What is a Life Settlement?
Thousands of senior citizens are looking to sell their life insurance policies for cash. Many use the cash they receive to help pay for end of life and long term care costs. When they sell their life insurance policy to an investor or third party for cash this transaction is called a life settlement.
Example: Jane is 85 years old. She owns a $1,000,000 life insurance policy. She has developed chronic health problems, and now needs nursing care. Jane decides to sell her life insurance policy, instead of continuing to pay for it. She will then use the cash to pay for her long term care costs.
Why invest into life settlements?
For decades, only ultra-wealthy and institutional investors (Warren Buffett, big banks, investment companies, etc.) could afford to buy life settlements. However, in 2000 the state of California introduced Senate Bill 1837, allowing the average investor to purchase a fraction of a life settlement. Rather than one wealthy investor purchasing an entire insurance policy, now the average investor can own a small portion of that policy.
What makes life settlements so attractive to qualified investors is the diversification provided and the non-correlation to the stock market.