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Life Settlements - The Changing Sales Pitch

Posted by Brent Everett on Friday, February 04, 2011 in Unconventional Wisdom

We've been informing people about the problems with life settlements for years and now that the Wall Street Journal has exposed the same issues, it seems that attorneys and regulators have started to pay attention. In fact, one of the largest players in the business has recently made major changes in its sales pitch - advertising drastically lower returns.

We've known for years that the returns being touted by the unregulated salesmen that push life settlements were completely unrealistic. Now, it seems that the truth is finally being told. Beyond that, the SEC is examining the unrealistic life expectancies being used to calculate the returns. It's about time.

Read the recent Wall Street Journal article here. And, just in case you're wondering - yes, these are the same products from the same company that a local firm has been pushing on the radio claiming "double digit returns." It probably comes as no surprise that the same firm is pushing investments in indexed universal life insurance and precious metals. Their home page proudly claims that "Our clients have never lost a penny of principle!" The rest of their site is similarly lacking in financial literacy. But, based on the frequency and cost of the commercials that they run, they are making plenty of money - and that's scary.

Tags: life settlements, wall street journal

Brent Everett

Brent Everett founded Profisys, LLC, a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor, in 1998. While acting as Managing Director of that firm, he developed the investment philosophy and the portfolio models currently used by Talis Advisors. He earned a B.S. in Computing and Information Sciences from Oklahoma State University. Mr. Everett’s background includes experience in strategic marketing, executive management and investor relations at Texas Instruments, Samsung Semiconductor, EDI, CSCI, and his own consulting practice. Brent served on the Board of Directors for CSCI, where he helped structure and negotiate management's successful purchase of the company.

Mr. Everett has been a member of the Financial Planning Association, where he was elected to the Board of Directors of the local chapter, the International Association of Financial Engineers, the Econometrics Society, the Association of Pension Professionals and Actuaries Benefits Council, the Estate Planning Council of North Texas and Mensa. He has discussed small cap stock investing on CNNfn and his views regarding investment advisor disclosure have been quoted by several major publications. Along with Scott Maxwell, Brent has been the cohost of The Peaceful Wealth Radio Hour on CNN. He was named as one of Texas Monthly magazine's "5 Star" wealth managers in 2010 and 2011 and one of D Magazine's top wealth managers in 2010.

Mr. Everett lives in Plano with his wife and their Labrador Retreiver. He has served as a member of the Business and Professional Leadership Committee of the Plano Symphony Orchestra, and enjoys reading, fly fishing, college sports, and Formula One racing.