Economic Report: Planning Your Retirement Series with Greg Gumbel

The producers of The Economic Report, hosted by Greg Gumbel, are pleased to announce that Pacific West Capital Group will be featured in an upcoming episode as part of the shows series on Planning Your Retirement.

With the Real Estate bubble bursting loudly and more trouble in the Stock Market than any reasonable person would tolerate, investors are turning to alternative investment strategies like never before. One such strategy is to invest in the rapidly growing Life Settlement industry. A Life Settlement transaction is when a senior sells his or her life insurance policy to the highest bidder, in excess of the surrender value. Sellers can take advantage of this quick inflow of cash to pay ongoing healthcare expenses.

An investor purchases the beneficiary interest of the Life Settlement policy from the senior. Upon the passing of the insured person, the investor receives the policy's death benefit, thus realizing a return on the investment.

California-based Pacific West Capital Group (PWCG) offers these investment opportunities. Many investors purchase a fractional-interest or percentage-share of the beneficiary interest at a $20,000 minimum investment.

Investors include individuals, brokerage firms, private equity funds, pension plan portfolios and banks. Individual investors often use retirement account funds, such as pension or profit-sharing plans or self-directed IRAs and count on the benefits from the Life Settlement investments to support their own retirement.

This market has averaged returns in the 12-14% range and is calculated to be a $20 billion industry. Potential growth is estimated to be over $160 billion in the next few years as people and institutions seek alternative investment strategies to counter the near-collapse of the traditional financial markets in this country.

"Pacific West Capital Group purchases interests in the proceeds of life insurance policies at a discount to face value where the insureds are 75 years of age or older with reduced life expectancy due to health complications," says Andrew B Calhoun, company President and CEO. "PWCG then sells interests in these policies to qualified investors allowing them to participate in the profits. This translates into an opportunity for returns higher than those offered by traditional investment vehicles."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• investments
• retirement account funds
• IRA