Posted by The Policy Settlement Alliance on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 @ 05:24 PM
By Ronald E Ritter
Life settlement investing is a truly different type of investing. The return will occur, it is just a matter of when. It can be statistically accurate however that time and medical miracles do happen. Life settlement investing is the purchasing of life insurance policies that people feel they no longer need. There can be a variety of reasons, expense of policy, kids are grown, business sold or they can just want the money they are going to receive for whatever purpose they see fit. Whatever the reason seniors are currently receiving roughly 7 million dollars a day from life settlement investing!
Life insurance has many moving parts. The expense of the management itself can play a major part as well. There are major hedge funds and institutional investors in this market place. It is recommended that you fully understand the risks and rewards of this industry before you get involved.
To find out if your policy qualifies for a life settlement click on LIVEpdq today!
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 09:24 PM
By Scott J. Dressel
Is life settlement investing
a strategy for the individual investor? The life settlement industry has been around for close to two decades and over this time the industry has evolved from a gamble to a well calculated risk for investors. In the infancy the settlement industry was made up of individual investors who would buy an individual’s life policy hoping for a large return. The premise of a large return was made on the basis of purchasing a terminally ill individuals policy that needed to access the death benefit prior to their imminent death in order to maintain some quality of life. This early form of life settlement investing was more of a gamble rather than a calculated risk because medical science was able to prolong life as new drugs and procedures developed. Also the issuing life carriers started to issue new policies with living benefits which allowed insured to access their death benefit prior to death when inflicted by certain medical problems. Life settlement investing did not go away but instead became more sophisticated as investors began to pool their capital to pool a number of policies so as to not be betting on just one policy. Also actuarial firms began to offer services to investors to calculate life expectancy on the insured who were looking to sell their life insurance policy. This life expectancy assessment changed the playing field an allowed institutional investor pools of money to start to enter the life settlement investing arena.
For more information please click on the LIVEpdq.
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 08:11 PM
By Stephen A. Bailey
Life settlement investing - Can an investor invest directly in one insured's policy? Insurable interest in a policy is very important these days, not only to the insured, but to the life insurance company. Life insurance companies are now very sensitive to settlements and do not want policies bought and sold with the idea of making money and life settlement investing. They want to insure the client because of the need to pay estate taxes, replace income to the family, pay a partnership interest and such. They frown on insurance activities for the sole purpose of life settlement investing. It is not in their best interests and curtails activity due to greed and other unethical considerations.
With that said, an individual can certainly sell his/her policy due to changing conditions where he needs money due to lifestyle changes resulting from income needs not being met. The client will take his policy to an agency specializing in those transactions, they will perform their due diligence and make sure the transaction is right for the client, and maybe an individual investor who happens to be in the loop, can have the opportunity to purchase the policy.
The investor in this case will be subject to accepted pricing models as he would with an institution and he will be subject to a contestable period of two years if the policy is less than that time, the policy will still end up being purchased by an institution when the time comes.
Click here LivePdq for more information on life settlement investing.
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 07:04 PM
By Stephen A. Bailey
Life settlement investing
- is it safe? Just as sure as life and death, if an investment into a life settlement follows that the life insurance you are buying is covering an insured....to his demise, then it is safe. You don't have to live longer than the insured because life settlement investing, as long it is in a pool of other insureds, will pay interest to you on an annual basis. If you were to be an investor in one policy (as a settlement) you would have to wait for at least two years to get your return, due to the "contestability" clause. A life insurance policy needs to get through the two year period, to know that it will pay off in the event of death, free of being contested for any reason.
If you invest in insurance companies, some of your investments may be in life settlement investing. There are institutional companies that have as their portfolios, part of their investments into life settlements. As long as there are numerous policies at hand, and given that the life expectancy of many of those insureds is probably in the eight to nine year range, settlements could become very lucrative over time.
As time goes on, a steady return of 9% to 12% or more, would not be out of line. I think if this were a Stock fund of life settlements, the annual return in dividends or growth in the stock is only going to go up and up and reasonable to great returns can be expected.
Click the Livepdq for more information.
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 03:12 PM
By Phillip J Powell
Life settlement investing
can be by individuals or by companies. Many companies purchase blocks of settlements. Managing companies service the policies for the end purchaser.
Life settlement investing also has a dark side. governments have found that 1 in 10 insurance companies has a quarter of a billion dollars in face amounts funded by large Columbian drug cartels. I personally don't know of any incidents of money laundering but life settlement investing is a known way to do it.
The government in many instances has tried to monitor different strategies that not only producers can use to help assist these criminals with but also they monitor the actions of large insurance companies.
The insurance companies do have a safe guard with the life expectancies. Many insured people that have deteriorating health issues have a perceived amount of time to live. I have never heard of any incidents of organized crime figures killing anyone in regards to a life insurance settlement, but it is a little bit scary to think about overall.
There are many things in place to help prevent things like this from happening but criminals do find there way into many legal American businesses.
For more information please go to LivePDQ.
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 03:07 PM
By Marlin E Leisher
When thinking about life settlement investing, investors consider many issues. However there are three key factors that must be looked at.
Life expectancy is usually the first thing looked at when a funder wants to consider life settlement investing. Usually funders require two life expectancy reports from the top companies in that business. In addition funders require the life expectancy reports to come to the same general conclusions. There are times when two companies come to different results on the same client. Not all companies use the same tools and information. However, reputable life expectancy providers have highly developed processes they use to evaluate a seniors life expectancy.
Funders considering life settlement investing are also looking at the expected rate of return. Not only is the funder paying to purchase the policy, but they have continued expenses in paying premiums for the policy. It isn’t until the insured passes that the funder will see a return on the investment.
The final consideration for life settlement investing is purchasing criteria. Funders have a set of parameters that determine purchasing power. The broader the parameters or criteria, the more diverse types of policies the funder can invest in. The funder is looking to invest in a diverse range of policies to avoid life extension risk or too many insured out living the funders investment.
For more information on life settlement investing and seeing life settlements from the investor or funder's point of view click the Live PDQ link above today!
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Fri, Jun 25, 2010 @ 03:16 PM
By Rick S Cantville
In this section for life settlement investing, we will look at who stands to lose in the settlement game when the life insurance carriers make changes to their products, more specifically the applied credited interest rates and mortality costs of an inforce policy.
Universal life insurance policies have certain expenses that are charged by the insurance carriers, such as policy fees and mortality charges, that are deducted from the cash values of the policy. Life insurance carriers can increase the amount that is charged for these expenses. An increase in the policy fee that from $75.00 to $100.00 may not seem like big deal, but can take enough cash out of the policy over its lifetime to make it lapse prematurely. An increase in mortality charges can have the same effect.
Similar to these charges, but certainly more common, is a reduction in the credited interest rate of a universal life insurance policy. For instance, if you purchased your policy and the illustration showed a credited interest rate of 6% and showed cash value to age 100 or beyond, a reduction in this interest rate can make the policy lapse, or require additional premium, much sooner.
It is always a good idea to have your life insurance policy reviewed annually just to address recent changes in the policy. However when life settlement investing, the investor certainly can lose when a carrier increases policy or mortality charges or decreases interest rates. That only means more money will need to be put into the policy to keep it inforce and can effectively reduce your rate of return on that investment.
For more information regarding how much your policy is worth, please visit LivePDQ.
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.
Posted by Alice Hood on Fri, Jun 25, 2010 @ 03:15 PM
By Rick S Cantville
Life settlement investing
in today's market place can be a good reason to lend a wary eye since there are so many variables. But who stands to lose when the variables change?
It is no secret that life settlement funders use a variety of methods to determine the value of a life insurance policy. However, a number of items have been the backbone of pricing, such as the life expectancy reports and the in force illustration from the issuing life insurance carrier. In this report, we will review the variables of the life expectancy reports and how they affect the investment of a life insurance policy.
Many life expectancy providers use, at least in part, the Commissioner's Standard Ordinary (CSO) table to determine life expectancy. In 2009, most providers changed from the 1980 CSO to the 2001 CSO, which showed a slight increase in life expectancy. Because of this, some life expectancy providers changed their projected life expectancy by as much as 30%. Since the life expectancy reports are, for the most part, the gold standard for pricing, many life insurance policies that qualified for settlement no longer qualified.
This shows that life settlement investing is not without its risks. Imagine for a moment that as an investor, you just purchased a block of policies. In addition to the purchase price, you also have to pay the ongoing premium to keep the policies in force. You planned your investment based on the projected life expectancy of the insureds, but now that the deal is done, you find out that you have to pay for the policies 30% longer. Is it still a good investment? Or do you look for an open window on the top floor of your office building to jump from?
That is the situation that many life settlement investors found themselves in in 2009, not to mention the collapse of the financial markets where money sources dried up almost overnight. Life settlement investing can be highly speculative at best, but there is one thing that is not a variable: people with life insurance policies die. It is just the "when" that is the variable.
For more information on qualifying for your life insurance, please visit LivePDQ!
Note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author, which may differ from the opinion of policysettlement.com.