Appraise and sell your
life insurance policy.
Privately, on your terms.
Get a free policy appraisal, explore offers from licensed buyers, and sell only when you're ready.
Most life settlements involve policyholders age 65 or older with at least $100,000 in coverage. Results are estimates only and not guaranteed. Availability varies by state.
Licensed buyers make the market. We bring your policy to them.
Settle is a fintech platform building the simplest way to appraise and sell a life insurance policy. We're a marketing company, not a licensed life settlement provider or broker. Offers come from licensed buyers through our provider partners.
Policies sold in 2025
2,955
Life settlement market volume, 2023
$4.67B
Paid to owners, past five years
$3.6B
Source: Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA). Industry figures, not Settle results. Not every policy qualifies.
What a policy can sell for, told through examples.
Every offer depends on age, health, policy type and premiums, so no two sales look alike. These examples show how the numbers can come together — illustrative only, not a promise of any outcome.
Betty, 74
$500,000 universal lifeSold for $128,000
Premiums kept rising after retirement, and the coverage was no longer needed. Her surrender value was $19,400.
Robert, 69
$250,000 whole lifeSold for $61,000
The kids were grown and the policy's job was done. His surrender value was $31,000.
Walter, 78
$1,000,000 universal lifeSold for $265,000
A change in health made his policy more valuable to buyers. His surrender value was $42,000.
Frank, 71
$150,000 convertible termSold for $22,000
A term policy with no cash value can still have value to buyers. His surrender value was $0.
Reasons people sell their policy.
Premiums got too expensive
Costs often climb with age. Selling ends the payments and turns the policy into money you can use now.
Retirement needs changed
Savings may need to stretch further than planned. A sale can add cash for everyday living or care.
The kids are grown
The family a policy was meant to protect may now be financially independent and no longer need it.
Health care costs are rising
Long-term care and medical bills add up. Some owners use a sale to help pay for the care they need.
A term policy is ending
Some term policies can be converted and sold before they expire, instead of lapsing with nothing back.
The business no longer needs it
Key-person or buy-sell policies can lose their purpose after a sale, retirement or change in partners.
Information defines outcomes.
What a policy owner knows before giving up a policy decides how much of its value they keep.
Most policies never pay out.
More than 92% of life insurance face amount ends without paying a death benefit. Policies lapse, or are surrendered for a fraction of their value.
Surrender values are falling.
The average cash surrender value fell 27% in a single year, from $33,493 in 2024 to $24,360 in 2025.
The surrender letter won’t mention a sale.
Insurers explain how to cash out or cancel. Few owners are told a licensed buyer might pay more.
LISA 2025 Annual Market Data and LISA, “Explaining Life Settlements.”
Averages across 2,955 policies sold through LISA members in 2025. About 8.7 times the surrender value. Not Settle results, and not a prediction for any policy.
You’ve been told to surrender it.
There may be a better option.
In 2025, the average life settlement was $212,066. The average cash surrender value was $24,360. That’s about 8.7 times more.
LISA 2025 Annual Market Data. Market averages, not Settle results.
Our selling process
01
Appraisal
Answer six questions online and see an estimated range in about a minute.
02
Review
With your permission, licensed buyers review your policy and records through our provider partners.
03
Your decision
See each offer next to your surrender value. Accept one, ask questions, or walk away.
One offer is a price. Several are a market.
When a single company makes the only offer, you take it or walk away. When several licensed buyers review the same policy, you can see what each would pay and choose. You can still accept one, or none.
Shown in every offer4 things
Breakdown
What you’d receiveNet amount
Fees and compensationItemized
Typical timeline60–90 days
Obligation to acceptNone
Built for the right situation.
A sale isn’t right for everyone. We’ll tell you plainly whether it’s worth your time, before you share a single document.
A good fit if you:
· no longer need the coverage, or can’t keep paying for it
· are 65 or older, or have had a change in health
· have $100,000 or more of coverage
Not the right fit if you:
· have family who still depend on the death benefit
· may need life insurance again and couldn’t qualify
· need money within days, not weeks
Two forms, signed online.
A medical release and a policy release, signed in your dashboard. We request the records for you.
Every exit, side by side.
See each offer next to your cash surrender value before you decide. If keeping the policy is better, we’ll say so.
Questions, answered
The sale of an existing life insurance policy to a licensed buyer, for more than its cash surrender value and less than the death benefit. The buyer takes over the premiums and receives the benefit later.
Owners have had the right to sell a policy since the U.S. Supreme Court said so in 1911. Most states regulate life settlements to protect policy owners.