Bonded Life Settlements

My alarm bells go off looking at this. A life settlement typically meant you are buying the payoff of a policy on someone else's death. If the insured is 90, and in good health, you can look at actuarial tables to find your expected return. Not to sound morbid, but the best return occurs if the insured died shortly after the purchase. The risk to you is the variability of the date of death of the insured. If he lives to 105, your return was likely approaching a bit over the risk free rate.

The bonded settlement page I found

 seems to offer a different situation, a guaranteed payout at a pre-determined time.It would seem to me, the only risk here is the risk of default, otherwise how can they offer "15-25%" annual returns? I hope someone with actual experience with this product replies. But my gut says 'too good to be true'. JOE

I do not know if it's coincidence, but a front page-linked article in today's NY Times online has some comments on this:

66418000&en9ef948feb3f95c&eiP94&partner=homepage (If the link above does not take you right to the article, then online registration is free and subsequently will give you access to it.)