Author: Greg Winterton

Retirement planning in the US typically involves discussions around investments such as stocks and bonds, and, for the more affluent, offerings such as hedge funds, private equity, and real estate.   But for many Americans, their life insurance policy is their second largest asset, after their home. And many of these life insurance policies meet the criteria for sale in the life settlement market.  So, why aren’t more American seniors taking advantage of this option as part of a more holistic retirement planning solution? Greg Winterton spoke to Rob Haynie, Managing Director at Life Insurance Settlements, Bryan Nicholson, Executive Director at…

September sees the start of autumn – unofficially – and more of the year has passed than remains. So, as the home stretch of 2024 begins, Greg Winterton caught up with Rainer Gruenig, CEO at Plenum Investments, to get his thoughts on how the life settlement market has fared generally so far this year.  GW: Rainer, to begin, give us your thoughts on the year so far for life settlements.  RG: I think it’s been a challenging year. All of the firms in our market have felt the impact of higher for longer interest rates in the past couple of…

Traditional wealth management practices for retirees haven’t always deeply integrated longevity risk – the risk of outliving one’s assets – into their investment strategies for their clients. Indeed, historically, the approach has been somewhat formulaic, often based on generalised assumptions about life expectancy, risk tolerance and the expected returns of different asset classes.  But for many wealth managers, the reality of their clients living longer is forcing them into something of a rethink; a rethink that ties directly into the expertise of the life settlement industry.  Life settlement asset managers and providers have access to a wealth of life expectancy…

Seattle-based Sound Retirement Trust and Prudential have completed a $221m group annuity transaction, insuring the retirement benefits of 8,700 retirees.

US life insurance application activity saw declines in August 2024 compared to August 2023, with year-over-year (YOY) activity down -5.0%, according to the latest MIB Life Index. August 2024 saw YOY growth in Term Life (up +6.0%), flat activity in Whole Life (+0.9%), and double-digit declines in Universal Life (down -34.3%). Term Life saw YOY growth for ages 0-50, flat activity for ages 51-70, and double-dight declines for ages 71+. Whole Life saw growth for ages 61+, in the double digits for ages 71+, flat activity for ages 0-30, and declines for ages 31-60. Universal Life saw double-digit declines for…

New research from Legal and General analyses transaction activity in the UK and US pension risk transfer market in 2024 so far.

Institutional investment consultant Cambridge Associates is acquiring SIGLO Capital Advisors, a Zurich-based alternative investment specialist.

Kunal Sood, Standard Life Managing Director of Defined Benefit Solutions at UK insurer Standard Life, expects that more than £40bn worth of bulk purchase annuity deals will be completed before the end of 2024, according to a press release issued by the firm.  “While the market has been a little quieter so far in 2024, a strong pipeline heading into the rest of the year should mean a strong finish. In light of strong funding levels and attractive insurance pricing, DB pension schemes are increasingly looking for ways to de-risk their liabilities and secure their members’ benefits, with BPA remaining…

Milliman’s latest Milliman Pension Buyout Index (MPBI) shows that during July, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased more than two percentage points, from 100.3% of a plan’s accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation) to 102.5% of those liabilities.   That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 102.5% of a plan’s ABO. During the same time period, the average annuity purchase cost across all insurers in our index also increased, from 103.3% to 104.9%. The competitive bidding process is estimated to save plan sponsors about 2.4% of PRT costs as…

The combined reserves of the largest 40 charities in England & Wales that sponsor defined benefit pensions schemes rose to £50bn in 2022, according to Hymans Roberson’s annual report on DB pension funding in the charitable sector.   The analysis also shows that there’s been a 20% rise in average funding level of the DB schemes since 2019 driven predominately by falling pension scheme liabilities. This is at a time when charity income is also rising, now exceeding pre-Covid levels.  The 2024 report assesses the charities’ DB pensions exposures by looking at reserve levels, income, and DB pension contributions. It shows…