Gambling on Your Life

Life Insurance seems like a concrete concept, so how is it a game? Well there is the gaming of advertising to attract policy buyers and the competition of different styles of approach. Then there is a secondary market in which these policies are traded. Companies actively engage in this, just like traders, asset manegers, and hedge funds do in the stock option secondary market. The life insurance secondary market is slightly different. In this market, the life insurance policy is worth x amount of dollars, and based on actuary tables of risk management to project people's remaining lifespans based on their genetic make up, habits, hobbies, and risks. They take precautions and then calculate a premium the buyers would have to pay annually for the duration of the policy. The secondary market is a high risk, high reward place. Somebody might be projected to live to 75, but instead ends up prolonging their lives until they are 85 or 100. The high risk is that somebody may die the day after purchasing their policy and not ending up paying their premiums. It could be highly profitable providing large cash discounts and having people die before their policy terms are up. So choose wisely, can your life span be predicted? Can you predict others? Weigh in!