I have a huge financial decision to make,and could use your thoughts?
I could use other thoughts asap,as I have to decide by next Monday .There is a fair amount of info,but I will try to keep it short as possable.
I am 52 and permenently disabled, I took out long term disability insurance while employed, which I get $600 monthly from this plan, which pays until I am 65(about 95,000 left).
The deal is this; the company just offered to buy me out of the LTD(long term disability) plan,They offered me $45,200, I realize this less than half,,but my home really needs some work, and I couldn’t do this on what I make monthly.
Without getting into details,a refi,or home improvement loan isn’t an option right now, so I am guessing about 10 grand would get my house back to where it should be.
The financial bottom line is if I pay off my car loan ($4,000) I am pretty much at a break even point with what I make monthly, so as long as I didn’t go crazy with the cash, it should last a while..
Another thing is I would probably have to pay taxes on this money, right now I don’t pay any taxes as I don’t make enough yearly-but I would probably have to give 20% in taxes, so I would end up with about 35,000(unless someone knows a way around this???) from what I could find out is if I paid all the premium, I woulld be exempt from taxes, but because my employer paid a portion, I would be liable for taxes.
With the way things are right now, the power of cash in hand is pretty high, so I figure I could get a good deal on the home improvement. And not to be negative, but I have been disabled 15 years, so who knows if I would make it to 65??
I would appreciate comments/ opinions on this. I really am in a quandry if I should take the deal–and with companies going down the toilet, I always worry I will get a letter saying Sorry, no more money!
I look forward to your comments,
Larry
P.S.Yes, one of the first things I did was try and get the amount increased. They said that’s the offer-take it of leave it.
I forgot to give my thoughts on the home repair. As I said, the house really needs some work and,I may sell in a few years after the values go up a bit, so work I do now will actually increase my bottom line down the road(just FYI)

Asked by:Larry B