Death Bonds

Death bonds, also known as viatical settlements or life settlements, have been a small part of the insurance business for many years. More recently, they have gained greater attention and have been pushed hard as interest from Wall Street has increased significantly. A life settlement (viatical settlement) involves a third-party purchase of the right to the future proceeds of a life insurance policy (see here for an SEC description). Since the date of death is, presumably, uncertain, the buyer pays...