The life settlement industry was born in 1911 when Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and his fellow justices ruled that life insurance is private property and can be legally assigned by its owner. The decision came from a lengthy battle that began when John C. Burchard sold his life insurance policy for $100 to his doctor, Dr. Grigsby, and Dr. Grigsby agreed to assume the remainder of the premium payments (that were overdue already) in exchange for the death benefit. After Burchard’s passing a year later, the executor of this estate contested this transaction, and that’s when the case was brought before the highest court.

After the recession in 2008, more laws to protect policyholders, investors and insurance companies have been put into place, making the industry one of the most well-regulated and transparent financial transactions in the country, and ever more appealing to policyholders and investors alike. In fact, more regulations sparked an increase in life settlement activity.

Currently, forty-three states and Puerto Rico now regulate these transactions, and an estimated 90% of the entire US population is protected by comprehensive life settlement laws and regulations, which tend to focus on these top three protections:

Everything is getting more expensive these days. Gas prices are higher, food prices are higher, used car prices are higher—it seems like nothing right now is immune from the effects of inflation. And it’s not going away anytime soon.

It’s true—according to “The Life Settlements Report” released by The Deal, 3,241 people sold their life insurance policies in 2020 for a combined total of over $848 million. It’s a staggering number, and despite the societal impacts of the  COVID-19 Pandemic, it represented a significant increase over the amount that was sold the year prior.

Many life insurance policy owners may wonder where to start when pursuing a life settlement provider. Selling a life insurance policy is an important decision for policyholders to make and one that should not be taken lightly. They need to know they can trust their provider to help them sell their policy, which is why the decision must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Having a complete understanding of your client and their goals is imperative in guiding them in their determination of how to choose a life settlement provider. 

Life settlements are a great way for retirees to gain a bit of extra cash in times of need. They are generally a win-win for everybody involved, from your clients who receive them to the institutions that invest in them. While there are lots of rules and regulations surrounding the selling a life insurance policy, it can definitely be a great way for policyholders to receive funds if they realize they no longer want or need their policy. In this blog, we’ll cover a few reasons why your client may need a life insurance settlement.

The life settlement industry has been on a steady rise since the 1980’s, with Conning predicting a 1-2% increase since 2019. The direct to consumer segment of the life settlement industry has also experienced growth during this time as well, with life settlement companies following the retail and travel industries who have operated on this model for years. In this blog, we’ll explain how the method works and who these companies represent. 

There are many reasons to work with a life insurance professional and your clients may be asking for more information on the options of working with a specific life insurance professional. How do you provide all the information for your client that is simple and straightforward? This article can help. Let’s go over the top 5 reasons to work with a life insurance professional. 

Evaluating life settlement companies can be a difficult and confusing process. The process of selling an unwanted or unneeded policy is regulated in most states which can add to the headache and confusion. There are several different types of life settlement companies that work with policyholders, but each type plays a different role in the process. Before selling your policy, it is important to understand who you are working with and how to evaluate certain key details involved in the process. 

Do you have a life insurance policy that you’re about to let lapse? Are you 65 years or older? 

There are a lot of factors that go into determining the value of a life settlement. However, none are as important as your ability to achieve as much value as possible for your clients through careful and strategic persuasion with prospective buyers. To help you negotiate successfully, here are five useful tips for getting your client the best settlement the market allows.

Most baby boomers were raised with an ethic of working hard for their whole lives, saving a little money along the way and hoping they would stash away enough in savings to enjoy their retirement years.

Unfortunately, far too often, policies are lapsed or surrendered without investigating the possibility of a life settlement.Here are five recent cases that optimized the value of policies that otherwise would have been terminated with little or no value:

The U.S. life insurance industry is beginning to understand the vast potential benefits of robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI). These two related breakthrough technological innovations leverage the power of machine learning to increase productivity and reduce the risks associated with human error.

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) today announced the agenda and featured speakers for LISA’s 24th Annual Fall Life Settlement & Compliance Conference, the longest-running professional conference in the life settlement industry, to be held October 21st-23rd at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, just outside of Orlando, Fla

A 2017 report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Long-Term Care Subgroup includes life settlements among three options for paying for long-term care.

While Canadian snowbirds are soaking up the sunshine and warmth in the southern US, many can’t help but notice the availability of products in the south which they can’t get in the north.

For seniors who have already entered retirement, there are some important things that can be done in 2018 to make it better and more fulfilling:

A Wall Street Journal recent article entitled “Millions Bought Insurance to Cover Retirement Health Costs.  Now They Face an Awful Choice”, discussed the recent trend of increases in rates for long term care insurance.  The article discusses how many people were told that they would have level premiums to cover medical needs in the future.  These consumers paid their premiums and kept their end of the bargain, only to be told that the insurance companies did not correctly estimate the costs and the risks.

If you’re like most people, you bought your life insurance policy because you wanted to take care of your family.

Over the past few years, we’ve found that life settlements have gradually been moving more into the mainstream financial world. As we meet with advisors, we find that many more know about this secondary market solution than was true in the past.

How to talk to your clients about the idea of selling their life insurance policies.

Wealth managers and estate planners are becoming more familiar with life settlement transactions, in which your client sells his policy to a third-party investor and receives a cash payout, thereby monetizing the asset immediately. The new owner takes responsibility for paying the premiums and collects the policy’s death benefit when the client passes away.

As millions of baby boomers continue their mass exodus from the workforce to retirement, they are already coming to grips with the reality that investment returns in the coming years are unlikely to keep pace with those of recent history, as illustrated by the modified projections recently used by Calpers and other major institutional investors. Now comes a new study that adds insult to injury: the principal driving force for these depressed returns is none other than the baby boomer generation itself.

On the surface, it would appear that individual retirement accounts are a popular choice for Americans, with roughly one in three U.S. households owning at least one IRA. But a study just released by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College suggests that IRAs may not be working for retirees the way they were intended.

Life settlements are frequently viewed, primarily, as an option for personal life insurance and estate planning policies that are no longer wanted, needed or affordable.  However, business-owned policies or personally owned business purpose policies can also make excellent life settlement candidates, yet these policies are often overlooked.

The days of selling a policy in a life settlement and replacing it with a new one are mostly gone, but one variation on that strategy can still work in the right situation.

There is a peculiar paradox in the financial advisory world: Ninety percent of seniors who lapsed a life insurance policy would have considered a life settlement had they been aware of the possibility. Yet 65 percent of financial advisors have never recommended a life settlement to a client, but claim they would do so under the right circumstances.

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 20, 2017  The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the sweeping tax legislation passed by Congress and expected to be signed into law this week by President Trump, contains an important reform to the way the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has required calculating the taxable basis for life settlement transactions, a positive development for seniors who own a life insurance policy they no longer need or can afford.