Terminally ill man decides to spend his insurance money rather than leave it for family, sparking debate

It's an age-old saying that it's adversity and bad times that show a person their real friends. As we all know, sickness can come at any time to anyone. Something similar happened with u/Defiant_Theme4812, who is battling a terminal illness and was told that he didn't have more than a year to live. While he had to comprehend and accept his own mortality, he also learned of the true colors of some of the people around him.

The man, 28, explained that he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Due to the late discovery of the sickness by the doctor, he only had about 9 to 12 months left to live. Since he was quite young, he didn't have a lot of savings either. "The only thing I had of value other than some meager savings, an even smaller 401 and my car, was a life insurance policy I got years ago when I was 18," he said. He got this insurance because the yearly premium was less, but the benefits were great. In fact, in case of his demise before a certain age, the beneficiaries would get an "eye-watering amount" as well. Unfortunately, in this case, that's what was going to happen.

Due to his deteriorating condition, he has not been able to work for the past 2 months. However, he moved back in to live with his parents rent-free. While he doesn't pay rent, he does contribute to the household groceries. He says, "We haven't had the best relationship growing up and they pretty much only did the minimum required by law in terms of how they raised me." However, he was grateful to them for letting him stay with them.

While talking about his insurance, he was considering cashing it out. He had taken the policy for his future kids and wife, but since nothing like that could happen anymore, he wanted to live the rest of his life as well as he could. If he decided to cash out the policy, his parents would get an amount that would cover his funeral and a decent second-hand car. The man, on the other hand, would get a lot more. He elaborated, "I estimate that the amount I will get will be enough for me to rent a nice condo near the beach, nice meals, maid service, some great experiences while I am well enough and some in-home care and nursing towards the end."

When he shared it with his parents, they insisted that he not cash out his life insurance and instead let them have it after he passed away. They told him the policy would "set them up for life" and "allow them to buy a house and invest." They also stated how they had made sacrifices for him to be able to move back home. To this, he responded by saying, "I really don't see what that is other than the inconvenience of three adults in a two-bedroom house." In fact, as opposed to their original plan, neither of them would have to give up their jobs in order to stay home to take care of their son.

While their wishing that their life be sorted is not all bad, it would have been alright if the man was going to be gone sooner. If he still has a year to be alive while sick, it's fair for him to live it by the beach or the mountains or wherever he'd want. He concluded his post by saying, "I get that it would be the noble thing to help my parents out, but I don't want to." The comment section was full of people empathizing with the 28-year-old. In the words of user u/acegirl1985, "It's your life op, it's your money and you deserve to be able to live this time as you truly want."