Life Settlements 2022

2. The boom is on.

Baby boomers will continue to have a major impact on the market. For the past several years and the foreseeable future, many prime life settlement candidates will be the baby boom generation. They represent a well-educated deep-pocketed audience that is currently navigating the retirement landscape in ways never before seen.

We expect more boomers will be asking agents about life settlements and looking for education about life settlements to ensure that they know what the option is. Perhaps they won't be making a decision right away, but they will want to be educated and know their options for the future.

3. Life insurers sneak into the market with enhanced surrender values.

Some life insurance companies have started to offer "enhanced" cash value offers to clients. The scuttlebutt in the industry is that some large insurance insurers have analyzed the policies that they have on the market and are actively trying to get clients to surrender policies via higher cash value offers. They either see dollar signs or vulnerability. Perhaps they believe that continuing growth of life settlement represents an existential threat.

Regardless, I say: Bring it on.

We don't believe that any enhanced cash value offer will beat a life settlement. At our firm, we appraise huge numbers of policies, and most are worth dramatically more than the cash surrender value. We don't believe that enhanced offers will make an impact on our industry, though they may market them at such a great expense and therefore try to drown out our messaging.

My guess is that the policy attributes that make for an enhanced cash value are the same that make for an attractive life settlement. We will likely beat those offers too.

4. Graysheeting is heating up.

Graysheeting is a troubling trend in the life settlement industry, as agents and advisors are unwittingly handing over life insurance policies for sale in a marketplace that chronically undervalues them.

The market has been inefficient for many years, and brokers and providers continue to convince agents and advisors that they should sell their policies on the open market without an appraisal. The purchasers of policies are essentially colluding to generate lower offers to agents and advisors who are not properly educated about policy value.

We believe that more brokers and providers will be called out for these practices in 2022. We hope that this will contribute larger offers for agents and their clients.

The life settlement industry continues to evolve and this year has been no exception. We see continued growth for the industry as more agents and advisor educate their clients about the value of life settlements and how they can contribute to a better retirement.

Wm. Scott Page is the founder of PolicyAppraisal.com.