New Tools Help Seniors Gain Their Financial Freedom Using Life Insurance Settlements

Seniors 65+ can now access tools that provide instant estimates of the value of their life insurance, explore the tax implications of selling their policy in a life settlement and connect with authorized purchasers who compete to buy their policy.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 13, 2009 -- Calling it "a win for the consumer", the Life Settlement Network has announced several free and instant on-line tools that provide senior life insurance policyholders direct access to analysis previously unavailable. These new tools provide answers to common life settlement questions such as 'How much is my policy worth?' and 'Am I eligible?' without having to set up a consultation or appointment with a life settlement broker or life insurance agent. By providing a range of likely offers, interested seniors can determine if they have a marketable policy. After discussing their options with a financial advisor, senior policyholders can submit their case confidentially to all authorized funding sources - cutting the costs associated with selling a policy.

"Providing tools that help seniors determine for themselves if they are eligible and what their insurance policy might be worth eliminates the need for costly and time-consuming evaluations and taps into the natural resourcefulness of many of our clients," says the Life Settlement Network managing partner Chris Chidgey. He adds, "Creating efficiencies in this costly process means less compensation for the facilitators of the process and more for the senior - the value for the senior sky-rockets."

It has been estimated the cost of selling a life insurance policy in a life insurance settlement is as high as 50% of the settlement proceeds. In some cases, the policy changes hands multiple times before landing in a portfolio. By enabling seniors to determine for themselves if their policy has any value in the settlement market and what the range of likely values are, interested seniors and their advisors can do much of the qualification on their own. The tools provided are safe, secure and confidential and there is no obligation to accept an offer once a case is submitted.

Seniors 65 and older holding or paying premiums on unwanted, unneeded or under-performing life insurance should determine whether selling their policy in a life insurance settlement is likely to generate more funds than surrendering the policy for the stated cash value. Starting with a free and instant on-line life settlement quote using the life settlement calculator from the Life Settlement Network is a great first step.

Is it time for my mid-life crisis yet?

by Scott MossJanuary 19, 2009

I must say people, this is a question that a whole lot of my friends have already asked themselves and answered with a resounding YES. You know the ones I'm talking about. They've been married 20 years, worked their way up the corporate ladder and achieved some significant financial success. They have bought the expensive car, house and boat. Maybe even a summer home on a lake somewhere.

This is always a tough call for me, though. I don't really want to have a mid-life crisis. Maybe there's something wrong with me. You see, I still like to chase my wife around the house, I don't want or need an expensive car, and I have trouble keeping up with the work I have to do at this house let alone a second. As for a boat, a boat means I have to put on a swim suit, and let's face it, no one wants to see that on a leisurely drive on the lake. That's how fish started walking. They see something like me in a swim suit on their lake and they've had enough. Legs sprout, and before you know it, they're running brokerage firms on Wall Street.

I don't know how to recognize one when it hits me, so I've developed a list of warning signs that your mid-life crisis is here.

1. Your secretary wears short skirts, she has an IQ similar to that of a turnip and you think she would be a nice trophy wife to show off to your friends. Before you do it, take a picture of all your stuff. Get it blown up to at least an 11-by-14-inch poster, and take a black marker and color over at least half your stuff. That will go to your wife, and then color over one-fourth of the remaining stuff. That will go to your lawyer. Whatever is left will no longer impress your secretary. She will run off with the pool boy.

2. You suddenly get the urge to try sky diving or swimming with sharks or drag racing. These are all OK, as long as your life insurance is paid up to date. Make sure your first wife doesn't pack your parachute, starve the sharks before you get in the water or loosen the front wheels of your dragster. First wives will get even. It's in their DNA.

3. If the car you're planning on buying costs more than the first or second house you bought. Spend no more than $40,000 on a car. That way, you'll have money left over for the incredible debt trophy wife No. 2 will get you in.

4. "I'm going to the Harley Davidson dealership and pick me up one of them hog things." First and foremost, if you go into the Harley dealership and say the above statement to any of the real bikers there, you will leave missing some teeth. If you've never had a Harley Davidson or any other motorcycle in your life, take a good hard look at the one you just bought. In a couple of hours it will be wrapped around a tree and you'll be in the hospital wishing you hadn't divorced your first wife because trophy wife has no desire to be married to a man who can't ride a motorcycle. It says it right there on her tattoo.

5. I think I will grow my hair out and put it in a pony tail. I should dye it jet black like when I was a kid, too. I'll look as cool as I did when I was in my 20s! Here's what I need you to do. Look in the mirror. Your hair is gray, live with it. It shows you've lived. Growing a pony tail is just a bad idea. If you're really thinking of dying your hair jet black, you might as well take it a step further and pick up the sequined jump suit and start growing those sideburns because baby, you're a hunk-a-hunk of burnin' love. We would like to book you to do your tribute show at the New Lenox Commons in June for two or three sold out shows.

I think I'll stay gray, drive my beat up car and continue to be crazy about my first and only wife. In the long run, I won't be as successful as some of my friends, but I'll get to keep all of my stuff.