Mike MilliganFounder and CEO, 1.oak Financial · Founder and CEO, 1.oak Financial

The Life Insurance Secret: Generate Tax-Free Retirement Income

16 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Mike Milligan explains that many life insurance policies include an accelerated death benefit provision that allows policyholders diagnosed with a critical or chronic illness that impairs daily activities to access a portion of the death benefit while still alive. He frames this feature as a way for retirees to obtain cash for end‑of‑life care, turning the policy’s safety net into a “trampoline” that prevents them from becoming a financial burden to their heirs. The availability of this benefit is rooted in the contractual terms of the insurance policy.

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If you're diagnosed with critical or chronic illness that hinders your activities of daily living, you can access part of that death benefit while you're still alive. It's like turning your safety net into a trampoline to take care of you. Again, why is this available? Because life insurance is a contract. It's built into it. And so retirees use this feature to get to money that otherwise would not be present until out, you know, their death, to be able to deal with those kind of end-of-life, near-death experiences so that you're not a burden to the next generation.