Thought Leadership on Life Insurance Assets
Thought leadership on life insurance assets, longevity investing, and portfolio construction — written for allocators who want an honest account of how the asset class actually works.
State guaranty associations and what they actually protect
The state guaranty association system is the final backstop behind an insurance carrier that becomes insolvent. This article explains how the system is funded, what it covers and to what limits, its historical track record, and how an investor with annuity-backed exposure should think about it.
The life settlement market in 2026: where institutional capital has changed the game
Over the past decade the life settlement market has changed structurally: more institutional capital, more disciplined pricing, a deeper tertiary market, and far better service-provider infrastructure. This article surveys those changes and what they mean for an allocator looking at the category today.
Three questions every RIA should ask a manager claiming uncorrelated returns
A short, practical due-diligence framework an advisor can apply to any "uncorrelated" pitch — three questions that separate genuine diversifiers from repackaged market exposure, with a note on where insurance-linked assets land.
The vocabulary of insurance-linked investing
A working glossary of the terms an RIA or family office reader will encounter when evaluating life-insurance-linked assets. Each entry is written to be read on its own, and the page is meant to be kept as a reference rather than read end to end.
The honest case against life-insurance-linked assets
No asset class deserves to be evaluated only by its proponents. This article makes the strongest honest case against life-insurance-linked investing, then offers a careful response that does not pretend the risks are smaller than they are.
Stress-testing 'uncorrelated': what we look for before calling an asset truly diversifying
The word 'uncorrelated' is one of the most overused and undertested terms in alternative investing. This article describes what a serious test of uncorrelation looks like and how insurance-linked assets stand up to it.
Where AI is actually changing underwriting — and where it's marketing
Machine learning is meaningfully changing parts of mortality underwriting. It is also being oversold in parts where the data and the science do not yet support what marketing materials claim. This article tries to draw the line honestly.
The ESG case for life settlements
Life settlements have been described, accurately or otherwise, as 'death bonds.' This article addresses the ethical question directly, examines the policyholder's perspective, and considers how the asset class actually performs against each pillar of an ESG framework.
A family office introduction to life-insurance-linked assets
Life-insurance-linked investing is a small, regulated corner of the alternative asset universe whose returns are driven by mortality, contract, and time rather than by markets. This introduction explains the asset category, the regulatory framework, and where it tends to fit in a family office's allocation.