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), urmi das (t), Wil Kristin (t), Moises Figueroa (t)
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Subjects: U.S., Business, Sci/Tech
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# Diggs: 1 (as of 2010-12-22)
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Posted by: Posted by Mike LaBonte - Dec 20, 2010 - 8:15 PM PST
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Mike LaBonte - Dec 22, 2010 - 1:04 PM PST

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Ellie Kesselman
3.8
by Ellie Kesselman - Dec. 23, 2010

Interesting story about a legal but not well-known form of investing. There is a lack of balance, though, and no alternative viewpoints e.g. by insurance industry experts.

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.

See Full Review » (16 answers)
Mike LaBonte
4.3
by Mike LaBonte - Dec. 22, 2010
See Full Review » (10 answers)

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4.1

not enough reviews
from 2 reviews (34% confidence)
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4.5
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3.0
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4.5
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4.5
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5.0
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4.0
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4.0
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4.0
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4.0
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4.0
Popularity
3.9
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4.0
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4.0
# Reviews
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