老人卖保单换现金 寿险业大失血 Jan 01, 2007《纽时周报全文精译》 The Life Insurance Industry Turns Pale as Elderly Cash In 田思怡译 80岁的曼哈坦金融顾问马文．马哥利斯正在寻找愿意赌他何时死掉的投资 人。 Marvin Margolis, an 80-year-old Manhattan financial consultant, is looking for investors willing to bet on when he will die. 两年前，马哥利斯买了巨额寿险保单，现在他考虑卖给一群投资人，这笔 交易应可让他获得200万美元，供他享受余生。相对的，这些投资人在他归天时 可以得到保单上的700万美元保险给付，他们希望那一天快点来临，他们就可以 停止付他的保险费。 Two years ago, Mr. Margolis bought a large life insurance policy. Now, he’s considering selling it to a group of investors, a deal that should give him as much as $2 million to enjoy in his final years. In return, the investors will get the policy’s $7 million payout when he dies — which they hope will be soon, so they can stop paying his premiums. 马哥利斯说：「这是把我的身体当成资产的大好机会，我用某种方式从我 的年龄获得好处，并不为过。」 “SchneThis is a wonderful opportunity to use my body as an asset,” Mr. Margolis said. “I deserve to be able to benefit in some way from my age." 有钱老人所持有寿险保单的交易，已悄悄地成为一项大生意。避险基金、像 是瑞士信贷和德意志银行这样的金融机构，以及像是华伦．巴菲特这样的投资人 ，正以数十亿美元买下老人的寿险保单。其他投资人则付钱给老人，请他们申办 寿险，借钱给他们买保单，再把保单转售给投机客。 Trading in life insurance policies held by wealthy seniors has quietly become a big business. Hedge funds, financial institutions like Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, and investors like Warren E. Buffett are spending billions to buy life insurance policies from the elderly. Other investors are paying seniors to apply for life insurance, lending them money to buy the policies, and then reselling them to speculators. 这个刚萌芽的市场，正代表着投资人想从已届退休年龄的美国广大富人世 代身上赚钱的一种方式。 This nascent market illustrates one way that investors are hoping to make money from a large and wealthy generation of Americans as they reach retirement age. 但保险业高级主管说，像马哥利斯这样的交易也许会瘫痪他们的产业，使 一般老人买保险更困难。保险公司忧心忡忡，因为他们指望许多客户在死前取 销他们的保单。如果有太多保单需要给付，保险业的获利将大幅减少。的确， 保险业分析师说，他们预期，保险公司需要为更多给付预做准备，会垫高寿险 的成本。 But insurance executives say transactions like Mr. Margolis’s may cripple their industry and make it harder for the average senior to buy life insurance. Insurers are worried because they count on many customers canceling their policies before they die. If far more policies result in payouts, the insurance business becomes much less profitable. Indeed, industry analysts say they expect the cost of life insurance to rise as companies prepare to pay out more claims. 宾州大学华顿学院教授大卫．康明斯说：「如果给付增加，承保寿险的成 本实际上也跟着上升，肯定会使保单价格提高。」 “If payouts increase, the cost of insuring people is effectively going up, and that will definitely increase the price of policies,” said J. David Cummins, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 话虽如此，却有许多人在银行存款快花光时，变得要靠出售保单来取得急 需的钱，以支应医疗照护费和生活费。 While that may be the case, many people have come to rely on selling their policies to provide urgently needed money for medical care and living expenses when their bank accounts run dry. 不过，保险业高级主管说，这个新崛起的市场可能具有毁灭性。大都会国 际人寿公司执行长劳勃．韩利克森说：「保寿险是个人保护家人的一种方法， 如果某人因一个陌生人的死亡而获利，是把寿险的目的本末倒置。任何事只要 打乱了构成这个产业基础的经济程序，都会使得寿险的成本冲破上限。」 However, insurance executives say that the market that has emerged could be ruinous. “Life insurance is a way for individuals to protect their families,” said C. Robert Henrikson, the chief executive of MetLife. “If someone profits from a stranger’s death, it stands the whole purpose of life insurance on its head. Anything that disrupts the economic processes underlying this industry will drive the cost of life insurance through the ceiling.” 美国最大寿险业者美国国际集团（A.I.G.）今年稍早为了阻挠这些交易， 把一些70岁以上投保的万能寿险保单保费提高。A.I.G.一名发言人说：「我们 不要这种生意，我们要采取行动，阻止这样的投保人上门。」 The biggest insurer in the United States, American International Group, earlier this year increased prices on some universal life policies for buyers more than 70 years old in an effort to thwart spin-life deals. “We don’t want this business, and we’re taking steps to discourage those purchasers from coming through our doors,” an A.I.G. spokesman said. 然而许多卖掉保单的人却说，这是他们避免不幸的唯一办法。犹他州凯斯 维尔市的安德鲁．史奈特说：「要不是卖了这张保单，我们的房子、存款和一 切全保不住。」七年前，他的妻子凯伦得知她罹患乳癌。她的花费比史奈德夫 妇的医疗保险高出50万美元。他说，史奈德太太以大约25万美元卖掉她的寿险 ，用这笔钱买药和付帐单。她去年去世时，买下她保单的投资人获得50万美元 的死亡给付。 But many people who have sold their policies say it offered their only way to avoid calamity.“If I hadn’t been able to sell this policy we would have lost our house, all of our savings, everything,” said Andrew Schneider of Kaysville, Utah. Seven years ago his wife, Karen, learned she had breast cancer. Her expenses exceeded the Schneiders’ medical insurance by half a million dollars. Mrs. Schneider sold her life insurance policy for about $250,000 and used the money to buy medicine and pay bills, he said. The investors who bought her policy received a $500,000 death benefit when she died last year. 史奈德说：「卖掉那张保单让她多活了几年，要是这个市场不存在，我们 早已一贫如洗。」 “StatSelling that policy extended her life for years,” said Mr. Schneider. “If this market hadn’t existed, we would have become financially destitute" By CHARLES DUHIGG / NY TIMES 【2007-01-03/联合报/C7版/教育】 -- 赵客缦胡缨 吴钩霜雪明 银鞍照白马 飒沓如流星 十步杀一人 千里不留行 事了拂衣去 深藏身与名 闲过信陵饮 脱剑膝前横 将炙啖朱亥 持觞劝侯赢 三盃吐然诺 五岳倒为轻 眼花耳热後 意气素霓生 救赵挥金槌 邯郸先震惊 千秋二壮士 烜赫大梁城 纵使侠骨香 不惭世上英 谁能书合下 白首太玄经 李白 侠客行 --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 139.223.28.55