Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What is your view on Life Partners Holdings?

Article Excerpt

Life Partners Holdings, $20.52, symbol LPHI on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 14.9 million; Market cap: $304.9 million), facilitates viatical and life-settlement transfers in the secondary market for life-insurance policies. A viatical settlement occurs when a terminally ill person sells a life-insurance policy to another party at a discount to the policy’s face value. This gives the insured (the viator) an immediate cash payment. The discount to the face value of the policy varies according to the insured’s life expectancy, and to fees involved in the transaction. Buyers, which mainly consist of institutions and individual investors, receive the death benefit when the viator dies. In recent years, there has also been a growing market for transactions that are similar to a viatical settlement, except that the insured doesn’t have a known terminal illness. These are called “life settlements.” These policies, which must have a minimum value of $100,000, are usually sold by wealthy seniors (65 years of age or older). Selling a “life settlement”…