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Another option for seniors is life settlements.  Seniors who have life insurance policies may not realize that they can sell them for cash at a fair market value.  There are financial institutions and investors that will actually purchase life insurance policies for more than their cash surrender value.  These purchasers become the new beneficiaries of the policies when they mature and are responsible for all remaining premiums, if any.  A senior interested in conducting a life settlement should first consult with an advisor in order to come to a decision as to whether to sell his or her policy.  Second, the Senior and advisor decide whether to work with a broker or to go directly to providers.

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Five years after their company was shut down, four officials of a viatical and life settlement company have been indicted.

In a 25-count indictment, Joel Steinger, Steven Steiner, Michael McNerney and Anthony Livoti Jr. of Mutual Benefits Corp. were charged with, among other things, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

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Executives from The Lifeline Program today announced new efforts to promote investment in portfolios of life insurance settlements to financial institutions and hedge funds. Life settlement portfolios are on-correlated to the stock market and have performed well despite the current turmoil in the financial sector.

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AFCO Credit Corporation today said it plans to buy the domestic operations and assets of the premium finance business of Cananwill from Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON).

Glenview, Ill.-based Cananwill provides insurance premium financing for commercial property and casualty policies. It was founded in 1937.

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Life settlements involve the sale of either a senior’s existing life insurance policy, or a newly purchased one, to corporate investors. As the new beneficiaries, the investors make potentially large profits, particularly when the senior dies sooner than expected. The senior can profit as well, from fees paid to them upon sale to the investor (average $15,000.). The amount of these fees depends upon the senior’s age, health, and income, and although the fees are taxed as income, there are no out-of-pocket or up-front costs to the senior, who no longer pays the policy’s monthly premiums. Sounds like a win-win situation, but not necessarily.

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Nudgem Richyal, a fund manager at JO Hambro Capital Management (JOHCM), has moved into the life settlement market, an area he says is in early cycle growth.He has added Traded Life Policies (TLPs) to the Global Select portfolio as an uncorrelated asset class, which he says has not experienced the downturn other categories have suffered in the past year.

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Settlement Plus, a professional life settlement firm that has secured millions of dollars for its clients through the life settlement process, is proactively educating its clients and the CPA community about the opportunity to unlock the hidden assets that may exist in current life insurance contracts.

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LFXG 0.12, -0.03, -20.0%) announced this morning the launch of their new bi-monthly life settlement and longevity markets trade report. The Life-Exchange Trade Report features valuable information on the growing life settlement and longevity risk markets. Data includes volume statistics, trade data, yields and other key industry specific data. The proprietary data and analysis is based on a compilation of trade data from Life-Exchange’s auction platform, industry participant surveys, government statistics, and public sources.

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While life settlement experts caution financial advisers that tapping into insurance policies is fraught with tax and estate-planning risks, some business owners may be tempted to sell their policies if other financing options are unavailable.

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Advanced Settlements, Inc., one of the oldest and largest life settlement brokers in the nation, has been able to help policy-sellers by working with over 25 large institutional funding sources despite major obstacles in the life settlement industry that included two of the major life expectancy companies raising their LE’s over 20%. “During these turbulent economic times, financial professionals need to rely on a broker that is up to date and completely aware of changes that are occurring in the life settlement industry such as mortality increases and buyer availability,” said Scott Kirby, Co-President of Advanced Settlements, Inc. “With the current economic conditions, being able to have reliable capital sources to purchase policies and recognizing where to find them, further emphasizes the need to have a knowledgeable broker working your life settlement cases.”