June 26th, 2009
Matthew Goldstein wrote and interesting op ed for the Guardian about increasing regulation in the secondary market for life insurance.
Now, in and of themselves, none of these financial innovations [Life Settlements] are necessarily bad ideas. Consumers and investors should be able to turn unwanted life insurance policies into cash payments, tap the equity in their homes without having to make monthly payments, get an early payout on a personal injury settlement or invest in a basket stock with limited exposure to a decline in equity prices.
Read the whole article HERE
Posted in Blog |
June 24th, 2009
National Underwriter, 23 June 2009
A new law in Maine requires life insurance companies to advise senior life insurance policy owners that life insurance settlements are an alternative to surrendering their policy or allowing it to lapse.
The law, Chapter 376, ensures that policy owners can ask their life insurance company for the value in the secondary market for policies that would otherwise be surrendered or lapsed.
The law requires insurance companies to notify Maine seniors facing the termination of their policies that settlements are a financial alternatives.
Insurers must include in the notice a brochure that tells seniors of their rights as a policy owner and describes life settlement products.
The law also prohibits insurers from impairing life settlement transactions.
Doug Head, executive director of the Life Insurance Settlement Association, Orlando, Fla., points out that the state of Washington recently adopted a similar law.
“These new laws are terrific developments for senior consumers and are expected to be adopted in numerous states,” said Head.
Comparable measures are under consideration in Indiana and Kentucky, LISA reports.
Maine’s law was sponsored by State Senator Nancy Sullivan.
Copyright 2009 National Underwriter Life & Health.
Posted in Blog |
June 19th, 2009
By: Daniel Grote
CityWire, 18 June 2009
Life settlement funds have been forced into changes in fund structures in a bid to avoid being hit by the full extent of US tax changes.
The Obama administration has clamped down on US companies taking profits overseas for tax reasons in a move that could hurt life settlement funds, which trade in US life policies.
Life settlement fund provider Policy Selection Limited claims the new policy will mean returns made on the maturity of US life policies will be taxed at 30% when they are taken out of the country.
More after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blog |
June 12th, 2009
In response to growing requests from clients and advisors for a longer-term, growth investment, GWG Life has announced the addition of a 7-year note to its LifeNotes offering. The 7-year note will only feature a payment option of “at maturity”, with compounding interest. All other note classes will continue to include the monthly, quarterly or annual payment options, the 3 and 5-year will continue to include “at maturity” as well. To accommodate the addition of a 7-year note class and consistent with its quarterly interest rate review, GWG Life is announcing new interest rates, effective July 1st, 2009.
LifeNotes provide a distinct investment opportunity in high quality, life insurance policy-backed notes. By using an innovativeand secure structure, LifeNotes provide both current income returns and a growth investment opportunity across a series of notes. LifeNotes capitalize on the growing secondary market for life insurance policies by offering investors a fixed income alternative in a non-correlated asset class. To learn more about LifeNotes and GWG Life, visit www.gwglife.com.
Posted in Blog |
June 8th, 2009
Effective August 1, 2009, Senate File 1539 (a Minnesota Life Settlement bill) will be enacted into law. This will require anyone receiving commission on settling a life insurance policy owned by a Minnesota resident to be licensed as a settlement broker or as a life insurance producer for one year.
Click Here for the full Senate File 1539
Similar laws are going into effect in Vermont, Idaho and Washington. On or soon after August 1,2009. GWG Life will be providing an updated map and compliance breakdown that will provide the information for these states’ new regulation requirements This map will also be added to the Compliance Tab on the GWG Advantage site. Watch for it.
Posted in Blog |
June 4th, 2009
Investment Advisor ran an interesting article this week emphasizing the client’s responsibility to monitor their investments. Most specifically, the authors lays the onus on clients to take an active role in preventing themselves from becoming victimized. “The whole point of hiring an advisor is to engage an intermediary, a guide, to do what a layperson doesn’t or can’t do well. … But does this mean the client should abdicate all responsibility?”
Read the whole article here
Posted in Blog |
June 2nd, 2009
In April the Insurance Studies Institute presented the first annual Insurance Concepts Forum. Sponsored by GWG Life, the event featured the top producers, insurers, financiers, investment pioneers, researchers and regulators in the life insurance and financial industries. A synopsis of the forum is featured in this month’s publication of the Life Settlement Review. During the forum, attendees spoke critically about the “Institutionalization of the Life Insurance Secondary Market”. The article can be found attached below.
June 2009, Life Settlement Review
Posted in Blog |
May 26th, 2009
A recent study conducted by Golden Gateway Financial and the Insurance Studies Institute, finds that life insurance creates an avenue to generate income during retirement. However, the majority of seniors in possession of life insurance policies are grossly unaware of this opportunity. According to the study “of those surveyed, eighty percent said that they currently have some type of life insurance. At the same time, nearly half of respondents said they were unaware that they could sell their unneeded life insurance for cash.”
Click Here to read more about the study’s findings.
Posted in Blog |
May 25th, 2009
OLDWICK, N.J.–(Business Wire)–
A.M. Best Co. has released its revised rating methodology on life settlements, “Life Settlement Securitization,” which describes the criteria for rating securities backed by life settlements. A life settlement is an insurance policy sold by the owner–typically the insured or a trust–for an amount greater than the surrender value of the policy but lower than the face amount of the policy. The purchaser of the life settlement becomes the new owner and beneficiary of the life insurance policy and is responsible for making future premium payments and collecting the death benefits of the insured.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blog |
May 19th, 2009
Key Account Manager
Job Description
A Key Account Manager is a highly motivated internal sales professional who must manage and interface with a network of contacts. The Key Account Manager’s primary responsibility is to facilitate the sale of investment products, and life settlement brokerage services, through registered representatives affiliated with independent broker-dealers with whom GWG Life has selling agreements.
More information after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blog |
