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Information about all aspects of finances affected by a serious health condition. Includes income sources such as work, investments, and private and government disability programs, and expenses such as medical bills, and how to deal with financial problems.
Information about all aspects of health care from choosing a doctor and treatment, staying safe in a hospital, to end of life care. Includes how to obtain, choose and maximize health insurance policies.
Answers to your practical questions such as how to travel safely despite your health condition, how to avoid getting infected by a pet, and what to say or not say to an insurance company.

New Uses Of Assets

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Each of the following assets can be used to obtain cash without a sale..

Retirement Plans

You can borrow from most types of retirement plans. If you are disabled, you may even start to receive benefits penalty-free. To learn more, see: New Uses Of Assets: Retirement Plans.

Life Insurance

If you have life insurance, you may be able to access money from it as follows:

  • You may be able to borrow against the policy, either from the life insurance company or from a friend such as the beneficiary
  • You may be able to get an advance against the death benefit (known as an accelerated death benefit)
  • You may be able to sell it (known as a Viatical Settlement or Senior Settlement).

To learn more, see New Uses Of Assets - A Living Benefit From Your Life Insurance Policy, Life Insurance: Sale OfFriendly Loans Against Your Life Insurance Policy, and note: How To Apply For A Disability Waiver Of Premium Under A Life Insurance Policy)

Your Home

Your home can be a source of cash while you continue to live in it. There are a batch of ways to access cash from your home, including the following:  

If you ultimately need to sell real estate, see our article about what you need to think about as a person with a health history. Click here.

Investments

If you have investments, consider rearranging your portfolio so that it produces more income and/or liquidating some assets. If you only need extra income in the short term, you can also consider borrowing against your financial assets. To learn more, see:

Your vehicle

If you have a vehicle:

  • You can get a loan known as a Title Loan or Auto Title Loan which uses your vehicle as security for the loan. You get to use the car while the loan is outstanding. 
  • You can rent it to other people through a car sharing service such as RelayRides offsite link which puts owners and potential renters together plus provides insurance against. damages and liability.  You can check on potential renters who have online profiles and are prescreened by the company. Your car must not be older or have more miles than required by the service. Also see Car2Go offsite link. NOTE: It is advisable to take "before" photos of your vehicle immediately prior to each rental. 

Personal Property

If you have personal property, such as antiques, art, collectibles, clothing, household goods or a vehicle, you might be able to turn them into cash. To learn how to get cash from personal property without selling it, see New Uses of Assets: Personal Property. To learn how to maximize what you get when selling personal property, click here.

Use Credit

Credit (as in the amount of credit you have on your credit cards) is equivalent to an asset because you can draw on it as needed. In addition, credit cards frequently have an optional death benefit which pays off the amount of debt on the card in the event of death. Realistically, such a feature increases the size of your estate.

There may also be a feature which pays the minimum due on the card in the event of disability. While the amount of debt will likely continue to climb, you won't have to be concerned about making monthly payments when money is tight. If you are in an emergency situation, consider using your credit to help you get by -- especially if it is backed by credit insurance.

To learn more, see:


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