The life settlement industry is offering up opportunities right and left. After 25+ years, there are exciting and truly innovative things that need doing in most sectors of the industry. Day in, day out we are in discussions with investors, brokers, providers, servicers, attorneys, agents, accountants, asset managers, you name it. Everyone says they “want to do things” in the industry and, there are things to do; new things, different things, things that should have happened sooner but now may actually come to pass. The question is: Do you really want innovate, to change the status quo, to think differently about the life settlement business?
Investors drive the industry. Without capital, the machinery of the industry won’t run. However, when you look around the marketplace the activities being conducted are still very similar to those that have always been performed. So are the outcomes for many but, maybe they should be. Maybe there aren’t enough people ready and willing to push the envelope, even just a little. For all of the progress that’s been made with regard to regulation, information technology, media relations, even litigation to address critical issues, there’s still more to be done. Better still, there’s money to be made doing it! Unfortunately, the vast majority of market participants and the industry in general has not evolved as it should have. The fact is, very little innovation is currently taking place.
Our view is that some of what should have happened over the past decade or so didn’t. The reasons don’t matter now but, the evolutionary changes the business needs will occur and hopefully soon. Money is back in the market. Efforts to educate and re-educate consumers and agents are underway on a number of fronts. LISA, the industry’s leading trade association has launched a new website with content, features and benefits focused on the consumer. All-in-all the marketplace is beginning to shape up nicely and, with continued effort and diligence, we should be able to establish a new and firmer foundation for growth in the future. What remains is for investors with vision and a long-term perspective to begin investing in the infrastructure of the industry and not just scrapping over the assets it creates. Again, it’s possible to make money while do this, but so far, the money behind innovative ideas is nowhere to be found.
FFor our part, we’re looking forward to new conversations with new entrants as well as deeper discussions with many of our fellow veterans. We are pushing more than ever before to challenge the baseline assumptions, to raise new questions and suggest alternatives to the old answers. In short-we’re enthusiastic about what we see coming and the possibilities we see unfolding. The question is: Will the capital needed for the industry to grow be there to support the next evolutionary step?