Investors Bet on Strangers' Lives
Life Partners, a company that lets investors buy parts of strangers' life-insurance policies, has made large fees while often underestimating the life expectancies of people whose policies its customers invest in. Full Story »
Posted by Mike LaBonte - via Wall Street Journal (Most Emailed), Ayo Cari Rumah (t), Moises Figueroa (t), Wil Kristin (t), urmi das (t)
On first glance, this appears to be about socially responsible investing (or lack thereof). In fact, it is a story about ethics, but not morality. The company (Life Partners) has a long history of engaging in unethical business practices i.e. deceptive advertising and failure to adequately inform investors of the true risk based on valid actuarial estimates of mortality.