insurance policy while you’re still living.
There are differences between viatical settlements and life settlements, and there are benefits of both. However, viatical settlements are more of a last resort option than life settlements are. Anyone can sell their life insurance policy depending on how much of the premium they’ve paid. However, a viatical is for life insurance policyholders who have a terminal illness and less than 24 months to live, and another difference is that you have to pay taxes on life settlements contrary to viaticals. Continue reading to learn more about viatical settlements and several ways you can spend yours.
1. End-of-Life Care
Being that viatical settlements are for people with a terminal illness and a short life expectancy, the number one use for them is to pay for end-of-life or palliative care. As expensive as medical treatment can be, those prices are far higher when you’re talking about treatment for a chronic illness.
Even though people in palliative care aren’t expected to live long and there’s often nothing the doctor can do to cure the illness, end-of-life care can be more expensive than regular medical care. People with a chronic illness often have more doctor’s appointments, medications, and treatments to endure, and unfortunately, in most cases, their healthcare coverage isn’t enough to cover their medical bills and living expenses.
Most people who get viatical settlements use their settlement to pay for their high medical costs, medication, and in many cases, around-the-clock assistance from a medical professional. If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place because of a chronic illness and a shortened life expectancy, contacting a viatical company could be the best move for you and your family.
2. Experimental Treatment
Can you imagine being diagnosed with a rare terminal illness for which there’s no cure or even an established treatment? That’s a reality that thousands of people in the United States face every year. In such cases, oftentimes, the best doctors can do is prescribe an experimental drug or treatment with the hopes that the treatment will bring about the desired result. The main problem with experimental medicine is that it’s expensive, and most insurance companies won’t cover treatments and medications that are considered experimental.
One of the best ways to use a viatical settlement is to pay for experimental drugs or treatments for a rare illness. Even though you can only get a viatical settlement if your life expectancy is two years or less, that doesn’t mean you have to give up on trying to live. If your doctor tells you that there’s an experimental treatment that may make you better, you owe it to yourself to try it, and if your health insurance won’t cover it, your life insurance policy might be the best option you have.
Before you sign a viatical settlement contract, you must do your due diligence to find the right viatical settlement company to broker your deal. Viatical settlement contracts are final, so it’s imperative that you entrust your situation to a reputable viatical settlement company like American Life Fund.
American Life Fund has years of experience helping people who are in the most difficult time of their life to get the funds they need. They’re a life settlement company that knows how to handle the issues faced by an ill patient with the sensitivity and care they deserve.
3. Real Estate
One of the downsides to getting a viatical settlement is that your beneficiaries won’t get anything from your death benefit. However, you can actually use your settlement to increase the estate you leave to your beneficiaries.
Many people who are nearing the end of their life just want a piece of land somewhere tranquil and simple. If there’s a piece of land for sale in North Carolina that piques your interest, you might be able to afford it with the sale of your insurance policy. You can use your accelerated death benefit to buy the real estate in North Carolina that interests you and spend the rest of your days relaxing by the Blue Ridge Mountains, and then leave it to your family members as a parting gift.
4. Invest
As an owner of a life insurance policy, you can use the payout from the viatical settlement provider to invest in the stock market, a hedge fund, or even cryptocurrency. Everyone would love to be able to leave behind an inheritance for their family members, but you can actually invest the payout from your policy’s death benefit and possibly turn it into even more money for your beneficiaries. The key is to have a financial advisor or broker go over your investment options with you to ensure you make wise choices.
5. Vacation
One thing about facing your mortality is that it puts in people a desire to make the most of the time they have left. Believe it or not, many people put their viatical settlement toward vacationing and seeing the world. If your life expectancy is short, you owe it to yourself to enjoy it as much as you can, given the circumstances. Going on vacation probably won’t give you back your health, but it could take your mind off it for a while.
If you do decide to go on a vacation, you should consider investing in a My Cloud Home, which is the best cloud storage for videos and pictures. You can load your cloud storage device with up to a terabyte of media, so your family can store endless photos and videos of their time with you.
Viatical settlements are serious business, and you need to be absolutely certain before completing the sale of a life insurance policy. However, if you’re terminally ill and in need of immediate funds, your life insurance policy might be one of the most valuable assets you have.