Worthright makes your old insurance work for your new life

Meet Worthright, a company helping families use existing life insurance to fund retirement or care needs.

Founded in 2019, the Boston-based company is led by Aaron O’Hearn and Bryan Maleszyk, and it operates at the intersection of insurance, financial services and retirement. The company focuses on using existing life insurance to fund retirement costs and care needs by enabling policyholders to sell their life insurance. They do that by delivering “intelligent technology” that makes evaluating, servicing and selling a policy seamless.

Worthright was conceived after O’Hearn figured out that selling a life insurance policy can be an opportunity for retirees to get a living benefit from the same life insurance they’ve paid into for decades. This realization came from a personal experience in which he discovered that his mother would have received more than $150,000 if she had not surrendered it back to the insurance company. In a post, O’Hearn writes that every year 55% of people over 65 find themselves in the same position as his mom – unable or unwilling to pay for their life insurance premiums. Yet only tiny fraction, around 6%, of people recognize that their life insurance is legally their property, just like their house, land, or 401k account.

The process begins with a series of consultations where Worthright learns about the customer’s needs. The company then helps the customer find a buyer, and if it’s successful, it charges a fee from the investors involved in the transaction.