"F. George McDuffee" wrote in message
...
Advice from Unka' George:


http://www.cnbc.com/id/32707038
New Exotic Investments Are Emerging on Wall Street
Published: Saturday, 5 Sep 2009 | 6:44 PM ET
By: Jenny Anderson
The New York Times

After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street
investment banks began searching for another big idea to make
money. They think they may have found one.

The bankers plan to buy "life settlements," life insurance
policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash - $400,000 for
a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the
insured person. Then they plan to "securitize" these policies, in
Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together
into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like
big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with
the insurance die.

The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return - though
if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor
returns or even lose money.
snip




jeez, if that's the case you'd think wall street would be positively ROOTING
for "death panels" huh?

b.w.