Making Cents: Life Insurance, Independent of Dependents

Part of the conventional wisdom about life insurance is that people without dependents don’t need it. After all, if you don’t support anyone now, why leave anyone money after you die? But as many cancer and AIDS patients have discovered, the terminally ill can receive early “viatical” life insurance settlements to make their last days more bearable--or pay medical bills. Such a resource can be comforting for some people.