Current Market Conditions have Created a Window of Opportunity for LS Investors

As a result of the factors listed below, investors are able to acquire life settlements at very aggressive rates, which a eventual result is strong returns for the investors.

1. Fall out from the financial crisis In late 2008, caused capital of major institutions to evaporate while banks scrambled to straighted up balance sheets lowering activity, including the purchase of life settlements.

2. There has been an alteration in the tables that calculate life expectancies. Recently, life expectancy projections on average were raised and that had a significant impact on amount and formulatino of investment returns.

3. Distressed Portfolios. Many funds and investors find themselves with insufficient reserves to maintain premium payments in this current economic crisis.

4. The number of sufficient policies has exceeded demand in many markets, do to those markets having less money available.  Investors have become much more selective and are in a position to “cherry pick” the best policies.

“The LS market rallied from 2005 until late 2008 when it hit the breaks along with the rest of the investment community. Investors now see a window of opportunity for increased returns given current market conditions and rates. Right now it’s a buyers market. There is no better time to consider the opportunity,” said MCC President, David Mickelson.

MCC projects, as more money comes in to the market and inventory is acquired, supply and demand will balance out and pricing will go up. Now is a time for investors to make inquiries, now while market conditions are optimal, and it is also a great time for individuals to have their policy evaluated.

Found this article today while reading Citywire, this is discussing UK based funds, however there business and actions are sometimes US based as well…

As the hunt for income gets ever more desperate in the low interest rate environment, life settlement funds on paper offer an attractive proposition, but wealth managers remain cautious about using them for their clients.

Lots of question marks have been raised over these funds with the trading of life settlement policies for a profit deemed to be unethical in some quarters. There have also been issues about a lack of transparency.

However, some parts of the market appear to have cast aside these concerns. In March, the £250 million EEA LIfe Settlement fund attacted more than £28 million in inflows, which is impressive given many retail funds have haemorrhaged money in recent months.

The fund boasts 38 consecutive months of positive returns. It is on a yield of 4% and returned 11.8% in 2008.

The fund’s manager, Peter Winders, admits investors looked at the figures and harboured a ‘too good to be true mentality’, particularly in the post-Madoff age.

There were also concerns about the liquidity of life settlement funds.

Read complete article:
Wealth Managers and Life Settlement Funds

Source: Citywire.co.uk

We did a little research and wanted readers and visitors to be aware of which states are most popular for Life Settlements. Of course these states are higher ranked due to large population, and we also think that because 2 of them are not as regulated, that increases the amount of settlements.

Here is Top 5 list in no specific order:

California Life Settlement
Florida Life Settlement
New York Life Settlement
Texas Life Settlement
Arizona Life Settlement

If you want to find out how much your policy or a client’s policy would sell for, visit the free Life Settlement Calculator.

The emerging market place called Life Settlement recently has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek. That market place is changing the way many seniors will think about their unwanted life insurance policies. Life Settlements is a rapidly growing sector in the financial markets and many of the large Wall Street firms are rushing to capitalize on this asset class, particularly with mortgage-backed securities being so volatile. As reported in BusinessWeek (July 30, 2007), industry analysts estimate that the life settlement market currently is a $30 billion industry and is expected to exceed $160 billion annually by the year 2030. The investors who buy life settlements are some of the world’s largest investment firms, including Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Cantor Fitzgerald, Berkshire Hathaway,Merrill Lynch and many more. (They continue to make the payments on the policy, so that when you die, the investment firm gets the proceeds.)