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November 13, 2008

By Anne Tergesen, The Wall Street Journal
CNN Money

Older adults turning to the "life settlement" industry to help them through tough times are finding that this popular source of quick cash is getting harder to tap.

Life settlements, in which people sell their life-insurance policies to investors in exchange for a lump-sum payment, were a $12.2 billion business in 2007, according to Conning Research & Consulting Inc. in Hartford, Conn. Despite regulators' concerns about the industry's high fees, opaque nature and aggressive sales practices, that figure is more than triple the amount of just three years earlier. The growth, in part, reflects the fact that retirements have been stretching longer -- and nest eggs shrinking faster -- than many retirees ever imagined.

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