Retirement Planning Articles Senior Life Settlement Article--for Retirement Income Planning Tip! The trouble with retirement planning is simple: when your retirement is very far off, you don't tend to give much thought to the subject. When your retirement date nears, you give the subject a ton of thought, but you have a lot less money and time to prepare yourself. As we edge closer to retirement age, it is perfectly natural for us to be apprehensive about our financial future once we no longer have a paycheck coming in. After all, a number of factors have caused the future to appear bleaker than in years past. Social Security and its ability to finance the retirement of the baby boomers is in serious doubt with just about all the experts concluding that the fund will go bankrupt in the coming decades—it is not a question of if, but when. Healthcare costs continue to soar well beyond the rate of inflation with no apparent end in sight. Add to these two factors the fact that energy costs continue to rise at unprecedented levels and it is not hard to see why living on a fixed income seems like a very scary proposition for many people considering retirement. If you are considering retirement but fear that your savings account may not be able to weather the challenges posed by the problems listed above, you may consider a life settlement as a means of supplementing your income and building a financial cushion. Now you are probably wondering exactly what life settlements are and how they can make you money and this is not surprising because many people do not even know how they exist. But, if you have a life insurance policy then it is definitely worth your time to read on and learn the advantages that a life settlement can offer you as you contemplate retirement. Life settlements are also known as senior settlements and they are simply an agreement between someone with a life insurance policy and a company looking to buy that policy. The reason for this is because the death benefits paid in a life insurance settlement can be substantial. After all, anyone who has paid into a life insurance policy for a number of years has a policy with real value. The company offering you a life or senior settlement for your policy will give you a percentage of the total death benefits paid in a life insurance settlement in return for buying your policy and thus receiving those benefits upon your death. Now maybe this percentage is 50% of the total benefits or perhaps even less. They cannot offer you the total amount or a figure that is too high because they don't know how much longer you will live—basically, they are taking a gamble based upon your life expectancy. In between the time you sell your policy in a senior life settlement and the time in which you die, they must continue paying the premiums on that policy. Now although they may only give you 50 cents on the dollar for your policy, this figure is still generally higher than what you would receive if you would cancel the policy yourself and receive the surrender value. But, the fact is, the amount you would receive from a life settlement is almost always higher than the surrender value because these companies must offer you some incentive to sell your policy to them instead of just canceling the policy. Tip! Planning carefully your retirement finances the earliest possible time, could mean better days ahead. Although many of our younger workers of today don't give so much thought about retirement planning, sooner or later they will come to realize the importance of a secure retirement. The money you receive from a senior settlement could be that financial cushion you need to feel secure about retiring in these very uncertain times. Retirement should be a time to relax and enjoy the remaining years you have in life, not a time when you are stressed out about paying bills and surviving on less than you need to be comfortable. If you have a life insurance policy, then give some serious thought to senior settlements because they just may be the solution you have been looking for in order to give you that added cushion that will make your remaining days far more enjoyable. Jim Prescott, CPA business consultant for over 30 years specializing in small and medium size businesses that range from closely held to publicly traded companies. Jim is a Partner in CPA firm Prescott Chatellier Fontaine & Wilkinson, LLP that offers audit, accounting, investment advice, tax planning services, estate plans, pension plans consulting and insurance advice. In addition to the CPA firm's web site Prescott Chatellier Fontaine & Wilkinson, LLP you can find more information and Articles on Life Settlements at Insurance Settlement Review