Michael Abraham

ABC NEWS

By: Bill Weir and Jake Whitman

Fresh off the meltdown of the mortgage business last year, Wall Street’s bankers have found a new way to make money: the buying and selling of life insurance policies belonging to the sick and elderly.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/wall-street-takes-gamble-life-insurance-settlements/story?id=8853608

Commentary by Michael Abraham:

This is an interesting article, it cynically tries to portray the market as being the banker’s new scam but in fact does a good job of explaining why even the highly educated professional may need the market. As usual don’t listen to the headline!

San Diego Business Journal

By: Mike Allen

Just as stocks, bonds and real estate have markets where the assets are readily bought and sold, there’s a market for life insurance policies, and some brokers are finding it fairly lucrative.

http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=141273

Reuters

By: Agnes Crane

Life settlements, a type of life insurance-backed security, should not be compared to the failed subprime-backed products that presaged the global financial crisis, an industry body said in response to newspaper reports.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSL234673820091005

The Wall Street Journal

By: Brett Arend

You’re short on money. You have a life insurance policy you may no longer need. One option is to sell it to a third party for cash. Should you do it?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574447350852232082.html

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By: Tim Grant

A controversial, but rapidly growing practice in which senior citizens raise cash by selling their life insurance policies to investors who will profit when they die could soon be subject to more government scrutiny.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09274/1002154-28.stm