“Most people don’t know that they can actually sell their life insurance policy,” said Lingke Wang, co-founder of Ethos Life. “If you have an old policy that you no longer need, you can sell it for an upfront cash payout to a third-party investor — typically a large financial investment firm. This is officially called a life settlement, and consumers that qualify get on average 20 percent of their policy benefit paid out.”
“Generally, people do this if their life insurance is no longer affordable or their policy is no longer serving its purpose,” said Wang. “For instance, some policyholders originally purchased life insurance to provide financial security for their children in the case they passed away. But paying for the policy often becomes less worthwhile once their children have grown up and become financially independent.”
