Well That Was Easier Than Expected

It's not every day that you come home to find a large bag of cash* waiting for you. Oddly enough, that was my experience today. My employer-provided life insurance policy includes a provision for early payout with a doctor's certification of a terminal diagnosis, and a few weeks back I submitted the paperwork to request such a payout.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but figured it would be a hassle. Apparently not. After a couple of days I got a form letter letting me know they were reviewing my claim, and today, just a week or two after that, I got a weird looking envelope that contained my check. No phone calls. No emails. Nothing. Just a check for 80% of my gross annual salary -- i.e., a bag of money.**

A bag of money is always a nice surprise, but in this case it's even better in that it relieves a lot of the pressure surrounding my job, both covering what is now unpaid leave and giving me the option to immediately stop working when things start getting bad. 

And as an added benefit, I also now have at least a loose target for an expiration date: April 14, 2017. While the insurance company pays out a gross amount, everything I've read tells me that the money is still considered taxable income and that means my taxes next year are going to be a nightmare -- the kind of nightmare that would be much better handled by my beneficiaries than by me. (Sorry, beneficiaries.) 

Of course, this pretty much guarantees that I'll live until at least April 15 and have to deal with the taxes myself, although I suppose I could call the IRS and try to get some guidance ahead of time.

Nah...


* Metaphorically speaking.
** When you divide your salary into twenty-six payments, and then take out all the deductions, it definitely looks a lot smaller than if it pays out in one big, deduction-free lump.