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c/collapse · by Midnight@slrpnk.net · 7d

How the AIDS crisis helped create a multibillion-dollar death-speculation market

https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2026/08/25/g-s1-139946/how-the-aids-crisis-helped-create-a-multibillion-dollar-death-speculation-market

24 points · 6 comments · view on lemmy.world

6 Comments

someguy3@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 7d

The post was about a deal where you don't have to actually die to get some of your life insurance money. It's called a life settlement.

Here's how it works: You sell your life insurance policy to an investor for a fraction of the face value of the policy, maybe 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. The company pays the premiums to keep it in force, and when you die, they get the full payout instead of your beneficiaries.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 1 pts · 7d (4 replies)

I remember its a wonderful life talking about the value of his life insurance if cashed in vs if he was dead. Is this all that new?

Midnight@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 7d (3 replies)

IIRC Its a Wonderful Life was referencing that George was worth more dead than alive, ie he should kill himself for payment of the policy. This is new, that you'd get paid by a 3rd party to take a policy on yourself (or others!) then the 3rd party cashes in and not your estate when you die.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 1 pts · 7d (2 replies)

ok so they offer more than the insurance would if you cashed it in???

Midnight@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 7d (1 reply)

They dont offer more than the insurance payout, that's the whole catch. They give you 20 cents on the dollar today in order to pocket the 80 cents when you die and your family gets nothing.

A very similar thing is dead peasant policies by your employer, who can secretly take out policies on low level employees who have health issues to bet on a payout.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 1 pts · 7d

no I meant more than the cash value like they mention in its a wonderful life. You could cash one in before dieing. I think it acts somewhat like an annuity with a guaranteed interest rate.