Life settlements are life insurance policies purchased from seniors on the secondary market in the United States. With a life settlement, the interest in an existing life insurance policy is sold by the owner to a third party. The purchaser then becomes the owner and beneficiary of the policy and is entitled to receive the insured sum upon maturity of the policy.

With the instability of the stock markets and given the current climate of low interest rates and a depressed economy, the demand for lower risk, relatively stable investments is evident and will increasingly be a determining factor when choosing appropriate investment vehicles in the quest for portfolio diversification. The options available to investors looking for lower risk or “safe” investments are limited, with traditional safe havens such as Treasury Bills, for example, offering extremely low rates of return. Life settlements are another asset class with a lower risk profile, but with life settlements there is also an opportunity for enhanced returns in the case of early policy maturities. The performance of life insurance policies is tied only to mortality and is therefore independent of the factors contributing to economic downturns, such as interest rate fluctuations, commodity prices, and other economic change. For several years now, savvy investors have been looking to include the life settlement asset class as part of a comprehensive portfolio diversification strategy. The demand for this type of asset is increasing, and forecasts indicate this trend continuing over the next decade.

Universal’s core competence is strictly life settlements-related, having been focused solely in the sector for over a decade. Universal has the demonstrated capability to facilitate all potential life settlement-related needs. Potential investors can benefit from the knowledge and integrity of Universal to aid them in areas such as product creation, asset acquisition, underwriting, tracking and administrative servicing of the policies.