The life settlement’s secondary market sees significant deal flow from advisors such as attorneys, CPAs and financial planners. Greg Winterton caught up with Brandon Marz, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at LifeRoc Capital, to get his thoughts on the ‘state of the market’ for this cohort as it pertains to life settlements in this month’s Q&A.
GW: Brandon, while we’re well into 2026 now, let’s start with a look back to last year and the start of this one. What are you seeing generally in terms of secondary market activity levels compared to the previous 12 months? And what’s driving that?
BM: This year is off to a solid start in terms of activity in the secondary market generally and I think we’re seeing an uptick generally compared to last year.
It is clear that the meaningful increase in industry-wide efforts to educate policyowners about life settlements is driving the increasing activity. Television, radio, and digital advertising have all expanded, helping raise broader awareness of the option.
At LifeRoc, we’re more focused on the advisor cohort, and we’ve seen noticeable increases in not only the awareness level of these firms in the past few years but also the knowledge level about life settlements and we think that this is feeding into the market – as we begin 2026, we are seeing the highest level of case submissions in our history at LifeRoc.
All this said, the reality is that most policyowners are still unaware that their policy may have significantly more value than the carrier’s cash surrender value. Many individuals purchase life insurance for sound reasons, but over time their needs change or the policy becomes unaffordable and so while activity is trending in the right direction, the industry at large needs to continue to ramp up its educational efforts.
GW: We know that a huge volume of potential origination is lost every year simply because policies lapse or are surrendered. From your perspective, what is the biggest hurdle in ‘originating’ awareness among financial intermediaries who may still view life settlements as a niche or last-resort option?
BM: Again, education is the biggest hurdle. We work closely with advisors across the country to help them understand when a life settlement may be appropriate and which clients may qualify so that advisors are equipped to incorporate the life settlement conversation into their regular annual client reviews and practices.
It’s critical that this education happens before it’s too late — before a client unknowingly lapses or surrenders a policy that may have had significant value. This happens far too often.
GW: When originating through intermediaries, you often deal with insureds who are high-net-worth individuals with sophisticated estate plans. How does originating deal flow from this specific demographic influence the way investors and asset managers model longevity risk?
BM: The life settlement market originally developed within the high-net-worth segment and now benefits from decades of actuarial experience with this specific demographic. As a result, third-party life expectancy providers and asset managers have developed specialized actuarial tables and mortality improvement methodologies designed to better assess how mortality trends may evolve within this cohort.
Equipped with these more sophisticated analytical tools, investors are able to evaluate risk with greater precision. This has helped sustain strong and growing demand for policies originating from the high-net-worth market.
GW: What changes in the buy-box from your buyer network have you observed in the past 18-24 months? What has driven that, and are these changes permanent?
BM: When the industry first emerged, most investors focused primarily on viatical settlements — policies on insureds who were terminally ill with life expectancies of 24 months or less. Today, the market has evolved significantly.
One of the most notable shifts over the past 24 months has been the growing participation of institutional investors seeking to acquire policies on healthy insureds with longer life expectancies, particularly those structured to provide strong principal preservation.
This increasing institutionalization of the market has helped drive down the cost of capital while significantly expanding the pool of policies that qualify for investment. As a result, investors are able to better manage downside risk while improving the predictability of future cash flows.
GW: How does LifeRoc integrate AI into its operation – if at all? Indeed, do you find that high-value secondary market cases still require a high-touch, relationship-based approach with the advisor cohort?
BM: LifeRoc Capital has prioritized technology since the firm’s inception. We have a dedicated team of full-time software engineers focused on integrating AI across our platform to enhance organization, improve decision-making, and optimize workflows.
AI plays a meaningful role in our daily operations. One clear example is the review of medical records. In the past, creating comprehensive medical profiles required team members to manually review hundreds — and often thousands — of pages of records, a process that could take hours and involve multiple individuals.
Today, AI can analyse thousands of medical pages and generate a detailed summary in just minutes. What once required significant time and manpower can now be completed with far greater speed and efficiency.
That said, high-value cases always require a human touch. Our experienced professionals carefully review and validate all AI-generated outputs to ensure accuracy, judgment, and quality remain at the forefront of everything we do.
GW: Lastly, Brandon, what’s your view of how the rest of the year might play out in the secondary market? Do you think the activity levels you’ve seen at the beginning of this year will rise, fall, stay the same – and why?
BM: While I don’t have a crystal ball to predict exactly where the market is headed, I can share what we’re seeing in real time. Several of the largest asset managers we work with have raised significant capital in recent quarters and currently have meaningful dry powder to deploy. This level of committed capital positions the market for a strong second half of the year, with momentum that we expect to extend well into 2027.
That said, we also see certain segments of the market that remain undercapitalized, creating compelling opportunities for investors and asset managers to deploy capital at attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Education continues to drive awareness and supply. As more firms educate advisors and consumers about life settlements, more policies are coming to market, expanding deployment opportunities. We’re one of the largest originators in the market and we are seeing continued growth in policy flow because of the greater awareness, and we are seeing growing institutional interest from investors who value life settlements for their alternative profile and historically low correlation to traditional markets.
We would not be surprised to see additional alternative asset managers entering the space over the next year as they seek exposure to this growing asset class.
Brandon Marz is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at LifeRoc Capital
